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“Yes,” said Colin at the same time.

“Colin,” Jay reprimanded, frowning back at the lanky human.

Colin stepped a bit closer, leaning down to whisper in Jay’s ear. “That would be the simplest explanation to what he’s just seen. The kind of thing someone might expect: two people hooking up in an alley.”

Jay supposed that could be true, even though hooking up with someone in an alley didn’t sound all that great to him, personally. But it would also be a lie. And Jay didnotlike lies.

He stepped forward, away from Colin and toward Alexei. “We’re not boyfriends. I’m just a vampire.”

Now it was Colin’s turn to say his name like a reprimand. “Jay.You can’t go around telling everybody you’re a vampire.”

“I’m not tellingeverybody,” Jay said, his voice rising a bit in his defensiveness. “This makes two people I’ve told. You and now Alexei.” Colin still looked disapproving, so Jay tried to find a positive spin. “Now the two of you have something in common!”

“A vampire.” Alexei gave a strange, coughing laugh, crossing his arms over his chest. “You two are into some kinky shit.”

Jay’s brow furrowed. “It’s not a sex thing. Here, look.” He let out his little beastie again, careful to remind it that they wouldnotbe biting the nice-smelling human, and stepped closer so Alexei could get a better look. “See?” Jay smiled wide, pointing to his teeth. “Fangs.”

Unfortunately, Alexei didn’t seem to find Jay’s fangs all that reassuring. Jay watched as the blood drained from Alexei’s face, leaving him looking decidedly pale. He really hoped the human wasn’t going to faint on him. Jay was strong enough to carry him, sure, but he had no idea where Alexei lived.

“Holy fucking fuck.” Alexei stared at Jay’s mouth for another moment, rubbed at his brow with two fingers, and then waved a hand at Colin. “So you weren’t kissing his neck.”

“I told you, it’s not sexual.” Jay shot a glance over his shoulder at Colin, who still had a pretty blush on his cheeks. “Well, nottotallysexual. Feeding can be very pleasurable to huma—”

“Jay,” Colin pleaded.

Uh-oh. Was that not polite to share? Jay cocked his head. “You don’t want him to know that part?”

Colin ran a hand through his blue hair, sighing. “Just…not while I’m around. I don’t want to have to look him in the eyes.”

Jay nodded in understanding, even if he didn’t actually fully understand. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with his arrangement with Colin. Jay needed to eat; Colin had been curious about some of the physical responses to feeding. It worked well for both of them.

Jay hadn’t known all that when he’d first approached Colin about feeding though. All he’d known was that his manager was kind, already sort of protective, and seemed to have a steady enough head on his shoulders that he maybe wouldn’t freak out about the existence of vampires.

And Jay had really, really needed to eat.

Alexei, meanwhile, had moved even closer, his broad frame positively looming over Jay’s, and Jay had to force himself to take regular, even breaths—rather than inhale greedily—because even with that layer of booze, the human still smelled so very good.

He was so focused on his breathing he didn’t notice Alexei move, but before Jay knew it, Alexei had gripped him by the upper arms—he was quite strong, for a human—and was peering down at Jay’s eyes. “Whoa.”

“Pretty neat, huh?” Jay liked his vampire face. He thought it gave him a bit of toughness he normally lacked.

Alexei looked over Jay’s shoulder to Colin again. “You were drinking his blood?”

Jay bounced onto his toes, pleased they were finally getting through to the probably drunk human. “Yes.”

Alexei went back to studying Jay’s face again, and Jay tried not to squirm under the scrutiny. All the attention made him want to do something weird, like lick Alexei’s strong, straight nose.

“Do you want to drinkmyblood?” Alexie asked.

Jay’s lips parted as his beastie took sharp notice. “Um…are you offering?” he asked, even knowing that wouldn’t be a good idea. Mostly because Alexei was maybe drunk and possibly didn’t really understand what he was consenting to. And also because if Jay drank from him, they would both be drunk, and that probably wouldn’t help the situation at all.

Alexei had released one of Jay’s arms, and his finger was now a hairbreadth from Jay’s mouth. “I just— Well, do you?”

Jay still couldn’t tell if Alexei was legitimately offering or just curious. “You smell very good,” he admitted, tongue darting out to wet his lips. “But not right now, thank you.”

He pushed his human face forward again, and then for some reason, Alexei was running a finger over Jay’s lips, and ohh, that felt very, very nice.

Jay closed his eyes, leaning in a bit to the sensation. It was pleasant to be touched so nicely, even a little bit.

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