Chapter Thirteen
Jonas.
Being snowed in for three days goes like this.
Day One:
Damon wakes up Raven by fucking her senseless, praising her for taking dick like a champ till she’s as limp as a wet noodle, and then makes us breakfast.
We shower together where I make sure she’s extra clean and dirty her up again.
We play with Kronos while Luci stares. A lot.
Axel calls her but she doesn’t answer.
Axel leaves a voicemail.
Axel texts.
Axel texts me and I ignore it.
Axel calls me to see if she’s okay.
I say yes and then hang up.
We all go into the basement where Maverick shows Raven a few ways to knock someone's weapon out of their hands in case it’s ever needed by using a banana as “the weapon,” while Damon and I watch and I make dick jokes using said banana.
I tell Raven to marry me.
She sucks me off. I’m pretty sure that meant yes.
The power goes out, but the generator kicks on.
Day Two:
It’s more so the same as Day One but now, minus axel calling and because it’s Tuesday, Maverick starts hosting his lectures via Zoom calls in the study.
Damon's uses the library to host his sessions via Zoom.
Raven and I attend our classes via Zoom on the couch playing footsie.
I go down on her during her Music Theory class.
She goes down on me during my Sociology II lecture.
We study together, eat together and fuck, fuck, fuck throughout the day. She even lets me put it in her butt.
It’s official – I fucking love blizzards.
Day Three:
It snowed another two inches while we were sleeping.
The snowplows are finally making their way through Kingston, the salt spreaders right behind them.
Day Three is more or less the same as the last two days. Kronos gets a little stir crazy, and we find out Luci gets the zoomies.
When I go through the back door to let Kronos out, I head to the fence to brace myself from the wind, and notice a black Sedan parked away on the street but close enough to the house through one of the cracks of the tall wooden fence that’s hiding me.
I let myself think it's Ivan, mom's old bodyguard, but there’s this gross, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I don’t know how to explain it other than it feels the same way before every Syndicate matter I’m forced to attend.
I don’t like it at all.
Later that day, Raven's still in class and I’m bored out of my fucking mind in the den waiting for her when I hear a floorboard creak.
Both Harrington and Archer fill the doorway until they’re completely secluded with me.
I decide now is the time to tell them while my baby is still upstairs being cute and studious.
I don’t beat around the bush. “I think we're being watched.”
Maverick, dressed in sweats and a button up since he’s only being seen from the chest up looks up from where he's standing in front of the full-length mirror (my request when we moved in just in case Raven lets me plow into her in here) (she does) to look at me through his reflection. “You're sure?”
“No, but every time I’ve taken Kronos out, I’ve seen a black, four-door Sedan. It’s been there. Sometimes it’s on. Sometimes it’s off. But it hasn’t moved an inch and there’s no snow on the windows. That’s weird, right?”
Damon flicks those silver flames of his to Mav's. I know I’m goofy and sometimes childish, but when it comes to my girl, I’m an over-protective asshole.
Nothing skips by me. So this little intimate look they’re having, tells me a little too much.
“What are you hiding from us?” I say us, because I know this means they’re hiding it from my baby girl, too.
Damon sighs, “Are you sure it hasn’t moved?”
“No. But every time I see it, I get the same hopeless feeling I do when I see Stephen Prescott. I don’t trust it.”
Damon turns to me while he’s pinching the bridge of his nose, and he has that look on his face that says he’s about to tell me I’m fucking paranoid.
I stand up from the chaise I’m sitting on. “Oh no, fuck that, Archer. You made the mistake of not believing Raven once, don’t make the mistake of not believing me. I-“
“Calm down, Jonas. I believe you. Maverick already told us one of us is being followed, remember? ”
I nod.
“There’s a Detective that was made aware of Maverick going with me to my father’s for Thanksgiving and then to Paris for the weekend.
Whether they followed us all the way to Paris or just to the airport is unknown.
But, for now, we’re assuming it’s just us.
So… Harrington let the Detective think he and I are… ”
His pause is nine months pregnant.
“ Are…?” I shrug, gesturing to him to continue, letting the question hang in the air.
“ Together . As in… we’re dating and serious.”
Oh my god.
I burst out in a laugh so loud and ugly it makes my sides hurt and my abs burn. “This is fucking great!” I laugh, breaking out in tears.
Damon clears his throat. “We’ve already spoken to HR to… make it official.” He groans out.
“Well, don’t say it like that.” Maverick pouts.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re… I don’t know,” he shrugs, twirling a wrist, “ ashamed of dating me.”
“I’m not asha- We aren’t dating!” Damon scowls.
Now Maverick bursts out laughing and it is the oddest thing I have ever heard. I didn’t even know he could do that. “I’m fucking with you. You and I would never work.”
Damon’s face falls. “I- What’s wrong with me?”
Maverick and I burst into laughter again, Damon realizing he’s fucking with him again and shakes his head in annoyance, throwing his hands up. “Children. Both of you.”
“Awww, c’mon Daddy Damon, you could do worse than Mavie.”
“I- don’t call me that.” Damon doesn’t take the crumb, almost growling my way.
Our laughter is set aside; Maverick does quirk a brow in thought. “Other than Detective Arlo, who could be staking us?”
“I’m thinking Riordan. He’s done it before. He’s off house arrest. His family's estate is in Salem.”
Mav nods, doing his casual one-arm-over-his-chest-the-other-resting-on-it-to-put-his-chin-in-his-hand-while-he-thinks thing that makes me think that’s what he used to look like while gazing at a victim board trying to string the pieces together.
“He has motive…” I’ve never seen him so pensive.
“But, if he’s embarrassed the family enough…
would he risk sleeping in his car during a blizzard to stake us out? ”
“No. Riordan's on the spectrum. He has a routine and hates being uncomfortable.”
“And nobody saw you?”
“I doubt it. I was in full gear when I let Kronos out. If anything, whoever is in the car wouldn’t have been able to differentiate us. We’re all of a similar build with winter gear on. I beat Damon by barely an inch and beat you by two, maybe.”
“D-Damon?” We hear from the stairs to see my baby with her hand on the banister, those eyes all big and doe-like when she steps on the landing.
Fuck she looks immaculate, wearing my sweats, Mav's RMU sweatshirt and her hair in a messy bun. She kisses Mav who she’s closest to, then me, and stops in front of her old doctor.
Damon looks down at Raven and an easy smile spreads on his face. “Hello, little bird.” She goes to him, and they share a kiss, but he holds her a little longer when she pulls back to rest her hands on his chest. “What is it?”
Just then her stomach let’s out an inhuman growl and he grins.
“I left you a charcuterie board of fruits, meat, cheese and snacks ready. I was going to bring it to you after your lecture. Go up, Little Love, I’ll bring it to you in a moment.”
She jumps happily and gives him a big kiss that turns into soft nibbles before she turns to me, does the same, rubs her nose against mine and then to Maverick, whispering ‘I love you,’ against his lips.
He swats her on the butt, grabbing a handful and I regret not doing the same before she’s taking the stairs back up two at a time.
We all watch her leave .
Mav wastes not a breath before returning to our conversation.
“If the person outside is watching and aware I’m here…
I need to make a show of leaving. Damon and I are supposedly together.
It makes sense if they see me leaving. They won’t question it.
I’ll need to leave tonight. Come back tomorrow.
Which is fine, I need more clothes anyway. ”
Damon shakes his head. “To make it more believable we both need to be seen at the other's house.”
“Damon, if you’re questioned-"
“Fortunately, I’m a very honest person. I give just enough of the truth where it won’t make it seem like I’m lying.” Damon interrupts the professor.
Mav cants his wrist to check is watch and grunts. “My last lecture of the day begins in twenty. There goes my lunch break.”
Spending the last few days I’ve noticed he has a lot of pent-up aggression.
I understand – in so many ways – why Damon once said he’s more Neanderthal than man.
Damon makes a motion for me to follow him to the kitchen.
I sit on a barstool as he goes to the coffee maker and starts putting everything together for our girl.
He opens a cupboard and reaches into the tallest cupboard, reaching so far inside he’s on the tips of his toes. He pulls out a little K-cup.
“What’s that?”
“I give Little Bird decaf in the afternoons.”
I gasp dramatically. “You monster!”
He tips his head back and laughs, “She’s already riddled with anxiety, this helps her with that and with her sleep. This way she isn’t tossing and turning.”
“And you can wake her up the special way with your big old dick? I gotta tell ya, kinda sucks sometimes when I want to roll over and wake her up with mine but you’re already in there.”
He turns to face me as the Keurig begins pouring water into Raven’s purple “I Went to RMU and All I Got Was Anal” mug I purchased for her at a novelty shop that always puts a smile on her face. “You can always do your best to slip inside, Jonas.”
I raise a brow and smirk. “Is that an invite? ”