Page 32 of The Baritone's Rival

“It’s fine. Let’s get back to the latest installment of ‘My Stepdad is a Vampire.’” Oscar grinned. “That would make a great gay porn.”

“Weird. Don’t say that.” Trent took a breath. He didn’t like to talk about that time in his life. He didn’t trust other people with knowledge about his past, but Oscar had already seen him kill a vampire.

“So yeah, my stepdad was a vamp,” Trent continued, “and when I was fifteen, we moved into the covenhouse in Madison, Wisconsin. It was…not good. I had to learn how to defend myself. There were some bullies among the younger vampires. I don’t think they would have killed me outright, but they sure didn’t care if I lived or died.”

Trent didn’t add that the move resulted in the end of his family, and of his mother’s sanity. Oscar didn’t need to know that.

“So you became the deadliest human since Van Helsing.”

“Was he a real person?” Trent asked.

“No. He was a figment of Bram Stoker’s imagination,” Oscar answered.

“Oh.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Trent worried that Oscar wanted to know more about his time at the Wisconsin covenhouse, but he didn’t push for it. After a few minutes of listening to the gentle rumble of the car running over the pockmarked pavement of the highway, Oscar spoke.

“So that’s why you despise the idea of vampire mates?”

“What?”

“Your stepdad and your mom were fated, and it fucked up your life.”

Trent squeezed his eyes closed. Oscar had already figured out more than Trent was comfortable with from the short explanation he had given.

“It didn’t just fuck up my life. It ruined theirs.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t believe in fate. At least, not in a fate that gives you love and then destroys your life.”

Silence overtook them once again. After a long moment, Trent felt Oscar’s hand rest on his thigh. His fingers were narrow and thin, and his touch cool and gentle. Trent froze, his muscles tensing, but after a few seconds, he relaxed into it.

Why did it have to feel so damn good? He didn’t want Oscar to move his hand away, but he also didn’t know what to do now.

He’d never thought about a man this way. He’d never thought about avampirethis way. Not only that, but he’d done his best to push vampires out of his life. He couldn’t go catchingfeelings for one. Especially not one that was the main obstacle standing between him and his perfect future career.

But he didn’t want it to stop.

Chapter 10

Oscar

Oscar shouldn’t have done that. Trent had been unusually vulnerable. Or at least, vulnerable for someone who preferred to reveal absolutely nothing about themselves. He’d sounded so lost. It made Oscar wonder if underneath the aloof posture and career ambition, there was a man desperate for connection.

Except he hadexplicitlysaid that being a vampire’s mate had destroyed his mother’s life. He had doubled down on the fact that he thought the whole thing was a fallacy. So any move that Oscar made in that direction was foolish. It would only lead to getting his heart broken.

His heart had barely healed from Elliott. He had loved the vampire, no matter how misplaced that love had been. That’s why it had taken him so long to realize how poorly he was being treated. The connection between Oscar and Trent had the underpinning of fate. It would be doubly hard to walk away if Oscar allowed himself to cultivate it.

When he’d first touched Trent’s thigh, the thick muscles had tensed under his hand. Trent’s legs were so strong. He loved that strength in a boyfriend. In a mate.

This trip was so ill-advised. Spending a week or more with this man, this human who would deny their bond and destroy his heart in the process. Oscar’s decision not to pursue Trent had been the right choice.

For god’s sake, in all likelihood Trent was heterosexual.

Did fate have the power to change someone’s orientation? Or was it tapping into something deeper, activating and energizing a latent desire? Oscar hoped it was the latter. He hated the idea that fate would force someone to go against such a fundamental piece of who they were. When he was next to Trent, he could feel the tension, both emotional and sexual. He had to believe fate had freed an attraction that was already there, already building.

Because the pull between them was powerful and magnetic. And Trenthadrelaxed under his touch, the warmth of Trent’s skin through the leg of his pants leaching into Oscar’s cold vampire hand.

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