Claws // Colby Brock

💫 56 💫

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Lying half asleep, I hardly noticed Colby's arrival until his scent swarmed me. He climbed in on the other side of the bed and didn't move any closer, not even a breath escaping him. I — luckily — was sprawled half on my back, so I could just about see him staring up at the ceiling from the corner of my eye.

As quickly as I could before he tried to move away from me, I rolled over so that my head landed on his chest and my leg draped over him. He stiffened beneath me, his muscles deadly still.

"Relax," I muttered sleepily, shuffling to nuzzle my face in his neck. His scent was calming and I was worried I'd fall asleep before cheering him up.

He didn't reply to me, drawing my gaze up to the parts of his face I could see from down here. He was completely blank, like I didn't even exist.

"Colby," I whined, barely making an effort to poke at him. "Do you need me to move?" I waited a few seconds but he was still and silent, so I just rolled away. I was exhausted considering the sun had already risen outside, and I didn't have the energy to comfort him over something that wasn't even a problem. I didn't want him to bite me, however I understood he was a vampire — what part of that didn't he get?

After probably five minutes, during which time I started to fall asleep again, I heard him getting up and leaving. I'd deal with his shit in the evening rather than now.

So I slept, and though my sleep was far from perfect, I was more in the mood to have an argument as I got up. I did my usual routine without caring too much about where Colby was, since it wasn't really my business where he chose to go to avoid me. The others weren't really talkative when I got downstairs, either, hardly even saying a word to me as I made myself food in the kitchen completely alone.

Cassie came to sit at the island while I cleaned up after myself. She didn't say anything but I knew that wasn't the point of her being there.

By the time I was walking out, she twisted in her seat and I turned to her expectantly. "Are you mad at him?"

I sighed — I knew this was coming from one of them. "For his problem? No, I'm not. For disappearing without a word? Absolutely."

"That's fair," she agreed, nodding. "Is he gonna get an earful when he gets back?"

"No, not unless he tries to act like nothing is wrong. I can be reasonable." Cassie just raised a brow and I found myself smiling a little. "Sometimes," I pointed out.

"That's more like it," she chuckled. "Well, I suppose it's a good thing you're thinking like that."

"Why?"

She didn't answer but didn't need to. In the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar figure hovering at the entryway to the kitchen, his hands in his pockets as he watched me in silence. I chose to look at him completely blankly, and Cassie disappeared to leave us alone. Not that we could talk freely in this house, anyway.

"Sorry."

The word was unexpected, so I didn't know what else to do besides nod at him. He inched a step closer, like it'd been an invitation.

"I need to breathe to speak so I couldn't say anything."

I crossed my arms. I felt like I was telling off a child. "You're normally fine so what changed?" He shrugged, a solemn look on his face that was killing me. He clearly felt bad, why was I making him think I was angrier about any of this than I actually was? I wasn't like this. "Oi, quit giving me that look, Colby. You did nothing wrong, I'm not mad."

His eyes flashed up to meet mine through his lashes, practically knocking my feet from beneath me. I tried not to let my breathing slip, to keep it under control as I gestured vaguely toward myself. He zipped across the space between us instantly, wrapping me up so completely in his arms that I couldn't see anything but him. I returned the affection, my arms around his neck.

He was pressed as far into the dip of my shoulder as he could get, making me question again why he'd struggled so much yesterday. I supposed I didn't need an answer unless it kept happening.

When I felt his fingers squeezing my sides, I smiled to myself and pulled back just enough that he knew I wanted to see his face. "Bad day?" I asked, the smile refusing to fade out.

"Mhm," he murmured.

Something was off about his features that I couldn't quite place at first, then I realised. I ran my thumbs along the dark taint of his skin beneath his eyes with a frown. "Did you sleep?"

"No," he admitted, "but I'm not tired."

"Really? You look like shit." He snickered and grabbed at my ass, as if that was supposed to be a punishment of some kind. He could tell by my face my opinion on that little action, which only amused him. "Nothing wrong with going to sleep if you need it, you know. I would join you, but it was so much easier sleeping without a snorer next to me."

"Vampires don't snore, Amira."

"You must be doing it on purpose, then." I pulled my arms back to cross them over my chest, but he didn't let go of my waist. His hands slid under my shirt onto my bare skin, his fingers squeezing my once more. He definitely wanted something, I just wasn't sure what. Well, I could have made a couple of educated guesses.

Pressing my hands to his chest, I tilted my head to the side in questioning, and he sighed as he dropped back to burrow in my neck. I was happy to wrap him up how ever he wanted.

A few moments passed without either of us saying anything. Every second was like torture and bliss simultaneously; my urges to take this upstairs mixing with the peace of doing something so simple and intimate together. A part of me wished I still had my apartment so we could lie down on a couch and watch TV mindlessly like normal couples would.

Instead, we had a dozen problems to solve before they became crises.

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i know some of these are short chapters but in case you cannot tell, i am building up to something big ;)