Bite Club

“Oh yes,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about it for days.”

“You ever think about the other answer?”

“Yes,” she said. “But not for a while now. Because there’s one more reason: I don’t want to leave you.”

Shane took a step inside her room. Just a single step. She slid off the bed and took two toward him.

And they met in the middle, not touching, just looking. Trying to find something in each other’s faces. Hungry and scared to hope.

Claire said, “I need to make this right with you, Shane. Because I love you.” She’d promised herself she wouldn’t cry, promised, but now her eyes were burning and full of tears. She didn’t let them fall as she twisted the claddagh ring from her finger and held it out to him. “But I understand if you want this back. I understand if you don’t think you can trust me. You think I betrayed you, but I didn’t. I really tried—”

“God,” Shane said. “You don’t understand me at all.”

And then he leaned forward and, with his good hand, slid the ring back on her finger. He put his forehead against hers for a moment, then kissed her. It was the sweetest, most tentative kiss he’d ever given her, and it made the tears break free, and all she could taste was salt and desperation and the silence between them…. And then his arms went around her.

“I wasn’t mad at you, and I didn’t think you betrayed me,” he said. “Not after the first few minutes. I know why you did it, why you kept it secret. You had to. You didn’t want to hurt me. I get it.”

She shuddered in relief and relaxed against him. His hand stroked her hair.

“I wish you’d told me,” he said, “but Frank was right. I’d rather it was him living in that machine, if it had to be somebody. And maybe it’s okay this way. He’s not exactly gone, but he can’t hurt me anymore. He’s just a voice. A ghost. A memory. Maybe all the best parts of my dad, and none of the worst.”

“Then why didn’t you talk to me about this?” She tried to say it reasonably, but it came out in a wail, full of pain.

“Because I wanted you to decide on your own. And I knew that if I said anything at all, you’d know how much I need you right now.”

“You need me?” She looked up at him and felt her heart speed faster.

“It’s been the toughest week of my life, not touching you. Not talking to you. Waiting to see what you were going to do.” He kissed her again, a warm, damp touch of lips, exquisitely controlled. “But it doesn’t matter whether you stay or go. I’ll still need you. So if you want to go off to Boston, I’ll wait. Right here, whenever you need me.”

Claire smiled against the press of his lips and felt him smiling, too. It was like the sun coming out after all the long, cold days.

“You know what?” she murmured. “I need you right now.”

His voice dropped lower. “Now?”

“Right now.”

“Oh,” Shane said, and backed her slowly toward the bed. “That’s so exactly what I was going to say.”

“Jinxies,” she whispered, but the word was lost between them when he kissed her, so hot and sweet.

And once again…she liked his version better.

TRACKLIST

In case you want to listen along to the songs I used to help me write this book, here they are! Buy the tracks, please. Don’t be a vampire preying on the artists.

“Game On” The Guild, feat. Sandeep Parikh & Felicia Day

“La Villa Strangiato” Rush

“Land of the Living” The Stone Coyotes

“My First Kiss (Gucci Mane Remix)” 3OH!3, feat. Ke$ha

“I Just Wa

“Drumming Song” Florence + The Machine

“Gold Guns Girls” Metric

“Ride to California” Paper Tongues

“Cooler Than Me (Single Mix)” Mike Posner

“If I Die Young” The Band Perry

“October” Broken Bells

“Something More” Secondhand Serenade

“Catch My Fall” The Elliots

“The Silence” Deepfeld

“How You Like Me Now” The Heavy

“Hit ’Em Up Style” Carolina Chocolate Drops

“Pump It Up” Elvis Costello

“Here Comes the Hotstepper” Ini Kamoze

“So Obvious” Ru

“Crash into the Sun” Jim White

“Islands” The xx

“Los Angeles” Sugarcult

“Been a Long Time” Gary Jules & The Group Rules, feat. Jim Bianco

“Letters from the Sky” Civil Twilight

“The Good Life” Three Days Grace

“Heart of Steel” Galactic, feat. Irma Thomas

“Baby Boy … Baby Girl” The Dark Romantics

“Tell Us” The Elliots

“I’ll Be Thinking of You” Jamie McDonald

“Sleepwalking” Fear Blind

“Stomp” Boomkat

“I Want You To …” Jem

“Emergency 911” Sloan

“Supernatural Supergirl” Josh Kramon

“Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” Black Mustang

“Shades Of (Dirty Radio Edit)” X & Hell

“Please Don’t Stop” Carina Round

“Outsider” Jessie Malakouti

“Lone Wolf” Eels

“She’s Got to Be” Amy Ray

“Fever’s Burning Up” Alyx

“Song of Yesterday” Black Country Communion

“The Way I Feel” Alyx

“Dirt Room” Blue October

“Sleepless Nights” Mia Doi Todd

“Me and the Devil” Ferocious Few

“In Between the Lines” The Feud