Stealing My Heart

by Stephani Hecht, Jambrea Jo Jones, A. J. Llewellyn, Carol Lynne, D. J. Manly, Jaime Samms, Serena Yates

  Aden smiled and covered Victor’s hand with his own. It was such a simple thing to remember, but he felt he’d made great strides. “Do you have any aspirin?”

  Victor nodded and reached towards the bedside table. He held out a glass and two tablets.

  “I usually take three,” Aden said as he sat up to pop the pills into his mouth.

  “You’re far too small for three. It’s not good for you,” Victor admonished.

  As Aden washed the pills down with a gulp of water, he glanced down at himself. He knew he was considered small for a man at only five-six, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to gain weight. He wondered what Victor thought of him. Does he think I’m a wimp for letting Josh beat on me?

  “No,” Victor said, cutting into his thoughts. “I think you were confused and lonely. That’s my fault. I should have come to you before. I’m sorry.”

  Aden stared into the black eyes of his rescuer. “How did you…”

  Victor cut him off with a gentle kiss. Aden opened for the tongue he so desperately needed, but Victor pulled back.

  “That is precisely the reason I didn’t come to you before.”

  Aden suddenly felt like a fool. “I’m sorry. I guess someone like you wouldn’t go for a geek like me.”

  Victor shook his head and ran his hand down Aden’s chest, to skim across his nipples. “Never doubt that you’re desirable, my young friend.”

  The touch to his pebbled nubs had Aden’s cock hard almost instantly. The man he’d spent years dreaming about was actually touching him, and he wanted more. He reached out and trapped Victor’s hand against his chest.

  “Why don’t you want me?” he asked.

  Victor pulled his hand out from under Aden’s. “Because I’m not the man you think I am.”

  Without another word, Victor stood and walked to a chair in the corner of the room. “Sleep. I’ll watch over you as long as I can.”

  Hurt and confused, Aden rolled to his side to hide his tears from Victor. As he silently cried himself to sleep, he tried to remember his mother’s words spoken so long ago. There was something about Victor that he needed to remember.

  * * * *

  Victor gripped the arms of the chair. It took everything in him not to go to Aden. How many years had he visited the man in his dreams? It was one of the gifts that came with being immortal.

  The mistake he’d made years earlier played on his mind. What would Aden think if he knew Victor had erased portions of his past memories?

  Soon he heard the soft snore that signalled the man was asleep. Victor rose, and slipped out to the balcony. He took a deep breath and lifted his face to the moon. “Grant me power to survive another day.”

  When he opened his eyes, he was in a familiar location, outside Grandy’s Bar in New Orleans. He pushed open the door to the usual lot of lonely men. Grandy’s had become one of his favourite feeding spots, and the bartender was one of his kind. The men didn’t want more than a quick fuck in the back room, and they seemed to welcome his bite when the time was right.

  Usually, Victor was fairly picky about the men he fed on, but he was in a hurry to get back to Aden. He grabbed the hand of a man sitting at the bar and started to lead him towards the back.

  Victor wasn’t at all surprised when the man didn’t offer a protest. He hadn’t roamed the earth for five hundred and sixty-seven years and not figured out he was hot.

  As soon as they reached the darkened room, Victor found an available space, and turned the man to face the wall. He ran his hands down the man’s torso to knead his cock. There were times he wished he could bypass the seduction and get right to what he needed, but he knew it would raise too many suspicions.

  However, when he lowered his jeans enough to pull out his cock, he found the normally rigid shaft had no interest in the man. Shit. The thought of Aden asleep in a warm bed waiting for him, helped a little, but not enough.

  Victor gave an inner shrug and wrapped his hand around the donor’s erection. Perhaps giving the man pleasure while taking what he needed would be enough.

  Once the man started thrusting into his fist, Victor leaned against him and bit into his neck. The blood that pumped from the drunk’s artery was filling, but not what he wanted. He shook off the thought and fed until the man bucked several times and covered Victor’s hand with warmth.

  He quickly licked the bite to seal the wound and backed away. For the first time in hundreds of years, he was disgusted by the act of feeding. As he wiped his mouth and walked away, he couldn’t help thinking he was somehow cheating on Aden.

  Preposterous!

  With a nod to the bartender, Victor strode out of the club. He found a dark corner and closed his eyes once again. “Thank you for feeding me another night,” he whispered.

  When he opened his eyes, he was back on Aden’s balcony. The faint smell of the bar and the donor clung to him. He stripped where he stood and tossed the offending garments over the rail to the green grass below, knowing his staff would take care of them.

  Entering Aden’s room, he was surprised to see his charge staring straight at him.

  “You’re awake.”

  Aden nodded and turned on the lamp. The soft glow washed Victor’s nude body in a soft amber light.

  “Where’d you go?” Aden asked.

  Shit. “I was enjoying the garden from the balcony.”

  Aden sucked his bottom lip into his mouth as his eyes seemed to devour Victor’s nudity. “Naked?”

  Victor felt his cock begin to fill at the apparent interest Aden paid it. It was too soon to tell Aden the truth, but he knew he needed to come up with a plausible excuse for his missing clothing.

  He sat on the edge of the mattress. “I enjoy the night air on my body.”

  Aden’s gaze raked Victor’s groin like a physical touch. “I bet the air is pretty happy about that. I know I’d be.”

  With his cock hard and beginning to drip, Victor groaned. “You shouldn’t say things like that. You barely know me.”

  Aden surprised him by flipping back the covers to expose his own body, and although much thinner than Victor’s cock, Aden’s shaft was just as hard. “That’s the thing I can’t stop thinking about. Why do you seem so familiar to me? Even your body is the exact replica of the man in my dreams.”

  Victor was shocked. Aden wasn’t supposed to remember the many nights he’d visited him in his subconscious. He needed to speak to Dante. “I have some business I need to attend to before the sun rises. Will you be okay if I leave you? In the morning, one of the staff will bring you clothes. Feel free to roam about the estate while I rest.”

  “Why do I make you uncomfortable?” Aden asked, covering his nude body.

  He’d already told Aden too many lies for one evening. “Because I want you, but I know it isn’t time.”

  Aden blinked, his eyebrows drawing together. “Is it because of Josh?”

  The hurt and shame in Aden’s expression drew Victor towards him. He cupped the side of Aden’s bruised face and shook his head. “Nothing you’ve ever done would be enough to keep me away from you. It’s me.”

  “You? But you saved me.”

  Victor bent and kissed the ruby lips of the younger man. If only he could tell him the truth of what he’d done.

  When Aden’s mouth opened for him, Victor delved inside. Aden’s thin arm wrapped around Victor’s neck and pulled him closer as his other hand began to fondle Victor’s balls.

  A soft growl emitted from his throat as the force of their erotic tongue duel caused Aden’s lip to split. The wash of Aden’s sweet blood on his tongue threatened every ounce of Victor’s control. He quickly laved the small nick and pulled away.

  “I can’t do this. Not yet.” He removed Aden’s hand from his cock and kissed the palm before settling it on the slender man’s stomach.

  “When?” Aden asked.

  Victor stared down at the gorgeous blond. “Soon, I hope. I wasn’t yet prepared to bring you here. If
your lover hadn’t injured you, and I hadn’t finally heard your cry for help…”

  “I didn’t love him,” Aden cut in.

  “I know.”

  “You never told me how you rescued me, or how you knew I needed help.”

  “Later. First I must attend to my business. There will be plenty of time to talk.”

  Victor left the room before he confessed his past sins. He needed his best friend’s advice. “Dante!” he yelled as he entered his chamber.

  “Well, well, well,” Dante’s smooth voice said from behind him.

  Victor quickly grabbed a robe and put it on. “I need your help.”

  “I can see that. Who’s left my friend hard and wanting?”

  Victor waved off Dante’s one-track mind. “Aden’s here.”

  Dante’s brows shot up. “Seriously? Do I get to see him?”

  “Not yet. It’ll be a while before he’s ready for the likes of you, my friend.”

  With his black curls falling rakishly in his eyes, Dante dramatically fell into a chair, legs sprawled. “You wound me,” he said, clutching his chest.

  Victor rolled his eyes. He didn’t have the time or patience for his friend’s theatrics. “I want him.”

  Dante nodded. “That’s been obvious for several years. Tell me something new.”

  “I can’t take him until he knows the truth about what I am and what I’ve done.”

  Dante shook his head. “Not wise.”

  “I can’t continue to lie to him,” Victor tried to argue.

  Dante shrugged. “So tell him.”

  Victor began to pace around the room. How did you tell someone you killed their last remaining relatives and then wiped the memory from their mind? Maybe if he stuck with the number one problem at hand. “I guess I could tell him I’m a vampire. Perhaps that would be enough for now.”

  Dante sighed and got to his feet. “It’s not that big of a deal, Victor. Vampire rumours have been circulating for decades.”

  Victor nodded. “Okay. I think I can do that.”

  Dante laughed as he pulled Victor into his arms. “You’re so cute this way.”

  “What way?”

  “Nervous. I’ve never seen the big bad Victor DePasse nervous about anything.” Dante gave him a quick kiss. “You really do love him.”

  Victor opened his mouth to deny his friend’s statement, but couldn’t. Somewhere along the way, Victor’s feelings had changed from protectiveness to love, and he knew it.

  Chapter Two

  Aden woke with a pounding headache. He reached to the bedside table and shook three pain relievers from the bottle. Remembering Victor’s admonishment from the previous evening, he put one back and popped the other two in his mouth. After washing them down with a gulp of water, he sunk back into his pillow.

  As he stared up at the canopy, he began to wonder what Victor had done to Josh. Was Josh even there when Victor came? No matter how hard he tried, Aden couldn’t bring himself to care what had happened to his ex-lover.

  Once his headache eased, Aden sat up slowly and waited for the dizziness to pass. At least some of his memories had started to return. Not the missing years after his mother’s death, but the time spent living next door to Victor. His stomach began to growl like crazy, but he needed to shower and find something to wear first.

  He entered the bathroom and turned on the water before looking at himself in the mirror. With a wince, he peeled back the tape holding the piece of gauze in place. To say he was surprised at the nasty-looking cut would be an understatement. It was one more thing to worry about. He re-secured the tape and stepped into the shower, adjusting the spray nozzle.

  As he washed his hair, he paid particular attention to the failing bandage. He would have to find a way to ask Victor about his wound when he awoke.

  After drying off, Aden wrapped the towel around his waist and entered the bedroom. He was surprised to see not only the bed made, but a change of clothes laid out for him.

  He grinned as he picked up a pair of underwear. Aden couldn’t remember the last time someone actually bought his underwear for him. He had to give Victor props though because they were the brand and style he usually wore, but the material was a lot different from his customary white cotton.

  The low-rise underwear fit like a glove. Aden chuckled as he looked at himself in the floor-length mirror. “Talk about false advertising,” he mumbled. The transparent fabric made his cock appear much bigger than it really was and his ass looked absolutely amazing.

  Shaking his head, he turned away from the mirror and picked up the jeans. Now those were nothing like his normal, comfortable pants. “I don’t know about this, Victor.”

  He pulled on the skinny low-rise jeans and zipped the fly. A quick glance at himself had his jaw dropping. Fuck. I look like I weigh all of about a hundred pounds. Tinkerbell could kick my ass.

  Josh used to nag him incessantly about his poor eating habits. He was always trying to get Aden to drink those nasty protein shakes. Aden had always refused, but looking at his reflection, he began to reconsider.

  The tight, white V-neck T-shirt didn’t help any, and Aden went in search of food. From the looks of him, he needed a lot of it.

  As soon as he stepped out into the hall, a tall man appeared. Aden’s hand went to his chest. “Shit. You scared me.”

  “Sorry, sir. Master DePasse asked me to make sure you could find your way around when you were ready.”

  “Thank you…”

  “Benton, sir.” The man gave a slight bow.

  “Thank you, Benton. Can you show me the way to the kitchen so I can whip up something to eat?”

  “Your breakfast has already been started, sir. I informed the new cook as soon as I heard the shower.”

  “Please call me Aden.” As he started to follow Benton, he began to wonder. “You said new cook?”

  “Yes. Emmanuel just arrived.”

  “Arrived from where?” he asked, holding his head as he made his way down the sweeping staircase.

  “I wouldn’t know, sir. Master DePasse must have summoned him before retiring for the day.”

  Aden decided not to make an issue of the ‘sir’ thing. Evidently, Benton was one of those fancy butlers like Aden had seen on television. He wondered if finding a cook was the business Victor said he needed to take care of.

  “It really wasn’t necessary. I’m actually a pretty good cook.”

  Instead of leading Aden into the kitchen, Benton showed him to the formal dining room. “I’ll inform Emmanuel that you’re ready for your breakfast.”

  Aden shifted from foot to foot. “I can eat in the kitchen. Seems like a waste to sit in here by myself.”

  Benton managed a slight grin. “This room hasn’t been used in…years. Indulge me. Please.”

  Aden shrugged and took a seat. “Do you know if there’s coffee?”

  “Yes, sir. Emmanuel brought all of your favourite foods with him.”

  Aden chuckled. “Why am I not surprised.”

  * * * *

  At twilight, Victor went in search of Aden. He took the stairs two at a time and went straight out to the garden. The closer he got to his love, the heavier the feeling in his heart.

  He found Aden sitting on a stone bench gazing across the expansive lawn towards his old house. Aahhh, so that’s what has you so down.

  “I knew I’d find you out here,” he greeted, taking a seat beside Aden.

  “I remember that house,” Aden mumbled without looking away from it.

  “As well you should. You spent the first ten years of your life there.”

  Aden said nothing for several moments.

  “Would you like to go over?” Victor asked.

  For the first time since Victor had sat down, Aden looked at him. “So you did buy it?”

  Victor nodded. “I told you I would.”

  “I thought maybe it was part of my dream.” Aden glanced back at the house. “I don’t think I’m ready yet, but someday.”


  Victor nodded in understanding. He knew the house held memories of the young man’s mother and grandfather. It made him feel even guiltier for his past actions.

  “Did you have a nice rest?” Aden asked, bringing Victor out of his despair.

  “Yes. Thank you. Did you find something to keep you busy while I slept?”

  Aden shrugged. “I slept most of the day. I knew you’d be up, and decided to try to get on your schedule, figured it’d be easier in the long run.”

  The long run? The simple statement improved Victor’s mood immediately. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who felt something. “I need to talk to you about my schedule.”

  Victor turned to face Aden, straddling the bench. “There are things about me…”

  “You’re a vampire,” Aden cut in.

  To say Victor was shocked would be an understatement. “How do you know that?”

  Aden shrugged. “I think I’ve always known. I heard my mom whispering to my grandfather when I was little. I pretended I hadn’t heard. She must’ve told me at least once a day to stay to my own side of the fence.”

  Aden’s chin lowered and Victor watched as a single tear dropped onto his shirt. “That’s why I came over that night. I knew I was going away…”

  Aden’s head sprang up and he gazed into Victor’s eyes. “That’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in the hospital when I was a teenager. The doctors told me it was possible my memories could come back, but so far they haven’t. Do you know what happened to me?”

  Victor’s throat seized with the need to tell Aden the truth. He reached out and pulled Aden into his lap, holding the man possibly for the last time.

  “Victor?” Aden asked, his face buried against Victor’s neck.

  “I erased your memories from that time,” he finally confessed. “Please don’t ask me why. Maybe someday I’ll be able to explain it, but I’m not ready to give you up yet.”

  Aden pulled back. “Did you do it to hurt me?”

  Victor shook his head. “No. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

  Aden seemed to study Victor for several moments before nodding. “I can wait.”