Chapter Twenty-Nine
Roman
Waking up with Oakley in my arms was the best thing—I would always think that, no matter what else was going on.
Waking up to my phone blaring five million times—even though I’d put it on silent before falling asleep—was the opposite of the best thing.
I could only assume it was Garrick calling and that he’d had his viramore—who was, regrettably, a very talented witch—use a spell to make my phone ring extremely loud. I was going to kill Tan the next time I saw him.
“Holy shit,” Oakley moaned out. “Please make it stop.”
“I put it on silent.”
“That means Tan’s doing his voodoo shit to make it ring. He and Dad won’t stop when they get like that. Ask me how I know.”
I snorted, kissed their forehead, earning a tired smile from them, and rolled away to grab my phone from the nightstand. I glanced at it, huffed, and answered.
“What?”
“Is that really how you’re going to speak to me after you escaped your cell?”
“Yep.”
Garrick sighed, and I could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose. “Is Oakley okay?”
“Safe and sound, as they always are with me.”
“Good. I was worried about them.”
Beside me, Oak rolled their eyes, but they looked amused too. They could easily hear Garrick’s side of the conversation, I had no doubt.
Oakley scooted closer to me and rested their head on my chest, so I wrapped my free arm around them, kissing their forehead again as they sighed, relaxed and seemingly happy.
“What do you want, Garrick?”
He huffed, sounding annoyed and resigned at the same time. “I want to… apologize.”
My eyebrows raised. I hadn’t thought he’d apologize so soon. I knew Tan would make him eventually, but this was a lot sooner than expected. “You do?”
“Well… no, actually, I don’t want to, but Tan’s making me.”
Oakley snorted, and I raised my eyes to the ceiling, asking for patience. “So you think flipping out at me and locking me in a cell was an appropriate response?”
“Yes.”
Oakley sat up, grabbed the phone, and put it on speaker, saying, “For fuck’s sake, Dad. You’re being ridiculous. And so mean.”
Garrick was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t want him to take you from me, Oakley, and he already has.” I could hear the dragon growl in his voice.
“Roman would never take me away from you. We both live in the same building as you. Why would he take me anywhere? And even if he wanted to, do you really think I would want to go?”
“You haven’t been home for months, and you haven’t spent any time with me since you came back. Why would I think you want to stay?”
“Because a reasonable person would realize that I’m mad at you about taking away the case—you know that. And that has nothing to do with Rome. It’s all you because you’re acting like a lunatic.”
Garrick sucked in a deep breath, and I could hear Tan whispering something in the background, although I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Garrick sounded calmer when he spoke this time.
“I understand that you’re upset about that, but why aren’t you home now?
Why aren’t you in your condo? I went looking for you last night and this morning, and you haven’t been home. ”
Oak rolled their eyes. “Dad, you locked my viramore up in a cell yesterday. I didn’t want you doing that again, so we left. Once you calm down and act like a rational person again, we’ll come back.”
Oak met my eyes and rolled theirs again, and all I could do was shake my head in total agreement. Garrick was being ridiculous.
“I saw you on the cameras. You took Roman out of his cell and left the building. You know you’re not allowed to take prisoners out of their cells, Oakley.”
“For fuck’s sake, Roman wasn’t a prisoner.
He didn’t do anything wrong, and you know what?
Even if he did, I would’ve taken him out anyway because he’s my viramore.
Get over it. And don’t call us again until you’re actually ready to apologize.
” They held the phone up to their mouth and spoke louder. “Tan, thanks for trying! Love you!”
“Love you too, Oak! And Rome!” Tan yelled back.
Oakley hung up the phone as Garrick started speaking again, then passed it back to me. “Sooooo… if he keeps calling, I say we turn the thing off, and if Tan can bypass that too, we can just lock it in the bathroom or somewhere it won’t bother us.”
I grinned at them. “I like that plan.”
And then, because I really wanted to, I leaned in closer to them, bringing my lips a few inches from theirs. “Can I kiss you?”
They nodded, smiling. “Definitely.”
Wrapping one hand around the back of their neck, I moved in and slowly pressed my lips to theirs, letting the kiss linger.
I didn’t deepen it, even though I wanted to.
This was more about connection and affection, not anything to do with sex—although that was welcome anytime, anywhere, whenever Oak was ready.
I knew they were working things out in their head, and I didn’t want to push.
We could take our time.
They were my forever.
I rested my forehead against theirs, closing my eyes and breathing them in. I could smell their morning breath—no doubt they could smell mine—but more than that, I could smell their sleepy morning warmth since we were still wrapped up in blankets and cuddled together.
I loved that my scent was mixing with theirs, that anyone who scented them today would smell me on them.
Even if they showered, I was sure my scent would linger. And if it didn’t, I’d have to convince them to let me rub my scent on them. Everyone needed to know they’re mine.
I planned on hugging and cuddling them to me as much as they’d let me today, anyway.
The more time we spent together, the more we touched, the more ingrained my scent would be on them… and their scent on me.
It would be our scent. And I couldn’t wait for that to happen.
“What are you thinking about?”
I opened my eyes to find them watching me. “Your scent mixing with mine. Smells so good.”
“It does, but that breath.” They poked my lips. “Phew-y. It’s horrible. You need to brush those teeth STAT.”
I chuckled and pecked their lips. “Yours is just as bad.”
“Hasn’t stopped you from kissing me.”
With smiling lips, I kissed them again. “You haven’t stopped me.”
They laughed and gave me a push. “Get outta here and brush your teeth.”
“Yes, my liege,” I said with a laugh, got out of bed, and gave a dramatic bow.
Oakley laughed and threw a pillow at me. It hit me in the head, making us both laugh louder, and then I headed into the attached bathroom.
“I’m gonna take a shower too, unless you need to use the bathroom first?”
They shook their head. “As long as you hurry ‘cause I kinda have to pee.”
“Then you go first.”
“Nah.”
I huffed and decided it wasn’t worth arguing over, but I did rush through my morning routine.
After showering, I changed into clean clothes, grabbed my dirty ones, and headed back. “Bathroom’s all yours. If you throw your dirty clothes out, I’ll grab them and ask Ker about doing laundry.”
Oakley grinned at me, and before I knew what was happening, they stripped off their shirt and threw it at me.
By the time I pulled it off my head, a pair of pants were flying at me.
I caught them and watched Oakley wink at me in only their boxer briefs before they turned on their heel and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them.
Holy. Shit.
They. Were. Beautiful. And so damn sexy. They were filled with lean muscles, defined abs, and very lickable pierced nipples. And their ass… holy fucking shit, it was so bubbly and perfect. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them.
I stood there, blinking after them and wishing I’d had my phone out so I could snap a picture and stare at it for hours. I was so engrossed in imagining them mostly naked that I didn’t hear the bathroom door open again.
A pair of bright blue boxer briefs hit me in the head, and Oakley’s laughter filled my ears.
I couldn’t help but sniff as I pulled them off, getting a big whiff of their delicious scent.
“Ewwww, don’t smell my underwear, you perv,” Oak said through the door, not even looking at me.
“I’m not!” I called back before inhaling deeply even though I had their clothes in my arms and not against my face like I wanted.
“Liar!”
I grimaced at that—they already knew me so well—and didn’t respond to the claim. “I’m heading out. Be back in a minute!”
“M’kay, Pervy McPervison.”
Shaking my head, I left the room in search of the washing machine.
Beshiro came out of his room as I headed down the hall, and he sent me a small smile. “Morning.”
“Good morning.” I held up the clothes. “Would you guys mind if I borrowed your washing machine? Oak and I don’t have many clothes, so I thought it’d be good to wash these.”
“Oh yeah, sure. I’ll show you where it is.
” He headed farther down the hall. “When Anton realized just how much laundry Ker has to do all the time with the kids, he made a little laundry room on this floor so Ker didn’t have to go up and down the stairs a million times.
” He grinned. “We’re all happy about that. It’s so much easier.”
“I bet.” I lived in a one-floor condo that had a washer and dryer in it, so I didn’t really know how that felt. Before I lived in the tower, washers and dryers didn’t even exist, so I really had no clue. But I could imagine what a pain that would be, especially when you had so many kids.
“Soooo…” His smirk reminded me of Jed’s, which was kind of funny since they weren’t blood related.
Well, not in the human way, anyway. They were blood-related in the vampire sense.
But from his and Jed’s expressions and gestures, I could tell they grew up together and spent a lot of time together. “You and Oakley, huh?”
I held in an eye roll. “Yep. Me and Oakley.”
“I’m so happy for you. Jealous too, if I’m being honest, but I’m seriously really happy for you guys. Oak’s a real cool person, so—”
My growl cut him off.