Chapter Twenty-Six #2
He leaned in and captured my lips again, and my heart flipped in my chest.
This time the kiss was sweeter, gentler, more tender, and it made my entire body—no, my entire being; my body, my heart, my soul—melt into a pile of goo right there on his lap.
When he broke the kiss this time, I felt almost boneless, so I leaned in, moved my arms so they were around his waist, and rested my head on his shoulder, tucking my face into the crook of his neck as I hugged him tight.
He didn’t hesitate to hold me, wrapping his arms around me, rubbing my back, and rocking us a little.
After a long time of sitting there in companionable silence, holding one another, I whispered, “We should probably get out of here before my dad comes down and finds us all cuddled up.”
Roman snorted. “Yeah, that would be bad.”
“Take me to your place. We can hang out.”
He started to stand, holding me, and I laughed, standing myself.
“You’re not carrying me. And actually, you’re coming to my place because my dad’s less likely to find you there.”
“Good point.” He winced. “You sure you’re okay with getting in trouble with him?”
I shrugged. “I don’t care, but also, Tan’s the one who told me to get you out.
I had no idea you were the one I was coming to get out, either.
He just sent me here and literally said you have my permission to get him out.
I was like who? And he hung up. It was ridiculous.
I tried to call you, but obvs, you didn’t answer. Does Dad have your phone?”
“Uh… I think it’s in my pocket.” He checked and pulled it out, wincing. “Sorry, it was on silent.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. At least Tan sent me down here. Dork.”
He paused. “Tan really helped?”
I nodded and grabbed his hand, lacing our fingers together like I’d wanted to for weeks. “Yeppers. Let’s go.”
We made it all the way to the elevator before it dinged and opened, startling the shit out of me.
Terrell, a gargoyle royal guard, stood there, holding a big tray of food and drinks. He took us in, his eyes widening when he realized Roman was out of his cell.
“Um… you’re out already. Uh…” He glanced down at the tray, then shoved it toward us.
Roman released my hand to take it from him, eyeing the gargoyle warily.
Terrell took a breath, then sighed. “I never saw you, okay? Or I guess, you never saw me? Just… pretend someone you don’t know gave you the food in your cell, yeah?
I don’t want the king to yell at me, and I turned the cameras off down here a while ago, so I didn’t even know you’d already been rescued. Obviously.”
My eyebrows rose. “You’re not going to tell my dad that I broke him out?”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course not. It’s not like he was in there for a legitimate reason anyway.
Tan told me everything, which is why I brought you some food.
” He made a face. “You, um, will find a keycard under the plate, but I see you don’t need it.
” He sent Roman a small smile. “You’ve always been good to me, sir, and…
congratulations to you both.” He turned on his heel, stepped back into the elevator, and started to hit the close button. “I was never here.”
“Who was never here?” I asked with a grin. “I didn’t see anyone.”
He laughed, so I winked at him and turned to Roman when the doors finally shut.
“Well… let’s take this food upstairs with us. No reason to let it go to waste.”
Roman grinned. “No reason at all.”
After I was sure Terrell’s elevator had started its journey upward, I hit the elevator button again, biting my lip as I thought about my dad finding Roman in my condo. Would he think to look there? What would I do if he came in and tried to take him again?
Glancing at Roman, I chewed on my lip for a few seconds. “Do you think we should go somewhere else?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, is it wise to hide in the tower at all? My dad has that like, weird connection with it, like it’s sentient almost or whatever. What if it tells him exactly where you are?”
Rome stared at me for a few seconds before blowing out a long breath. “I’m not sure. On the one hand, he might not suspect you, but on the other…”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“Then what do you suggest? If we get a hotel, he’ll be able to track us easily. We can give false names, but our payment will be trackable, and even if we get around that, if the king called them, there’s no way the workers would lie for us—I wouldn’t want them to.”
I grimaced. “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble… but… what if I call Ker?” Ugh. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent Anton away already, but too late.
“For what? To stay there?”
I nodded. “I know they still have a few spare rooms, so they have the space. And Dad might think to call Anton, but it’s not like he’ll storm the ancient vampire’s home.
There’s no way. He respects him too much, and there’s like a billion ancient vamps that live there, so that would be really bad.
” Sometimes, it was easy to forget that Jed and his siblings were even older than Dad and Rome—especially since Jed acted like a teenager half the time—but they were old as crap, and I knew my dad would never want to make enemies of them.
Plus, they were family now. Tan would never allow it.
That thought made me feel a lot better because it was true. Tan would kick Dad’s ass if he continued his Punish Roman campaign.
“True enough.”
“Okay, give me a sec.”
Roman nodded and set the food tray on a small table off to the side.
It was there for the guards when my dad did actually have people in the cells.
It was kind of weird that he hadn’t put anyone down here to guard Rome, but I supposed he knew deep down that he was being ridiculous and that any of the guards, people who’d been working with Roman more than him for years, would’ve let him out.
Clearly, as seen with Terrell, Rome’s people loved him.
They totally would’ve broken him out even without my and Tan’s intervention.
For a moment, I pictured Terrell and a bunch of the other royal guards dressed in all black, looking like ninjas as they used bungees and other silly things to break Rome out of his cell.
I almost snorted at myself.
Then I pulled out my phone and dialed Ker’s number. As soon as he picked up, I spoke before he could. “I need a huge favor.”
There was a soft, amused-sounding sigh. “Is this about Roman being locked in the dungeon?”
I pulled my phone away to gape at it for a second before I put it back to my ear. “I’m assuming Anton told you?”
“Actually, I already knew by the time he said anything.”
“What? How?”
“Tan told Remi, Remi told Bel, Bel told me. Anton was only five minutes late, but still.”
“Scales, news travels fast around here.”
He snorted. “Do you guys need a place to crash while Garrick cools down? I assume you’re with Roman, right? You got him out?”
“Yes to all of that.”
“Great. Come on over. We have plenty of room. The girls and I are still at the mall, but Anton already offered before I even asked. He said he didn’t think of it until he was already on his way home, or he would’ve just waited for you. I’ll give him a head’s up that you’re coming now.”
“Thank you, Keryth. And thank Anton for us too. He’s been awesome today.”
“He’s awesome every day. And no problem.” That made me grin.
We said our goodbyes and hung up, and I met Roman’s gaze. “That was even easier than I expected.”
He snorted and stepped closer to me, brushing his shoulder against mine. “Thank you, Oakley.”
I nudged him, leaning into him a little. “No need to thank me.”
Roman seemed to hesitate for a second before he wrapped an arm around me, pulling me even closer to him as he pressed a kiss to the side of my head. I smiled and leaned into him, soaking him up for a few seconds before the elevator opened for us.
We stepped inside, but I grabbed the door to keep it open, saying, “Don’t forget the food!”
Roman chuckled as he walked back out to grab the tray from the table. “How are you always hungry?”
“I’m a growing dragon.” I shrugged.
Roman snorted at that and stepped back inside with the tray.
“Well, shit. If we’re leaving, we can’t take the tray with us.”
He sent me a fond smile. “How about we drop this off at the reception desk—I’m sure Radu won’t mind eating it for us.” Just as I was about to pout at the loss of food, he snorted again. “Don’t pout. We’ll pick something up on the way. We can get enough food for Keryth and the girls too.”
“I like that plan.”
“Good.”
He was always so confident and sure of himself that I almost missed the way his body tensed the closer we got to the main floor, or the way his eyes were tight around the edges. He was nervous.
“Hey, Rome?”
He turned to me. “Yeah?”
“It’s gonna be okay. My dad will apologize, and you guys will work it out.” I shoulder-bumped him. “I promise it’ll be okay.”
He blew out a long breath. “Thanks.”
The elevator stopped, and we both started a brisk walk toward the reception desk.
“Radu?” Roman said, placing the tray on the counter. “We’ve been called out and don’t have time to eat this. Would you like it?”
“Really?”
Rome nodded. “Yep.” With one hand, he quickly slipped the keycard out from under the plate and into his pocket as he pushed the tray closer to the guy with his other hand. “Have a good day.”
“You too. Thanks for this.”
We both gave him a wave before heading out.
With any luck, my dad didn’t have security on the lookout for Roman.
I wasn’t sure how seriously he was taking Rome’s imprisonment, but hopefully, he didn’t want anyone to know how nutty he was behaving and was keeping everything on the down-low. Only time would tell.