"John gave me a bag of popcorn when I was doing laundry earlier. I can pop it and we can put on a movie. You can rent them for two dollars. It can be like a room date."
"Sounds perfect." His tone sounded different, a little off, a little sad, and his eyes weren't dancing like they usually did.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He kissed her gently, then brushed his tongue past her lips on the second sip of her mouth. Easing back way too soon, he said, "I'm just having a weird night. A room date is just what I need to set me right again."
Emma grinned. "Good. Glad I can help. And I hope you are good at folding because I have very specific tastes in folded clothes."
"High maintenance." He grabbed a pair of mismatched socks and wadded them together. "How's that."
"I knew you would be bad at this."
"What? How?" He folded a pair of her see-through lacy panties in half.
"Because you're bad at everything, naturally."
Dustin snorted and held up a finger. "One, I'm good at sex."
"Okay, I'll give you that. You're great at humping."
"Thank you." He held up a second finger. "Two, I'm a decent driver."
"Slow driver," she mumbled.
"To keep you safe, human, and three, I'm pretty good at pissing everyone off. Beast just tried to trip me when I passed him outside."
"Why?"
"Because I told him it was me who broke into his room and ate all of his pizza bagel bites. And popsicles. And I kept hiding his shampoo and shaving cream in different spots in his room every day. I drank the whole bottle of moonshine he kept hidden in the air vent, but I replaced it with the empty mason jar. I was also pissing in his toilet three times a day without flushing just to make him think he'd gone crazy."
Emma laughed and shook her head as she worked on another T-shirt. "That's my man. Beast is a little scary, though. Why did you admit to all that?"
Dustin's smile dipped from his lips. "I felt like confessing my sins tonight. I bought him a new jar of moonshine, but he's still mad. Thank God. A smiling Beast would be weird."
"So weird. What sins do you have to confess to me?"
Dustin cast her a quick glance, then gave his attention back to the pair of comfy cottons he was folding. "Sometimes I sneak in your room when you are sleeping just to watch you."
Oh, this was serious. And also unsettling because she hadn't known that part at all. "Why do you do that?"
"Because I like the way your face looks when you sleep. Like you don't have a care in the world. Your lips go all pouty, and your hair sits wild on the pillow. And you smell different in your sleep. You smell so good when you are awake, but your sleep smell is like a secret that only I know." He smiled brightly. "Plus, I like the way you snore."
She shoved him and laughed.
"Tell me something good," he said suddenly, his eyes downcast and his hair hiding his face.
"Something real or something make-believe?"
"One of each."
"Okay, something real. I remember when I was brought home from Russia. My parents had traveled to pick me up from the orphanage and fill out all the paperwork. I was scared of them because they had pale skin, and their eyes changed colors. Even though they tried to hide it, they were hungry on their trip and couldn't help their fangs being out. I was only six and didn't understand about vampires except the scary stories people told me. But on the plane ride home, my ears were popping because of the altitude, and they hurt. I'd never flown before, and I was crying softly because I didn't want to be weak around the vampires. But my mom scooped me up in her lap and hugged me. I fought it for a few minutes, but I was really crying about everything, not just my ears hurting, you know? Leaving Russia, leaving the orphanage I'd lived in my whole life, not really understanding where I was going, or why vampires wanted me as their kid. And I remember my mom crying, face all buried against my neck, like she knew it was more than the pain, and she whispered, ‘You're safe. We're going to take care of you for always.' And I remember clutching onto her blouse. She wore this red, silk shirt that was so pretty, and I was wrinkling it with my fists and staining it with my tears, but she didn't care about anything other than holding me."
"What did your dad do?" Dustin asked.
"He was rubbing my back, and when I looked at him, he was crying, too. It was the only time I ever saw him emotional like that, and it was for me. Later they told me they'd tried for babies for so long, but I was meant to be theirs. Meant to change their life. Except I'm pretty sure it was them who were meant to change my life. If I would've aged out of the orphanage in Russia, I would've had no opportunities. I would've had to work the streets, become a mail order bride, or something else terrifying because who was I? A six-year-old with a hearing impairment and no family, no support system, no future. So my something real is I hate when people say bad things about vampires. Sure, some covens are bad, but some crews are bad. Humans have their own villains, too. But nobody says all humans are bad, or all shifters are bad. It's like there is this understanding that only a small part of the population are idiots. With vampires, though, there was never a time where I explained who my parents were and didn't get pitied or fear-filled looks. Never. Not once. All vampires are bad according to everyone. But for me, I got to see the other side. The one where my entire coven, twelve strong, stayed together through all the hard times, fought like a normal family and made-up, spent holidays together, and were strong when one of us struggled. I'm proud to be from the Four Devil's Coven."
"Then why are you trying for the Blackwings? If you're planning on Turning anyway, why leave the family you love? Because let me tell you, if I found that kind of security growing up, I would never leave it."
"It was my parent's suggestion. They said the same to my adopted siblings, Lauren and Enrique. My parents wanted us to experience the sun before we made the decision to Turn."
"They want you to Turn?"
"I thought so, but no, actually. They are the least selfish people I've ever met. Before I came here, my mom sat me down on my bed, held my hands, and told me if my future is in the sunlight, she would be so happy for me. She made me promise to give the Blackwing Crew a chance. She told me if it was up to her, I would stay human or turn shifter so I could have a normal life."
"Normal," Dustin murmured, his sandy-blond brows knitted in confusion.
"Being a shifter is normal to vampires. You get to sleep at night and do all the fun, normal stuff humans get to do during daylight hours. You don't fear the sun, won't burn to ashes in a stray sunray. You can find normal jobs, make normal friends, and not have to explain yourself every single time someone finds out you're a shifter. She made me promise to give this a chance, so here I am, giving it a chance. And if my hearing wasn't ruined, it would be an easy choice for me."
Dustin looked up from the jeans he was folding with a startled look in his blazing eyes. "What would it be?"
"Now for the make-believe one. You would tell me the mountains of secrets you've kept because you trust me. You would date me, fall hard for me, and someday, you would make love to me and know it was right and claim me. I would claim you back, right before the wolf took me. I would sing at a bar in town at nights, all my own songs, and you would watch from a back corner where you would wear this soft smile because you loved the way my voice sounded. We would be happy here, settled, maybe have a couple of cubs, one who looks like you, and one who looks like me. We would raise them in the crew, give them a good support system, and pray to God they didn't turn out like the other werewolves, but like you instead. Caring. Smart. Empathetic. And every night we would go to sleep in each other's arms, and we would both be happy, even though our starts in life had never pointed us in that direction."
Dustin swallowed hard. He wouldn't meet her eyes. His voiced sounded odd as he said, "Why is that the make-believe part?"
Emma shrugged sadly and folded the final T-shirt. "Instinct. Even us humans have it."
Dustin got really quiet after that. He helped her finish folding laundry and then popped the popcorn in the little microwave above the mini-fridge. He settled under the covers and pulled her close against him, his lips lingering in her hair. He was shaking ever so slightly. She loved the affection. But she hated it because something was wrong, and he wasn't telling her what his body did-that he trusted her.