Paranormal Days

by Megan Derr

  "Yes," Lee said emphatically, groaning when his phone chose that moment to ring. "I'm throwing that in the ocean first."

  Jayden snickered, digging his free hand into Lee's pocket and digging out his phone. Lee let him, amused and no small part turned on by Jayden's audacity. "If I remember right, he doesn't stop calling until you answer it." Jayden turned the phone towards Lee, displaying Astor's name.

  "I could silence it?" Lee suggested, taking the phone. "I mean, seriously, he just wants to know about the lighthouse. It's nothing pressing."

  "Well, if you talk to him, he should leave you alone the rest of your vacation, right?" Jayden asked, giving him a wicked grin. "Then you won't have to worry about anymore interruptions."

  "True," Lee agreed, unsurprised when the phone stopped ringing to go to voice mail. "But I'm much more interested in where our conversation was going."

  "Call him back, get it over with, and I'll show you," Jayden promised, dropping his voice low. He let go of Lee and stepped back. Lee sighed. That hadn't been the answer he'd been hoping for.

  "Fine, fine." Lee took the phone from Jayden then glanced around. "I should probably call from my room, in case this takes a while."

  Jayden rolled his eyes, but headed towards the hotel. "No stalling when we get up there."

  "Yeah, yeah," Lee said, following Jayden into the hotel.

  Jayden disappeared into the little hotel bathroom, and Lee wandered out to the patio, watching the beach goers who had braved the rain as he dialed Astor's number. It rang four whole times—a record in longevity—before Astor picked up with a terse hello.

  "Hey, sorry I missed your call. I had poor reception in the lobby," Lee lied, sitting down in one of the patio chairs and staring out at the ocean.

  "At least you managed to call me back this time," Astor said, then said something muffled to someone else in the room on his end.

  "If this is a bad time," Lee started, hoping for an easy out.

  Someone in the background on Astor's end of the phone yelped, and Lee had to stifle a snicker when Astor said sharply, still muffled, "Five minutes," before saying to Lee, "Tell me what you found."

  "Basic ghost story, pretty stupid," Lee said and gave Astor a detailed rundown of what the tour guide had told the group. "I got lots of pictures, will send them tonight."

  "Good. Send them all." Astor paused then asked, "What trouble did you get into?"

  "What?" Lee scowled out at the ocean, remembering he'd hung up on Astor the previous day. "Nothing. No trouble."

  "I can tell you're lying even over the phone. I can get Tennyson to drive me—" Astor cut off abruptly, and then said, muffled again, "Yes, you would."

  "I'm fine, and if you show up, you owe me a brand new vacation," Lee threatened. Nothing would ruin his vacation more than Astor's showing up, even if he brought Tennyson, who tended to blunt the worst of Astor's invasive, overprotective, and flat out obnoxious behavior.

  "I don't believe you. What happened?"

  "Nothing happened," Lee said, rolling his eyes. "Did you need more info on the lighthouse? Because I have more important things to do—"

  "It's a boy, isn't it?" Astor asked, making Lee splutter. How did Astor do that?

  "Lighthouse!" Lee said loudly, trying to distract Astor. "Do you need more info on that?"

  "I'll come down there if you don't talk to me," Astor said, ignoring him. "It's that or call your mother."

  "Fine, it was, it's fine now, I'm fine, no calling my mother or coming down," Lee said hastily. "I'm a grownup, you know. I can handle my own messes."

  Jayden chose that exact moment to sit down in the other patio chair, and Lee debated the merits of throwing his phone and himself over the balcony. Jayden looked amused, at least, and he asked quietly, "I'm a mess?"

  Lee made a face at him, but didn't answer as Astor asked, "What was the mess?"

  "A little one," Lee said, sticking out his tongue when Jayden made a face at him. "Very small. Nothing to worry about. Go back to playing with your puppy."

  "Tennyson is not a puppy," Astor said, his voice going frosty.

  Lee snickered, half at Astor and half at Jayden's silly face. "Whatever. I'm going to go now. If you need more info on the lighthouse, text me or something. I'm putting my phone on silent to get some peace—"

  "Lee," Astor said. "What was the mess?"

  "It was nothing," Lee said, rolling his eyes. "I met a hedge witch, he's a good guy, no big deal, now can I go?"

  "Hedge witch?" Astor repeated, as though he'd never heard of that. "Herb smoking, tie dye wearing, hippie hedge witch?"

  Lee burst out laughing, trying to picture Jayden wearing tie dye. "Not quite, but yeah, sort of."

  "He didn't threaten you or anything, did he?" Astor asked, sounding confused. "What's the mess?"

  "I told you, no mess," Lee said, rolling his eyes. "I didn't know it at first, was confused, but it's fine. Seriously, that's it. Now can I go, or are you going to pester me for all the sordid details?"

  Astor didn't reply for a moment, finally saying, "If you need help at all, don't hesitate to call."

  "I won't. It seriously wasn't a big deal," Lee said, rolling his eyes. Astor always meant well, but he needed to learn to chill. Tennyson did seem to be helping with that some, at least, though Lee wished he could smooth out all of Astor's overprotective edges. Maybe eventually Astor would accept that Lee could handle himself instead of thinking he needed to protect all of his younger relatives.

  "You won't call or won't hesitate?" Astor asked skeptically.

  "Hesitate, shut up," Lee said. "Phone's going on silent forever, I swear."

  Astor scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to you when you get home. Don't forget to send those pictures."

  "I won't," Lee promised then hung up. Making good on his promise, he flipped the phone to silent and turned to face Jayden.

  "So I'm a mess, am I?" Jayden asked, grinning up at him when Lee stood up.

  "Well," Lee said, dragging his eyes down Jayden's stretched out body. Jayden laughed, showing off his dimples. "No, but really, I made a small mess of things when you told me you were a hedge witch, and Astor called in the middle of it and picked up on some of it."

  "Excuses, excuses," Jayden said, climbing out of his chair and walking over to Lee. "You hurt my feelings. You'll have to make it up to me."

  "Yeah?" Lee asked, letting Jayden push him back into the hotel room. He tossed his phone into the armchair and stepped out of his sandals as Jayden shoved him towards the bed. "And how would you like me to do that?"

  "I can think of a few things," Jayden said thoughtfully. He kissed Lee, pushing him down on the bed as he did so, and Lee thought that he could probably come up with a few things, too.

  *~*~*

  The weekend passed too slowly, with far too little Jayden for Lee's tastes. It was ridiculous, he thought as he headed out to get a quick breakfast before Jayden arrived. His plan had been to find a different fling every night, not to get enamored of the hotel clerk and spend all his time pining after or spending time with Jayden.

  The plus of Jayden's working in the hotel was that he did get to see Jayden every day. Jayden had texted him Saturday and Sunday, asking if he wanted to join Jayden for his dinner break. It had only been half an hour, but Jayden had actually stayed the night on Saturday, which helped make up for it.

  Reaching the lobby, Lee came up short when he realized Jayden was already there, about an hour and a half earlier than they'd planned. He was talking with someone already, Lee noted, squishing the flare of jealousy because it could be a coworker, despite how close to each other the two were standing.

  The second man had dreadlocks, Lee realized as he approached, spilling down past his shoulders and held in place by a loose hair tie. He wore shorts, leather sandals, and a t-shirt that had seen better days. A pair of small, gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and he smelled strongly of something flowery. Lee's jealousy slipped away completely—that had to be Jayden's
brother.

  Lee hung back, uncertain if he should impose, or if he should slip back upstairs and pretend he'd never come down, or if he should head out for breakfast as per his original plan. He was leaning towards retreating when Jayden turned and caught sight of him. Jayden's face lit up, and Lee's stomach did a flip at the sight of Jayden beaming at him.

  Heading over, because he couldn't not now that Jayden had seen him, Lee tamped down on his nerves. Even he wasn't stupid enough to completely alienate Jayden's brother with one brief meeting. Jordan looked a lot like his brother, outside the dreads. They both had the same pretty brown eyes and the shapes of their noses and faces were pretty much identical.

  "Hey, Lee," Jayden greeted as he approached. He leaned towards Lee and it was the most natural thing in the world to drape an arm around Jayden's shoulders. "This is my brother, Jordan. Jordan, this is Lee."

  "Good to meet you," Lee said, holding out a hand that Jordan took after a brief hesitation.

  "Hi," Jordan said, giving Lee a smile. No dimples on him, Lee noted. "Um, nice to meet you."

  "I forgot my house key," Jayden said, wrinkling his nose. "Jordan's leaving on a trip, so he wouldn't be home to let me in this time."

  "Yeah, I should get back and finish packing," Jordan said, shifting in place nervously. He gave Lee another little smile before returning his focus to Jayden. "See you Wednesday."

  Jayden ducked away from Lee's arm, giving his brother a quick hug and murmuring something that Lee only caught 'safe' and 'behave' out of. Jordan waved at Lee then headed across the hotel lobby towards the door.

  "Forget your key often?" Lee asked, trying not to wonder if Jordan was shy or didn't like him. Probably shy, he decided. Jayden liked him, so Jordan didn't have any reason to not like him. Unless Jayden had bitched about him that first night, after Lee had all but kicked Jayden after Jayden's revelation that he was a hedge witch, and Lee wasn't overthinking this at all.

  "Once a week or so," Jayden said cheerfully. "If it's not the keys, it's the wallet or phone. I'm not very good about keeping track of things."

  "I've left without my car keys a few times. I don't usually get very far before I figure that out, though," Lee said. "You're early, by the way. I was heading out to get breakfast. Want to join me?"

  "Sure," Jayden said, glancing at the desk. "I had some paperwork I was going to squeeze in, but if they'd wanted it on time, they shouldn't have given me the day it's due off."

  "Sounds about right to me." Lee glanced at the desk, but no one appeared to be paying them any mind. "Does that mean we have to do mission impossible theatrics to get you through the lobby without anyone catching you?"

  "Nah, as long as I'm with a guest, they won't bother me." Jayden grinned, grabbing Lee's wrist and pulling him towards the door. "That just means you can't leave my side all day."

  "I think that can be arranged," Lee agreed, letting Jayden lead him out. The sun was bright in the sky, and there was enough of a breeze off the ocean that parasailing later should work pretty well. And if Jordan was out of town for the day for what sounded like at least an overnight trip, well, that meant Jayden could stay the night, which was more than enough reason for Lee to grin like a fool.

  *~*~*

  The sun was beginning to set when Lee and Jayden tumbled back into Lee's hotel room. Lee was exhausted—between parasailing, swimming, and baking in the sun, he was completely worn out. His skin felt too tight, like he'd spent just a little too much time in the sun and was going to wake up pink in the morning. Jayden collapsed on Lee's bed, stretching out and taking up the majority of it, which was impressive given it was king-sized. He didn't look pink at all, just tanned and happy and tired, and Lee couldn't regret the day, even if he did end up sunburned.

  "Ugh, move over," Lee said, sitting down heavily on the edge of the bed. "What do you want to do for dinner?"

  "Delivery," Jayden said, shifting a bare half inch. Lee jabbed him in the ribs, making Jayden yelp and move much more quickly out of the way.

  "I could go pick something up, if you want," Lee suggested, a bit hesitantly, wondering if he should bring up he needed to go out and bite someone.

  "That requires leaving, and I prefer you here," Jayden said, grabbing the waistband of Lee's swim trunks possessively.

  Lee settled back onto the bed, yawning widely. He could get a snack from the delivery person, maybe? But that didn't negate having to tell Jayden, and Lee wasn't sure how well Jayden would take being reminded that Lee was a vampire. It hadn't really come up in the last few days, and given Lee was leaving the following day … well, he didn't want to ruin his last night with Jayden.

  "There's a good pizza place up the street that delivers and does an awesome thin crust pizza," Jayden suggested, letting go of Lee's shorts.

  "We could do that." Lee shifted closer to Jayden, then decided it was probably easier to just say something and not stress over it. Jayden had been concerned about Lee biting him, not about Lee biting other people. He shouldn't care, right? "I should probably bite someone, though."

  "Bite someone?" Jayden repeated, obviously confused before it clicked for him. "Oh, oh, right."

  "Maybe I could go pick up the pizza?" Lee suggested. "It shouldn't take too long."

  "That still requires you leaving, and I'm against that," Jayden said, casually hooking a leg over Lee's. Lee stifled a sigh of relief. At least Jayden didn't seem to be getting het up over Lee's needing blood.

  "I could bite the delivery person," Lee suggested, feeling vaguely awkward about discussing biting and feeding on people so casually. "Or one of your coworkers, but that just seems weird."

  "That would be weird." Jayden was quiet for a moment, and Lee stayed silent, still half-afraid that Jayden was going to suddenly decided he didn't want anything to do with Lee because of the biting. "You could bite me."

  "What?" Lee sat up, startled. Jayden blinked at him, looking alarmed at Lee's sudden movement.

  "You could bite me?" Jayden repeated, looking suddenly uncertain. "I mean, if you don't want to—"

  "You said no, before." The words sounded stupid the instant they left his mouth because it wasn't as though Jayden wasn't allowed to change his mind.

  "Well, I didn't really know you. I mean, it's one thing to let some stranger bite me and another to let…" Jayden trailed off.

  "Me," Lee filled in the blank. "Have you ever been bitten before?"

  "Once," Jayden said, making a face. "He was a tourist, and I said it was all right when I really should have said no, and he wasn't really nice about it."

  "How do you know I'll be nice about it?" Lee asked, though now that Jayden had suggested it and agreed to it, Lee was having to try hard to not jump at the chance.

  "Because if you're not, I won't be nice to you after," Jayden said, smirking as he dragged his eyes down Lee's chest. "And I can be very, very nice."

  "You make a compelling case." Lee moved with a sudden spurt of energy, detangling his legs from Jayden's and moving to straddle Jayden.

  Jayden grinned up at him, showing off his teeth and dimples, and Lee didn't even bother resisting the urge to kiss him. Jayden smelled of mint and basil and sun-baked skin, and Lee kissed him steadily then dragged his lips along Jayden's jaw, smelling and tasting and altogether just wanting more of Jayden and trying not to remember that tonight was the last he'd get of Jayden.

  Lee paused when he reached Jayden's neck, all too aware of the way Jayden tensed. He sat back slightly, just enough to look Jayden straight in the eyes. "You can say no at any point, okay?"

  Jayden nodded then deliberately tilted his head back against the pillow, accentuating the line of his neck. Lee didn't move for a moment, trying to prove he was fully capable of rational thought in the face of Jayden's blood.

  "Are you a vampire or not?" Jayden asked, shifting restlessly beneath him. "Bite me, bitch."

  "You just wanted to say that," Lee said, dropping his head and running his tongue along Jayden's neck, right above where hi
s protective necklace rested. It would be slightly easier if the necklace was gone, but Lee wouldn't ask him to remove that. Jayden was already accommodating him enough.

  "I plead the fifth," Jayden said, groaning when Lee licked him again. "Seriously, just bite—"

  Jayden broke off with a soft yelp when Lee bit down gently, breaking the skin carefully. Jayden's blood spilled into his mouth, warm and bitter with fruity notes that made it almost sweet tasting under the bitter. Lee swallowed a few mouthfuls, his blood and body thrumming with the rush of blood and of Jayden beneath him, clinging to Lee's shoulders for dear life.

  Lee pulled away, running his tongue over the puncture marks he'd left on Jayden's neck. He soothed the wounds with a touch of magic, half expecting Jayden's protective spells to keep them from working, but they healed away without any trouble. Licking the last of the blood from his lips, Lee pulled away again to gauge Jayden's reaction.

  "That was it?" Jayden asked. His cheeks were flushed, and he didn't look traumatized.

  "That was it."

  "Huh. The other guy drank a lot more," Jayden said, sliding his hands up from Lee's shoulders to wrap around his neck. "I could live with that."

  "He might've been a full vamp." Lee hesitated then added quietly, "But it's not really something to get used to, right? I'm leaving tomorrow."

  "Right," Jayden said, the smile slipping from his face. "No chance you could stay on vacation forever?"

  "I wish," Lee said, sighing. He sat back, breaking Jayden's hold on him. "No chance you can stow away in my suitcase and come home with me?"

  Jayden shook his head, shifting to sit up. He settled cross legged on the bed in front of Lee, looking pensive. "Remember how I said I'd never had reason to try the long distance thing?"

  Lee nodded, wondering if Jayden was implying what Lee thought he was implying.

  "I'd try it with you," Jayden said quietly. He fidgeted with the sheets in front of him. "You live in Essville, which isn't too far away for weekend visits or whatnot."