Page 22 of How to Bare Your Neck and Save a Wreck
The last twenty-four hours had wiped Andres completely from Shane’s mind, but the memory he did have of them was a fond one, a little quirk coming into his lips at the recollection. Shane had his vampire—or his vampire hadhim, anyway—and the mere thought of wanting someone else felt oddly like a betrayal.
But he’d only asked Andres for friendship.
And if Shane finally had one friend again, perhaps he could have two.
10
ANDRES
Shane still didn’t know who he was.
It left a giddy, anxious bubble in Andres’s chest, something so conflicted that he wasn’t sure what to do with it. He knew this was the right choice. The way his little swan had relaxed, breathless and eager—Andres doubted that would last once he realized the dark and sexy vampire who owned his blood was the same person who’d stumbled into him, sobbing, at the Fishnettery.
And he both loved and hated that. As much as he thrived on the dramatics and the mystery of the mask, a part of him was beginning to despise the fact that it had turned out this way. There was no world where they’d flirted at the Fishnettery instead, just as there wasn’t one where Shane lay, bare and lovely, on Andres’s bed, a little gilded collar around his neck and bite marks branding every prominent vein. It was no use dreaming about things he would never have.
Anyway, Shane had given him enough to fantasize about as it was. The thought of his Cygnus pressed to the doorframe—melting beneath his bite, making thatsound—
Andres tried to force the memory aside as he pulled into the little garage beneath his townhouse and entered through the remodeled kitchen—granite counters and second-hand stainless steel appliances, a few of which he’d stolen from a particularlyawful neighbor and had no regrets about—past the otherwise modern living room with an ancient sewing machine stashed in the corner, the shelf at its side filled with leather scraps and lace that he was hoping to incorporate into a pair of pants.
His princess merped at him from her hammock on the landing, and he gave her a quick pet.
His phone chimed.
Hell Creature Extraordinaire
Hey dork bitch, send me cat pics.
His cousin had incredible timing. He sighed.
Cat Mom
Give me one good reason, demon child.
Not that she was technically a child any longer, but no matter how far they drifted, she would always be that hilarious, chaotic kid he’d spent his teenage years bandaging up.
Hell Creature Extraordinaire
I’m nice to you?
Cat Mom
You literally just proved the contrary.
Hell Creature Extraordinaire
I affirm your gender.
Cat Mom
That’s the bare minimum for anyone.
Hell Creature Extraordinaire
I’ll send you spider gifs until you cave.
Andres grimaced at the thought. Over the course of their lives, he and his cousin had learned the hard way that his abhorrence of spiders was rivaled only by her own love for them. He knewher too well to cave to such a hollow threat though, and he’d worked under Maul’s constant fear tactics long enough that hers hardly fazed him.
Cat Mom
