Chapter 7
ADRIAN
Packing took a long time, and I was sure that I was still forgetting a million things, even though I really didn't own that much.
Most of the things in the house belonged to my brother and I didn't need to take much for a week.
The only reason everything took so long was because I couldn't settle on what to wear.
Luca insisted I needed to take things that would make sure Tyrel's eyes were on me at all times, but I wasn't so sure.
I didn't want to seem cheap. In the end, I went half-half for modest versus slutty, deciding that I'd judge what to wear after I met the other guys.
Monday of the following week, I made my way over to Tyrel's house.
Luca and my brother had both offered to drop me off, but I wanted to go alone, deciding that I needed a little time to myself before I could face Tyrel again.
Just to gather my strength. And really, the house wasn't that far and I didn't have that much to carry.
I met the first of my competition outside the gates of the house—although manor really was the more appropriate word. He was shorter than me, but seemed to have about twice the luggage. In fact, he could barely carry it all.
"That looks heavy." I pointed at the suitcase he was dragging.
He startled, then whirled around to me. "Oh. Uh. Hi." Letting go of his suitcase, he extended a hand to me. "I'm Michael." His soft smile suited his soft features. His cheeks were just the tiniest bit chubby and I wanted to pinch them as I shook his hand.
"Adrian," I introduced myself. "Nice to meet you." Although we're both here for the same thing.
"You're right about the suitcase," he said. "But it's okay. I can carry it."
I nodded. "Okay then."
We were standing outside an iron gate. The property behind it was encased by a high wall, probably so that no one could look into the gardens, but what I could see of the house impressed me.
It was three stories tall and could have comfortably fit all the apartments I'd ever lived in. If this was their vacation home…
Well, Tyrel had said that he was dirty rich, so I shouldn't be surprised.
"Should we ring the bell?" I pointed at the gate.
"Yeah. I guess." Michael pushed a button in the wall to the side of it. There was no intercom, but after a minute, the gate sprang open, allowing us inside.
A paved road led to the white building where we were expected. Michael and I walked it side by side.
"So…" I started, trying to make conversation. Trying to check out the competition. "What made you apply?"
Michael blushed and avoided my eyes. "Uh… It's too silly to say."
"I'm sure it isn't. Really, I only sent my application because my brother nagged me." And because I'd always wanted a baby. But I wasn't going to say that last part to someone I'd only just met.
Michael laughed quietly and I got the feeling that he never made any sounds louder than that. "To be honest? Well, I'm a big reader. And dragons… well, they've always fascinated me. I mean, they're the stuff of legends, right?"
I shot him a thoughtful look. "I guess we don't know much about them, if that's what you mean."
"Yeah, they live on these islands all by themselves and all we really know are stories and we don't know which are true… Drives me crazy. Especially because some people claim we all have a bit of dragon blood inside us. How can we know so little about something that's a part of us?"
We know so little because they don't want us to know more. I didn't say it, but the thought wouldn't leave my mind either. To Michael, I simply nodded. "So you wanted to get to know a dragon for yourself."
"Yeah, I don't… I don't really know about all the other things, like having a baby and all that? That's probably stupid of me, but here I am. The cat who gets killed by his curiosity."
I patted him on the back. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. You can always leave when you want out." Part of me wanted him out as soon as possible, but another part of me was starting to like this curious, soft-spoken guy. It might not be all bad to have a sort of friend on the property.
"Do you really want to have Tyrel's baby?" he asked me.
I bit the inside of my cheeks. "I've always wanted a baby," I said, and left it at that.
We reached the front door of the house after another minute. There, we were greeted by an employee of the family whom I could only assume to be a butler. He was clad in a nice uniform and appeared to be in his late forties.
"Come in, come in," he ushered us inside. "You have been greatly expected."
I pulled the front door shut behind me, coming to stand in an entrance hall that was bigger than my brother's kitchen. A large marble stair case led up to the second floor on my right, and while I glanced at it, the butler took my suitcase.
"We will have these brought up for you," he said.
"I am Paul, by the way. Such a pleasure to make your acquaintances.
" He didn't ask for our names, so I assumed he already knew who we were from the pictures on our applications.
Oh God, that picture. My cheeks burned with the knowledge that other people had seem me in that stupid costume. I could never tell Luca about this.
"Let me show you to your rooms." He went up the stairs, leaving our luggage behind. Michael and I exchanged looks, and then we followed.
The second floor hallway was long. Red carpet covered the floor and identical doors lined the walls to either side of it. I had no idea what lay behind any of them, but I suspected a lot of bed rooms. I wondered how many visitors this family got, and whether most of them were human or dragon.
The butler stopped in front of a set of doors toward the end of the hallway.
"You two will be rooming next to each other.
I hope that's not a problem. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you find it lacking anything.
" He pointed to another door on the other side.
"That's the bathroom. I'm sorry there's no ensuites.
I'm afraid this house doesn't provide all the luxuries of the main manor. "
"That's okay," I said.
Michael nodded.
I wondered if he was as overwhelmed by everything as I was.
"I'll leave you alone for a bit to get settled in," Paul said. "You'll be given a tour of the house shortly and then we'll all have dinner tonight at seven. Please make sure to be in the dining hall on time. The mistress doesn't appreciate tardiness."
The mistress.
Did he mean Tyrel's mother? I remembered what he'd said about her.
From the sounds of it, it seemed like she was as much a part of the selection process as Tyrel was.
If I wanted this job, I needed to get her to like me, too.
It didn't look like any of this was going to be easy.
I only hoped that Tyrel's mother was not as difficult as her son.
Paul left. I nodded at Michael, and then I entered my room.
It was as spacious as Paul had said it would be, but at this point, that didn't surprise me anymore.
The bed was a king, of course, and looked super comfortable.
I was tempted to lie down for a nap, but first I inspected the rest of my surroundings.
Shelves full of books lined the walls. Most of them seemed to be fiction and nothing on dragon lore or anything, of course.
Opposite my bed was a TV set and… next to the DVD player I found a copy of Pitch Perfect.
Seriously?
Ugh.
Someone had really studied my application.
I could just so picture Tyrel placing that there with that devious smile of his.
If he'd read my application, he'd seen the stupid picture, too.
I wanted to die.
And still I couldn't wait to see him at dinner later.
I was just looking through the shelves for something to read when someone knocked at the door.
"Come in."
It turned out to be Paul. "If you'd please, I'd like to give you all a tour of the facilities now."
I nodded and looked behind him into the hallway. It seemed the other applicants were already gathered outside my door. Taking a deep breath, I turned away from the shelves to join them.
"Hi," I said to the three unknown faces who studied me as I stepped into the hallway.
In turn, they introduced themselves as Bernard, Zane and William.
I nodded at each of them, told them my name, and pretended I didn't want them out of here as soon as possible.
After all, their presence decreased my chances of getting what I wanted.
As Paul showed us through the house, I tried to get a read on my competition.
Bernard was the tallest of us. He looked like the kind who would have played football in high school and college.
I hope he wasn't really Tyrel's type, because if he was, I certainly wasn't. Then again, I wasn't sure how any of us had been picked.
Some of us might be here only because Tyrel's mother liked us, after all.
Aside from being my competition, I couldn't harbor ill feelings toward Bernard.
He seemed good natured for a tall, muscular guy.
Smiling a lot, trying to be friendly and get along.
As we strolled through the gardens outside, he asked me how my day had been, in a way that sounded like he actually wanted to know.
And suddenly I felt bad for thinking of the other guys only as competition. Yes, they were after the same thing as me, but they probably weren't bad people.
Zane filled a glass of water for me in the kitchen and I accepted it with a muttered thank you.
He only grinned at me. "It's kind of weird, isn't it?
" he asked. "This situation. I guess I'm supposed to hate you all, but I don't do hate.
" His voice dropped a little. "Like, have you seen Michael? I kind of want to cuddle him."
I laughed. I couldn't help it. "I want to pinch his cheeks," I admitted before I could stop myself.
Sipping my water, I studied Zane more closely.
He had all the markings of a twink. Blond, blue eyed, slender.
.. If Tyrel was into pretty, Zane was my strongest competition.
But I still couldn't make myself dislike him.
Zane looked over at the rest of our little group, who was standing around a fruit's basket, taking their pick. "Have you heard William's story?"
"His story?"
Zane nodded. "Yeah. We arrived here around the same time, so we got to talking a bit." The grin vanished from his face, telling me that whatever he'd heard wasn't good news.
I raised an eye brow. Did I really want to know?
I really shouldn't be asking for information that would make me even more sympathetic to these people.
We couldn't all win. Only one of us could, and I wanted that to be me, and I didn't want to feel bad about winning when I did.
I wasn't sure whether that made me selfish or not.
It was this insecurity that prompted me to ask Zane: "What did he tell you? "
Zane looked at William, and then he shrugged. "I guess I can tell you. Not like it's super personal, but I asked him why he applied."
I chuckled. "Michael and I had that same conversation when we walked here."
Zane smiled again. "Does make you curious, doesn't it?
What kind of people apply for a job like this and why…
" he trailed off. "I guess we all have our reasons, but Will?
He's really bad off. He already has three kids, all pretty young still.
I'm not sure he even wants to add another one to the mix, but his former mate, the kids' dad died, and now he's hard pressed for money. "
"Oh." I didn't know what to say after hearing a story like that. I'd though I had it bad, but compared to Will, I still had it pretty good. At least, I only had myself to take care of, even when I wished for that to be different some days. "Who's taking care of his children now?" I wondered.
"I'm not too sure, really. I didn't want to pry. But when I look at all the money that's here…" Zane let his gaze sweep through the kitchen. "I guess it's been taken care of."
"I hope so."
Zane nodded. "Well, let's join the others before all the fruit has been taken.
I want a banana." He winked at me. I drained the last of my water and followed him, wondering if everyone here had a story, a reason that made them willing to have Tyrel's baby.
Wondering if I truly deserved it more than any of them.
After the tour, I went back to my room. I wanted to nap for a bit before dinner, but sleep wouldn't come.
There were too many thoughts, too many doubts in my head.
Lying here on my own, I remembered how crazy this situation really was.
I didn't really know Tyrel, and yet, I was competing for him. Why?
Because I wanted a family. Because I couldn't get him out of my head.
But even if I won this thing, there was no guarantee that I'd ever be more than a baby-making factory in this house, and that thought weighed heavily on my mind.
Realizing that sleep was not an option right now, I got up and stood by the window.
It overlooked the back yard. My breath caught in my throat when I realized that I was looking at Tyrel—and that Tyrel wasn't by himself.
He was talking to William, and they were standing pretty close together.
Too close for comfort. At least, too close for my comfort.
Fuck pitying William.
All I wanted to do at that moment was drag him away and send him home to his kids.
Maybe Tyrel likes him because he's already shown that he can have children.
I closed my eyes against the thought because it hurt. There was no guarantee that I could give Tyrel what he needed.
Why won't you get pregnant? I heard Rory's voice in my head.
Why, indeed.
I stepped away from the window and didn't look out again until it was time for dinner.