Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Accord is well respected,” Beau replied. “Expensive, but that’s not a problem for most Vampires.”
“You get what you pay for,” I reminded him. “It’s not like Noah and Mr. Miranda are getting rich or anything. He’s still teaching asshole teenagers math.”
“You used to be one of those asshole teenagers.”
“I was a fucking delight.”
“I bet.”
“I think he always liked me because I said what was on my mind,” I mused. “He’s always been kind of quiet. So, what about you? Did you always want to be a commando?”
Beau scoffed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “It’s expected unless a Vampire is a genius or something and can serve some other way until they find their mate. It was part of the alliance that Vampires and humans made. I think it was originally set up to keep humans from looking too close at the Vampires who were mated. I liked it okay. I was good at it.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Live a life of leisure,” he teased. “Take up golf.”
“I can’t see you golfing.”
“I’d be excellent at golf.”
“Have you ever done it?”
“No.”
I snorted.
“I’m not sure what I’ll do,” he mused. “My parents run a couple of charities, and I could go that route. My brothers still haven’t found their mates—maybe something with that.”
“Like, research?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, his eyes unfocused. “I’m good with computers.”
“Just for your brothers?” I asked when his words trailed off. “Or would you help other Vampires search?”
“Just an idea,” he said nonchalantly. “I’m not even sure what kind of parameters we could use to narrow down the searches.”
“Noodle on it.”
“What?”
“You know, think it over.”
“Strange expression.”
“You’ve lived forever, and you’ve really never heard that expression?” I asked skeptically.
“I’ve lived a long time,” he said wryly. “I haven’t lived everywhere.”
“I bet you’ve been a lot more places than me,” I replied, tucking my hands under the pillow. “I’ve never even been out of the state.”
“Really?”
“Never had the money,” I replied with a shrug. “I mean, I make enough to live well enough, but it’s not like I’ve got the cash to go to London or something.”
Beau’s shoulders tensed before relaxing again. “Is that where you’d like to go? London?”
“London,” I agreed. “There’s a castle in Germany I’d like to see. The Colosseum in Rome. There’s so much history in Europe, you know? Everything there is old.”
“Ah, you like antiques,” he said, laughter in his voice.
“I see where you’re going with this,” I replied, smiling.
“We’ll travel,” he promised. “Where do you want to go first?”
My mouth opened and closed like a guppy.
“We’ve already discussed that I can afford it,” he reminded me.
“I have to work,” I said finally.
Beau looked at me like I’d grown two heads.
“I mean, I’d have to get the time off,” I mumbled. “There are only two techs. It’s not like I could just take off.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that,” he replied carefully.
“I already told you I wasn’t going to quit my job.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Then what is there to talk about?”
“At this point, you’re still uncomfortable if we aren’t in the same room for more than twenty minutes.”
“Yeah, but that’ll fade.”
“It hasn’t yet.”
“Well, it has to because I’m going back tomorrow.”
“You think that’s wise?”
“I think I have a responsibility, and it’s shitty for me to leave Noah in the lurch because I can’t be away from my boyfriend for more than a few minutes.”
“Mate,” he corrected.
“Whatever.”
“Not whatever.”
“I have to go back tomorrow,” I repeated, a little flutter of panic rising in my chest.
I’d been taking care of myself my entire life. I’d had a full-time job since I was seventeen years old. The thought of taking days off of work without notice and, more importantly, using the paid days off I’d earmarked for an emergency made me sick to my stomach.
Beau sighed and nodded.
“Did you really just give up?”
“It’s your decision,” he replied. “You’re an adult.”
“You’re right, I am,” I said firmly.
“How do you feel when people say I told you so?” he asked curiously.
I glared. “Try it and find out.”
“Noted.”
“So, how does this immortality thing work?” I asked after a few moments of quiet. “Because your mom doesn’t look twenty-two. I mean, she doesn’t look almost two hundred years old, but—”
“Parents age as their children do,” Beau explained. “So, they started aging when Ambrose was born and stopped when Zeke hit maturity.”
I thought about it for a moment. “They don’t look fifty and sixty.”
“They don’t age at the same rate as humans,” Beau said with a chuckle. “But they do age.”
“Huh.” I thought about it for a few minutes. “But what if they had more kids now? Would they keep getting older?”
“Impossible.”
“I don’t know. Your mom looks pretty capable of having more kids. She seems barely older than us.”
“There’s a ten-year window after a mating bond is formed when Vampires and their mates can have children. After that, we’re no longer fertile.”