Free The Vampire Next Door by Charity Santiago, Evan Hale Page B

the bandages from my road rash and inspected my arms. They were skinned all the way from the heel of my hand to my elbow, and they hurt like hell. I’d never had road rash before, but I remembered that when Cole had gotten into his motorcycle accident, he’d suffered some road rash on his back where his jacket had ridden up. The nasty scrapes had taken a long time to heal, and they’d left behind ugly scars.
     
    I hoped my arms weren’t permanently scarred because of this.
     
    I smoothed the bandages back into place, figuring that they probably didn’t need to be changed yet.
     
    I dried off with the towel that Reeve had given me and struggled into the new clothes. They were baggy, but not nearly as huge as Reeve’s clothing would have been, so I wasn’t going to complain. The shorts ended right at my knee and rasped against my raw skin. I rolled up the hem a few inches, thinking that it was a good thing I wasn’t trying to impress Reeve. Granny clothes and a busted knee did nothing for my self-confidence.
     
    There was toothpaste, but no toothbrush. Did Reeve not use a toothbrush, or did he just use a different bathroom? He had to use a different bathroom. I saw no trace of cologne in this bathroom, but I knew that he wore it, which meant that he probably kept all his stuff in the other bathroom.
     
    After some deliberation, I squeezed toothpaste onto my finger and did the best I could with that. In these close quarters, Reeve would probably appreciate it if I wasn’t sporting morning breath all day.
     
    I hooked my vest over one shoulder. Bunching the rest of my clothes up in one hand, I hopped back to the door and unlocked it. I pulled it open, and in a flash, Reeve was standing there.
     
    Had he been waiting for me to finish the whole time?
     
    “Don’t carry me,” I protested, holding up one hand to stop him when he reached for me. “Honestly, I feel bad enough imposing on you like this. I don’t want you to throw out your back or something, hauling me around.”
     
    He looked down at my bare feet, one planted firmly on the floor, the other hovering beside it, but didn’t argue. “I’ll wash those,” he said, taking my dirty clothes from me. “Let me know if you need any help.”
     
    I was taken aback. I’d fully expected him to disagree with me- if not about my insistence at walking myself, then at least at the comment that he might throw out his back. But he hadn’t said a thing to contradict me.
     
    This vampire was just full of surprises.
     
    I hopped back to the couch and lowered myself onto it, stacking my trusty pillow under my knee to keep it elevated. With most of the dirt from my accident washed away, and wearing clean clothes, I felt a lot more optimistic. Reeve hadn’t busted down the bathroom door while I was bathing, either. The odds of him letting me walk- or hobble- out of this house alive were looking better by the moment.
     
    Reeve came from the kitchen and knelt down to look inside my shopping bag. “What do you want to eat?” he asked.
     
    If my gun was still in the bag, he either didn’t notice or didn’t mention it. “Anything is fine,” I said.
     
    He pulled out a can of spaghetti. “Do you want me to warm it up?”
     
    I couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you serious? I feel like I’m staying at a five-star hotel. No, I usually eat it cold. But a fork would be nice, if you have one.”
     
    When he came back, he was carrying a fork and had already removed the lid from the spaghetti. “Thanks,” I said, accepting it from him.
     
    I started eating, and he resumed his watch from the loveseat across the room. The silence that followed felt awkward.
     
    “What do you usually do on rainy days?” I asked.
     
    “It hasn’t rained since I’ve been here,” he replied. “What do you usually do on rainy days?”
     
    “Um…I read…and do crossword puzzles.” I wished I had my crossword puzzle book with me right then. It would have been nice to have