Chapter 15 #2
My body went warm with pleasure from head to toe. “Please continue,” I said hurriedly, because if I fell prey to my emotions, The Cody would get her payment sooner than planned, and I wouldn’t get to learn everything about Vale’s backstory.
“Before I was so cheekily interrupted, I was going to say the experiment was ultimately considered a failure because Gareth was the only survivor in a test pool of hundreds. It didn’t help that he was uncontrollable as well.
Either due to his stubborn nature or something in the concoction they pumped into him, Gareth never cracked under their brainwashing.
The Dawn Initiative hated both of us because neither Gareth nor I were willing to fall in line with their plans.
Eventually, Gareth and I managed to escape together.
It’s a sore point for both of us, so please never mention it to Gareth. ”
Since I could barely look at the man without losing my lunch, I agreed readily. “I promise, but you have to tell me why.” Vale’s eyes went shifty, so I added, “If you can’t tell the guy falling in love with you, then who can you tell?”
Hey, if Vale can half-ass his love confessions, then so can I, okay?
It seemed to work for Vale because his ears went red, and he took my hand in his before continuing. “We promised we’d get out together, but he believes I tried to go back on my word.”
“You didn’t abandon him.” I wouldn’t believe it even if Vale said so explicitly. As much as he bitched about Gareth, it was clear to me that Vale respected him. And since that was obviously a rare thing for him, I doubted Vale would betray him.
“No, I didn’t. I tried to stall some soldiers who caught us on our way out to give Gareth time to escape.
He thought I planned to sacrifice myself, which is absurd, so he raged out and tore half the compound apart.
He and I both learned a lot that day. One, don’t piss off Gareth, and two, the man can hold a grudge. ”
“So, he really hates the Dawn Initiative, huh? I can understand that.”
“Obviously. We both do, but the grudge I’m referring to is toward me. Gareth never fails to let me know he thinks I’ll go off and try to get myself killed for him, which is the furthest thing from the truth. I’d have to care in order for that to be the case.”
“So, now I have to ask if you’re in love with Gareth,” I said, only half joking.
“Have you been paying attention at all? I’m not in love with anyone but you. I’ve never felt anything close to how I feel about you, Echo. Never. I would leave Gareth’s house if that’s what it took to convince you.”
Inside, I was doing a little twirl and bouncing around, shouting He loves me, he loves me, me, me, me!
I managed to keep it to myself, though, because, wow, things were moving fast. “Whoa, no need for that, Vale, sheesh. Don’t turn your life upside down for someone you just met, even if you both love each other. Even I know that.”
Vale completely ignored my shitty second attempt at sharing my feelings with him and retorted, “No, you’ll just follow them alone into the woods. That’s much better.”
“Are you talking about you or Lyle right now?”
Vale scowled.
I changed the subject. “So, after escaping, you and Gareth became fast friends, sang songs, and wove friendship bracelets into the sunset together?”
Vale ignored my sass and gave me a real answer.
“Not exactly. I was… unwilling to help him on his crusade against the Dawn Initiative. I wanted everyone to leave me the fuck alone, and Gareth refused to let me. Our relationship mostly involves threats, bribery, and petty retaliation. Don’t ever piss him off.
He’s a vengeful fuck. I thank my lucky stars he never decided to get revenge on me for trying to sacrifice myself. Supposedly.”
“Supposedly,” I nodded. “Consider me warned. Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”
“I want to tell you anything you want to know,” Vale said simply. “I want you to feel safe with me.” His ears were a vibrant red at that point, and he wasn’t looking at me at all anymore.
“I do feel safe with you. Probably because you keep refusing to kill me even though you’ve got that curse thingy going for you.”
Vale mouthed curse thingy and gave me another ghost smile.
I continued, saying, “I’m going to take you at your word about telling me anything I want to know. You’re fascinating, and I’m going to be incredibly nosy now because I’ve officially decided to stop trying to get you to kill me. Learning more about you will help distract me from the bad place.”
“If that’s what it takes to keep you from doing away with yourself, I’m happy to oblige.”
“Um…” I faltered because I didn’t quite know how to put the ugly truth. “As magical as you and your dick are, you know that being in a relationship with you isn’t going to fix me, right? A lot happened to me to get me here, and it isn’t going to magically fix itself.”
“No, it won’t. I don’t expect to fix you any more than I expect you to fix me. I have my own set of coping mechanisms to work with, but maybe…”—Vale squeezed my hand—“Maybe we can work together to support one another.”
“You’re surprisingly mature for a broody not-vampire,” I teased.
“Blame Paris. He’s far too nosy for his own good, and he has his own brand of magic that is entirely too personal for my liking.”
“Are you in love with—”
“No!” Vale looked like he was going to be sick, and I decided to stop teasing him and do my best to stop letting the jealousy bug run amok inside me.
“I do need to tell you about Vix, though,” Vale said slowly.
A chill went down the back of my neck, and my stomach clenched. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“If I were you, I would hate it. If you have any past lovers, don’t tell me about them if you don’t want them to go missing.”
“But I’m supposed to be okay with whatever you’re about to tell me? That sounds kinda shitty.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but I need you to know because it’ll ruin everything if I don’t tell you and you hear it from someone else.”
“Just spit it out. If I have to wait any longer, I’m going to be sick.” I wasn’t joking. My stomach was churning. Love had a wicked backswing, but if I was going to allow Vale to upend my life and emotions, I was going to have to face all the little nasties as they came.
“Everyone in my house has their own tragic backstory, and Vix is no exception. I won’t go into his, but it left him with quirks that made it impossible for him to care for himself properly. Before Paris came, the entire house worked to help him manage.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” I said cautiously, trying not to react until I got the whole story.
“One of his quirks is an overactive libido,” Vale winced as he took in my empty expression.
“His judgment and impulse control are nonexistent, and his partner Baz was going crazy trying to keep him from wandering away with random strangers to get his next fix. Baz tried to keep up with Vix’s needs, but he couldn’t manage it alone.
If Vix wasn’t having sex between two to four times a day, he would vanish, and Baz would run wild until he was found.
And when I say run wild, I mean he’d add to his body count. ”
“So, you all helped him manage it,” I breathed a sigh of relief. “That doesn’t sound so bad. Bros helping bros is pretty normal in my book. Baz and Vix already told me you all hooked up, so you don’t need to confess that one.”
“They were telling the truth. Until Paris showed up, Baz was often Vix’s plus one because he gets anxious when he can’t see Vix.”
“Poor Baz. He sounds like he has his own shit going on too.”
“Oh, he does,” Vale confirmed. “But there’s more I need to tell you about Vix.”
“Of course there is,” I sighed.
“I became unhealthily attached to him. I can admit that now. At the time, I thought I was in love with him, but after meeting you and learning what love really feels like, I can see that he was a fixation. Something to control so I could feel less out of control myself.”
“Ugh. That’s… that’s a lot to take in.”
“Is it too much?” Vale’s voice was hoarse, and his grip on my hand tightened.
I measured my feelings, and I didn’t love what was sloshing around inside me. I knew Vale was going to have a past. I couldn’t expect him to know about my existence before we met and be celibate for his entire life before meeting me. I certainly hadn’t.
“I see why you told me,” I said slowly. We were at a make-or-break point of our burgeoning relationship, and I had to tread carefully. “You said he’s with Paris now. How do you feel about that?”
Vale seemed to take my question as a good sign and relaxed slightly.
“I don’t like Paris, but he’s good for Vix.
Paris actually loves him and wants to take care of him.
I was never any good at it. I was always too caught up in my research and my own bullshit to be able to give him the attention he needed.
That was why Gareth had to help take care of Vix as well. ”
“You mean Gareth fucked him too?”
“Gareth will do anything to make sure his people are okay.”
“And I imagine tapping a pretty boy like Vix wasn’t much of a hardship,” I grouched.
“I understand it, though. You had a life before me, but I need to know, all jokes aside, are you still in love with Vix? Are you settling for me because you can’t have him anymore?
Tell me the truth. I promise not to run off a cliff if you tell me something I don’t want to hear. ”
“I’m not,” Vale said firmly. “I need you to believe me on this. I didn’t even know what love was at the time.
I thought it was something disgusting and fake, some cosmic joke that everyone else was in on except me.
Whatever I felt for Vix was nothing compared to how I feel about you.
If you want, I can never speak to him again. ”