Page 10 of Johann

A throat cleared.

Jay peered around Alexei’s broad form and was startled to see Soren standing behind him, looking beautiful as usual, his blond hair all swept back in this fancy way Jay could never even attempt, grinning his not-scary-to-Jay-but-scary-to-a-lot-of-people grin.

“Soren!” he exclaimed as Alexei handed him his card wordlessly. The almost smile had left his lips, and his eyebrows were all stern again. “You’re here!”

“Surprise,” Soren said dryly, stepping up to the counter in Alexei’s place.

It kind of was. While Soren came into the café regularly, he usually ventured in later in the day, when Gabe went to the gym before his night shifts. Which meant maybe he’d come in earlier just to see Jay work his earlier shift. How nice of him. Jay beamed at his friend, even as his gaze strayed to Alexei, strolling to the opposite end of the counter.

Soren followed the path of his gaze. He arched a brow. “Dude looks like a mobster.”

Jay’s smile faltered a little. “No, he doesn’t. He looks like Alexei.”

Soren grinned sharply at him. “That’s a mobster name.”

“It isn’t,” Jay insisted, feeling vaguely insulted on behalf of his regular. “It’s an Alexei name.”

Soren waved a dismissive hand. “Just teasing, Jaybird. What would a mobster be doing in Hyde Park anyway?”

For a moment, they both stared at Alexei, who had received his Americano from Colin and was at his usual table, looking back at them with his stern expression still firmly in place. Jay waved at him. Alexei’s brows furrowed deeper. How strange. Usually they relaxed when Jay waved at him. Jay tried waving with more enthusiasm. Alexei turned his face back to his drink.

Jay sighed, trying not to feel too disappointed about that. He wasn’t very successful.

“He’s hot. You should bang him.”

Jay’s cheeks heated, and he knew he must have a horrible blush on his face. Soren was always saying stuff like that.

But Alexei was a grown human man, one with nice, fancy clothes and a good smell. Jay saw the way other customers looked at him. Alexei must have quite a bit of sexual experience. What would he want with Jay in that regard? Jay wouldn’t be good at any of it. He’d be…disappointing. And Jayhateddisappointing people.

Still, his regular was pretty to look at. He made Jay’s little beastie purr inside his chest. It liked having him in the café, in their sights.

Looking would have to be enough.

Jay arrived early for book club.

He’d tried not to—Soren had told him once that it was much cooler to be fashionably late for things than early—but he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t wanted to be in his quiet apartment for even one more minute.

And Danny never seemed to mind when Jay was early. Tonight he opened the door with his usual smile—he had such a nice, warm smile—and ushered Jay in, Ferdy wiggling like mad behind his legs. “Hi, honey.”

Jay waved to Danny and the dog both. “Hi, Ferdy! Hi, Danny! You have such a nice smile. Have I told you that before?”

Danny’s cheeks turned pink, which made his freckles blur together and looked awfully nice with his big brown eyes all wide and happy. “Thanks, Jay. What have you got there?”

Jay presented him with his plate of hors d’oeuvres, these mini bagels that were somehow also pizzas. Human food was wild. “I brought these for our humans. Well, your human guests.”

“Oh!” Danny’s brow furrowed as he stared at Jay’s plate. “Did you— Um, did you make these yourself?”

Jay bit back a laugh. Danny thought he had tried to cook; his worried face made sense now. Jay didn’t have such a great history with that. “I bought these premade,” Jay reassured him. “I only followed the directions on the box to heat them in the oven.” And Jay had followed the directionsperfectly.

The relieved smile Danny bestowed on him made Jay feel all warm and fuzzy inside. “Thanks for bringing them, honey. That was really sweet of you. Let’s put them in the kitchen with the rest. I think Roman’s been puttering around in there.”

Jay couldn’t imagine Roman “puttering around” anywhere, but he followed Danny obediently into the house, a cozy, two-story yellow abode Jay never tired of spending time in.

“Oh.” Jay’s eyes widened in delight once they got to the kitchen.

Roman was there, looking imposing as always, even with his white button-down pushed up on his forearms and his black hair hanging loose and casual. He was surrounded by little plates, and everything smelled like garlic and butter and other delicious food scents Jay couldn’t begin to identify.

It was always a treat when Roman cooked. He may have been a vampire like Jay, but he somehow still managed to make everything taste sogood. He’d told Jay it was because he’d been French as a human.

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