Chapter Nineteen
Roman
This morning had been a major whirlwind of emotions.
First, waking with Oakley in my arms, on top of me, was heaven. Having them cuddle and goof around with me was so much better than I expected our morning to look like.
But then I’d fucked it up by holding them down. I should’ve known better. I was a total asshole. I knew things had been difficult for them growing up. I should’ve guessed they wouldn’t like that.
Hopefully they were okay. They seemed okay after our hug, thank the Mother of Scales.
They were playful again with me, making me practically swoon like a princess being rescued by her knight in shining armor when they carried me around.
But then Garrick called and not only made all the anger I felt toward him rise to the surface, but also the guilt that I was standing there trying to woo his kid.
Fuck, he really was going to kill me.
I sighed to myself as I finished up with the french toast I was making.
“Need any help?”
I jumped in surprise at the sound of Oak’s voice behind me, and I whipped around to face them with wide eyes.
They cracked up laughing. “Oh, my Scales. You should’ve seen your face.” They laughed harder. “How did you not hear me coming? I wasn’t trying to be quiet.”
I chuckled, shaking my head and returning to cooking. “I was lost in thought, I guess.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
I shrugged. I didn’t want to lie to them, avoid the question, or brush them off, but I also couldn’t tell them the whole truth since I hadn’t talked to them about being viramores yet.
Fuck. I really needed to do that, but what if…
what if they didn’t react well to the news?
What if they were mad or upset that I was their viramore or that I hadn’t told them yet? I cringed at the thought.
Maybe I was the one who wasn’t ready yet. Shit.
I cleared my throat. “Uh, just thinking about Garrick and how pissed I am about being taken off the case.” It wasn’t a lie. But it also wasn’t the whole truth. Dammit, I was already fucking everything up, wasn’t I?
They sighed and hopped up onto the kitchen island’s counter. “Yeah… it sucks. Do you think there’s anything we can do to try to get put back on?”
I nodded. “I think he’ll give it back to us in a week or two when he realizes we won’t give up and will stay pissed at him ‘till he gives in.”
They groaned and dropped their head back, exposing their neck that I really wanted to bite. “That’s too long. We have the lead now.”
“I know, but Kharis and his team are good at their jobs. They’ll follow through.”
“I know they will, but what if… what if they find the top of the food chain without us?”
I grimaced because they were right. If this major lead led the team to the top dog in the ring, then the case would be closed.
Sure, we would still need to do our best to track down the trafficking victims and rescue them—and that was a huge job that could take literal years, and we would probably never find them all—but I knew how badly Oakley wanted to find the person in charge and take them out.
“Then we’ll focus on rescuing as many people as we can. I’m sure they’ll find more information on who was invited to these auctions and who might’ve bought… people, so we’ll hopefully have something to go on.”
Oakley stared off to the side for a long moment, then took a breath.
“You’re right. Saving those people is more important than anything.
Once we stop more people from becoming victims, we can try to find the ones who already are.
That… that’s a really good way of looking at it, Rome.
It makes me feel a little better about not being on the case right now. ”
I sent them a small smile. I knew they’d been so focused on revenge or vengeance or whatever it was they were searching for when it came to stopping the bad guys, for lack of a better word, that they’d forgotten about all the other good we could do.
We had the resources and the ability to really help people, and I planned on using it.
“I think so too.” I offered them a small smile. “Food’s done.”
“Great. Let’s eat, then you can take your turn in the shower.”
I gave a nod, plated some food, and passed it over to Oak.
They sent me a sweet smile. “Thank you, Rome. For… for everything.”
I wasn’t sure what they were thanking me for other than the food, so I simply gave their arm a squeeze and went to make my own plate.
“Movie time!” Oak announced when I was about to suggest that I leave. It was getting late, and I figured they wanted to get ready for bed. I’d been with them literally all day—weren’t they ready to get me out of their hair yet?
“You want to watch a movie?”
They nodded. “Yep. But first, we need to get comfy in sweats or pjs or whatever.” They grabbed my arm and tugged me down the hallway. “Come on.”
I followed without hesitation.
We’d spent the entire day together. We hung out at their place for a bit, then stopped by my place so I could get clothes that actually fit me—I was definitely bigger than them—before we went out for lunch, ran a few small errands, went grocery shopping, and came back to their place to make dinner together.
Well, I did the cooking, but I allowed Oak to chop some veggies and make a salad. They just weren’t allowed anywhere near a flame.
Which was funny considering they were a dragon that could actually shoot flames from their mouth. But I’d trust them with dragon fire a million times over the stove.
After dinner, we’d played a board game that Oakley kicked my ass in, and now… now I had no idea what they were planning, but I’d follow them wherever they wanted me to go.
Honestly, I’d been surprised they’d wanted to hang out with me, the person they’d been stuck with for months, when they could’ve easily hung out with Keryth or one of their many other friends. But Oak hadn’t even brought anyone else up all day.
They released me and walked over to their dresser, opening the bottom drawer and rooting around in it. “Ah-ha!” They pulled out a pair of sweatpants and threw them at me.
I caught the pants automatically. “What are these for?”
They rolled their eyes. “For you to wear… obviously. They’re big on me, so they should fit you fine. I have a few t-shirts that should work too since I like sleeping in super baggy clothes.” They grinned before finding a shirt and throwing that at me too.
When I didn’t move, they waved me toward the bathroom. “Uh, go change.”
“Wh… why am I changing?”
They rolled their eyes. “In case we fall asleep again. Duh.”
I narrowed my eyes at them because something was feeling… off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. But then again, it wasn’t like I actually wanted to leave. I wanted to stay with them more than anything. “Alright. Meet you in the living room.”
By the time I walked into the living room, Oakley was already wearing pj pants and a loose t-shirt, and they were in the kitchen, popping popcorn.
As I stood there watching them, I could tell something was going on, but they were clearly not willing to talk about it.
There was a tension in their shoulders that hadn’t been there only thirty minutes ago.
I wasn’t sure what had happened between our board game and now, but something was going through their head that I wasn’t sure I liked.
“You okay?”
They hummed without turning away from the microwave. “Mhm.”
“Oak?”
“Yeah?”
When they didn’t look at me, I sighed and decided to leave it. For now. They were so damn stubborn—they definitely got that from their father.
Once they had enough popcorn to feed an army, we walked out to the living room and settled on the couch. Unsurprisingly, they sat right beside me instead of any other seat, which I was grateful for.
The movie started, and I put my arm on the back of the couch, sort of around them, and scooted closer, pretending that I only wanted to reach the popcorn more easily.
They leaned into me, keeping their eyes on the screen, but it was clear they were aware of how close we were.
When the movie ended, they sent me a smile. “Another?”
My brow furrowed as I checked the clock. It was after midnight, and while it wasn’t unusual for us to be up later than this when we were trying to catch people who liked to go clubbing, it definitely wasn’t normal for them to want to stay up this late when we weren’t working.
I took the empty bowl from their lap and placed it on the coffee table before gently giving their hand a squeeze. My other arm was still on the back of the couch with their head resting on it.
“What’s going on, Oak?”
“Nothing.”
“Oak. Come on. You can talk to me.”
They let out a long-drawn sigh, looked away from me, and spoke so fast, I almost couldn’t understand them.
“I… I just… I don’t want to be alone. I don’t…
do well when I’m in a place alone, so I guess I was trying to make you stay over without actually asking you.
Which I realize is totally wrong and manipulative, so I totally suck, but I was still wondering if maybe you wouldn’t mind staying again tonight?
You can take the bed, and I’ll sleep on the couch. I just… I don’t want to be alone.”
That was a lot of word vomit, but I got the gist, although I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t want to be alone. But… I had a feeling that was a conversation I should wait to have. I could tell they were feeling vulnerable, and I didn’t want to upset them more.
“Of course I’ll stay. But I’m not taking the bedroom. It’s your home, your bed, so you take it.”
They snorted. “If you think I’m going to sleep in a bed while you’re stuck on the couch, you’ve got another think coming, my friend.”
I shook my head in amusement, then wrapped my arm around them enough to pull them into my side. “Come here, you. Start the movie.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “Yep. You’ll be out like a light in five minutes flat.”
They snorted. “It’ll be you out first, old man.”
I chuckled as I settled in, holding them to my side as they started the next movie.
They fell asleep first, and I was happy for it because I was able to stare at their beautiful face for a long time before I kissed their forehead, closed my own eyes, and let sleep take me.