Page 15 of How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager
Disappointing, but fine. Understandable. Typical, even.
Vincent had grown accustomed to the idea that without the skill to seek out San Salud’s underground vampire community he would never find a partner in his state. A momentary blip of desire for shared intimacy was easy to shove back down. He could quietly want Wesley without the man ever knowing or reciprocating, and they would both survive. Probably.
Vincent stopped scrolling at a virtual dating meets murder-mystery game that promised scantily clad, tragically hot vampires. Themonster-fuckingdescriptor made him feel a little nauseous—not even in games where the vampires were meant to be sexy lovers instead of villains to kill were they viewed as anything less than malevolent—but with the logged number of hours played it was too intriguing to pass up. He lifted a brow at Wesley. “This one.”
“I will throw your ass into the sun first.”
“I won the bet. It’s my choice. Besides, the sun doesn’t come up for another…”
“You know what, Vinny?”
“Yes?”
“I think I kind of hate you.” But Wes grinned, cradling his controller like he meant business. “Let’s fall in love with some vampires.”
At that moment, there was nothing Vincent wanted Wesley to do more.
5
It turned out that video games were just one more item for Vincent to add to his list of everything he enjoyed about Wesley. The man smelled good. He tasted good. He looked good. And he was positively glowing when he really got into a game. It didn’t even seem to matter that this was a slutty-pics-first, plot-second style story with more drama than fighting and none of it easily effectible. Wesley still yelled at the romanceable characters for turning him down and strategized his way through every flirtation option and cheered when the vampire they’d been putting the most effort into stood up for their shared player character during an overly-dramatic bar fight. That outcome left both their character and the potential lover fleeing the police while half clothed. The whole time the vampire fought his natural instincts to feed from the player character’s scraped chin and fuck them in a pushy, almost threatened kind of way that didn’t seem quite consensual to Vincent.
“That’s not realistic,” Vincent reassured Wes. “The feeding instinct, a bit, but it’s not like every time I smell blood I also have to have sex with the person.”
“I know. I mean, I figured, since you haven’t tried to, you know, bodice rip me or something.”
Vincent choked, almost choosing the game’s blatantly wrong dialogue option. “I did notice you have a shelf of those.”
“They were my mom’s. I’ve only read a couple of them. And most of those weren’t bad, just saying.” Wes’s shoulders bounced like he couldn’t care less what Vincent thought, but the defensiveness of his expression still won out. “And you know, some people think this kind of rough, pushy sex makes for a hot fantasy. And it’s not like they want to be forced into sex in real life, or force anyone else; it’s just the concept of it. It’s hot to dream of being undone by some sexy growling fiend who justhasto have you. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
He didn’t look over for the next two game chapters. Vincent had almost brought the topic back up just to be sure Wesley didn’t think he was judging him, but by the time they shut the console off, Wes was yawning so heavily he seemed to have forgotten everything but the concept of a bed. Vincent all but kicked himself out so the human would feel comfortable sleeping. As he stepped onto the front stoop, Wes stopped him.
“Since you didn’t feed on me, do you still need blood?” His expression remained natural, but there was an edge of concern in his voice.
“I can go a night without it.” Once the hunger bothered Vincent enough, he’d have to sneak back into someone’s room, but he’d been feeding consistently since he found Wesley, so he figured he could last another day or two.
“Well, let me get your number then. For next time.”
Next time. Vincent bit the edge of his lip as he typed it into Wes’s contacts list, trying to ignore all the ways his heart wanted to make this out to be more than it was. So what if Wes had enjoyed the evening? It didn’t mean that he wouldn’t grow bored or annoyed with Vincent in a week or two.
“My phone’s hit or miss, though. Something’s wrong with my service, I think,” Vincent added as he handed the phone back, because that was easier than explaining he didn’t always have a place to charge it.
Wes nodded groggily. “Let’s plan for something now then. Same time next night you’re off?”
“That would be Tuesday.”
“Same time Tuesday, then.”
Vincent swore he sounded just a little disappointed.
5
Their night left a flutter in Vincent’s chest all the way back to the cemetery.
After the warmth and glow of Wesley’s little house, everywhere else seemed stiff and empty, but Vincent held tightly to his contentment. It reemerged on and off the rest of the night, bringing with it the memory of Wesley’s grin and the way being with him, in his home, in his life, had felt so light and comfortable by the end. It was more than attraction—more than a crush, even. Being with Wes had reminded Vincent of what it was like to have a life. To have friends. To have the safety just to relax and enjoy the moment.
Vincent had missed that so much more than he had realized.
But he tried not to let it distract him. This friendship with Wesley was momentary. The man had already proved that his life was a spontaneous array of excitement and nonsense, and he’d lose interest in Vincent eventually, move on to werewolves or fae or something even more rare or just outright mythological. Whenever that happened, Vincent still needed to have necks to bite, constant shelter from the sun, and some kind of job to keep him fed and clothed. Even if those necks weren’t as handsome as Wesley’s or the shelter as cozy.
