Page 60 of Heartbeat Girl
“So you’re…” She started counting on her fingers when she looked at me.
My chest tightened at the way her brows knitted together. She wanted to learn about me. Her curiosity was for me. Not Steve. Not Pete.Me.
“I’m fifty-nine,” I said.
She dropped her hands. “Wow, you guys areold.But not vampire novel old where everyone has lived centuries. You’re almost grandpa old.”
Pete and Steve chuckled, but I couldn’t laugh.
“Jayne.” I stepped closer. “Do I look like an elderly person? But if you feel the need, you can help me into bed.”
Her cheeks reddened. “What bed? You don’t sleep.”
“You can feed me too,” I whispered.
The laughter ceased.
She pushed me and bolted into the bathroom. “Stop trying to scare me just because I called you a grandpa.”
“I thought you stopped running?” I called through the door.
“You haven’t given me a reason to run in a while,” she muttered.
“What did I say?” I feigned ignorance. “You said you’re in charge of our meals? Am I wrong?”
“Go away, Liam. Can I do my business without you listening?”
Grinning, I left her alone. When I plopped down on the couch, Steve glowered. I said, “Don’t.”
“She just found out, and you’re bringing up drinking from her?” Steve asked.
“I was joking.” I sighed.
“Were you?” His brow lifted.
“Yes. I’d never ask that of her.”
I wouldn’t bring up my wicked ideas or my selfish wants. Not until Jayne knew she belonged to me.
“But if she wanted it…” Steve’s eyes narrowed as he trailed off.
“Let me put it this way, Steve, so you realize the difference between what I want and you want from Jayne. If she’d give herself to me, she’d get me in return.”
He scoffed. “Jayne’s already had you. She’s hadallof us on her side and doesn’t know it.” I pondered punching Steve’s face before he added, “But if Marilyn wakes, she’ll have no one. Jayne won’t have us because we don’t even belong to us when our sire is awake. We’re puppets who got lucky and trapped their puppeteer.”
“Steve’s right.” Pete exhaled. “With Jayne in the picture….”
Neither had to say more. I understood what they meant. With Jayne, everything was different. It wasn’t just our lives at stake, anymore. We had to take care of Marilyn permanently. As much as it pained me to admit it, Pete and Steve cared for Jayne in their own way. Jealous consumed me with Jayne. A new feeling for me—one I had to get under control. Jayne wasmygirl, but she was also something special to the guys.
Whether I wanted to acknowledge it, she was a part of us. A frail human paved a place in my beatless heart, but her friendship with the two people I considered my brothers was equally important. It was a companionship we all needed. There was no walking away from the tears Jayne showed us the night we all met. It changed everything and set me down a path in search of Jayne after she left the apartments I put her in.
The bathroom door creaked open. I looked up in time to see Jayne tiptoeing toward the bedroom. She caught me staring and stood straight. “What?” she muttered as she studied me. “What’s with you? You look a little scary.”
“I’m thinking about the first time I met you,” I told her.
“In the hallway at Black Hearts?” She frowned. “Why?”
One day, Jayne, I’ll give back the memories I stole…