Chapter 8 #2
It was itching at him, the way Tobias had looked so terrified when Alexander had woken him up.
He didn’t think he’d done anything to inspire such fear, but maybe it was due to PTSD or another form of severe anxiety.
Waking up in a strange place, with a man who was basically a stranger looming over him, must have compounded the fear that Tobias was already feeling from the nightmare he’d been suffering.
When he thought of it that way, he felt awful, like he should have chased after Tobias or even called him to make sure that he was alright.
He’d been too baffled in the moment to think straight, but that just went to show how he was less in touch with the vagaries of mortal romance than he’d thought he was.
Stepping out into the rain made him squint and immediately regret, for once, that he wasn’t in his room at Rothburn with a roaring fire and a window seat where he could read a book and watch the rain outside of the glass.
His phone screen was immediately drenched when he pulled it out to use the map function, because he’d never been to the club where the first nameless victim had been found in the back alley.
The news had reported it as an anonymous attack, part of a hook-up gone wrong, because of course a girl going into a back alley with a man she didn’t know was just asking for murder.
Ridiculous. According to the notes that Maria had sent to his phone, the girl hadn’t been drained entirely of blood – just enough to make her pass out, nearly stopping her heart.
She had been a foreign exchange student who had come to Oxford.
There was a biography that followed – so like Maria to be ridiculously comprehensive, even about a half-dead girl – that Alexander didn’t read because he didn’t need to.
The girl didn’t remember anything from that entire night.
All he needed to do was get to the alley and smell. His senses were good enough that he’d be able to pick up the subtle traces of whichever member of the clan had committed the attack. Rain, for whatever reason, always made lingering scents stronger to him instead of washing them away.
He was back to furiously resenting the fact that his father had sent him on such a menial mission when he walked past Blackwell’s and remembered Tobias talking about it wistfully last night.
He didn’t know where the other man lived, but there was a chance that he was working in the library today, or that one of his colleagues would be able to point him in the right direction if he showed up concerned.
Alexander suddenly forgot all about his assignment.
Tobias infiltrated his thoughts and clung on for dear life, nearer to an obsession than anything else he’d experienced in recent memory.
Vampires were possessive, compulsive, and while Alexander did his best to rein that in, it was an impulse clearly coming to life now.
Without thinking too much about it, he turned and took the steps up to Blackwell’s entrance.
The warmth and dryness of the store was a relief, and he brushed his coat off as best he could to avoid dripping water on the books.
The girl at the front of the shop directed him to the romance novel section, where he proceeded to flip through books for a good hour to find the ones with men who looked like Tobias on the cover and had enough smut to make him blush.
Whatever Alexander had done last night to offend Tobias, this would surely soften the apology.
Books fixed everything. That, at least, was one constant that stuck around throughout history.
When he put the stack of books on the counter to pay, the cashier raised an eyebrow, but Alexander’s glare and insistence on a gift receipt combined did the trick.
With the overstuffed Blackwell’s bag in one hand and a tea from the café in the other, Alexander crossed the street and made for the library’s front entrance.
He would drop the books off first, he reasoned to himself, because if he went to the club to investigate, they’d get wet, and no one liked a book with crinkly pages.
He told himself that it certainly wasn’t that he was avoiding his task once again and that he was just being decent by checking in on Tobias.
He ignored the way his heart skipped in his chest when he went through the entrance to the library, showed his ID card, and immediately rounded the check-in desk to come face-to-face with an utterly exhausted looking Tobias, pushing a cart full of books.
There he is. Alexander exhaled in relief.
Tobias stopped dead in his tracks, the cart rolling on ahead and crashing into a student, who yelped like a puppy.
“Professor?” His voice dropped in tone as he snatched him by the arm and dragged him into the shadows of a bookcase. “What – what are you doing here?”
The crimson flush spreading down Tobias’ cheeks had to be embarrassment, because he wouldn’t look Alexander in the eyes.
“I wanted to check that you were alright. Last night didn’t end as planned. And I’m sorry I didn’t go after you to make sure you were alright and that you got home safely. I really should have, but at the same time, it was clear you needed space.”
Tobias’ eyes were still downcast, and he shuffled his feet. “Forget it.”
“I can’t,” Alexander replied. “Not without apologising. I’m terribly sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have basically attacked you.” Tobias swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. “I apologise. I get nightmares sometimes, and that was a bad one. I just… flipped. Ignore whatever it was that I said. To be honest, I don’t even remember.”
It was in Alexander’s nature to dig for more information, but Tobias seemed to undo all of his natural instincts with a single, doe-eyed glance.
“Consider it forgotten.” Alexander hefted the bag. “Here. I brought you something to make up for it. I’m nothing if not a man of my word.”
Tobias’ eyes widened in surprise, and he reached out his hand. Alexander passed the bag over, upon which Tobias’ blush only deepened. “Oh my God. Alexander, no way.”
“Yes way.”
“Did you really need to buy me the entire gay romance selection at Blackwell’s?”
“Only the good ones. I read the backs of most of them. I’ve left the gift receipt in case you already own any. Spend the left over on yourself.” Alexander winked. “What do you say, am I forgiven for being un-gentlemanly last night?”
“Forgiven?” Tobias bit his lip, then stepped in for a kiss, a light touch of lips that sent sparks down Alexander’s body. “Yes, I’d say you are. But now I feel like I need to apologise with a gift, but I’m not as prepared or as thoughtful as you.”
“Well, there is something you could do that would make up for it,” Alexander said, his mind whirring as to how he could make investigating for his father less painful.
“That sounds suggestive,” Tobias replied, to the delight of a student nearby and clearly within earshot, who giggled to herself.
“It certainly can be, if you want. But the offer isn’t anything more than some company.
Tonight, do you want to go out dancing with me?
” Alexander got the sense that perhaps, despite his flirting, Tobias was timid when it came to physical touch, more so than he was letting on.
He resolved to take it slow. To draw out the seduction, until Tobias was wrapped around his little finger without him even realising what was happening.
By the end, he’d make him as obsessively infatuated with him as he was with Tobias.
He would be so enraptured that he wouldn’t be able to think of anyone else, whether he wanted to or not.
“Dancing?” Tobias’ answering smile was worth every bit of anger his father would unleash his way for delaying. “Fuck it, why not.”