The Vampires' Last Lover (Dying of the Dark Vampires Book 1) by Aiden James, Patrick Burdine Read Free Book Online Page B

Tyreen. Or, it was more like it nailed Johnny’s interest and he practically begged her to forgive him and say ‘yes!’ to Peter’s offer, dropping to his knees next to her seat.
    “How about it, baby? The hot tub could be a helluva good time, you know what I’m sayin’?” said Johnny, lowering his voice to just above a whisper.
    “Isn’t your roommate kind of stuck up?” she asked.
    “Stephen just sent me a text while you two were going at it. He’s getting an early start on his trip back to Nashville,” said Peter, smiling wryly. “That’s how I knew to look on the web and see what was up. He mentioned the curfew restrictions would be in place before his original planned departure at six o’clock.”
    “All right,” she agreed, glancing at all of us. “But if this shit gets any worse, then we immediately come back to the dorm. Okay?”
    “Sure,” said Peter, looking over at me. “We won’t let anything happen to either of you—I promise!”
    The two guys shared mutual looks of relief so obvious that they may as well have been high-fiving over the table. This had been their plan all along. Tyreen noticed it, but let it go, as did I. We all could use some fun while the sun was still shining. With only five hours left before it got dark, we would have plenty to worry about, soon enough.
    Peter checked the time, surely realizing we didn’t have as long as we would’ve liked. He called the server over and asked for boxes and handed over his credit card. The rest of us protested and offered to give him some money to cover our food, but he just waved us off.
    We agreed to meet at Peter’s car, parked in the library parking lot after getting our swimsuits. Our suspicions about this being a setup between the boys were soon confirmed. Johnny just happened to have his trunks in his backpack.



hat afternoon at Peter’s is one of the memories that I most cherish from those days, despite my own feelings that there was almost a desperation to our merrymaking. The hot tub was the perfect temperature and watching the steam rise into the cold air gave the whole afternoon the feeling of a dream. We ended up walking back to campus from his place because the checkpoints were already such a pain. We were being young and wild and carefree in the face of death. This made us oh-so-cool but also oh-so-naïve.
     
    “I told you that you should have just taken an extra set of clothes when we went over there.” There was enough concern in Tyreen’s voice to keep it from being too nagging.
    “I didn’t want to get ready for our romantic night at his place. It feels too, I dunno, domestic?” I shrugged.
    “I think you took too long getting ready.”
    Tyreen stepped in front of the door to our room as she said this, for the moment effectively blocking my escape from our dorm room. I had already showered and changed into my favorite jeans. They were torn on both knees from excessive wear, but I just couldn’t let them go—besides, they made my butt look perfect—and bundled up in the warm knit sweater Peter bought me for my birthday. He wanted to buy me something flashy and expensive, but I told him that I felt it was too early in our relationship for that sort of extravagance. Besides, I had plenty of jewelry, and the sweater would serve me well on a night where the temperature was supposed to dip into the low teens.
    “I’ll be careful, I promise,” I assured her, picking up my duffle packed with everything I’d need that night and in the morning. I grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulder. “Peter will meet me at the library, and we’ll walk to his place together.”
    I offered her a warm smile to sell my confidence.
    “All the way to Laurel Ave, huh? Are you both out of your
frigging minds
?” Her concern shifted easily to disgust. She looked so much like my mom right then, with her arms folded across her chest. “Peter should be picking you up right outside the dorm tonight in his car