“Because you’re my fucking brother! You shouldn’t fucking pity your own sibling! You’re supposed to be the one person in my goddamn corner, Shan! The one person!” Cal had never thought for a moment that there would be a time when his brother would step out of that position, would vacate his position and side with the masses that thought the younger of the siblings was just some giant fuck-up. For people with a mother like they’d had, being compared to her was the absolute worst thing that you could accuse them of – it was the point of no return, the final nail. Even if Shannon wanted to take it back later, when he realized things had gone too far and they’d both said too much, it was one of those things that could never truly be erased. He’d thought it, that was bad enough, but to actually hear him say it out aloud was enough to stun Cal into silence. Ending up like their mother was the greatest fear in Cal’s life; there were parts of him that he knew were her, parts that he hated and tried to hide, parts that he thought no one else saw, but clearly Shannon did. He’d seen and he knew the truth and he’d….he’d called him out on it. And he was right. Callum knew that he was weak, that he was selfish, that he was just one big fucking mess with all of his addictions and his short-comings and that everyone around him would be better to hit the fucking road and fast. He just never thought his own brother saw him like that. Juniper had gotten the fuck out of the way the moment she could and now apparently his brother was doing the same. Just after he closed the door to his cell, before crawling into bed, Cal reached out and pressed the button to let him talk to Dom’s guards, “Boys? Don’t…don’t let him back in here, yeah? We’ve got nothing left to say to one another.” If there was one benefit they still let him have, it was that Cal was – to a certain extent – allowed to dictate who could and couldn’t see him. And after that whole exchange? He couldn’t think of a single reason why Shannon would ever want to see him again. They didn’t need to hurt one another any further.
“Yes…” Eden breathed honestly, eyes dark with a swirl of emotions as they flickered up to meet his. “I’d say I’m glad you’re not, but…,” a soft, teasing smile tugged at her lips, “How about…I’m so fucking happy you’re here?” The fact that he’d been turned didn’t bother her – like he said, he wouldn’t be the first vampire she’d slept with – if anything, she was more concerned with how he was handling everything. From what she’d heard from others, the transition wasn’t an easy one. She just wanted him to be ok….maybe it had something to do with that grand declaration she still hadn’t made. “I….” she took a moment, trying to come up with a good response to that, “I haven’t….I couldn’t…not yet, at least.” Eden was sure that she would have found someone else to make her happy in the future, but she’d focused on other aspects in her life while he’d been gone, wanting to take it easy as far as dating was concerned. The heart needed time to recover. Her hands were on his chest almost as soon as he’d finished ridding himself of his shirt, fingers tracing over familiar paths, dipping into the spaces between his ribs, pulling closer until he stepped back. She wanted to tell him to slow down, to speed up, to press against her, to back away so that she could see him…. It was all too much, it wasn’t enough… Everything was just a whirl of emotions, neither of them able to touch the other enough. Kissing was always a bit of a challenge with a vampire – you had to be careful not to catch your tongue or your lip on one of those canines. Bleeding into a kiss could have very extreme circumstances and you had to be prepared for whatever they might be. Eden lifted her arms so that he could slid her pajama top off her head, the satin landing somewhere in the hallway at their feet…and Shannon wasn’t far behind. A ragged little gasp slipped from her at that first cool brush of his tongue against her sex, the muscles of her leg flexing against her shoulder. One hand slid down to tangle in the short strands of his hair, “Yes, please,” she breathed, wanting nothing more in that moment than to be exactly what he wanted.