Page 98 of Double Shot

I found the cleaning spray and scrubbed everything down to make sure it wasn’t sticky, then, after a few moments of hesitation, placed what was left of the cake back in the fridge. I was worried that if I threw it out, Klaus would get upset again.

Once the kitchen was clean, I collected the empty beer bottles from outside and rinsed them out in the sink, locked the back door, and put the bottle of prosecco Dan and Rafe had brought in the fridge. By the time I got back into the living room, Klaus was curled up on his side under the blanket, fast asleep.

His face was still blotchy and tear-stained, hair a tangled mess, and his breaths were the shallow, raspy ones of someone who’d been exhausted and had fallen asleep fast.

I knelt in front of the couch to make sure the blanket was tucked tight around him, then leaned down to press a lingering kiss to his temple. I didn’t want to disturb him, so after blowing out the candles in here and turning off all the lamps but one, in case he woke up in the night to an unfamiliar setting, I stretched out as best I could on the armchair.

It wasn’t remotely comfortable, but I’d had worse nights. At least I got to look at Klaus, his face soft and slack in sleep, until my eyes got too heavy to stay open.

Chapter 34

Team-Building Day

Brian

After another weekend of shows, during which I performed three times, the day I’d been dreading for weeks finally reared its ugly head.

Team-building day.

We’d been told to congregate around the back of the office building when we got to work on Monday morning. Holt had hired a private bus to take us as a group to the community centre, and when I arrived, it was already there. The driver was a lampyr—I could smell the lemon scent all lampyrs gave off under the acrid stench of the cigarette he was smoking as he leaned against the side of the bus, looking very bored.

Most of the others were already here, including the custodial crew, the bar staff, David the commentator and Ludo. I’d tried to time my arrival as close to our leaving time as possible without being late, so I wouldn’t have to try and make the dreaded small talk with my colleagues. Kit still looked half-asleep even though we hadn’t had an early start for this or anything, and was sucking from the straw of a giant iced black coffee with a level of intensity that was a little daunting.

Susan looked excited, because Susan was upbeat about everything. She was chatting to Gabe and Biff while Heidi, Mads, Val and Eloise appeared to be engrossed in conversation together. Corey was talking and gesturing animatedly to a silent Beast, who was in his human form like the rest of us but still had the majority of his face hidden by a black mask and the raised hood of his hoodie. John-o’-the-Wisp and Kenneth seemed to be having a conversation about London when I passed them.

I knew Carl was meeting us there, because Holt had paid for a discreet black-out cab service run by vampires, for vampires, to get him from his house. He often had Mondays off to catch up on sleep after having to be awake during the day over the weekend, so he’d be tired as hell, but he’d done it a few times in the past so he could join in on group activities like this. He’d just be chugging caffeine-laced blood bags the whole time.

Most of us were dressed how we always dressed for work—in standard workout clothes—but it was kinda weird seeing Goliaths’ office workers in fitness gear too. Larkin was wearing a long, baggy pair of mesh shorts and an equally baggy oversized T-shirt that looked like it probably belonged to Seb, it was so huge on him. I knew Seb was a big gym-goer, so he looked natural and comfortable in his shorts and moisture-wicking T-shirt as he grinned down at Larkin in response to something the fae had just said.

I couldn’t see the Ghastly Boys anywhere, and wondered if they’d bailed until I noticed two sets of glowing yellow eyes peering out from a window near the back of the bus. They were even quieter than I was at work, so it made sense they’d just got on the bus as soon as possible rather than risk having to mingle with their co-workers.

When he spotted me making my way toward the group, Dan waved me over with a cheerful “Bri!”

He was standing with Rafe, Crossbody and Vince near the bus. Rafe was dressed in black sweats and a T-shirt with the word Humandatory on the front, his hands tucked into his pockets and a disgruntled look on his face.

“He can’t fuckin’ wait,” Dan joked to me with an amused grin, slinging his arm around Rafe’s shoulders and pressing a smacking kiss to the sullen ghoul’s temple. “Can ya, kitten?”

Rafe grunted.

“Don’t worry, bud.” Vince clapped him on the shoulder. “I know what’ll help.”

With a furtive glance around, he sidled over to the bus driver, who was already tapping another cigarette out of his packet and fishing for his lighter. In less than thirty seconds, Vince had managed to discreetly bribe the driver into taking us to Gargy’s afterward instead of back to the office, claiming that was where the boss really wanted to go but he was just “too shy to ask.”

Holt was standing nearby in a shiny, leopard-print, thong-backed leotard over bright pink leggings, with matching lime green leg warmers, wristbands and a headband. I wasn’t too sure how anyone could really have looked at him and thought, Yeah, that guy seems shy, but the driver didn’t seem to care enough to question it. He just looked at Holt for a second, then shrugged and took Vince’s twenty.

“Better?” Vince asked Rafe with a grin as he rejoined us. “Once we’re there, Holt won’t say no because he’ll want to show off his outfit to more people.”

“He does look good.” Dan crossed his arms and cocked his head as he stared at the boss. “I always forget how nice Holt’s ass is.”

“Dan, what the fuck?” Rafe scowled at him.

“I just mean objectively, kitten. I’m not attracted to him. Brian here also has a great ass, but I don’t want to fuck him either.”

“Um.” I scrubbed a hand over my nape. “Thanks.”

“Did you see Taylor’s slutty little shorts?” Vince murmured to Dan, and the pair of them snickered. Rafe turned and whapped Dan in the abs with his knuckles, glaring at him, while Crossbody’s nostrils flared and he narrowed his eyes first at Vince, then at Taylor, who was innocently chatting to Holt.

Vince must’ve noticed, because he smoothed his hand over Crossbody’s back. “C’mon, babe, I was just kidding. I mean, they are pretty short, but they’re no sluttier than your shorts.”