Chapter 20 Seth
SETH
Seth punched and rolled and kneaded and mixed, working the last dredges of his bad mood out in the kitchen.
Riley had been true to his word last night—he’d let Seth sleep wrapped up in his arms without so much as a stray nighttime boner brushing against Seth’s ass.
But with no bakery prep done, Seth had needed to wake up earlier than usual, and venturing into the frigid, dark morning had been even more unpleasant than usual when it had meant leaving the warmth of Riley’s hold.
Seth had set Riley up in the front with a tea and his book. Seth knew better now than to let the menace stay in the kitchen when there was so much work to be done. Those kisses of his were hazardous to Seth’s attention span.
But after the fifth instance of Riley poking his forlorn head in the door, asking if there was anything he could do to help, Seth finally caved.
He stopped arranging his unbaked pear-and-walnut Danishes with a sigh. “C’mon, then. Scrub your hands and you can brush these with egg wash for me.”
Riley looked absurdly pleased, like Seth had offered him marriage and babies and not a bunch of raw pastry dough to cover with yolk.
And despite Riley’s tendency for distraction, it turned out having another set of hands was useful after all.
After finishing his task, Riley took care of all the smaller annoyances that took time but no skill to manage.
He removed trays out of the oven and set pastries on their cooling racks.
He organized Seth’s dirty mixing bowls and set the worst of them to soak.
There was even time for five minutes of making out and heavy petting before Seth had to shove Riley away and set up his display case.
Violet was the first to show up, barely two minutes after Seth had flipped the “Open” sign.
“Don’t you have school?” Seth asked. He didn’t sound as stern as he would have liked. The familiar, cheery sound of the bell ringing over his bakery door had put him in a weird, giddy state.
“What time do you think high school starts in the morning, old man?” Violet asked, arching a brow. She definitely dyed her hair black—her eyebrows were practically blond. Or maybe she bleached her brows and kept her hair natural? What was it the kids did these days?
But anyway, she was right, it was only just after six. But how unnatural for a teenager to wake up so early by choice.
Violet shot Riley a suspicious glance and marched up to the counter. She was wearing her heaviest boots today, so the effect was pretty impressive. Her gaze ran over Seth like she was checking for hidden wounds. “Thought you were bones in the woods by now.”
This girl. Seth cocked his head. “And how fast do you think bodies decompose, young lady?”
“Touché.”
Seth grinned at her. He had a strange urge to give her a hug, but he’d probably be treated to a kick with one of those monster boots if he tried it. “You wanna work here?”
Violet crossed her arms. “Yeah. Weekends?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I want to learn how to make brioche buns.”
“Eventually. You’re starting up front.”
Violet nodded and held out her hand. Seth shook it.
Riley spoke up from his table. “I’m the boyfriend.”
Violet shot him an unimpressed look over her shoulder. “Good for you.”
Seth set her up at a table with a black coffee and a plain bun, although he added one of the pear Danishes so she could start getting a taste for his other flavors. He’d started to think maybe she was allergic to fruit, but she accepted it with a gracious nod.
A few other regulars showed up shortly afterward—no Luke and Colby yet, but it wasn’t their usual day. Seth’s sign had claimed he was ill, apparently, and everyone was touchingly concerned over his health.
It wasn’t quite like back at Seacliff, where Seth had known everyone so well that a lie like that wouldn’t have held in the first place. If nothing else, Seth would have had Matty’s demon husband busting down his door the first day he was closed, looking for key lime tarts to feed his beloved.
But still, it was…nice. Seth could sense it, like a shift in the air—this could be the start of a real community, if he let it.
After closing the bakery, Seth went into the back to give Benny a call. Seth had left him in the lurch after their last talk, and now that he was feeling seminormal, the guilt was eating Seth alive.
“Seth! I’ve been, like, worried.”
Seth’s stomach sank. “You have?”
He hadn’t had any missed calls from his cousin, so he’d been convincing himself his silence wasn’t that big of a problem. But then again, Benny was the type of person whose worries didn’t stick in his head for long. They were like passing clouds, easily drifting away on the wind.
“Yeah. Helio said I dropped a bomb on you.”
“Oh. Well, I talked it out with Sascha though. And then I was…” Seth coughed, lowering his voice even though there wasn’t anyone but Riley out front. “Slightly kidnapped?”
“Ohhh.” If anything, Benny sounded even more chill than before with that news. “Private island?”
“Um. No. A cabin in the woods.”
“A magic cabin?” Benny asked. “Did it give you an Xbox?”
Seth held the phone away from his face, as if that might give him a clue what Benny was talking about. When that didn’t work, he pressed it back to his ear. “No. Just—just a regular cabin. Nicely decorated though.”
“Sweet. Did you bargain your life away? ’Cause they might hold you to it. It’s not so bad though. Dream sex and whatnot.”
“Did who—? What?” Seth shook his head. “Benny, it was vampires. I’m someone’s fated mate, so they claim.”
Seth hadn’t been planning to share that particular bit of information, but the confusion was working as a sort of torture device, and he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
“Ah. Congrats.” Benny let out a long sigh. “No magic villas though. That’s a bummer.”
Seth loved his cousin. He really did. But he was going to get a migraine if he kept this conversation up. “Well, I—I should get back to closing.”
“Sure thing. But, Seth? If you need help, we’ll be there. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want. Helio’s good with bargains—he can get you out of it.” Benny’s voice hardened as much as Seth had ever heard it. “You’ve got, like, backup.”
“Thanks, Benny. Love you, dude.”
After more mutual affirmations of cousinly love, Seth hung up.
But Benny’s words lingered in his brain. Because that was right, wasn’t it? Seth had backup. Supernatural backup, at that. He’d known that, in the back of his mind, after his talk with Sascha.
And he’d let himself get kidnapped anyway.
What did that say about him? That he had a big, fat crush on a vampire, probably. And that he was maybe more of a pushover than he’d thought. He should probably work on that. Otherwise, how would he even have a hope of holding his own in this strange new world?
“Everyone gets to be your backup but me.”
Seth turned to find Riley in the kitchen doorway, a sulky frown on his handsome face. Apparently his supernatural hearing had let him eavesdrop on both sides of Seth’s conversation. “I’m strong enough,” Riley insisted, as if Seth had been about to say otherwise. “I can protect you.”
Seth let out a tired laugh, rubbing a hand over his face. The early start to the day was catching up to him. “Protect me from what? You?”
That was the problem, wasn’t it? Seth didn’t know what or who he even needed protection from. He didn’t know enough about Riley’s world. He didn’t know enough about vampires. He’d never even seen Riley feed.
Riley’s sulk took on a stubborn cast. “I’m trying. I am. I—I want you to have everything you want. I want to be the one to give it to you.”
“And if I want space like before?”
Riley winced, but then he nodded. “Then I’ll leave. And I won’t come back until you tell me to.”
Seth waited a long, long moment, but Riley didn’t take back his reluctant words. Seth sighed. “Put your puppy dog eyes away. You can stay the night again.” He turned away to start his closing duties, then whirled back. “Actually, I have an idea.”
“No.”
Seth paused in the act of placing a blanket over the corner of his couch. He’d thought it might be a good way to prevent things getting too messy. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean no,” Riley told him. “I don’t want to risk it.”
Seth frowned down at the blanket in his hands. “But you’ve done it before.”
“That was just nibbling. It wasn’t—it wasn’t feeding.”
Seth turned. Riley was standing across the living room, looking unexpectedly distraught. His hands were fisted at his sides, his brow all furrowed, his mouth twisted like he might actually burst into tears.
Seth had waited until they were home to tell Riley he wanted to practice being vampire food. He’d only waited because he thought it would be kind of a fun surprise—he hadn’t actually thought Riley would object.
But apparently Seth had upset him deeply. He should have realized. This was a sore subject for Riley, and Seth had just sprung it on him with no warning.
Seth dropped the blanket and went over to Riley. He grabbed his broad hands, slipping his own between Riley’s fingers and his palms, forcing Riley to unclench his fists. “Can you explain to me the difference? Isn’t it just a matter of taking a little more than before?”
“I’ve just—” Riley’s gaze darted away, over to Seth’s window. “I’ve never fed from a person. Not—not fully. The bites I’ve given you were slips. What if this time I slip and I drain you?”
“You won’t.”
A muscle in Riley’s jaw clenched and released. “How do you know?”
“Because you don’t want to hurt me.” Seth squeezed Riley’s hands, trying to transfer his conviction by sheer force of will. “And he doesn’t either. I know it.”
“So let’s not do it at all.” Riley’s lower lip jutted out the tiniest bit, his gaze still on the window. So, no tears, but a predictable pout. “I thought we were gonna focus on being boyfriends for a while and forget the rest.”
Had Seth said that? Probably. But there was going slow and there was straight-up denial. Seth was a fan of the former, not the latter.