26. Greg
CHAPTER 26
GREG
Cal was freaking out.
Cal was freaking out, and for some reason I couldn’t open my eyes. Or move. And my neck hurt like a motherfucker.
If I was in a hospital, the bed was very uncomfortable. And I didn’t hear any beeping.
I reached out to check my magic, but it was... different.
What the fuck?
Cal?
“Greg!” he shouted, squeezing my fingers. I hadn’t noticed he’d been holding my hand. He was relieved and... crying? “Greg, can you hear me?”
I frowned. Stop shouting. Why are you crying?
“Sorry. He’s talking to me in my head. Hang on.” Now Cal was happy and anxious.
Greg, you’ve lost a lot of blood. Fantine says your wound is healing though.
I frowned. Thirsty . And this bed is uncomfortable .
Cal was amused.
Hang on.
“Can Greg have water? Okay, we’re going to give you a small sip.”
The mouth of a water bottle touched my lips and I sipped. That was better.
Is there any pizza left? I was hungry. It must’ve been hours since we ate dinner. Had I put the leftovers in Cal’s fridge? I couldn’t remember. We’d had to leave in a hurry...
I jerked upright, my eyes flying open. Then I cried out and clapped my hand to my neck because it fucking hurt.
Several hands reached out to steady me, but I only wanted Cal’s.
He put one arm around my back and pulled my hand off my neck with the other. “It’s healing,” he said. “You’re going to be fine. Everyone’s fine.”
I stared into Cal’s warm brown eyes and smiled. “Hi.”
His eyes crinkled when he smiled back. “Hi yourself.”
I flinched and ducked when something came at me from overhead.
Cal hugged me tighter. “It’s okay. That’s just Ms. Jackson.”
I stared up at them in amazement. Their giant yellow and black eyes blinked at me, and smoke curled out of their nostrils. They had green scales and gigantic claws and wings. They were beautiful. And terrifying.
I gave them a small wave before looking around. I was sitting on the ground in the Build Barn parking lot, and a bunch of Wonders were standing in a circle staring at me. Fantine was examining my neck, and a human was sitting on her other side.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Cal asked.
“Uh, we got out of the car, and there was some fog and... that’s it.” One of the fog monsters must’ve attacked me.
He nodded. “I’m going to try sending you a packet of my memories. We’ll see if it works.”
“Okay.” I felt a little dizzy and like my brain wasn’t working as well as it should.
Here you go.
Now I knew what had happened. I had Cal’s memories. I watched myself fall, felt Cal’s fear and determination fighting the monsters—vampires!—and his confusion over the vampire who’d saved him and captured one of the killers.
I frowned at Cal. “This sucks so much.”
He froze. Everyone around us went still. A wave of confusion-embarrassment-horror-grief came through the connection. “Why? I thought you wanted....”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “I’ll live, Cal. Chill. It’s just....” I heaved a dramatic sigh. “Vampires were supposed to be a human folk tale. They were the only kind of paranormal romance stories I could read without—” I gestured at everyone standing around us. “—picturing people I know.”
Everyone chuckled and relaxed.
“Greg,” Cal said gently. He gave me a hug.
“You give the best hugs.” I laid my head on his shoulder.
“Thanks, but did you get to the end of the memories I gave you? ”
I shook my head. “I stopped when the vampire told you what they were.” I closed my eyes and sniffed Cal’s neck.
“Okay. No worries. I’m sorry about your books, though I can introduce you to a really fun series with aliens. Aliens definitely aren’t real.”
I nuzzled my nose into his skin. “Do the aliens have sex? I like the sex parts.”
Cal squeezed me tighter and chuckled. “The aliens have lots of sex, I promise. With tentacles even. But first, why don’t we get you home? We can go over everything else tomorrow.”
“Okay. Let’s order more pizza.”
“Anything you want.”
I heard him talking to Lloyd, debating how to get me to my apartment since I was apparently covered in blood. I was happy to let them deal with all that.
Cal moved around as he dug out his wallet and told the human to take his business card and he’d talk to him tomorrow and explain everything. The guy—oh, that must be Mia’s boss—promised to delete the security camera footage from tonight.
Cal said, “Thanks, but will that send any alerts to your corporate office?”
The guy snorted and said, “No, the system’s ancient. It’s all saved locally on a hard drive. I’ll just get one of the industrial magnets from aisle 13 and delete everything.”
I lifted my head and studied the guy, whose name was escaping me. “You have good problem-solving skills.”
He grinned, his eyes twinkling. He didn’t have magic, but he could still sparkle .
“I should. I was in the Army for twenty years, and I might not love this job, but it’s certainly taught me even more about logistics and management.”
I smiled at him. “My mom wants to retire.” I put my head back down on Cal’s shoulder.
“Uh, that’s nice for her?”
Cal’s chest moved up and down. “I’ll tell you about that tomorrow too.”
Someone helped Cal lift me and carry me to the car bridal style. I wanted to make a joke, but my eyelids were too heavy for my lips to form the words.
Cal put me in the passenger seat and kissed my cheek as he pulled the seat belt across my lap.
The rear door opened, and Cal had a long argument with Ms. Jackson since she wouldn’t fit in the car in her dragon form. He was also very good at problem-solving. I relaxed into the seat.
A minute later arms lifted me out of the car. But it was Lloyd, not Cal. I struggled a little, and managed to get out, “Where’s Cal?”
A soft blanket was tucked around me, and Cal put his hand on my face. “I’m right here. I overdid it on arm day today, so Lloyd offered to carry you to the apartment.”
“Huh,” I muttered. I didn’t want to put my head on Lloyd’s shoulder, but my neck still hurt, so I gave in and did it anyway.
Lloyd said, “It’ll take time before you can be apart from each other for very long.”
My stomach growled .
“The pizza’s on its way, Greg,” Cal said. His voice was so sexy, all rumbling and low.
Lloyd laughed, and Cal said, “I like your voice too, Greg.”
A minute later we were in the apartment. Cal took the soft blanket away. I protested, but he said, “I’m putting it on the couch so you can sit here until the pizza arrives. Then we’ll get you a shower and go to bed. Okay?”
I grunted, but Lloyd set me down on the blanket as promised.
Ms. Jackson jumped up beside me, now in a tiger form that was larger than their former panther form. They licked the side of my face, then they wrinkled their upper lip and coughed.
“I’ve got it, Ms. Jackson. Here, drink some of this.”
I opened my eyes to see what he was giving me, but he was holding a bowl out for Ms. Jackson instead. They lapped at the water briefly then sat down on the couch next to me.
The sound of my jerk neighbors playing video games came from next door, and I scowled. They should be quiet so I could sleep.
Cal took a dish cloth from his shoulder and dipped it into the water bowl before wiping my hands and face with it. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and I made a noise of appreciation.
Cal froze. “Am I hurting you?”
I scrunched up my face. “No. Sexy.”
He blinked. Then he smiled. “Okay. I think you’re sexy too.”
I smiled happily as he wiped the towel over my neck.
A knock sounded. Cal put the bowl down and draped the edge of the blanket over me. He tried to get Ms. Jackson to go into the bedroom, but they just stared at him, so he threw his hands in the air and stomped toward the door.
A few seconds later Cal shook my shoulder. “Greg. Wake up, you need to eat.”
The smell of pizza made me open my eyes.
“Can you hold the slice yourself, or do you want me to do it?”
My stomach growled. I reached for the slice and crammed half of it into my mouth. Cheese. Mmmm . I bit off as much as I could and chewed, smiling at Cal with my eyes to thank him.
He shook his head and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll get you something to drink. And just to warn you, I have to call your mom. Lloyd told her you were okay, but she’s been blowing up my phone, so we have to show her proof of life.”
I hummed around my next bite of pizza, reliving Cal’s lips on my cheek.
I blinked when a second slice of pizza appeared in my hand. Cal lifted a glass of ice water to my lips, and it felt amazing going down. I drank the entire glass until the ice cascaded against my mouth.
Cal pulled the glass away and stroked my hair away from my forehead. He made a face at his hand and said, “I’ll be right back with a refill.”
I took a bite of the pizza and let my hand rest on my lap while I chewed. Ms. Jackson bent down to sniff it, so I held it out to them. Delicately they took the pizza from my fingers with their enormous teeth, and it disappeared into their mouth. I leaned my head on their warm shoulder.
Cal’s stress level spiked, and I opened my eyes. Something was odd about our connection, but I was more concerned with why he was irritated .
He came back into the room, holding his phone to his ear and setting a glass of ice water on the coffee table. He’d used a coaster, I noted approvingly.
“He’s eaten two slices of pizza and had some water. He’s a little groggy, but he’ll be fine after some sleep, I promise.” He paused. “Okay, but remember, I haven’t been able to get him in the shower or anything yet, so he still looks pretty grim. Alright, hang on. Ms. Jackson, will you let me sit next to Greg, please? Delphia wants to see him for herself.”
Making grumbling noises, Ms. Jackson stood up. Cal caught me with one hand before I fell over. The couch shifted as Ms. Jackson got down. Cal sat in their place, and I put my head on his shoulder, sighing contentedly.
He held his phone in front of our faces. His arm was hurting, I felt through our connection. I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could he patted my leg. “Look, Greg, your mom wants to talk to you.”
I peered at Cal’s phone. My mother was frowning through the camera at me. “Hey, Mom. I’m okay. We need to go though, because Cal hurt his arm and he shouldn’t hold the phone anymore.”
“Greg!” she said. “I?—"
I reached up and hit the red button on the side of the screen.
Cal chuckled and tossed his phone onto the coffee table. “You can call her back tomorrow.” He threw his arm across my chest and hugged me. “But thanks.”
I hummed into his shoulder. I liked Cal’s hugs.
“Okay, hug man, let’s get you into the shower and we can get some sleep. ”
I let him pull me to my feet and support me on the way to the bathroom. He sat me on the toilet lid and removed my shoes and clothes, shoving them into a pile in the corner. Then he turned on the water and removed his own clothes.
I tried to look at him, to admire his naked body, but my eyes kept closing and wouldn’t let me see anything.
Cal wrapped an arm around my back and lifted me to my feet again. We got into the tub, but I blocked most of the spray from reaching Cal.
New house has bigger shower stall , I told him.
“Good. Lean against me so I can reach the shampoo.”
I curled into Cal’s chest, patting his damp skin and wishing I could just stay this way.
You’ll sleep in my bed, right?
“I will, I promise. Tilt your head back so I can wash your hair.”
His fingers felt divine on my scalp, then later on the rest of my body.
Guys always want me to top, but I really prefer to bottom.
Cal coughed. “Thanks for telling me, Greg. We’ll make that happen for you. But not tonight.”
He shuffled us around so he could rinse himself, then he turned off the shower and briskly toweled me dry.
“Time for bed.”
I woke slowly, Cal’s sleeping self pressed against mine, both physically and mentally. His arm across my belly anchored me to him, and I could feel his soft chest and stomach against my back, with his morning wood drilling into my ass cheek.
I tried to stay in the moment, knowing I wasn’t going to like remembering the night before, but the more I tried to avoid thinking about it, the more I thought about it.
And without my permission, my brain accessed Cal’s gifted memories in their entirety.
Vampires were the least of my worries.
Cal and I were bonded.
An emergency bonding, just to save my life.
And Lloyd and the others had asked Cal to verify my consent for the bonding, but no one had verified Cal’s.
He hadn’t included much in the way of emotions when he’d packaged up his memories of last night and given them to me. So I had no idea how he’d felt about bonding with me.
But even if he’d welcomed it, as of last night we’d only known each other for six days. Six days. And sure, we’d already been connected for life, but bonding was way more intimate than that. Way more invasive.
According to everything I’d ever heard, Cal and I wouldn’t be able to be apart from each other at all for the next week or so. That’d be inconvenient, since we both had work. He probably wouldn’t want me to go to the office with him, but maybe after a few days our bond would allow me to stay in the car while he went inside.
I needed to make this as easy on him as possible. Over the last week he’d ended up sacrificing his whole way of life. He hadn’t asked to become involved in the world of magic carriers and Wonders. He hadn’t deserved to be permanently connected and now bonded to some guy he barely knew .
Cal probably resented the hell out of me, having to risk his life for me, having to bond with me. He deserved a grand romance, to be wined and dined before voluntarily making a commitment. He’d probably never imagined the guy he’d end up with would be such a useless loser like me.
Holding my breath so I wouldn’t wake him, I slid from under his arm and got out of bed. He didn’t stir. It was only 6am; he was probably exhausted after fighting off the vampires by himself and taking care of me all night.
I was naked, so I carefully and quietly slid open a couple of drawers to grab boxers and a t-shirt. Mopping my eyes with the shirt, I left the bedroom and shut the door behind me.
But the bond wouldn’t let me go any further. I stopped before my pushing against it woke Cal, and I put on my clothes. Then I sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall, letting my tears flow.
How could I go through life being bonded to someone who hadn’t actively wanted to be with me? But even worse, now the bond was in place, Cal couldn’t live apart from me as he no doubt wanted to.
There was no way out for us, just a future where we were trapped together. All I could do was try not to be a burden on him.
My breathing became shallow and fast, and I was well on my way to hyperventilating.
Ms. Jackson nudged my head, but I pushed them away.
I didn’t notice the bedroom door opening, but suddenly Cal was there, crouching beside me.
“Hey, what’s wrong? You having a panic attack?” He sat down next to me and gathered me in his arms. He was only wearing his underwear .
I shook my head and tried to crawl away.
“Nope. No running. Not that you can get very far right now anyway.” He pushed my hair back, using the hem of my shirt to clean off my face.
Fuck, I was probably a mess of tears and snot. I batted his hands away and did it myself.
All I could sense through the bond was caution.
“Are you disappointed?” he asked.
I lowered my shirt to stare at him. “What? Why?”
He shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “I figured you woke up and realized you could’ve done a lot better bonding to someone else.”
My eyes filled with tears again. “No, you’re the one who could’ve done better. You’ve had all this shoved on you in less than a week, and now you’re stuck with me.” I gave a harsh laugh. “Literally, since apparently we can’t get more than fifteen feet from each other right now.”
Cal wrapped me in his arms. “I chose you. I chose to be bonded to you.”
I shook my head against his chest, pretending not to notice how soft the hair was. “No one asked your consent. I saw your memory. They asked about me, but no one asked you.”
He kissed the top of my head. “No one had to. I’d do it again, over and over, Greg. I chose you. I choose you. All of you. Your beautiful face, your fucking hot body, your prickly personality, and even your low blood sugar. All of you.”
I leaned my head back to look at his face. “My low blood sugar?” I narrowed my eyes. “Are you trying to blame my feelings on low blood sugar ? ”
He shrugged, smiling at me ruefully. “I could be wrong, but last night you lost a shit-ton of blood. Your body went through a lot. Let’s have some breakfast and see if things don’t look a little less dire afterward.”
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. I’d admit I was pretty hungry. Kind of too hungry, honestly. To the point I was a little nauseated.
Fuck, what if he was right?
“Okay,” I said around the lump in my throat.
Ms. Jackson butted their head against my hip as Cal helped me stand up. He walked with me to the breakfast table and made me sit in a chair.
“How’s your neck feeling?” he asked, putting his fingers on my scruffy chin to tilt my head to the side.
“Doesn’t hurt.”
He nodded. “You might have a scar, but it’s not too noticeable.”
I looked away. “Don’t care.”
“Okay.” He kissed me on the top of the head and went into the kitchen.
I glared down at the kitchen table, grumbling to myself. Head kisses were for children. Was I doomed to get them for the rest of my life?
“Well, it looks like someone ate the rest of the pizza.” Cal tapped the box where it was sitting on the counter. “Ms. Jackson, would you know anything about that?”
Ms. Jackson came to the entryway into the kitchen and flashed D-R-A-G-O-N-I-S-A-L-O-T-O-F-E-N-E-R-G-Y .
Cal nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should’ve ordered you your own pizza.”
Ms. Jackson sniffed and licked at their paw.
“Uh, there’s some eggs and cheese in here, but not much else. Ms. Jackson, do you want an omelet?”
The Yes sparkled on their board.
“Got it.” Cal poked around in the cabinets for pans and whatever else he needed.
He didn’t ask me, so I didn’t offer to help.
He slid a glass of water and a glass of orange juice in front of me. I got another head kiss before he returned to the kitchen.
I scowled at the orange juice, but it didn’t respond so I drank it.
Cal showed Ms. Jackson some English muffins he’d found in my freezer. Jam and butter were placed on the table. He refilled my orange juice and put a small bowl of almonds in front of me. I got another fucking head kiss. I guessed I should get used to them if they made Cal happy. He’d given up a lot for me; I wouldn’t complain about such a small irritation.
I frowned at the almonds as I ate them. Cal put down three placemats and moved one chair out of the way so Ms. Jackson could join us. I didn’t get a head kiss.
Ms. Jackson rubbed their cheek against my arm as they took their place. I grunted and finished my almonds.
Cal set a plate with an omelet and a toasted English muffin in front of Ms. Jackson. He moved my empty almond bowl out of the way and put a plate of the same plus bacon in front of me .
“Ms. Jackson wants to try some butter and jam. Would you put some on their muffin, please?”
I grunted and reached for the jam. Cal gave me a head kiss before heading back to the kitchen. Maybe the head kisses weren’t so bad. I did like knowing Cal was thinking about me.
I put a little jam and butter on the edge of Ms. Jackson’s plate so they could try them before I potentially ruined their muffin. Ms. Jackson lapped them up with their gigantic tongue and nodded, so I slathered more jam and butter on their muffin. I handed it to them, and they ate it in one bite.
Cal sat down with his own plate, and I applied myself to eating my food. When I was almost done, it dawned on me that I couldn’t feel him through our bond. He’d been somehow blocking his emotions.
I broke the silence. “How are you doing that? Blocking our bond, I mean.”
Cal took a sip of his orange juice and winked. “I just have to concentrate on it a little. You were busy wallowing in your grouchiness, and I was trying to keep it from spoiling my mood.”
I flushed. “Sorry,” I mumbled, toying with the last bit of my bacon.
He patted my forearm. “It’s okay. I’ll teach you how to do it so you can block me when you need to.”
I nodded, still looking down at my plate.
Ms. Jackson let out a burp then stood up and went back to the living room to lie on the couch.
Cal said, “Are you feeling better now? ”
I frowned. Well, shit. “I guess I am. Thanks. I’m sorry I freaked out this morning.” I felt my face getting hot. I could’ve handled my emotions so much better than sneaking away and crying.
He gave me a sympathetic smile. “It’s understandable, even without the low blood sugar. You almost died.”
I waved my hand. “That was never part of why I was freaking out. I didn’t want you to be unhappy being bonded to me, with all the mind-sharing and shit, for the rest of our lives.”
Cal made a hmmm noise. “Well, I already learned how to block the mind-sharing, and as for being unhappy....”
He removed the block he’d put on our bond.
I gasped, my eyes meeting his in awe. Cal’s feelings were a mix of affection, caring, humor, concern, and lust. As I stared at him, the lust grew stronger.
“Fuck,” I breathed. I had to move my legs apart to give my dick room.
One side of his mouth quirked up. “The way I see it, we’ve got another hour before people decide it’s late enough they can start bothering us.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“And I think we really need to consummate our bonding the old-fashioned way, don’t you?” He grinned at me.
I couldn’t help but grin back. “Hell, yeah.”