With a pompous air, Lewis lumbered towards me. He was forced to look up at me given our height difference, which I was sure didn’t please him one bit.
“Listen, sir,” Lewis said firmly. “If you’re not here to buy anything or even pretend to, you can leave.”
Caleb’s face paled.
Maybe I should explain before he and Jess die of fear and/or embarrassment.
“Sir,” I said, mocking Lewis’s tone, “I do, in fact, have business at this establishment.”
“Oh? And that is?”
“I am Caleb Foster’s bodyguard,” I told him.
I reached into my pocket.
“Hey!” Lewis yelled nervously. “Get your hands out of there! I’ll call the cops, I swear!”
Caleb melted into the counter like he wanted to disappear.
I sighed. Humans sure have gotten dramatic in the past few hundred years…
With a quick motion, I pulled out my business card and handed it to Lewis. He scowled and snatched it from me.
“What is this? Why are you - “ He stopped complaining when he read the text. “Oh.”
He handed the card back to me and his demeanor changed completely. He struggled to meet my gaze. “Sorry for the trouble, Mr. Tenebrae. A-am I saying that right? Tennybray?”
Jess piped up. “Huh? Tenebrae?”
“No, it’s me who should be sorry for troubling you,” I said. “My name is Adriel Tenebrae, and my family owns this establishment.”
5
Caleb
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. On one hand, it was strangely satisfying watching my boss get thoroughly wrecked by Adriel. On the other hand, Adriel was officially going to be my bodyguard. At work. At a convenience store. Despite the actual danger I was in, wasn’t that going a bit overboard?
My favorite author was not only a vampire, but also my bodyguard. It really was something out of a novel or movie. But things had been so crazy lately that even that was starting to sound normal to me.
After Lewis slunk off, presumably to sit in the back room with his tail between his legs and stew in his embarrassment, Adriel joined us behind the counter.
“That was… really something,” I said, unable to stop myself from grinning. “You scared the crap out of my boss, that’s for sure.”
“Scared him?” Jess added. “I thought for sure he was gonna pass out! Like in a cartoon, you know? Like - “ She mimed a gesture, throwing herself backwards.
I chuckled. “Yeah, Adriel really does have that effect on people.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he mumbled, crossing his arms.
“Well, you’re pretty intimidating,” I admitted. “He probably thought you were going to rob the store or something.”
“Yeah, especially with your all black clothes,” Jess pointed out.
Adriel glanced down at himself, like he hadn’t even noticed. For an immortal vampire, he sure didn’t have a lot of self awareness.
Just like back in the car, and in the house, when he said all those awkward things to me, I realized.
But right now, laughing with Jess and Adriel, I felt totally different. I felt happy. What was with this guy? It seemed like my emotions became a rollercoaster every time he was around.
I wish I could make up my mind on how I feel about him, I thought. I was obsessed with him before I met him in real life, and even then, I still kind of was… but then, there are times where he totally drives me crazy - and not in a good way.
“Wait, so, let me get this straight,” Jess began, pulling me from my thoughts. “You’re a Tenebrae, so that means you’re super rich and own a lot of businesses.”
“Yes,” Adriel confirmed.
“And Caleb just told me he was living at the Tenebrae estates,” Jess continued slowly, piecing together information in her head. “So does that mean you two live together?”
I guessed there was no avoiding that question. “Yeah, we do. Actually, um, Adriel is my - “
“Bodyguard,” Adriel said.
Jess’s expression turned to shock. “Holy crap. What?” She laughed nervously. “Caleb, I love you, but I know there’s no way we can afford a bodyguard on our salary.”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain,” I muttered.
“It was recommended by his doctor, to monitor his condition,” Adriel said. His serious tone and collected aura made it seem like it was a real fact, and not something he just made up on the spot.
“Wow,” Jess said, nodding. She totally bought it. “So cool. A doctor recommended bodyguard…”
God bless her, but she is kind of a ditz, I thought. At least she’s not asking too many questions, but I don’t think anyone else is gonna believe this story so easily.
“A hot bodyguard who lived with me would be so dreamy,” Jess said with a laugh.
I wish I could tell her it’s as great as she’s imagining it is, I thought disappointedly. Before this whole situation happened, I’d probably think the same way she did. Was it selfish of me to want something more?
* * *
My shift went by without incident. Adriel mostly melted into the background, unseen and unheard. I almost felt a little guilty that nothing of consequence happened. He was probably bored out of his mind.
Did he resent me? Was he angry with Pierce for putting him on babysitting duty when he could have been working on his novel? The guilt worsened when I thought about the amount of time he lost following me around. Even as a long-lived vampire, it must have been irritating at the very least.
When my shift ended, we hopped back in the car and drove home. Thankfully, my shift was over before dawn, so Adriel was still safe. I really didn’t want to see him spontaneously combust from being exposed to sunlight.
I found myself thinking about the fact that my boss, Lewis, changed my shift to the graveyard one, and then this happened. It was a seriously weird coincidence. Maybe everything did happen for a reason.
We arrived at the estate while darkness still surrounded everything. Adriel pulled into the garage and gave his car a pat on the hood as we exited it.
“Well, that’s one shift down,” Adriel commented.
I winced. “Yeah.” Still overwhelmed by guilt, I felt the need to apologize. “Sorry.”
Adriel paused. “Excuse me?”
“I said sorry. For making you do all this, when you don’t want to,” I said. “It must suck.”
With unblinking black eyes, Adriel examined me almost in shock, like I’d spoken another language.
“W-what?” I said.
“No one is making me do anything,” Adriel said slowly.
“But… didn’t Pierce put you up to this?”
Adriel crossed his arms. “Pierce asked me to watch you, yes. But he’s not forcing me. I need to guard you, Caleb. I’m the only one who can do it.”
My heart fluttered at that statement, although logically I knew there was no way he meant it that way. “What do you mean?”
As Adriel spoke, he moved closer to me. When he began he was on the other side of the car, and by the end of it, he stood right in front of me, a hair’s length away.
“Pierce is busy with Benji,” Adriel explained, “and Theo…” He shook his head. “He’s not a good fit for a task of this gravity. You saw what happened earlier. He doesn’t take things as seriously as he should.” He took a step closer, his presence overwhelming me. “Therefore, I’m the only one capable of guarding you from Margaret.”
My heart thumped faster. I couldn’t tear myself away from his serious, smoldering eyes.
“Oh,” I said weakly. “Um, I see.”
This is so weird, I thought. Does he know what he’s doing to me?
“Now,” Adriel murmured. “Is there anything else you want to say?”
Yes. My mind was a whirlwind of questions and comments. But were any of them actually going to come out of my mouth? Hell no.
Well, maybe except one.
“Do you hate me?”
/> Adriel’s jaw dropped. It was the first time I ever saw him too shocked to reply right away. This was nothing like the calm, collected Adriel I knew.
Oh god, I thought instantly. I broke Adriel.
Then, to my total surprise, he smiled. It was weird and awkward, like it was something he didn’t do very often, but my eyes weren’t deceiving me. He was actually smiling.
“No, I don’t,” Adriel said. “What makes you think that?”
I groaned mentally. I don’t understand this guy at all!
“N-nevermind,” I mumbled, shrinking into my shoulders. “Forget I asked.”
I turned to walk away and escape my sheer embarrassment, among my other assortment of intense emotions, but something stopped me.
Adriel grabbed my wrist and prevented me from moving.
“Stop,” he said. “Don’t walk away. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
The feel of his hand on my skin burned, but not unpleasantly. It was less, ahh my skin is on fire! and more, holy shit Adriel is touching me!
But I didn’t want to tell him. I already felt like a fool for bringing it up at all. I refused to meet his gaze. “I can’t. It’s just me being stupid.”
“No,” Adriel argued. “I want to know where your feelings come from.” In a lower, more serious voice, he added, “If we’re going to live together for the time being, then I need to understand, Caleb. Humans are supposed to be predictable. But what you said… I didn’t see it coming at all.”
“How do you mean?”
“You asked if I hated you,” he replied. “Where did that question come from? I want to know.”
I blinked up at him, totally confused and startled. Whatever reaction I was expecting when I said those words, it wasn’t this. Was Adriel actually interested in my emotions? That wasn’t the feeling I got from him all this time, but what if I was wrong?
“I guess…” I lowered my eyes. “It’s because you act like you don’t want anything to do with me.” Quickly, I added, “Not that you have to, I mean. Since this was all Pierce’s set up and all, so I get it if you’re annoyed by the whole thing.”
Adriel listened without speaking or even moving. When I awkwardly trailed off, he continued to stare at me, like he was formulating his own thoughts. The silence was too much to bear. My temperature continued to rise from embarrassment and I wished I could melt into the garage floor, or do anything besides keep making an ass out of myself.
“We should get inside - “
But my words were cut off again by Adriel’s fingertip pressed to my lips.
If my temperature was high before, it just skyrocketed. My whole face turned red. Sweat dampened my brow.
“There you go again,” Adriel commented. “Trying to escape your own words. Your own emotions.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed silent. He didn’t remove his finger. I could still feel his finger pressed to my sensitive lips. The longer this went on, the more I was convinced Adriel was trying to kill me by making me blush to death.
Then, Adriel sighed. I knew vampire’s didn’t breathe the way humans did, so it was just body language. His finger slipped away from my lips, to my secret disappointment.
“Perhaps this is my fault,” he said. “I’ve said some things to you that weren’t well received, to say the least.”
I remembered our last conversation in the car, before my shift, and how painfully uncomfortable it had been.
“It was never my intention to cause you distress,” Adriel continued. “I’m aware that I can be… blunt, which my brothers take pleasure in pointing out. But they’re used to my behavior, and it occurred to me that you are not.”
Then something crazy happened. Adriel bowed. To me. It lasted only a second, long enough for me to realize it was really happening and I wasn’t just hallucinating.
“I apologize,” Adriel said. “I do not hate you, and I did a poor job of communicating that. I hope that we can discuss things out in the open moving forward so this doesn’t happen again.” He met my eyes and extended his hand. “Deal?”
My heart skipped like a frightened rabbit. My whole arm trembling, I extended my shaky hand to grasp his. “D-deal.”
“Excellent,” Adriel said. “Now that we’ve settled that, let’s return home.”
Home.
The cottage on the Tenebrae Estates… Adriel had called it his home. Was I included in that, too?
Outside, the black night sky began to turn a deep shade of blue, signalling the coming dawn. Normally, the idea of watching a sunrise was whimsical and full of joy. But knowing it would only harm Adriel and his family, it left me more with wariness. Despite the awkward moments and uncomfortable situations we shared, I never wanted anything bad happen to him.
He was protecting me, and trying his best to understand me better. Now I had to return the favor.
As dawn broke outside, I settled into bed. My mood was better than the previous nights I’d spent here, so I hoped I wouldn’t have a nightmare again. I didn’t want to bother Adriel with it, but since Margaret’s attack, I had bad dreams about it every single time I slept. I hoped they would go away in time.
In my mind, I kept replaying the events in the garage - specifically, Adriel telling me he didn’t hate me.
And pressing his finger to my lips. I shuddered, feeling strangely pleasant.
I knew this wasn’t going to be a fairy-tale situation or anything, but there was a point where I was really starting to get anxious. Pissing off my hero just by being around wasn’t what I wanted to do. Thankfully, Adriel told me that wasn’t the case, so that was one thing I could stop worrying about.
Exhaustion weighed on me like a blanket, pushing me closer down into a deep slumber.
Then, my eyes snapped open.
I’d forgotten to buy heat suppressants at work.
I bolted upright in bed and snatched my phone, thumbing it open to the calendar. I let out a sigh of relief. My heat wasn’t due for another week, and I had plenty of shifts until then. Plenty of time to buy the medication.
I had nothing to worry about.
6
Caleb
I hadn’t seen Benji since the night I moved into the cottage, and now I desperately needed to talk to him.
“Hey, is it okay if we go to the mansion for a bit?” I asked Adriel after breakfast.
“Of course,” he said. “For what purpose?”
“Nothing,” I replied with a shrug. “I just wanna see Benji.”
A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Right. You’re the uncle to his child, after all.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Then let’s go right away. It will be a good opportunity for me to work in my office, as well,” he murmured.
After he gathered his work notes, I waited by the front door, tapping my foot. It wasn’t that I was impatient, but I was anxious. Ever since I realized last night that I had no heat suppressants, I’d been freaking out. I was secretly hoping Benji had some with him by chance, or maybe there would be some in the house, for whatever reason.
My shift wasn’t until later, so I had a few hours to myself. That would be plenty of time to talk.
At the mansion’s grand front steps, a bat servant greeted us with a high-pitched squeak.
“We’ll go our separate ways here,” Adriel said. “As usual, call me if you need anything. But if you’re with Benji, I assume Pierce will be nearby as well, so don’t worry about Margaret. All right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks, Adriel.”
He nodded and - if my eyes weren’t deceiving me - shot me a hint of a smile before disappearing.
The bat servant chirped and led me to the lounge room upstairs, where I found Benji on the couch. Pierce’s arm was curled around his shoulders. I knew it was bad, but I felt a pang of jealousy. They were so perfect and happy together. They had everything in the world, and all I had was my crappy job and an aloof bodyguard.
I shouldn’t complain, I tol
d myself, trying to stay grounded. Pierce paid for my surgery, and Benji was the one who arranged it. They both saved my life.
“Caleb?” Benji cried. “Hey!”
“What a nice surprise,” Pierce said.
Benji hesitantly wobbled to his feet. His belly had swollen considerably. Instantly my negative feelings disappeared, replaced by joy for him. I met him halfway so he wouldn’t exert himself.
He tried to give me a hug, but his big belly made it too awkward so we just patted each other on the shoulder.
“What are you doing here?” Benji asked. “Don’t you have work tonight?”
“Yeah, I do, but I just wanted to see you and talk, y’know?”
“Right.” Benji nodded. “How’s life with Adriel?”
“Is he grating on your nerves yet?” Pierce asked from the couch, a devilish glint in his eye.
“Uh,” I said, laughing nervously. “Kind of?”
Benji rolled his eyes. “These vampires act like they’re so smart and wise, but they fight and annoy each other just like human brothers do. Anyway, what’s up?”
I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt. “Um, could we talk in private for a sec? No offense, Pierce.”
“None taken.” Pierce raised his hands and escorted himself out of the room. “I’ll be out in the hall, not eavesdropping.”
“Pierce!” Benji scolded.
“I’m kidding. Let me know when you’re done, you two.”
As Pierce left, he gave me a kind smile. Maybe it was my imagination, but although the brothers weren’t related by blood, I thought I saw a kind of family resemblance between them.
“Okay, what’s so serious that you needed to talk alone?” Benji asked. He sat back down on the couch and gestured for me to join him.
“It’s stupid and embarrassing,” I mumbled. “Basically, I forgot to bring my pills when I moved here.”
“Your pills?” Benji’s eyes widened in realization. “You mean your heat suppressants?”
Omega’s Vampire Bodyguard: Tenebrae Brothers Book 2 Page 4
