Page 19 of 'Til All the Seas Run Dry

“Has anyone told you that you’re overbearing?”

“You tell me every day.”

“You’re overbearing.”

“Aye. But ye love me.”

“Lord knows why.”

But he heard the smile in her voice, and he found himself grinning. Penny liked to fuss over him, and he had been surprised to learn that he liked fussing over her too.

“Be safe,” he said. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” she said, cheerfully.

He put the phone down again and stood, pulling on his pants and shirt and making his way to the steep staircase that led up to the main floor. He was hungry and needed to figure out what to do about it. Robbie had likely left with Marcus and Gus to go back to Savannah. He was far from desperate, but he found himself wishing he’d secured a donor before passing out last night.

He came out of the broom closet just as a door in the hallway opened with a cloud of steam. Robbie stepped out, a white towel wrapped around his narrow hips and another in his hand, with which he roughly scrubbed at his short hair.

“Evening, boss,” he said, that crooked smile spreading across his face.

“Robbie,” Callum said, stunned. “What are ye doing here?”

He slung the towel around his neck, holding onto the edges, looking like he stepped out of a locker room.

“Nat Jasper dropped me off last night. Said that Magda told him I should stay here. You hungry?”

“Famished,” Callum said, deciding to worry about Magda and her plans after he’d eaten.

“Let me go put pants on,” Robbie said and disappeared into a room at the end of the short hall.

Callum went to Robbie’s backpack on the kitchen island, which was covered with an absolute riot of patches and buttons. He hadn’t known Robbie long but he knew that there were packets of electrolyte powder in the front pocket of that backpack. He filled the tallest glass he could find with water and mixed the electrolytes into it. He saw a bunch of bananas on a stand on the counter and pulled one off, peeling it and placing it on a plate next to the drink.

Robbie emerged wearing ripped black jeans, boots, and a black tank top.

“Where do you want me, boss?”

“This first,” Callum answered, gesturing at the hydration drink and banana. Robbie smiled and joined him at the counter, eating half of the banana in one astounding bite, cheeks full as he chewed. Callum shook his head.

“Wha?” Robbie asked around a mouthful.

“You’re an animal,” Callum replied drily, and Robbie snorted.

He finished the banana in another bite and then downed half of the glass in a few swallows. Callum watched Robbie’s lean throat move, the flower tattoos across the front of his neck looking like they bobbed in a breeze as he swallowed. Robbie exhaled a satisfied sound and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth.

“I’ll drink the other half after,” he said.

Callum nodded. “Do you want to lie down?”

“Here’s fine,” Robbie said, hopping up onto the counter. It put his neck right on level with Callum’s mouth.

“If you’re certain,” he drawled, and Robbie kicked the lower cabinets with his heels as he nodded and grinned.

Callum braced his hands on the laminate countertop on either side of Robbie’s thighs. Robbie spread his knees so Callum could step between them.

There was something primal about drinking blood, just as there was something primal about sex. As such, many vampires enjoyed blurring the lines, drinking while fucking or drinking as foreplay, where the sex was the aftercare. But for Callum, the drinking was a necessity whereas the sex no longer was. Sex had become a dull approximation of what it had once been, a perfunctory performance of rehearsed movement. He hadn’t bothered in decades.

Callum tended to let his mind go blank while he fed. It was meditative. He would let his focus narrow until the only thing he sensed was his donor’s heart rate, paying close attention to the beats and the pressure so that he could ease away before going too far. He never thought about his Marjory while he fed. It was too painful to remember. He knew what the salt and iron of her blood tasted like sliding across the softness of her skin and into his open mouth.