Steal the Day (10 page)

“Okay, I got tired of waiting and invited Chad to dinner,” Neil said with a look of hopeful anticipation on his face.

I let out a deep breath. Chad I could handle. “Please tell me you don’t expect me to cook, and I’ll be fine with it.”

“As if. Honey, you can barely microwave soup. I will be thrilling our audience with my amazing manicotti
al forno
, a spinach salad, garlic bread, and I made a raspberry cheesecake.”

“This is why I let you live with me.” My stomach rumbled at the thought.

“Let me? You couldn’t live without me.” Neil sat down on the couch next to me. He was wearing neatly pressed jeans and a lavender polo. He sat closer than I would have felt comfortable with any other male friend, but that contact was necessary to Neil, and I had come to find it soothing. I let my hand find his. “So, are you going to ask or should I just tell you and we can pretend you don’t care?”

“How is he?”

He sighed, clasping my hand in his. “He’s all right, Z. The first day was touchy, but he’s going to be fine. I think Alexander was wrong about keeping you away. Daniel wouldn’t have attacked you. He was so weak, but he was back in his right mind. He wanted you, Zoey. Not the beast. Daniel wanted you. He looked so sad.”

“It’s the guilt,” I replied, Neil’s account verifying my worst fears.

“I don’t think so. I mean, it’s in there, but it’s more than that. He loves you.”

“He craves me.”

Neil pulled away, his eyes rolling. “What the hell does it matter? I don’t get it, Zoey, I really don’t. You have this guy who would do anything for you, who loves you to the bottom of his soul, and you go sleep with Dev. Don’t get me wrong. If Dev was gay, I’d be in his pants in a hot minute. He’s spectacular, but he’s not the guy you spend a life with.”

“I don’t think what Daniel feels for me is love.” That was my deepest fear—that neither one of us could trust our feelings.

“It feels like it. If this isn’t love, then screw love, I’ll take this.” Neil took a long breath, tears in his clear blue eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

A rueful smile crossed his face. “I fed him for two days, Z, and there’s not a mark on my body. I feel fantastic.”

“You took his blood.” I remembered how good just a sip of Daniel’s blood could make me feel. It made me feel younger, faster, and stronger.

“More than I’ve taken before. The effect was stronger than ever.” Neil was Daniel’s servant. He’d taken a blood oath to serve the vampire years before. In exchange for his loyalty, Neil received weekly blood from Danny. That blood had taken Neil from werewolf runt to badass. “Did Daniel tell you how I was when Harry found me?”

I nodded. Daniel needed backup after he came home from his training with the Council, and my dad found Neil living on the streets. In the normal course of the world, werewolves and vampires rarely mix. The were community is insular by nature. Even the different species tend not to date or be friendly.

But Neil was different. He was rejected by his family because he liked boys. There is no GLAAD—werewolf chapter. He was an embarrassment to his family, and they kicked him to the curb. Perhaps if they left it at that, he would never have accepted Danny’s offer but no, they had to get mean. Neil had become the pack’s whipping boy. My father found him after a particularly brutal episode.

“You don’t know what it’s like living on the street, wondering where you’re going to get your next meal and which of the people around you is going to try to kill you next. I wasn’t strong then. I did things I don’t like to think about now. I did them to survive, but it didn’t make me hate myself less. I sold myself, Zoey.”

I leaned forward and took his hand. I didn’t give a shit what he’d done. I was just glad he’d made it. “I don’t care.”

He laughed a little. “I know. It’s one of the reasons I love you, but there are others. I was shut down before I met Daniel. I didn’t care about anyone or anything except surviving to the next day. I told Daniel I’d be his whore if he’d just save me. Blood, sex, whichever way he wanted it, I offered it all.”

I smiled because I was sure that had been an uncomfortable conversation for Daniel.

“Obviously, that wasn’t part of our agreement,” Neil continued. “But that blood of his, god, Zoey, you know what I mean. I was a different person after a few weeks. I was stronger in every way. I was confident. I liked myself again. I didn’t really understand what was going on until the day I met you. It was then I realized how important it is to love a person. I take Daniel’s blood once a week. We have a connection. When I saw you for the first time, I felt my heart open up in a way it never had before. For a minute, I thought I’d found the one woman who could make me straight. Then I realized it wasn’t me. It was Daniel. I felt an echo of what he feels when he looks at you. God, Zoey, you’re the sun in his sky. If that isn’t love, then I don’t know what you want.”

My heart hurt just thinking about it. “He’s programmed to feel that way, Neil. A vampire wants a companion. It’s as simple as that.”

“We all have our addictions.” Neil shook his head, obviously disappointed. “I hope you wake up soon, Z. I don’t say that because I think Daniel won’t wait forever. I say it because I’m pretty damn sure he will.”

Neil walked back toward the kitchen, and I wished I could give him a better answer. This ache in my heart was what had sent me to Dev in the first place. Daniel spent two years pushing me away, and I finally understood why. He hadn’t trusted his feelings then any more than I trusted mine now.

“Hey, go make yourself presentable,” Neil commanded from the kitchen. “I laid out some very nice clothes for you, and for god’s sake, put on some makeup. Oh, and a scarf around that neck of yours, please.”

I groaned because I thought it would require more than makeup and a scarf to make me look good tonight.

* * * *

“Dinner was delicious, Neil.” Chad pushed his plate away. He was an affable man of twenty-seven, dressed in olive slacks and a silk shirt. He’d obviously worn a tie at some point in the day, but had discarded it in favor of a casual chic this evening. He was well-groomed and well-manicured. His haircut was on trend and probably required more product than mine. If he wasn’t gay, then he was one of the most metro guys in Dallas.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Neil replied with a smile. “I like to cook. It’s a particular talent of mine.”

“Yeah, that Neil is a great cook,” I said, playing my assigned part. My part was to make Neil seem like a domestic god. “There isn’t a night that goes by that he doesn’t come up with something fabulous.”

It wasn’t true. Neil was a great cook, but I didn’t mention that he was also incredibly lazy and preferred to order in most of the time.

Chad smiled across the table at Neil, definitely impressed with his skills.

The dinner conversation revealed a lot about Chad Thomas. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d met an actual, plain old ordinary human guy. If I met a human in any capacity beyond talking to someone while in line at Starbucks, they were usually in the life. They were thieves like me or looking to hire one. They didn’t sit and talk openly about their lives. They didn’t talk about their careers as lawyers or how much they liked dogs. Neil was particularly happy with that last tidbit Chad had dropped. If he’d been a cat person, that might have been a deal breaker.

Neil stood up, gathering plates. “Let me go grab dessert.”

I glanced at the clock, and my heart sank a little bit. I shouldn’t have expected anything less. It was almost a full hour since the sun disappeared. Part of me hoped Daniel would come out as soon as he was released. He was, undoubtedly, locked in his apartment sulking. Or maybe he’d found those cheap hookers he’d talked about.

“Wow,” Chad said, his brown eyes widening. “That looks like it hurts.”

My hand flew to the scarf I’d tied around my neck. Without Daniel’s blood, I healed like an everyday person, and the holes he’d left were transitioning from horrifying to merely disgusting. My fingers quickly redid the knot, and I blushed as I tried to find a good excuse. What was a reasonable explanation for the black and blue monstrosity that was my neck? There wasn’t one so I gave him a creative piece of crap that should let him know it wasn’t his business. “Bugs, man they get big out here in the country, don’t they?”

“That’s a bug bite?” He leaned forward, trying to get a better look.

“Oh, yeah, and let me tell you those suckers hurt,” I replied with a smile as Neil brought forth the raspberry cheesecake.

He’d barely set it down when the front door slammed open. Daniel stalked through the doorway carrying four long boxes on his shoulders. It was way more than even a built man like Danny should be able to carry. He put them in the entryway and walked back outside without a word. It took less time than it should for him to be back with more.

I had to catch his attention or he might scare our guest, who wasn’t used to super speed. “Hello, Danny.”

He caught sight of the three of us and stopped, finally letting his senses tell him what they should have told him long before now. “We have company?”

“This is Chad,” Neil said and introductions were made.

“Nice to meet you, Chad,” Daniel managed. “I have some more boxes to bring in. Don’t let me interrupt your dinner.”

Chad’s eyes were wide as Daniel turned. Oh, yeah, no question about it now. He was gay. “Who was that?”

Neil didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Chad was nearly drooling. “That’s Zoey’s husband, Daniel. If you think he’s hot, you should meet her boyfriend. I practically stop breathing when he walks in a room. He’s sex on two legs.”

I gave Neil my best “you’re going to die later” stare and got up from the table to follow Daniel outside. Stepping around the boxes littering my foyer, I made my way to the front yard.

“You bought my flooring,” I said with a happy smile. He was here, and he wasn’t telling me to stay away. It was progress.

“Yeah, well, turns out Visa works at Home Depot and hand-scraped hardwood is supposed to be good at alleviating the gut-gnawing guilt I feel at nearly draining my wife.” His eyes slid away, but there wasn’t any bitterness in his words, just a sheepish regret.

“You don’t take the same lessons from these episodes that I do.” I picked up his tool box from the back of the truck he was driving. He’d traded in his Benz for a truck after I’d pretty much destroyed it earlier this year. The truck was more useful anyway. He ducked into the cab and came back with a small thermos. I didn’t have to ask what it was.

Daniel handed me the cup of the thermos. He held it out, and I could see he was hoping I wouldn’t fight him on it. “And what do you take from the times when I nearly kill you?”

“That you never do.” I took the cup and drank it down. I didn’t have any desire to spend weeks waiting for my neck to heal. I tried not to sigh with pleasure as I felt the blood start to work. I suddenly wasn’t as tired as I’d been before. “That you always find a way. We always find a way.”

I untied the scarf around my neck, feeling the smooth skin there.

Daniel stopped on the porch and smiled, leaning the last box against the wall. “All right, Pollyanna, we’ll play it your way. Maybe it’s time to trust ourselves. Did I bother to thank you for saving me? You know, I’m supposed to be this big bad vampire, but I get my ass saved by a girl an awful lot. What does that say about me?”

“That you’re fortunate in your choice of companions?”

He leaned forward and kissed me swiftly. This time I didn’t really try to get away. “I am that, Z. Now, I need to go pull up that god-awful carpet of yours. Who installs lime green carpet?”

“You don’t owe me anything, Daniel.” I might have saved him once or twice, but it didn’t even start to equal the tally sheet he’d run up saving me.

He held up a hand in protest. “You let me work this out my way. You said I’m not allowed to run and hide, and I’m not allowed to act like an asshole to cover up my guilt. So I’m left with installing flooring. Besides, after the last couple of days, I need to do something manly, baby. I was stuck in some homoerotic nightmare where dudes held me down and forced me to feed from another dude.”

I couldn’t help laughing. Vampirism was forcing Daniel to look at his sexuality in a whole different light. “Neil’s very effeminate,” I pointed out. He was. Sometimes he stole my underwear.

“Not helping, Zoey.” Daniel walked back into the house. He was moving furniture around when I followed. He looked over at me and slowly stripped off his T-shirt, revealing that magnificent chest of his. It was ripped and tapered into a six-pack that made my mouth water. He shrugged, satisfied I’d noticed. “I know you like a show with dinner, baby,” he said, then went back to his work.

“So that’s your husband?” Chad stood beside me, watching the way the muscles of Daniel’s back bunched. I couldn’t blame him. It was an enticing sight.

“That’s him.” I let my gaze slide down to Daniel’s very nice backside.

I saw he wanted to ask about my boyfriend, but he was far too polite. “Well, Neil said we should retire to the back porch. It’s a lovely night. He would like to serve dessert al fresco. He’s making coffee. He said he’d be out in a minute.”

Chad held his arm out in a courtly gesture, and I allowed him to lead me through the house toward the back door. I loved my backyard. There was no fence, just two acres of land lush with trees. It made up for the commute I had to make into the city. It was peaceful and I felt a calm out here that I could never get in Dallas. I’d taken particular pains to make the back porch of my sturdy old farmhouse inviting. There was an entire set of plush patio furniture to lounge on while I watched the sun set or rise, and I tried to do at least one of those a day. But what I loved more than anything else was the antique porch swing Daniel had refinished and installed. I let Chad lead me to the swing and contentedly started to rock.

“Hey, what happened to the bug bite?” Chad asked, leaning forward to inspect my now perfect-looking neck. “It’s completely gone. That’s amazing. How did you do that?”

I hadn’t really thought about that when I’d downed the blood Daniel handed me. All I cared about at the time was clearing up my bruise and not having Daniel feel bad every time he looked at me. This was why we didn’t date everyday humans. In the course of one evening, we’d had to hide or explain away too many odd incidents. As I looked at Chad, I knew what Neil wanted but I wasn’t sure it was ever going to work. Neil was a werewolf. He couldn’t hide that forever, and I was pretty sure he didn’t even want to.