Page 58 of Blood and Bone
“What?” Eoghan asked.
“Nothing.” Ari turned his attention to Champayne, pressing his hand on the glass. The vampire reached up and touched his on the glass. “Beauregard, it was very nice meeting you. I hope it’s not the last time.”
“It was my great pleasure, Marshal Brown,” Champayne said, stepping back and bowing low.
Ari gave him a little nod and then turned, joining Eoghan and Smith to head down the corridor.
“What is it?” Eoghan asked. “I know you’re thinking something, Ari. I can see the wheels turning in your brain.”
“Well, I’m thinking a couple of things. First, it’s kind of hard for me to imagine how isolated and dispirited Beauregard is and all because he’s got a kind of unique fetish. Then again, what do I know about fetishes?” Ari said.
“You’ve never done something kinky in the sack?” Eoghan asked.
Ari eyeballed Smith whose lips were pressed tightly together, clearly trying not to smile. “Well, no, Eoghan, unless you count the time a guy asked me to pee on him.”
Eoghan snorted, and Smith joined him. “How did that go?” Eoghan asked.
Ari smirked. “I told him I’d just gone but if he gave me a cup of coffee, we’d wait twenty minutes and I’d see what I could do.”
Eoghan and Smith laughed. “All right, you said there was something else? Please tell me it has nothing to do with kink.”
Ari snorted and took Eoghan’s elbow as they followed Smith. By the time the jailer had opened the final outer door and they’d stepped out into the wide corridor where Woolworth had first brought them to meet Champayne, Ari was practically vibrating with excitement. He waited for Smith to shut the door before turning to Eoghan.
“I have an idea,” he said to his partner before looking at Smith. “Do any of your inmates have cellmates?”
“Cellmates?” Smith asked, frowning.
“What are you getting at, Ari?” Eoghan asked.
Ari tossed him a grin before eyeing up Smith. “Please…just answer the question.”
“Well, yeah. We don’t have a lot of space here, so if it’s safe…I mean some shifters you can’t mix with others. But yeah, if it’s safe, I double up sometimes. What are you getting at?”
“Champayne doesn’t have a cellmate, right?”
“No. We can’t double up a vamp with anyone but another vamp, and those two come from different clans and—”
“But, what if youdidhave a willing shifter?” Ari asked, doing everything he could to keep from bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Well, yeah, then, I guess. Hell, maybe that’d work but who in their right mind would want to share a cell with a blood sucking—”
“Toe sucker?” Ari answered him.
“Ari…what—?”
“He’s a blood sucking, toe sucking, vampire,” Ari said. “Let’s be honest here.” He pointed at the door barring them from the cellblock. “In there you have…oh, let me see, a few shifters who might want to—”
“No!” Eoghan practically shouted. He seemed to realize he’d just yelled, so he lowered his voice. “You can’t be serious!Even if a shifter wanted their toes sucked, how would that look to—”
“I’m down,” Smith interrupted.
“What?” Eoghan and Ari both asked at once, looking at the jailer.
“I’m totally down with that. If you guys don’t care if I pair up a shifter with Champayne, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I know why the vamp’s here, and I think it’s tragic. He’s completely harmless. Frankly, I think he’s the nicest inmate I have back there.” He pointed at the door with his thumb.
“Good,” Ari said. He glance at Eoghan and grinned widely before raising his eyebrows at Smith. “How’s the…ah…centipede shifter you have back there? Is he a nice guy or is he a violent offender?”
Eoghan made a choking sound low in his throat before he stared at Ari with bulging eyes. “Are you insane?”