Chapter 6 – Jack
Chapter Six
Jack
I paced inside the purple room, trying to figure out exactly how long I should wait before I went into the next one. I didn’t want Fran to think I was shirking . . . but I did want a moment to sit with what Sam had told me.
Why on earth would Sam want me well fed?
The parts of me that disliked authority and didn’t want to be told what to do wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, only since she was a Faithful, that was probably some kind of magically illegal.
The more rational parts of me knew that I needed to feed, above and beyond her opinions on the matter.
But was she setting me up?
I didn’t know, and I didn’t like that.
And, while I knew Paco had to be feeding somehow, and I was glad to hear he hadn’t murdered anyone to do it, the thought of him feeding alone pained me.
I remembered how awful it was for me right after I’d been turned, like it was yesterday—and I remembered him saving me with total clarity.
Was someone else now saving him?
The thought of it, of losing him, made dark things roil inside me, and the temptation to gather the loose magical cord that bound the two of us rode up and down my bones.
Only the knowledge that if I ever pulled it I would lose him for sure stopped me.
Barely.
I needed to eat—and I needed a distraction.
Now.
Whoever was behind door number eight was going to get the fucking of a lifetime, if only because I needed not to think about anything else for a good thirty to forty-five minutes.
I stalked down the hall, knocked on the right door, and didn’t bother to wait for an answer before barging in.
This room looked like a hotel room—on purpose, I realized, all the better to consummate your call-girl fantasies—only I wasn’t a call girl, and there were two young people, barely drinking age if that, sitting on the edge of the bed together, holding hands like that was giving them strength.
He had jeans and a T-shirt on but she was wearing some kind of prairie dress.
They both gawked at me in slightly restrained horror, while I gathered myself up again, somewhat taken aback.
“Hey,” I said, letting one of my eyebrows arch, as I leaned against the door behind me.
Pretty, pale, and blond, they looked like two scoops of vanilla ice cream side by side on the non-descript comforter.
I asked the only question I could: “Do you y’all mean to be here? ”
The girl looked to the boy who could’ve been her twin, except for the fact that he had some acne, to answer.
“Yes,” he said, definitively. She nodded after he’d said it, suddenly more brave.
“All right, then,” I said, hitching my thumbs into my jean pockets. Even my hunger was confused by this situation, although I knew that wouldn’t last long. “What did you want?”
The boy carefully let go of her hand and stood up, crossing the room to me. “I was worried I might get nervous, so I wrote things down,” he said, handing over a slightly sweaty piece of paper.
“How thoughtful,” I muttered, taking it from him.
On it was a short list of activities. Oral—boy, oral—girl, and good sex, and no touching, no looking.
Good was underlined three times.
He set his shoulders in front of me, doing his best to look like he was in charge of the situation. “We just got married yesterday,” he explained, before giving the girl on the bed a loving look. “And we’re here for just two more days.”
“We want to know what we’re doing,” she said.
“And we want to get good,” the boy said, affirmatively.
I looked between them. “Excuse me for asking, but do your parents know you’re here?”
The girl’s eyes widened in terror. “No. Oh no.”
“They think we’re on honeymoon in Florida,” the boy confessed. “We changed our flights at the airport.”
I blinked, still not really understanding. “Why?”
He swallowed, but did his best to give me a manly stare down. “My brother has six kids, but he’s angry all the time. He says his wife doesn’t love him.”
“And my sister,” the girl chimed in. “She just got married last year—but she says everything still hurts. Plus she’s not pregnant, yet.”
Realization slowly dawned. “Oh,” I breathed.
“So we want to learn to do things the right way. Because I love her,” he said, taking a seat beside her again.
“And I love him,” she said, quickly catching her hand in his.
I raked a hand through my hair. This was not how I thought my evening was going to go—and I really wanted to ask Fran if she thought having a tattoo-covered vampire was the best person to teach these kids to de-virginize each other.
But then realized that she’d chosen me for this on purpose, partially because she knew I wouldn’t feed if I couldn’t help them both get off, but also because she knew sometimes I was too damn nice.
“I mean, we’re not stupid. I’ve seen some TV, and I have a phone, that’s how I found this place,” the boy went on, taking my thoughtfulness for hesitation. “But we want to be happily married for forever, mister. So we’re taking this seriously.”
“Together,” the girl agreed. “Plus, this is our only chance to get away. But we came up with this plan together,” she repeated, with emphasis.
I took a very, very long inhale before speaking again. “All right.” I pinched the bridge of my nose with one hand, and held up the piece of paper in the other. “I take it the no touching is for me?”
The boy nodded quickly. “The no looking, too.” He swallowed nervously and looked around. “I kind of assumed this sort of place would have blindfolds.”
“It does, trust me.” I surveyed the two of them.
The things I did to feed . . . and I imagined myself telling this story to a highly amused Paco, until I remembered we weren’t on speaking terms right now.
“And I don’t really want to look, if you want the truth of things.
I’ve got some relationship problems of my own currently. ”
Still, though—I had to admit I appreciated the novelty of the challenge.
Plus, if I wanted an “easy” meal tonight, I didn’t really have a choice.
I grabbed a nearby chair, brought it over near the bed, and spun it around toward the wall, still facing them as I took my leather jacket off.
“First off—if you love her, you’re already halfway there.
” I looked between them meaningfully. “I promise to do whatever you want me to. If you two want to stop, or want me to leave—it’s fine.
Everybody in this room always has an out.
Take that with you when you go home, all right?
Nobody’s putting in one for the team. Either everybody wants it, or no one does. ”
The boy looked at the girl, who gave him an adoring smile.
“On my side of things,” I said, standing by the chair as I draped my jacket over it, “if I hear either of you say one disparaging word about your own or each other’s bodies, I’m walking out the door and you can’t stop me.
I don’t care what they did or didn’t teach you at school, nothing here is gross or weird.
Strange, maybe, given the circumstances,” I said, and snorted.
The whole thing was so ridiculous I couldn’t help but grin.
“But I respect your studious attitudes and willingness to think outside the box.” I held my hand out, and the boy shook it with a firm grip.
“My name’s Jack, and it seems I’m going to be your sex instructor for the evening. ”