Epilogue
EPILOGUE
GREG
I climbed the stairs toward the game room, humming Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend”. Nobody warned me that bonding meant you experienced the same visceral reactions your partner did to things like music. I now had an unanticipated and slightly disturbing appreciation for 70s and 80s soft rock.
The new paint smell still permeated the house. The renovations had taken several weeks longer than I’d hoped, but the updated interior and exterior were worth it. Plus, by the time the house was ready, Cal’s lease had been up. And being newly bonded meant it wasn’t like we’d been able to spend any nights apart from each other even if we’d wanted to.
At least we’d now gotten to the point where we could be miles away from each other for several hours at a time. But today, since we’d already spent time apart this morning, I’d had to work from home in the afternoon so I could also go out this evening.
It was my turn to represent Bark & Purr at the monthly Chamber of Commerce happy hour. And I was definitely limiting it to an hour. I didn’t want to spend more time than necessary being polite to other Bent Oak business owners while counting the minutes until I could get back home to my boyfriend.
Sometimes I had trouble believing this was my life now. Cal was wonderful, considerate and loving. So sexy. I didn’t like remembering how I’d tried to avoid connecting with him when we first met. Having him in my life, living together, made me incredibly happy. I tried every day to make sure he knew what he meant to me.
And it wasn’t just me who benefitted from Cal’s presence. He’d become indispensable to the campaign, spending hours creating a voluntary census of Wonders. He’d also started several new Discord servers to facilitate communication across regions and continents, which had been helpful during everything that’d happened with the vampires.
Shouts and laughter came from above. Cal and Steve were showing Felix the prototype of the game they were developing. I was glad to hear it was going well.
I walked into the game room and smiled. The three amigos were lined up on the recliner sectional, each with a controller in their hands. Worf, the senior yellow Labrador we’d adopted, was laying with his butt against Steve’s leg and his head on Cal’s lap.
“Frank-N-Furter’s farts!” Steve shouted as he tried furiously to fight off several bad guys with dripping fangs. He threw a quick grin at Cal. “Dude, this shapeshifting weapon thing is hilarious! Did you see me take that guy out with a bowling ball?”
One of the avatars fell to the ground. Felix groaned and dropped his controller before throwing his hands in the air. “Dang it, the one with the mace got me. ”
“I’ll make sure she regrets it,” Steve said dramatically. On the screen his character fought with even greater energy.
I walked forward, intending to let Cal know I was leaving. He was oddly still, not using his controller but just staring into space. Shit, was he having a vision? I wasn’t getting any stress through our bond, only a slight curiosity and great deal of happiness.
Steve noticed Cal wasn’t moving. He said, “What are you doing? I need help over here!” When Cal didn’t respond, Steve paused the game. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”
Cal startled, jumping in his seat. He looked around and smiled when he saw me. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“I’m fine,” he said. “I was just having a little déjà vu .” He leaned his head back for a kiss, which I obliged. “I’m glad it turned out to be you,” he said.
I cocked my head at him. “Um, what turned out to be me?”
He waggled his eyebrows. “The man of my dreams.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” I glanced up at the TV. The logo for the game, Wonderfall , covered the screen in saturated blues and greens. I glanced at Steve and Felix, then whispered loudly to Cal, “If you can get rid of these two before I get home, we can spend some naked time in the hot tub.”
Felix hooted and threw a pillow at me.
Steve covered Worf’s ears. “Not in front of the baby!”
Cal grinned. “Hurry back. I love you.”
I gave him a lingering kiss. “I love you too.”
Thank you for reading Seer ! Want to see what happens when Ms. Jackson leaves Shane and Ellis unsupervised? Don’t worry, help is on the way! Preorder Medium today!