Heartbreak Partners
Phillip had been weird ever since the night we spent together. I couldn’t figure out what had changed about the Austrian, only that it happened quickly.
He seemed less arrogant, maybe a bit more open to playful banter—and not the kind where I was inclined to slap him. He’d shed his outer persona for a night and let me see a youthful side of the Hunter. A softer, less world-weary side that made my stomach fuzzy and warm.
Can you sound any more like a lovestruck teenager, V?
But our evening together was one of the better nights I’d spent with someone in a long time. You know, when I wasn’t on the hunt for renegade villains bent on drinking blood from innocent, unsuspecting victims.
Nigel and I shared a few nights where I toed the line of fun and innocent, before duty called and I couldn’t let loose anymore.
But it was different with the older Hunter.
Maybe because he didn’t treat me like some precious jewel in a treasure box I was able to clap back and feel less like I was walking on eggshells. Less like I should filter out my personality to not unintentionally burden the other person.
Not that Nigel ever meant to, but he always made it clear there was a line drawn between us for some reason or another.
He was extra aware of that line when it came to Grams. He didn’t want to pressure me into anything, and I appreciated that about him until he up and left and decided everything on his own without bothering to talk to me.
To be fair, I’d gone and done the same.
But with Phillip that night, I forgot about my heartbreak and responsibilities for a bit and just gave myself over to the moment. I lived like a teenager whose only responsibility was to enjoy an interesting chat and stay up late watching corny love dramas.
Phillip surprised me again when he offered to negotiate Nigel’s place beside me so I could stay friends with him. The happiness was instantaneous, and I didn’t know what I was doing, not even when my arms were already around the flummoxed Austrian.
Nothing made sense.
I’d never ever found a reason to hug someone like that, and definitely not someone who I barely liked on a good day. It was totally out of character. And when he pointed out how it could be misunderstood, I rushed to correct my sudden departure from sanity.
What the hell was happening to me?
Sadly, it didn’t end there. My eyes naturally followed the mysterious man everywhere he went, wishing quietly he’d say something to me, hoping to spend just a little more time with him.
I explained it all away with the excuse that he was the first person who really got me outside of Grams. Nigel understood to a degree, but Phillip and I shared a massive secret.
We shared something no one else did. Our goals perfectly aligned, and it was probably the entire reason I saw the Hunter in a different light after he apologized for overstepping.
Phillip wasn’t cold or uncaring. He was scared like Grams was. Like I was. Like anyone would be in our position. The dude had seen over two and a half centuries of violence and death, so it would be weirder if he’d been the happy-go-lucky sort, anyway.
“I’ll stay here like you requested.”
What possessed me to ask him to come with me? What made me desperate to have him next to me when I finally saw Nigel again? Three days ago, the dude literally gave me a headache with how unfeeling and disconnected he was. A couple of weeks ago, he didn’t exist in my life at all.
How could so much change in so little time?
A month ago, I was beyond happy with my brand-new relationship and a man who made me weak in the knees.
No, for three years I pined over the gorgeous upperclassman in a way befitting all those sappy romance novels from the eighties.
I crushed so hard that love poems sprouted like a disease in my head anytime Nigel walked even remotely into view.
It wasn’t Nigel who’d changed or gone back on his feelings. It was me. I was the one who transformed the minute my world turned upside down and the reality of the job slammed me back down to Earth.
Everything changed.
Stealing a look at Phillip as he walked beside me, I finally realized why he scoffed at the idea of relationships or my hopeless pursuit of them.
No one who stayed beside us would ever be safe.
The foregone conclusion of every relationship I entered would be either parting ways or death. To even suggest staying friends would risk that very future. I’d been the immature dumbass spouting nonsense to a guy who’d seen nearly three lifetimes.
Phillip’s blue eyes connected with mine. “Still nervous?”
“Did I sound like a total ass when I said I’d have it all and never settle for less. Be honest,” I asked quietly. “I can take it.”
Phillip appeared genuinely confused. “What brought this on?”
“Just had a couple days to think about it. That’s what we teenagers do—talk shit and then regret it a few days later.” I sighed loudly, sweeping back my hair in self-disgust. “The tragedy of being young.”
His husky laughter tickled my ears. “You’d think so, but it’s refreshing and not at all misguided. I wouldn’t let it bother you.”
Something about the dude had definitely changed.
My eyebrow rose slightly. “Is that sarcasm? It’s really hard to tell with your accent. Everything you say sounds like pompous asshole, just as a baseline.”
“Thanks?” Phillip’s amused grin greeted my next glance. “But no, not sarcasm. Believe it or not, I can be genuine on occasion.”
“Are you sure you’re not sick or maybe just a little itty bitty drunk?
” I used my fingers to emphasize my point, earning another laugh from the strolling Hunter beside me.
“Do you take a flask with you to school or something? No judgment from this corner. If I had to be around smelly, mindless teenagers all day, I’d drink too. ”
Phillip clasped both of his hands behind his head in a lax manner. “Alcohol doesn’t affect you and I the way it does normal humans. Our body metabolizes it too quickly to partake in the fun side effects.” His gaze lifted to the clear sky above us. “Doesn’t even burn going down, if I’m honest.”
“Please tell me you’re joking,” I complained.
The one saving grace about becoming an adult was I’d get to drink at some stage and maybe drown my sorrows like a normal person.
I had nights planned out for such an occasion.
I’d even fantasized about walking drunk down the sidewalk and falling asleep in a bush in some obscure neighbor’s yard.
My fantasies were a bit too realistic, Kate said, but I didn’t care.
It was a big dream of mine to be the drunkard screaming profanities at random strangers.
I even installed an app on the phone Phillip tossed out to count down the days until it was legal to drink.
Turning his head slightly, Phillip smirked. “I wish. Would’ve been a hell of a lot more fun if I could enjoy conventional drug use at my leisure. Alas, the curse of what we are strikes again.”
“That’s some serious bullshit.”
“With the serum, however, you can partake,” Phillip added. “I’ll help. We can do it any time you want. Just say the word and we can knock a few things out of the way—alcohol, piercings, a tattoo or two, and maybe a little something dirtier.”
Yep, there he is.
I was just glad to see the Austrian back to being a skeevy perv.
I didn’t think it was possible to miss such an asshole personality, but I had.
Phillip on a considerate, nice binge somehow didn’t sit right with me.
I preferred the jerk I’d gotten to know who didn’t make my heart lose rhythm quite as dramatically as Considerate Phillip did.
“Tempting, but I’m going to have to go with a hard no.” I smirked at the taller Hunter. “But thanks for playing.”
“Give it time. You’ll change your mind,” he promised with a hoarse chortle. “This eternal tick of the clock is pretty unbearable without breaking a few rules and enjoying small pleasures.”
I couldn’t exactly argue with a man who knew more about living for a long time better than I did. But that never stopped me before, and it wouldn’t stop me today.
Giggling, I shrugged unattractively. “We’ll see. I’m fairly confident you won’t convince me to do anything reckless, because it’s more likely I’ll help you clean up your act.”
“I’ll take that bet,” was his low reply. “Winner gets to tell loser to do whatever they want for an entire day.”
What were we, five?
“No. You’ll make me do something gross. Or many gross somethings.”
Phillip’s devious smirk stole my attention. “Afraid you’ll lose?”
Oh, he’s good.
Lips puckered angrily, I threw my hands up in surrender. “Fine. But when I win, I’m making you do something so mortifying you’ll regret the day you ever challenged me.”
The sparkle in his eyes was the exact opposite reaction I hoped to see. “Can’t wait.”
The dude was a serious masochist, or he’d twisted my statement to his liking. I’d put my money on the latter. Men like him didn’t just read between the lines; they drew brand new ones and claimed they’d always been there.
We crowned the top of the hill and two men came into view, stealing my good humor and smile in an instant.
Nigel stood a couple feet ahead of Topher, wearing a tight navy-blue shirt over a simple pair of jeans.
Even in casual clothing he looked fiercely strong and beyond beautiful.
The man was a tall drink of water, and it always got my heart going.
It never failed to impress me how damn good-looking the man was, especially when he didn’t try most of the time.
Casual attire fit his aloof look, but Nigel was by far one of the most conscientious and selflessly kind human beings I’d ever met.
Annoyingly so.
If anyone went off to join the Peace Corps or volunteered their time to the Red Cross to help third-world countries, it’d be him. Nigel was just good people, which made the decision to keep him at an arm’s length so damn hard.
But in my heart, I knew it was for the best I did.