Page 27 of Overexposed

“He may be able to lead people here, but I told Jan to take a confusing route and drop something about the building being in another area of town. It’s why I went downstairs, so I could talk to him without Charlie overhearing.”

My eyebrows flew up. “And you lied to me about that.”

Auris pinched his nose, a very human gesture I’d never seen on him. “Because I didn’t want Charlie to overhear.”

“Right. I don’t really care about that anyway. I do care that he tells people we are here. I care that you’re safe from murdering church people.”

Auris came into the room, dropped my notepad in the trash, and kneeled in front of me to grab my hands. “My sweet, your concern for me touches me deeply, but it is unnecessary. I can keep you safe, which is what matters. I know I have failed you before, I am very, very aware of that, but I will not let it happen again. You are the one I love. You are the one I will protect above all else. If it sets your mind at ease, know that I have a private investigator standing by to follow Charlie once he touches down in Heathrow. I do think he deserves to return to a normal life, but I am not fool enough to simply release him into the wild without keeping tabs.”

“Oh. Okay then,” I said.

Auris remained where he was, but he reached up, peeled my Band-Aid off. He dropped that in the trash as well, then bit his thumb with his inhumanly sharp teeth and dabbed at the wounds until I felt no more resistance from the puncture wounds under his finger, only unmarked skin.

“There. That’s better. How do you feel about joining me now?”

I nodded and let Auris pull me to my feet.

“You built another blanket nest,” I said when we got to the living room.

“Because you liked the last one,” Auris said and gently pushed me down into the middle of pillows and blankets he’d collected from the smaller sitting room, our bedroom, and the sunken living room.

“Aw. You defrosted the muffins as well?” I said and pointed at a large plate that contained the very same muffins I’d almost taken out of the freezer last night.

“I did, because you like those too.” Auris went over to the fireplace and started putting a fire together while I got comfortable and watched him.

As I did, fractured light twinkling against the living room window caught my attention, and I pulled the curtain open slightly. “Oh, it’s snowing. Look.”

I parted the curtain. Auris looked over. “It’s almost December, and looking to be a cold one,” he said, noisily putting another log on his pile. “It gives me an excellent excuse to keep you indoors. I’m looking forward to that, maybe bundle you up nice and warm once a week for some fresh air, but other than that, we’ll be spending winter inside.”

I chuckled and walked back to the blanket nest. “I like how you think. I’ll have to come clean to my dad, though.”

“About seeing someone?”

I nodded. “And then I have to tell him you’re some traveling salesman or something, and we’re spending the holidays in Europe. Oh, fuck. That’ll be a conversation.”

Auris added some kindling. “Your father loves you, Ethan. He will be happy for you. That being said, if you wish to spend the holidays there, we will make that happen. I’ll not keep you away from making memories of the people you love.”

I had to bite my lip and concentrate on keeping my breathing even, because tears had sprung to my eyes. “Okay,” I said when Auris, undoubtedly aware of my reaction, took his time reaching for the matches and selecting one he wanted. “All right. I’m sorry I ever let Charlie get to me. I don’t know why I did that. I tried to remember whether you’d been scary when we first met, and I’m sorry. I don’t think you are, but I do know you have some vampiric badassery in you.”

Auris struck the overlong match. “Ethan, I was very scary when we first met. I am aware, fully aware of that fact, always, just like how I am always aware… that you are you.”

I swallowed. “Human with… human hang-ups? And with issues about getting frightened for no good reason?”

He lit the fire, holding the match to the kindling and watching as it caught. “No. None of those. You are unafraid of being here with me, away from all things you once knew as home. You are brave to confront your fears, brave if a little too risk-taking for insisting on coming to the ossuary with me last night. You are fascinating to watch when you go into your own world, nothing but your camera for company. I’d like to think I can see your mind work sometimes, when I look at your photos, but I’m not sure I can. You are witty. And so sensual. I love when you allow yourself to relax into my touch, into my kisses. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so hot. And just now, when you looked out that window and looked at the snow, eyes wide with wonder? Ethan, you are a million little things that I am not or that I have long forgotten how to be, and I adore you for it. Not despite, never that. Because of.”

“Come here,” I said, voice rough and raw and rugged.

Auris did. I knew he would always come to me if I called him, would always do those things for me I asked him to do. And so would I.

Together in that blanket nest, we kissed and touched and nothing more. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but there was something about just sharing touch, about the intimacy that was to be had when you weren’t focused on getting naked and naughty together, that stirred something deep inside me. I wanted this, being held, being touched, bedded on pillows, and warmed by newly born fire. It was a little like a fairy tale, being here with my dark faerie prince, and I loved it.

I wasn’t sure how long all this lasted. I found myself thinking that I wouldn’t mind if time broke and we were stuck in front of this fire in a Groundhog loop, but at some point, while I listened to Auris’s heartbeat from where he’d offered me his chest as a pillow, my mind began to wander.

“Did you miss the sound of the ocean when you were in Aswan with Tove? Did you like hearing it from your room again that night you got back?”

Auris looped a strand of my hair around his index finger. “Are you asking me to continue that story, or should I tell you another, about the island, and about the clement autumn days we spent harvesting apples with bright red skin and the palest flesh beneath it?”

“Tell me about Owain,” I said, and with a sigh, Auris settled back into the telling of his story.

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