Page 34 of How to Bare Your Neck and Save a Wreck
It was Shane who finally bridged the gap, asking about the only thing he could know they had in common. “How is Maul?”
Andres ran a hand through his hair. “He asks about you every few days, but your lying low has helped; none of his goons have spotted you out and about. Hopefully they’ll ease off soon.”
“And then?”
“And then I don’t have to worry about you constantly.” He knew Shane would want a different answer, one that gave him the green light to keep writing about the black market blood trade, but as long as Maul was a fixture in his life—in the lives of so many of San Salud’s vampires—he didn’t know what other answer he could give. “Let’s focus on Vitalis-Barron. We find out enough about that, and you could probably even write an article on it.”
Shane grumbled under his breath, but his sullenness seemed more feather-ruffling than full on rejection.
“Maul is already pissed that our sales are plummeting. If I don’t do something, he will, and his target won’t be the big pharma researchers, it’ll be that little charity blood bank that’s giving away free bags in Ala Santa.” That, and his own employees. The ones who weren’t Andres, anyway.
“Sincerely, fuck Maul. Jose’sis such a wonderful place. I got the sense they’re really trying to do good there.”
“You’ve been?” Andres wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Shane had wormed himself into the vampire community’s cracks with a vengeance.
“I donated when they first opened—I’m not allowed to at regular blood banks, but they have vamps on staff there in case I got too low, and I had my insulin handy. I was going to return when I hit the 56-day mark. Though with you biting me regularly, I suppose I don’t have to wait for my blood to replenish the regular way?” He said it almost hesitantly, like he was waiting for Andres to object.
And a part of Andres wanted to—not in order to stop him, just to say the words:your blood is mine and mine alone.Butif Shane could help another vampire, one not so well off or long established as himself, then Andres would always support that. “If you want to keep donating, I’m fine with that. While my venom’s good, though, it’s not magic. You could probably go no more than every week or two—start with two, to be safe. And tell me when you do. I’ll take good care of you that night.”
“You’ll takecareof me, hmm?” It was soft and low, and so smooth that Andres couldn’t quite pinpoint the emotion behind it, but when he glanced over, the little tip of Shane’s mouth could have been a smirk.
“I…” Andres swallowed.
“That was my street,” Shane said.
Andres swerved before realizing he was far too deep into the intersection to turn.
Shane lifted a brow at him. “If you’re intending to chain me up in your bedroom after all, then you should know that I have a very disturbed cat and two entire human friends, one of whom will certainly come for you with a stake.”
Andres made a sound between a laugh and a snort. “Ah, yes, a vampire’s two worst fears: angry cat and pointy stick.”
As he turned at the next light, though, he couldn’t dislodge the sinking feeling in his gut. He had wanted that. Had wanted it, not like a joke or an excuse but a deep, burning desire, black and ugly, and dear god, he could never let Shane know. He pulled up in front of the apartment, and Shane popped the door open but continued just to sit there, glancing between the keys in the still-running engine and Andres.
“This is your apartment, isn’t it?” Andres asked, confused.
Shane scowled. “So you put me through all of that and you’re going to just drop me off and drive away?”
“I’m sorry?” Andres blinked. Did he want his room tidied again? Andres supposed that was an understandable retributionfor making him sit through a collar fitting without being sure exactly what it was for.
“Well, are you going to feed on me, or do you secretly have another human you’ve spent ten thousand dollars on?”
“I’ve been seeing you so consistently that I can skip a night or two,” Andres said. Besides, Shane was literally covering all the normal places Andres would have fed from. It made Andres want all the more to unfurl him, to make his little swan loosen for his fangs one shuddering muscle at a time. But it was beginning to genuinely terrify him that by doing so, he was hurting this brilliant, sharp, intimidating human who’d consumed his life like a raging comet. “I figure after everything I put you through tonight, you’d enjoy a break.”
“Why would I enjoy that?”
“Why wouldn’t you enjoy…?” It hit him finally like a sledgehammer. “Are you saying youwantme to bite you?”
Shane groaned, leaning both elbows against the car console, his head bowed and his palms cupping his neck. “My god, yes.”
Andres’s heart beat a little faster, hungrier. “But you’ve still been acting so on edge every time I do?”
If his doubts were wrong and Shane’s trembling, his whimpering, his quiet submission, were all signs of desire and not fear…
“Have you never been afraid to want something before?” Shane whispered, still cupping his neck as he leaned closer.
Andres’s skin felt as though it caught fire. “Every time I look at you,” he breathed.
“Then look at me.” Shane watched him as he said it, moving forward another inch. It felt like a thousand miles, like a star burning toward Andres at the speed of light. His own Cygnus constellation, dark eyes and lips outlined in the glow of the lamps and the passing cars. Shane still cupped his neck, arms tight and breath held.
