Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
Orgasm typically turned Zack into a metaphorical goo that slowly solidified back into a thinking being. However, once the initial blast of pleasure had shot through him—and it was an intense fucking blast—he dropped into a sense of absolute clarity. In the middle of the act, he’d finally gotten Takashi to fess up to what he’d been thinking about before. He thinks I could take over the GLC ?
That had to be the craziest idea he’d ever heard. Well, apart from the time that Cal thought running through a forest screaming, “Can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” would actually attract the pack of vicious redcaps that were killing hikers. Actually, Cal’s dumbest idea had been wrapping Mom’s car in the last roll of plastic wrap on April Fool’s Day.
Okay, Zack had been privy to crazy plans before, not all of which were Cal’s. One could argue that Roger’s intent to take the position of master had been more insane than na?ve. All of their talk had revolved around how to take the coven and why they couldn’t do it yet. Roger claimed he’d spoken with a few leadership members like Candide about what changes he’d make as leader, but he’d never really gotten into the subject with Zack. He’d never really made a plan. He’d barely set a date for Seamus’s execution and had rejected all of Zack’s ideas on how to make it work.
The coven meeting the previous night had given Zack access to a whole slew of information that Roger had never even mentioned. The coven ran like a massive business, not entirely unlike how the hunter network worked on the higher levels. As the de facto stay-at-home caretaker for his familial pod of hunters, Zack had been the one to coordinate missions and ensure the financials were paid. Those skills would be far more applicable to running a coven than he’d known. Vampires didn’t just have gobs of money and underlings and expect it to just run itself. They had to manage things. And apart from the drinking blood until I kill people, I really don’t mind being a vampire .
Zack tightened his arm around Takashi, pulling him a fraction closer. They were still a mess of lube and cum that was quickly drying. Normally, he or Roger would have been rushing them off to the bathroom to clean up, but he lacked the urge to move, and Roger wasn’t here.
Thinking of their missing lover created a sore spot, but Zack had done something entirely new. He’d flirted with topping with a bit of dominance before, but he’d found a place inside himself. And rather than confining and restricting him, he felt like he’d stretched a muscle that had been clenched too long. His limbs didn’t actually ache—vampire healing for the win—but he was comfortable in his body in a way he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt before.
Takashi was comfortable, too. He had linked his fingers with Zack’s and held Zack’s hand to the center of his chest. But if he was thinking bigger thoughts and burning with brighter desires, he was keeping them behind a very contended mindset.
But this couldn’t last. Had Takashi meant what he said? Would he ever talk about his idea? Zack almost bit his bottom lip, remembered his fangs, and sighed instead.
“You’re tensing,” Takashi murmured. “Careful how you squeeze me. You might crack a bone.”
“Sorry,” Zack muttered. Somehow, quiet voices were his standard go-to. Speaking at a louder volume felt like shouting anymore. He eased his grip. “Guess I don’t know my own strength.”
“We all have to adjust.” Slowly, Takashi loosened his hold on Zack’s hand and then turned toward him.
Zack kept his arm over him and did his best not to stare at Takashi’s perfectly kissable lips. A growling burn deep in his gut was starting, and tender skin was beginning to look edible in a not-good way. He cleared his throat, hoping to distract himself from his building thirst.
That didn’t work. Conversation might. “Why me?”
Takashi gently ran his hand up the length of Zack’s arm and settled his touch on the crook of his neck. “You are my boyfriend. Why shouldn’t we fuck?”
Zack narrowed his eyes. “Roger dodges important conversations the same way.”
“What way?” Takashi asked with a fake innocence that was all at once darling and utterly needles-under-skin annoying.
“Sex talk.” Zack nudged Takashi. “Why do you think I should be on the throne and not him?”
Takashi lowered his voice to the barest of whispers. “We both know that Roger doesn’t have the conviction it takes. We wouldn’t be in this position if he did.”
“Why not you?”
“I do better in the shadows,” Takashi replied. “I can move with a freedom there and make deals and alliances that would garner your position better strength. Besides, if I took it, everyone would assume I was doing it for Nell.”
Zack sat up. “You think I can do better in the spotlight? Vampire society is all about sex shit, and I freeze .”
“You can overcome that.” When Zack shot him an incredulous look, Takashi sighed and rolled onto his back. He stretched, and Zack was more than a little distracted by watching him. “Your family ruined your confidence. You don’t have to shove yourself down in hopes of pleasing them. You were never going to make them happy. They made that very clear.”
“Amber—”
“I’m not talking about individual members. I’m talking about the Wrights and the Gladwells as a whole,” Takashi said. “Am I wrong about them?”
Zack scowled because he couldn’t immediately say no. While Amber and his father had started coming around, everyone had agreed with his mother that he had done the wrong thing in Detroit. Everyone had acted like taking research from him should be verified by a second source, not from due diligence but because they weren’t sure he could be entirely trusted. Cousin Denny had called him a “someday blood bitch” during the last time they ever played rescue the damsel, and no one had ever made him apologize.
With a tender slide, Takashi rubbed Zack’s arm and drew his attention back to him. His expression was softer. “You can be great. You just have to stop getting in your own damn way. My current desire to never move again is proof of that.”
Somehow, that was funny. Zack laughed once. “Is it?”
“You need a confidence boost? I have not been spanked and fucked that well in ages.” Takashi grinned up at him. “Dom!Zack suits you very well.”
“Did you just use a fanfic convention on my name?”
Vampires didn’t really blush, but Takashi exhibited all the features of doing so without the color in his cheeks. “Well, I … maybe.”
Having people make fun of him was how Zack had gotten such a shit view of himself. Stepping outside himself, he could see how everything Takashi had just done—opening himself up, offering for Zack to be in full control, even this conversation—was support for him. So the last thing Zack wanted to do was make Takashi feel like he couldn’t be trusted with all aspects of him.
He flopped back down on the bed beside Takashi. “Do you have an AO3 profile?”
“I may have heard of the site,” Takashi said.
Zack could feel a flicker of a desire to hide. He’s shared enough. If he’s actually got an account, he’ll show me in time. We have Our Forever, after all . “I have one to make comments on stuff. I think I’ve read like everything in the Twilight tag. Or at least, everything written up until August. Okay, maybe not every everything , but I’ve spent a ton of time there.”
“Somehow, that does not surprise me.” Takashi’s smile brightened again. “Honestly, I’ve been reading in the From the Grave tag lately.”
“Oh, I’ve been there, too. There’s this one where—” Zack stopped as he realized the ice-cold magnet that was Seamus’s presence was nearing. He sat up. “Fuck. Seamus is on the way.”