Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

196 - Rebecca

That night, conversations around the room hadn't quite been the same. No one was interested in making small talk, nor did they want to share their weird and wonderful stories about hunting or other vampires or playing around with humans; we were just prepared to sit and think about all that'd happened, all that was going to happen. It was no secret that things were going to go wrong and fast.

Yet, still, the next evening when I woke up in my boyfriend's arms, I didn't feel the pressure at all. Sure, I knew I was supposed to be distracted still, wondering whether or not I needed to start preparing for goodbyes, but I just couldn't take my mind off of anything but the boy wrapped around me. Because he was a boy when he slept: innocent and cute. I doubted he'd ever been any different, deep down.

How many times had I gotten completely distracted in the evening looking at him? Too many, for sure. How did I still notice tiny details about him?

By the time I was even beginning to think about moving, Colby's eyes fluttered. I didn't look away in time so he caught me staring and let a large, adorable smile come over his face. He closed his eyes once more, rolling onto his back away from me. I almost whined aloud but kept my mouth shut.

"Sometimes I forget how nice that is to wake up to," he muttered without moving from his comfortable position with his one hand behind his head, the other still beneath me.

"It's creepy," I argued and he smiled wider. "Is everyone up already?"

"Actually... I don't think anyone's here. Wait." Colby paused movement altogether, listening out for any sign of someone else being in the house. His brows drew together as he opened his eyes and stared at his door. "No, I don't hear anyone at all."

"What do you normally hear?" I whispered, the prospect of a house alone with Colby already getting to my head. I knew we shouldn't, but I really wanted to just lose myself in him for a couple of hours.

"Rustling, breathing, heartbeats," he shrugged, "but it's dead silence except for," his hand pressed to my chest, where no doubt he could feel my heartbeat, "that." A brighter smile spread over his face and he slid his hand up to my neck to drag me over the top of him. "I do enjoy listening to your heartbeat."

"Is it some kind of vampire kink?" I teased as I looked down at him. He looked me up and down—I only wore a t-shirt that most definitely belonged to him—but he didn't say anything about the thoughts running through his mind.

"We should talk while we have the house to ourselves," he decided and I groaned.

"I had better plans in mind."

He grinned. "As fun as that would be, we need to talk about your living situation. I want you to live with me." His blunt statement took me so off guard that I couldn't help but silently stare at him, wondering what the fuck to say to that. He saw it on my face and rubbed his hand up my thigh, as though that would help me at all. "I love having you around, Becks, and I don't want you to have somewhere else you have to go. Besides, it'll be safer if you're surrounded by us."

"Safer," I repeated, "and so invaded. We don't have privacy here."

"No, but I'll find us a place to talk when we really need to. I just want you here with me as much as I can have you. Recent events have reminded me of how breakable you are."

I rolled my eyes. "Last I checked, I saved your ass."

"You did," he agreed with a grin, "but that's not to say it'll be like that every time."

"If I agree to living here, I want something in return. I love you and I enjoy being in this house, but this house just isn't somewhere I want to permanently be."

"What do you want in return?" he asked hesitantly. A part of him knew where I was going with this—it wasn't rocket science, after all, to figure out the one thing I wanted as soon as our Julian problem was solved—the thing that last made us break up.

But it wasn't quite that I was going to ask for. I was convinced that would happen no matter what, so I didn't want to waste this little wish opportunity on that. Instead, I simply built on it. "When I'm like you, I'm going to have my own place."

"When you're like me," Colby repeated, his eyes turning hard on me. I didn't say anything, I just stared back at him waiting for the storm to come. It didn't. "You're seriously convinced that you want to be a vampire?"

"Can we not have this argument?" I complained.

"Just tell me. You're absolutely, undoubtably certain that's what you want? And what you will want, even after you've killed Julian?"

"Yes!"

He went silent for a second, staring directly into my eyes. He was thinking it over, which shouldn't take very long since it was my choice whether I chose to end my life for an entirely new one soon. I didn't care if he changed me or if someone else did—I only cared that it happened.

My face must have read that because Colby closed his eyes in defeat. The hope inside me rose, my whole body reacting to the idea that I might get what I want from him. When he looked at me again, I saw it clearly: retreat.

"Okay," he agreed slowly, "I want you to promise me to do something, then I'll consider allowing this."

I scowled to myself. "You're not allowing shit but go on."

"I have three conditions. First, you live with me until then. Second, you figure out what you're going to do about your designing—you can't stay in the spotlight with your mom and sister. And third," he paused, "you get permission from your dad."

"What?!" I blurted. Permission from my dad. That was like asking someone if I could murder them. Not only did my father despise vampires, but he despised that Angela and I were mixed up in them, as well as the idea of me becoming one. He already knew that I wanted it; he'd already yelled at me for it. And Colby was behind that, too.

Getting permission from my father was by far going to be the most difficult part of any of this—even including the changing itself. How was I supposed to ask him for something he'd never say yes to?

Maybe that was why Colby made it a condition.

"Your father has been through shit—first with your mom and then with Angela. We both saw how he reacted knowing you wanted to be a vamp, rather than just to "bang" one, so yeah, I want you to get his permission first. You mean more to him than you know and you need to honour that."

"Seriously?" I snapped.

"Yes."

"I don't understand where that attitude has come from. You talk to him once and suddenly you're totally on his side?"

"Becks, think about what he's had to deal with. His wife's been blatantly cheating on him with a vampire who bites her for years and years, then she dragged his daughter into it who's been doing exactly the same thing, and now he still has to deal with his wife as well as handling two daughters who get bitten on the regular. Sure, the circumstances are different but that doesn't change all the trauma he's already been through with your family. Perhaps not you yourself, but that's because you've always been stronger than the others. Maybe you could use that in your favour."

Colby's speech ended when he met my eyes, which he'd been avoiding this whole time. He'd meant every word of what he said, and although I totally agreed with it all, I couldn't bring myself to look at him and not feel at least a little bit angry. Still, I kept my voice low and calm, breathing through the annoyance with the aid of his presence. "Do you really think he'd ever give me his permission?" I asked softly, maintaining our eye contact.

Colby didn't hesitate. "If you said the right things, yes, I think it's possible." I stared at him for a second longer then sighed, flicking my gaze to the window. It was getting darker outside already, the evening losing its light.

Finally, I laid back down beside Colby, forced him around me, and sighed. "Okay," I whispered, "I agree to all of it. I'll live with you, I'll sort out my designing, and I'll ask my dad for permission—but only after Julian's dead."

"Then I'll change you," Colby confirmed, "and I won't even complain about it."