“Milo?” I knocked cautiously but didn’t dare open the door. This was weird considering Milo and I usually just burst into each other rooms. We had never any reason for propriety before this Bobby character had come into our lives.

I was about to knock again when Bobby opened the door. He wore pajama bottoms and nothing else, revealing his heavily tattooed torso. Something in Latin was scrawled across his chest, and ivy wound about just above his pubic area, not to mention about a million others that I didn’t have a chance to study. He hadn’t flat ironed his dark hair, so it stood up in a crazy mess, but he looked to have been awake for awhile.

“He’s still asleep,” Bobby whispered and crept out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him so we wouldn’t disturb Milo. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Uh, maybe, I guess,” I said. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to protect his bare skin from the chill of the house, and I wondered why he hadn’t just put on a shirt. “Do you know where Jack is?”

“Kinda, actually,” Bobby nodded, looking pleased to be able to help. “They had some emergency business thing. I didn’t understand exactly, but the stocks were going crazy and they had to go fix it. Ezra and Jack left a few hours ago, and I think Peter was already on his way there. They should only be there for a day or two.”

“How do you know all this stuff?”

“Oh, cause I have insomnia,” Bobby smiled a little. “It kinda works out having a vampire for a boyfriend, but he still sleeps, and I don’t.” He shrugged at the humor in it, but I wasn’t sure if I found anything about him fun or charming.

“I see.”

Matilda finally decided neither of us were Jack nor were we suitable replacements, so she wandered down the hall. I watched her walk away, then went back to staring awkwardly at Milo’s half-naked boyfriend.

He smelled delicious, but I didn’t really want to eat him. I counted that as a good sign, but I didn’t like him. Still, I didn’t really want to go back to my room just yet.

“So, are you up for the day?” Bobby asked.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Cool. Let me just get a shirt,” he said, as if I had invited him to do something. I nodded and waited for him, like I thought I had invited him too.

Bobby disappeared briefly into the room before coming out with a slim-fitting zippered hoodie hanging open. I tried to peer around him to see what Milo’s bedroom looked like now that he was sharing it with someone else, but Bobby barely opened the door. I’m not sure if he was trying to hide something, or if he was just trying to respect Milo’s sleep. Either way, I decided that I didn’t trust him.

- 16 -

“I was gonna get something to eat,” Bobby said, zipping up his hoodie. He didn’t do it all the way to the top, but from what I could tell about his penchant for low V-neck shirts, he was a big fan of showing off his chest tattoos.

Not that I blamed him really. Bobby was actually very attractive. If I was still human and didn’t have Jack and didn’t know that he was shagging my brother, I’d probably think he was hot.

“I wasn’t, but that’s probably better for you.” I was kind of joking, but I was also trying to sound kinda threatening. Just as a reminder that if he hurt my brother, I could totally kill him.

“Right.” He gave a small laugh and went downstairs. I went with him, because really, I had nothing better to do. “So… do you ever miss food?”

“Not really,” I shrugged, following him into the kitchen. “It’s hard to explain. I remember the way food tasted, and I kinda crave it. But when I think about eating it, I feel nauseous. Besides that, blood tastes a million times better than any food ever could.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Bobby crinkled his nose at the thought of drinking blood, which I found distasteful. I knew he let Milo drink his blood, and he enjoyed it. It seemed kind of hypocritical.

“Whatever.” I pulled a stool up to the kitchen island and sat down while he rummaged around in the fridge.

“I’ve always been partial to a bagel with cream cheese.” He got said foods out of the fridge and popped the bagel in a toaster. “I don’t think I could ever give it up, so I guess being a vampire is out for me.”

He was trying to make a joke, I’m sure, but it sounded like a stupid thing to be a deal breaker for immortality, especially considering that eternity would be with Milo.

Bobby leaned against the counter, waiting for the bagel to pop up, and an uncomfortable silence settled over us. I was thinking my day would be much better spent watching the newest season of Dexter on DVD in Jack’s room. I had been slowly working my way through the whole series since Jack constantly raved about it.

“So… you don’t really like me,” Bobby said after his bagel popped up. He spread cream cheese thick all over it and didn’t look at me. “I don’t blame you.”

“Why? Low self-esteem?” I said flippantly.

“Kinda, but that’s not what I meant.” He took a big bite of his bagel and turned to face me. He swallowed it before continuing. “I get it. Milo is your little brother, and he’s pretty young and inexperienced. And I’m older, and I do kinda have that bad boy vibe, even though I am clearly not a bad boy.”

With the tattoos and dark features, Bobby did have a rebel without a cause thing going on, but after the way I had seen him cowering around Milo in the club last night, I could say with complete certainty that Bobby was not a bad boy in any real sense of the word.

“Those things are true,” I said carefully.

“And I am human, which is dangerous in a way for vampires,” Bobby said. “I mean, he’s stronger and more powerful than I am, but I complicate things for him in a lot of different ways, and I know that.”

“If you know that then why are you with him?” I asked, not unkindly.

“That’s a good question.” It was such a good question that he had to finish the entire bagel so he could think it over. Finally, he swallowed the last bite and leaned back against the kitchen counter. “I don’t want to tell you.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” I warned him icily.

“No, it’s not…” He shook his head. “You’ll think I’m just under the spell, that one that vampires put humans under, and it’s not that.” He paused a second. “It sounds cheesy and like an easy excuse and everything… but we’re in love.”