Chapter 51
Romantic Asshole
Theo
Waking up to hear that we were invaded the night before ruined what should have been a peaceful morning with my girl. In fact, me, Ollie and Alex yelled at Rhys for not waking any of us when this shit went down.
“I had it all under control,” he says, waving us off as if he doesn’t look like the walking dead with the dark circles around his bloodshot eyes. Or the permanent wince on his face whenever he moves, telling me that whatever happened last night, he overdid it.
Ollie narrows her eyes at him. “Doesn’t matter if you did or not; we still need to know what’s going on around here so we can help with your plans. How would you feel if we did the same to you?”
His jaw flexes and I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing because he looks like he just sucked on a lemon. “Fine,” he grits out. “I’ll inform you the next time we’re invaded.”
“And anything else that pertains to the Scourge, Lodge, traitors or the attack.” The look Ollie gives him dares him to challenge her.
He sighs but doesn’t argue back.
Seeing her put him in his place almost makes up for the shitty news he dropped on us when we walked into the kitchen this morning. Almost.
“So, what’s the plan, then?” Alex asks as he plates up breakfast for the four of us. “I assume you have some idea of how to stop more of them coming over the wall.”
“Barbed wire and pits,” is his answer as he accepts the plate from Alex and dives in.
“Pits?” I ask around a mouthful of food. “How’s that going to stop them going over the top?”
“We’ll fill them with spikes so if they do get over the barbed wire, they’ll land in the pit.”
My eyebrows shoot upward. “Oh, that’s brutal.”
“Won’t those pits take too long to dig out?” Ollie asks with a scrunched-up nose. Apparently she isn’t sold on the stake pits. Probably because it doesn’t include enough fire for the little pyromaniac.
“Not if I get the entirety of Haven digging them.”
Alex snorts as he feeds Harlow bits of food from his plate. “Good luck with that. Getting some of the residents to do things outside of their usual job is like pulling teeth, only more painful and frustrating.”
I hum in agreement. With the Council falling apart at the seams and Rhys and Ollie gone, it was mostly down to me, Alex and Anthony to wrangle our residents into actually doing shit that needed to be done. It’s a miracle no one ended up dead with how indignant some people were.
Rhys doesn’t seem worried. “They won’t be a problem, I’ll make sure of it. Now, hurry up. I want to get people started on this as soon as possible.” With that, he shovels the rest of his food into his mouth, cleans his plate and disappears into his office.
“Today is going to suck, isn’t it?” Ollie sighs, having finished her breakfast and given Harlow the leftovers. That dog is spoiled as hell in this house, and judging from the satisfied look on her face, she knows it.
“Probably,” I say as I stand and collect our plates, only for Alex to take them from me with a stern look. “But look on the bright side, with the weather being as good as it looks to be, us guys will get so hot and sweaty we’ll have no choice but to take our shirts off.” I wink at her.
Her cheeks flush and the most girlish giggle I’ve ever heard from her bursts from her lips. Her eyes widen and she clamps her hand over her mouth to stop it.
Alex and I stare at her with dropped jaws.
“Did you just giggle?” Alex asks in awe.
Ollie shoots him a glare. “We’re forgetting this ever happened.”
A slow grin creeps across my face. “Oh, no, princess. I’m going to make it my life’s mission to have you giggling again.”
“Not going to happen.” She hurries out of the kitchen like the hounds of hell are snapping at her ankles. Too bad for her; that won’t stop me.
I turn to my best friend. “You want to make a bet?”
Alex grins. “Bring it on.”
True to his word, Rhys gets most of Haven outside digging in the dirt while the security team rolls barbed wire across the top of the wall.
It takes just over a day to get both the pits dug and staked and the wall lined.
While most people were happy to help keep themselves and each other safe, to no one’s surprise, there were a few complainers.
Rhys quickly put those people in their place, and with the sun shining, it isn’t a terrible way to spend the day.
Not that I could help much. While the doctor said I shouldn’t be able to rip my stitches out anymore, any kind of heavy labour is still out of the question.
So I spend most of my time supervising or carving pointy sticks to go into the pits.
The highlight of the day is when I rope Rhys into helping me and Alex make Ollie blush as much as possible by removing our shirts and flexing while working.
It works a treat. Our girl can’t stop staring, to the point Rachel tells her to grab a chair and watch since she isn’t helping with the digging.
No giggles, unfortunately, but I’m not giving up.
Once our extra defences are done, I turn my attention to something far more important to plan: a date with Ollie.
Since she’s returned, we haven’t spent much alone time together. That’s mostly my doing since I wanted to give her and Alex as much couple time as possible. The big guy deserves it after everything he’s been through, and he looks so much happier and at peace with himself.
But after nearly a week, I’m getting antsy. I need alone time with my girl.
I stride into the communal dining hall and beeline straight towards the industrial kitchen. Since it’s after lunch, the place is quiet, meaning I can sneak in and take some things for what I’m planning.
Opening the door, I find Alex kneeling in one of the storage rooms, a clipboard in hand as he frowns at the various food supplies in front of him. He glances up when I walk in.
“Can I grab some things for my date with Ollie?” I ask, motioning towards the fresh bread beside him.
His brow furrows, and I tense, wondering if the reminder that he’s not the only one with Ollie will set him off. While he hasn’t said or done anything to show that he’s unhappy with our relationship, I’m still worried that her recent kidnapping may have triggered him somehow.
Thankfully, I don’t need to worry because a huge smile stretches across his face.
“You’re taking her on a date?” he asks, a teasing lilt in his voice. “You?”
I frown at him. “Why are you saying it like that?”
“Because you’re one of the least romantic people I’ve ever met. Your idea of romance is lighting a few candles before you give a girl a hard fuck and kick her out of your bed the next morning.”
I scowl and cross my arms over my chest, even though he’s dead right.
I’ve never been one for romance, mostly because the people I’ve been with haven’t needed or wanted it.
Ollie, however, deserves all the romance, and I intend to give it to her.
“Well, I’ll have you know I can be romantic as shit. ”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he says before turning his attention to the bread I pointed at. “You can take half a loaf. I’m pretty sure there’s some cheese and cured deer in the cooler and some tinned sundried tomatoes and pickled veggies that need eating soon.”
All of that sounds great. “Got any wine?”
He snorts. “Does this place look like a vineyard to you?”
“Worth a try.” There’s some hard liquor we can drink instead. Although never thought there’d be the day where I’d miss wine.
I grab the half loaf of bread and move to get the rest of the food. With my goods procured, I shout my thanks to Alex and head back out into the afternoon sunshine.
A few people frown and glare at the food I’m carrying, but I don’t pay them any mind. I’m too excited, plus Alex wouldn’t tell me to take food that we need.
Back at the cabin, I grab a blanket and shove that, along with the food, into a backpack. I then grab a bottle of whiskey, two cups and some plates, and cutlery. Once packed, I give a sleepy Harlow a pat and head back out in search of Ollie for our date.
I find her out in the pasture, surrounded by three horses; Bean and two adorable ponies, one black and the other a red colour.
She grins down at them as she feeds them what looks like cut-up pieces of carrot.
The black pony nudges her hand while the red pony and Bean wait patiently for their turn to be fed.
I stand by the fence and watch. The way her eyes light up in their presence and the enormous smile on her face are breathtaking.
She laughs, the sound soft and filled with joy when the black pony stomps its hoof and nudges her again, harder this time.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen her look this happy and free.
No nightmares weighing her down, no impending doom from the incoming attack, and no worries over Rhys’s and my injuries.
I want more of this for her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep that smile on her face.
“Hey, princess!” I call. “How many more animal sidekicks do you have now?”
Her head snaps up and away from the ponies towards me. There’s a flicker of confusion until she realises it’s me and then a huge smile stretches across her lips. Patting the ponies one last time, she turns and saunters towards me.
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I’m not a Disney princess. I don’t sing,” she says with a roll of her eyes.
“And like I said before, having—what is it now? Five?—animal sidekicks negates the need for you to sing. Besides, if you want someone to sing, I can do that for you.” I wink at her. “Among other things.”
She huffs out a laugh and shakes her head. “What are you doing out here, Theo? I thought Rhys would have dragged you into another meeting?”
“He tried to, but I refused because I’m here to take you out on a date,” I announce proudly.
She arches an eyebrow. “A date? Since when are you romantic?”
“Why does everyone think I’m not romantic?” I groan.