“So you won’t go to col ege with me?”
He looked wounded, even though he was trying to hide it, and I felt instantly guilty.
I smiled to soften my previous aggravation.
“If that’s what you want to do, of course I’l go to col ege with you, but what about—”
“Lucius knows a guy that can get me some papers and I can have a legitimate identity, one that’s not associated with a disappearance.”
“That’s great news,” I said, striving for enthusiasm.
“I know how much you wanted to go to Stanford.”
I wanted to point out al the obstacles and pitfal s to his plan, but I resisted. I wouldn’t take this moment from him.
“So you’l go to col ege with me?”
“Yes.”
“After that, wil you help me pick out a house somewhere along the coast, near the water?”
“Sure,” I said, deciding it was just better to go along with his fantasy and not shoot holes in it.
“And after that, wil you help me decorate it?”
“Yep.”
“And after that wil you marry me?”
My mouth went bone dry at his question. I could think of nothing I’d like more than to marry Bo. Images of making love with him flitted through my mind and desire flooded my body like molten lava.
“Yes, I’l marry you,” I answered breathlessly.
“And after that, wil you have a baby with me?”
Thoughts of the dark-haired boy I’d imagined rol ed through my mind in a wave that eclipsed the other thoughts.
“Yes.”
“And after that, wil you spend eternity with me?”
And, just like that, the wind was official y gone from my sails.
“I’l spend eternity loving you,” I said, casting my eyes down to his chin, “and mourning you.”
“Why?” he asked coyly.
“That’s what you do when the person you love most in the world dies.”
“Wel , do you plan on kil ing me off?”
“What? Of course not.”
“Then you won’t be getting rid of me for many, many lives.”
At that, I pushed myself into a sitting position.
“What? I mean, how? You’re mortal, aren’t you?”
Bo smiled, the kind of smug smile that reminded me of the cat who ate the canary.
“Nope.”
Despite the knowledge that he’d wanted to be mortal, wanted to be human more than anything, I thril ed at the idea that he wouldn’t leave me, that I wouldn’t have to watch him die.
“How? What happened? I thought…”
“I made a deal.”
“With whom?”
“God, of course,” Bo snorted.
“What kind of deal?” I asked suspiciously.
Bo shrugged.
“My mortality for your life.”
“What?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal? You wanted to be mortal more than anything!”
“I wanted to be mortal until I met you. Now, nothing matters except being with you and, as far as that goes, the longer the better.”
“But Bo—”
“Shh,” he said, pressing his fingertip to my lips this time.
“No buts. I thought you’d be happy.”
“I am. I mean…I am! I just don’t want you making sacrifices for me.”
“You mean like throwing myself in front of a bul et or a train or a…sword made from a feather?” he asked pointedly.
“That was different. I knew that you would die if I didn’t.”
Bo sat up, too.
“What did you think would happen to me if you had died, huh? How did you think I would survive without you?”
I had no answer for that. I had no idea how Bo felt, but if it was anything close to what I felt for him, I knew that survival would be nearly impossible, not to mention earth-shatteringly miserable.
“I did what I had to in order to save you. I’m sorry if it didn’t turn out the way that you’d planned.”
“Are you kidding? It couldn’t have turned out more perfectly, but the point is that you didn’t know how it would turn out. Ridley, you wil ingly gave your life for mine.”
I cast my eyes down, embarrassed by him making such a fuss over it.
“I know, but I couldn’t stand the thought of a world without you.”
Bo put a finger under my chin.
“And I feel the same way, but now we don’t have to worry about that. Ridley, we can be together forever. Forever,” he repeated meaningful y.
As I looked into his beautiful eyes, I felt al the doubts and insecurities, al the fear and uncertainty melt away like early morning mist. My life wasn’t going to be ful of misery and grief, of pain and loss. Bo and I would be together forever.
We would go to col ege and buy a house. We would get married and have a baby. We would live, just like regular people. Wel , almost.
Leaning forward, I pressed a tiny kiss on Bo’s lips.
“You make me whole, you know. You are the only thing I need to live, the only thing I need to be happy.”
Bo put his palm on my chest and pushed me back onto the bed, rol ing smoothly on top of me. He rested his weight on his forearms as he stared down at me with his fathomless eyes.
“Why don’t we concentrate real y hard and see if we can get a glimpse of that future again, like we did last time.”
Images of Bo’s naked body pressed to mine, the remembered feel of his lips on my skin and his hands bringing me to passionate life, flooded my mind as his kiss brought my blood to an instant boil.
With a finger to my chin, he held my face in place as he positioned his throat near my mouth. My fangs slid out in anticipation.
“I love you, Ridley,” he said, his body shifting against me as he awaited my bite. “My blood is yours. My body is yours. My heart is yours. My life is yours. Take it al .”
With a happier, lighter heart than I could ever remember having, I sank my teeth into Bo’s artery. As I let the blood of our life, our love and our future pour over my tongue, I realized that this was the first bite of a mil ion more to come.
Forever is a long, sweet time.
THE END