Jerome’s hand lands on my lower back, his skin brushing against mine. But still. Zero tingles.
Pain slices through me once more. I hate that even now, I can’t shed the memory of Daemon’s touch from my body.
“She looks happy,” Jerome whispers in my ear once we’re out of earshot.
I can’t help but bark out a laugh, and it feels good to be able to banish just a little bit of the tension that’s pulling my shoulders tight as I do so.
“I’m not living up to her standards tonight.”
“Why the hell not? You look…” he trails off, and when I glance over, I find his cheeks are blazing red.
“Thank you, Jerome. I appreciate it.”
“What are we drinking then, kids?” Jocelyn asks, thankfully smashing through the tension that has momentarily descended.
“You mean, I have options?” I ask hopefully.
Jocelyn smirks at me. “And here I was thinking you weren’t playing by the rules tonight, Miss Cirillo.”
“You got me there. Vodka and anything you’ve got to water it down a bit then, please.”
“Jerome?”
“I’ll… uh…”
“Beer?”
“Sure, that sounds great. Thank you.”
We take our drinks and head through to the den while the adults have pre-dinner drinks in our formal dining room.
“So what’s the deal then, Jerome? How did your parents sell this to you?” I ask, curious as hell about what he’s agreed to.
He shrugs, sitting on the other side of the sofa to me.
He shrugs. “Mum just said that you might need someone to keep you company, seeing as Nico wasn’t going to be here.”
My grip on my glass tightens at the mention of my brother slipping out of something else that will be dull enough to send me to sleep.
“I appreciate that. I really do. But surely you have something else to be doing that’s way more exciting on a Friday night? Isn’t there a party or something you could go to?”
“It’s totally cool. You know I’m not really in for all that.”
“There is though, isn’t there?”
“Yeah.” He hesitates. “Teagan is having a house party.”
“You should go,” I encourage. “I’ll tell our parents you were sick or something.”
“Spending the evening with you is no hardship,” he says with a genuine smile.
“Well then, maybe we should both make a run for it and party the night away instead.”
He stares at me as if he can’t decide if I’m joking or not.
I am, obviously.
I might be feeling rebellious, but I’m not going to go running out of the house again when I know how real the threat is out there.