“Don’t be sorry.” Rowan spoke through his pillow before he lifted his head. “These things happen. We all need to get up to study, since we’ve been banned from school today. We have to learn vampire things.”
I scooted off the bed, my feet hitting the floor with a sting. I stared down at them. Yes, I’d cut them on whatever jaunt I had taken last night. “I’ve never sleepwalked in my life, that I know about. I’ve never woken up where I didn’t go to bed. It’s really strange. I’m—” I cut myself off before I could apologize again. “It might be a good idea to stick me in the other room or something, so I don’t keep you all up.”
“That’s not happening.” Tanner got up and smiled at me. “If you’re going to go through something like that, I’d rather you go through it where I can see to it you’re safe.”
Everyone moaned their way out of bed, and with each one, my guilt rose. They were going to have a long day. I hobbled toward the bathroom. How long until I was just the girl who basically trapped them into hurrying along their destiny and kept them from getting a night’s sleep?
“Hey.” Griffin stopped me before I entered the bathroom. “I can see your feet hurt. Come see me when you get out. I have stuff for sore feet. Runners always do.” He winked at me. “Thanks for putting me to bed last night.”
That was a better memory than the fuzzy sleepwalking I had done. Why had that happened? I brushed my teeth and changed into school clothes before I stuck my hair up in a loose bun that was bound to be a mess in no time, but I didn’t have the wherewithal to do anything else with it right then.
I found the bedroom emptied except for Griffin, who held up bandages. “Come here. I’ll fix your feet.”
That was sweet. I sat down on the edge of his bed, and he examined the cuts causing me pain. Quickly, he got to work with some bandages and antibiotic cream that also had a pain killer in it. “They’re not bad. Just your run of the mill cuts from walking barefoot.” He patted my ankles when he was done. I stared at him, most of my bad mood fleeing. I’d never have imagined this about myself, but I really, really liked him holding my feet. It was almost…sensual.
I swallowed. What is the matter with me?
“Thanks.”
He squeezed again. “You’re welcome. Oh, and, Maci, happy birthday. Sorry we all grumbled instead of saying that right off the bat. Happiest of birthdays, baby.” He leaned over and kissed me. It wasn’t a gentle peck. No, when Griffin kissed me, the few times he had, he meant it. His tongue stroked over my bottom lip before he pulled me onto his lap.
I kissed him back, every ounce of frustration I’d had since I opened my eyes fleeing in those caresses. He ran his hand up my thigh, squeezing my pant leg. Something crashed in the house, and someone—I was pretty sure it was Tanner—cursed. It sounded like they were downstairs and whatever had broken was glass.
We pulled away, both of us panting a little bit. “Best gift, ever.”
“That wasn’t your gift.” He kissed my cheek. “More like one you just gave to me. Go on downstairs. I’ll be there in a minute.” He thumbed my cheek. “And have a good day at school.”
That was right. I had to do that. I had to go to school.
Fuck.
I did get downstairs, just in time to see Tanner cleaning up a broken vase. “What happened?” I bent down to help him, holding the dustpan so he could sweep.
He winced. “Well, I was thinking about surprising you later with a whole bunch of flowers. Grabbed that vase from the top shelf, and it broke. I’m not usually clumsy, but today I am. Go figure. I’m going to come up with another idea.”
I took his hand. “I’m glad you didn’t get hurt, and I don’t need gifts. Seriously.”
“You’re getting some, so you’re going to have to start.”
A thought dawned on me. “Sing me something. That would be such a perfect gift.”
“Really?” His cheeks reddened. “You like how I sing?”
“I love it.” I bumped my arm into his. “Do it again soon?”
He smiled. “Anytime you want, Maci. You are…amazing.”
I kissed his cheek. “I think you’re the amazing one.”
“Do me a favor?” His face fell. “It’s kind of a dark one.”
I took a long, deep breath. A clock ticked in the hallway, and the sun shot through the window, illuminating Tanner’s handsome face, the dark circles I’d been the cause of today showing in the brightness. “Dark favor? Sounds ominous.”
“It’s not that.” He laughed, looking at the ground. “Our birthday, all five of us, happens in the same week in October. The second week. We were born one day after the other. Rowan first. Caesar. Me. Ace. And finally, Griffin. Starts on the eighth to the twelfth. Griff likes to say he’s never had to be without the rest of us. I don’t know… It’s always been this big deal. Well, we made it one. Not from our families or whatever. But we’d recognize the week. Even this last year, when we basically stopped doing anything fun. We still recognized the birthday week. Like it mattered. And it kills me to think no one will remember it anymore.”
I swallowed. “You want me to remember your birthday week.”
“I do, if it’s not too much. Just say it aloud. Today is the week or something. We won’t care anymore. Sometimes, vampires remember the day they come out of the coffin, but it’s not…it’s not our birthday. Like our human lives didn’t matter. So would you remember them? For us?”
I took his cheeks in my hand. “Yes. Count on it.” I kissed him again. “Your human lives mattered. Very much.”
Not to mention we were putting a stop to my birthday recognition because there was no way, a week before they all died, they should be thinking about this. We needed to focus on getting them out of this hell.
The rest of them were in the kitchen. Tanner followed me, and a second later, Griff arrived, so we were all together.
Caesar was making the same eggs from yesterday. They smelled like heaven. If life was fair—which I knew it wasn’t—there could have been a lot more mornings like this. But there was a countdown, and I knew it. He quickly spooned the eggs onto the plate in front of me. “I think you’ll like these even better. I put feta cheese in them. Even better than yesterday’s, I think.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at him. “You are so nice. You didn’t have to cook me breakfast.”
“Maybe he didn’t,” Ace said. “But he totally has to make them for me. I insist.”
Caesar grinned. “I made plenty for everyone.”
He quickly handed out plates, and I closed my eyes against the utter joy his eggs created in my mouth. Had I ever had feta cheese before? I didn’t think I had, but it was heaven. It was perfect. I chewed and swallowed for a long moment before I said anything else.
“This is the best. Really. I…I love it. I’ve never tasted anything like it.”
Caesar lit up like a light bulb. “Really? That makes my day. I wanted to do something nice to start your birthday.”
“On that subject,” I interrupted him, meeting Rowan’s gaze and then Ace’s before I continued. “No more of that. Okay? You guys have so little time left, the last thing we need is to focus on some stupid day for me. What we should all be doing is putting our heads together and figuring out how to get you out of this eventuality.”