Chapter 26 #2
She chuckled. “Silly boy, he didn’t have to take care of you. He wouldn’t have it any other way. But you’re welcome. Always.” Looking at Theo, she nodded at the car. “Have a word. I have some emails to catch up on.” She left me to walk back to Theo hanging out on the bottom step of the porch.
“She is so awesome,” I said, proud of my modern slang.
“Yeah, she is. I’ll call and set you up with my banker. You’ll need a line of credit for construction. Especially since you won’t take any more money from me.”
“I won’t,” I said stubbornly. “But thank you.”
“Now, you want to tell me what’s up?”
Theo always seemed to know when I was out of sorts. We didn’t always talk when I was, but apparently all the recent changes in my life warranted more of a conversation.
“I’m fine. Physically. But… I don’t know, Theo. It’s all a bit muddled.”
“Is this about you and Hunter?”
“A bit yes. I am quite broken, it seems.”
Theo reached out for me. “You are not broken. Did he say that? I’m going to—”
I laughed. “No. You won’t. Hunter’s great. He didn’t say anything. I did. I am saying it. I am not quite sound. You’ve known this. My bloody past, the things I did. They haunt me. Make me far too careful, far too cautious.”
“You are a good man, Regge.”
“A lot of what I am is down to you. And I thank you for that.” I looked at the dark street, the amber glow of cozy windows and cozy lives.
I’d never thought I could be a part of such a thing.
“I’ve spent the past few months adjusting but also wallowing.
Missing Charlie but kind of not missing him and then feeling guilty.
“The truth is, I’m glad he’s not here. Because if he were here, the impetus would be on going home, getting back to our lives.
I loved Charlie. I did. But I’m here now, for good.
My life here is good, far more comfortable, safer, more everything.
There’s no going back, and I certainly don’t want to.
But I want to be better, get better, for Hunter, for everyone.
For me.” I breathed in another deep lungful of air.
We both gazed across the yard to the car, where Izzy looked up from her phone and smiled. Theo would understand, right? The need to be worthy of someone’s love. To find someone who wanted only the best for you. Someone you wanted to be the best for.
“How can I help?”
“Did you know that here in this time, there are people who do nothing but listen to your problems for you? It’s a strange concept, but I think maybe I’d like to try it.”
“Therapy? You want to go to therapy.” The older man’s brow furrowed for a moment. “Folk like us can’t be entirely forthcoming with strangers, and this—” He waved a vague hand at himself. “My origins, your origins, folk like Abraham and Arial. That’s—”
“You’re right. Obviously, I won’t be revealing much about my past, but I can skim over the unnecessary details.”
“No. To do this right—for it to be beneficial, you need to trust the therapist—be completely honest. Open.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Let me talk to Izzy, see if maybe there’s someone who understands our world who’s in the profession.”
“Thank you.” I reached out to pull him into a hug. After a moment, he returned it. “It seems I’m saying that a lot.” The words muffled into Theo’s shoulder.
He released me, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “We’ll see you soon, lad.” He used the old term of affection. It was rare that Theo called me son, and I had never used dad or father, except in jest on occasion. But we knew what we were to each other.
I waved as they drove off. Reentering the house, I stood in the tiny foyer, listening as Hunter finished loading the dishwasher. Such pleasant domestic sounds coupled with little sleep the night before had me listing and half asleep by the time Hunter was finished.
“Come on, let’s get you into bed.”
I nodded but stayed where I was. “I need to sleep, but…I can’t.
” I had to resolve this, or I’d think about it all night.
“Hunter, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the hotel.
Or what I was feeling when you woke up from the necromancer’s hold on you.
I should have. I honestly cannot tell you why I didn’t. ”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s really not okay. I admit I have issues.
I’d thought if I just always press forward, things would get better.
And they have.” I reached for his hand. “So much better but still not good enough. I told Theo I’d like to try talking to someone.
He’s going to see if he can find someone who knows of our strange little world.
Maybe that will help. I want to be better. ”
“You’re perfect.”
I chuffed out a laugh. “Far from it. But I want to be easier. With you. With everything. Including sex.” I chided myself for whispering that last part.
Hunter squeezed my hand and pulled me closer. “Sex with you is amazing. So don’t go thinking there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. You are my dream come true in the bedroom, and we’ve barely started. There are guys who are strictly tops and that’s completely fine.”
“Yes, because it’s a preference, not because one of them freaks out over childhood memories. No. Whether that happens or not, I think reconciling my past self with who I am here and now will be good. Maybe I won’t be so—” I searched for the proper word.
“Guarded?” Hunter supplied.
“Yes.” I leaned to kiss him.
Hunter simply gave me a peck and said, “We can talk about this later. You’re exhausted.”
“But—”
“No buts. Bed. Now.”
I grinned. “Yes, sir.” I trotted up the steps. As exhausted as both of us were, we couldn’t sleep right away. The possibilities of a future together all jumbled into my mind. But it was nothing a couple of orgasms couldn’t remedy.
I was drifting off when Hunter’s voice sounded beside me in the dark.
“I can tell Mom, can’t I? About you being a fancy hotel owner and all?”
“Of course. Though I’m a little bit afraid she will caution you going into business with someone such as I. I’m a risk.”
He laughed. “I’m a risk. Mom’s been after me for years to grow up. I’ve never had a career or a full-time job in my life. And yet you want me to quit my high-paying side gigs? Not to mention the elite position of part-time bartender at Pinkie’s. All to run a haunted hotel with you?”
“It’s not haunted.”
“It had a ghost for a night clerk.”
“Gods, now we have to bloody hire someone for the front desk.” I ran my hands through my hair. He pulled me in closer to him. His low chuckle settled somewhere under my heart and I slept.
The sun had risen fully before I blinked awake and turned toward my love. Hunter’s profile was deep in concentration as he frowned into his phone. Yawning widely, I ran a finger down his bare chest. Just because I could.
“Good morning,” he said, before going back to his phone.
“It is good, isn’t it?”
I recalled an interlude in the middle of our night where I’d woken up wanting to touch him. I hadn’t meant to wake him, merely assure myself that he was here and real and mine.
Hunter had responded by kissing me fully awake, then straddling my hips and riding me to a delicious completion. We’d both fallen back asleep in each other’s arms. I’d never been happier.
“I’m happier now, you know,” I said, rolling onto my side to sling an arm over his stomach. “I thought I was happy with Charlie, back home, but we could never be like this. I loved him, sure, but he was too young, and I was too messed up to have a real relationship.”
“Is that what we have? A real relationship?”
“If you want. I don’t mean to presume.” I walked my fingers up to circle a nipple. It was a playful gesture, but I held my breath for his answer.
Instead of answering, he scrunched down in the bed, facing me and showing me his phone. The screen was filled with lists of boutique hotels and their unique features. “Did you know that the boutique hotel business is one of the fastest growing markets in the Northeast?”
“No. I didn’t. I don’t even know what a boutique hotel is.”
“If we’re going to make this thing successful, we have to start thinking of it this way. A specialty hotel if you will, with some full-time residents. We can get Izzy and Theo to create some sigils, some warding, so it doesn’t get too weird. But—”
I stopped him. “Wait. Does this mean you’re in? You’ll do this with me?”
“I can’t think of anything better than operating a weird-ass hotel with my superhot boyfriend.”
“No, I have the hot boyfriend. You have a bloke with issues.”
“Um, we may have to fight that one out. But later, okay?” He kissed me. “’Cause I have enough morning wood to pound nails right now.”
“Hmm. How long before your mum expects us to be up?”
Hunter pulled me down. “Not long enough.