Addicted

77 (Colby's POV)

Chloe was lying half on her stomach, half on her side, her small hand under her cheek on my pillow. Her legs were bare, her porcelain skin almost glowing in the moonlight that shown in through my window. She was dressed in one of my black tshirts, and her underwear, nothing else.

 It was pretty warm tonight, and the ac was broken in this house, sometimes working, most of the time not. It didn't bother us all that much, but for a human, I'm sure that it was uncomfortable. Must be why she had kicked the covers down.

I stood over her, watching her sleep for a moment, admiring her beauty, then turned to the couch. I was going to hang out in here tonight, instead of going back down to the garage.

"Colby," I heard Chloe's murmured whisper of my name, and I froze.

Was she dreaming again? Or remembering?

"I remember."

I sucked in a breath and turned back to try and explain...only she was still asleep, her legs moving restlessly against the sheets.

"I'm sorry Chloe." I whispered, and touched my fingers to her face, letting them trail down her jawline.

She whimpered in her sleep, then her face relaxed back into a peaceful sleep.

I sighed and walked to the closet to grab that damn book. For the life of me, I didn't want to believe in this shit, but my feelings were growing, taking over my entire existance. If this could help me understand what was happening, then so be it.

 I was tired of fighting it, tired of going to war with everything and everyone. Hell, I was just tired.

 Why was it so wrong for me to want to be happy? To want someone to love me for who I was, and accept me with all of my flaws? To be able to handle me at my worst, and even fight back and show me when I'm being an asshole? It sounded pretty good to me right now...especially with Millie's threat of taking it all away from me, looming over my head.

 I grabbed the book out from under the pile of clothes and settled onto the couch, facing Chloe. I'm not sure how long I lay there reading, but for a while.

 I became engrossed in the book. Everything I read explained how I was feeling. The extreme protectiveness, the overwhelming lust, the need to be near her....even my inability to feed from others.

If the One was still human, the vampire only craved their blood, no one else's. I wonder if Corey knew that Devyn was his One...she was the only one that he would feed from.

How was he able to do that though? The craving was so overwhelming...Emilie obviously wasn't my One but the emotions that I felt with her just from loving her and me being a new vamp, made the act so....intense. I wasn't able to control myself.

There was no way that I would be able to control it with Chloe. Hell, she didn't even know the darkest side of me. She thought that she did. She thought that she had seen me at my worst...she had no idea of the monster that I actually was. I didn't want her to know.

 I didn't want to see fear in her eyes, or disgust when she looked at me. The burning desire that shown in her eyes when she looked at me now...like she couldn't believe someone like me existed...I needed her to always look at me like that. Fuck.

 Chloe was my One...and I'll be damned if I wasn't happy about it.

Sam was standing outside my door. I could sense him.

"Come in, but be quiet. She's sleeping." I said quietly, knowing that he could hear me.

 I looked up at him as he walked inside my room.

 He glanced from my face to the book in my lap.

 "You believe it, don't you? I can see it on your face. Chloe's your One."

 I was still in shock over the fact that my brain had accepted it, so I didn't reply. I opened my mouth to, but nothing came out.

 Sam nodded.

 "Yeah, I know the feeling. You feel like you're a human that got punched in the gut and you can't breathe. Your chest is heavy, and your mind is spinning with the realization that you love her...and you can't live without her."

I looked at him, confused. "But what if that isn't the best thing for her? Is it right of us to bring her and Katrina into this madness? Didn't you consider just letting Katrina go, breaking up with her, getting someone to compel her so that she would forget all about you?"

 He let out a deep unneeded breath. "Sure I did. We lead dangerous lives..but think about it. She was already involved because she was friends with Millie. Chloe was already being stalked by Millie before she even met us. If it wasn't Millie, it would be some other random vamp. They live in the middle of several vamp nests. Is it safer to stay away from them and hope that no one bothers them, or is it safer to keep them next to us, and know that we'll do everything to protect them?"

Okay, he had a point. I still couldn't say that I was completely okay with it, but I understood his point.

 Chloe shifted on the bed again, and I remembered that she was barely dressed. Sam looked over at her, just as I jumped up and threw the blanket across her legs.

 He chuckled quietly.

"Yeah ,there's the jealousy. That hits you like a train, even when it isn't justified."

I knew that Sam wasn't a threat to me with Chloe but I didn't want anyone seeing her dressed in only my shirt. That was just for me.

"Be careful Brother. You can control yourself. I know you can but you have to know it too." He turned to walk out, then stopped at the door after opening it. "Oh," He looked back at me. "She's got amazing legs."

I growled at him, baring my fangs as he darted out the door laughing lightly. Asshole.

 "Colby?" I looked down at Chloe, thinking that she was just dreaming again