Page 22 of Bound in Blood
“God, you’re fucking annoying,” Logan groaned, turning away from Mateo and pressing his face into Marco’s shoulder.
“Yes, Logan, that’s why I need you to move in,” Marco pleaded. “He’s almost been tolerable to me since we met you. If you’re always around, he can annoy you instead of me.”
It did soundnice,Logan couldn’t help but think. Mateo had implied he’d have his own space, so that had to mean they lived in at least a bigger apartment, right? Where do vampires even live?
“Say I do agree to move into your weird, probably haunted vampire castle…” Logan started, trying very hard to play it cool but quickly realizing he had no idea how he was going to finish that sentence.
“We have a house in Brookline, we’re not kidnapping you and taking you to some gothic mansion on a hill.” Mateo said, mercifully cutting Logan off, “It’s a two-story, four-bedroom, you’ll have your own space. It’s paid off, not that we’d accept any sort of rent from you anyway.” He looked Logan up and down, waggling his eyebrows, “Unless you’re into that.”
“Mateo!”Marco groaned. Logan wondered how Marco didn’t have a permanent handprint on his forehead.
“What? I said,if he’s into it.What if hewantsto pretend we’re making him pay us with his body? Hm? Sounds to me like kink shaming,mio fratello.Tell him, Logan.” Mateo gestured wildly to his brother, “Tell thisidiotato stop kink shaming you.”
Logan tried his best to fight the blush, but nothing could stop the flood of embarrassment Mateo brought upon him. “Oh my God, how do you not get punched on a daily basis?”
“Ah, another kink. We’re learning so much about each other today,amore mio?*.” Mateo pretended to swoon.
“You should just agree now, Logan. He’s going to keep getting more and more Italian until you give him what he wants.” Marco paused. “Whatwewant, I guess.”
Logan let himself think about it. Really, really think about it. A house. Ahome.He hadn’t had anywhere that felt like home in a long time, had he? Two people who seemingly cared about him, around all the time for him to talk to. No more days of silence when he didn’t have work. No more going through life completely alone. Besides, as weird as it was, these two made him feel safe in a way he wasn’t ready to fully unpack.
“I…” Logan swallowed hard, pushing back his fear of putting his trust in anyone. “I guess… it makes sense.”
Mateo clapped his hands together. “Perfect! Great choice, Logan. Now, let’s get packing. You have—” He looked around the studio apartment, scrutinizing gaze falling on all four pieces of Logan’s furniture, “—so much stuff to take care of!”
Logan’s face burned with embarrassment. He looked away, averting both vampires’ stares. It wasn’t his fault he barely had anything. He’d had to leave home in a hurry, after all. But he couldn’t tell them that, so he settled for saying, “I’m a minimalist,” before standing up and stretching. The twins followed suit, following Logan to his tiny closet where he stored his few clothes, a short, thin bookshelf, and the two suitcases he’d brought with him to Boston. Mateo mercifully didn’t make any more comments, just grabbed one of the pieces of luggage and got to work.
Three people packing an apartment the size of a shoe box was a relatively efficient task, Logan was coming to learn. They set upa system pretty quickly. Logan sorted, Mateo and Marco packed. Or, rather, Marco packed and Mateo complained.
It helped that emotions were filtered through the bond between them. Mateo could tell if Logan was getting overwhelmed and redirect his focus a little, like when Logan came across an old family photo album he’d stolen from his parents’ house.
It was when they were going through the last of his clothes that he remembered, “What about work? How far is your place from the bar?”
“Ourplace, Logan, and I don’t see how that matters.” Mateo corrected without looking up from trying to shove a pile of t-shirts into the duffle bag he’d brought from his hospital heist.
“I can’t just quit, I have bills,” Logan argued.
Much to Logan’s surprise, it was Marco who laughed at him this time. “No, I promise, you don’t.”
“What do you mean? My lease isn’t up here for six months. I could break it, but I’d have to pay a huge fee up front, and?—”
“Oh, you sweet summer child.” Mateo snorted, finally getting the t-shirts zipped into the bag and pumping his fist in victory.
Marco sighed, looking up to meet Logan’s gaze. “Logan, we have more than enough money to take care of whatever you need.”
Logan blinked. “How?”
“I’m great at batting my eyelashes and asking nicely,” Mateo explained with a smirk. “Nobody tells me no when I ask for money.”
Marco rolled his eyes. “Vampires can compel humans. Plant thoughts in their head and make them think it was their idea all along. When we found our house, we walked into the bank and told them the amount, then walked out with the cash. Mateo is better at the compelling, I’ll admit. He convinced them we signed loan papers that didn’t exist.”
Well, that was a convenient trick. Logan had forgotten to ask aboutcompulsion.Maybe that’s what Marco had meant when he said vampires needed to be invited in freely and without duress.
“Right. Then, any time we needed money after that, we just learned to watch the streets for expensive suits. They always carried cash. Marco tried his hand at the stock market—”Called it,Logan thought, “—and we got kind of lucky, and now we’re… incredibly comfortable, to put it politely.” Mateo nods. “Still like to compel those rich fucks and take their cash sometimes, though. We don’t need it, but stuffing a couple of thousand in some minimum wage worker’s tip jar feels nice.”
Logan laughed because, of course, Mateo would compel people for fun, but then a thought struck him, making his stomach twist. “...Did you compel me? At the bar?”
Marco’s eyes widened, humor draining from his face in an instant, “No.Godno.” His voice was firm, response immediate. “We’dnevercompel someone to?—”
