16. Manny
MANNY
Tuesday morning, my shift could not end fast enough. Fortunately we didn’t have any cases that needed my special attention, as I’d taken to calling it. I needed all my energy for my men. After a nap, of course.
Outside the hospital, Geordie handed me off to Cassandra, who I hadn’t seen in ages. “Girl! Where’ve you been?” I buckled my seatbelt and she pulled into traffic. “I have so much to tell you!”
She grinned. “I heard. Go you, snatching up Oz! He’s a sweetie. Not to mention hot as fuck. And Archer Jones? You’ve been mighty busy.”
I elbowed her. “That’s one way to describe it.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “What’s on the schedule today?”
“Nap, then Arch and Oz are coming over for lunch. At 3:30 p.m. I’m picking my mom and Eloise up at the airport. If I can talk Arch and Oz into going with me, we can take Arch’s giant SUV and you can have a break until it’s time for me to go to work.”
She shot me a wide-eyed glance, her eyebrows high. “Taking them to meet your mom? That’s pretty soon, don’t you think?”
I rubbed my chest where the romantic connections extended out to Oz and Arch. “Nah. We haven’t exactly had the relationship talk yet, but Mamá met Oz over video call already, and I told her about Arch.”
“Okay. You do you, Mr. Moreno. I’d never be that brave.”
When I got home, I did a quick de-cluttering tour of the house, then I went to bed. I’d regret only getting four hours of sleep when I went to work tonight, but it’d be worth it to see Oz and Arch before the weekend. How long would we need to date before they could move in with me?
Arch arrived first, coming through the gate with Cassandra and waving at me as I stood on the porch. “We’re gonna do a quick sweep of the property. I’ll be inside in a few minutes.”
Rolling my eyes, I went back into the house, leaving the front door open for Oz. I’d barely gotten the ingredients out to make lunch before Oz and Arch both came inside. “Manny! Why was the front door open?” They rounded the corner into the kitchen, Oz shaking his head behind an aggrieved Arch.
“Because I knew you were right there the entire time. Give me a kiss.” Grumbling, he did so, as did Oz, who smiled at me wearing my new “Don’t piss off the healer” t-shirt.
“Arch, you get the drinks ready. Oz, sit down and tell us about being an electrician.” As much as I would’ve liked to rip all our clothes off and make with the orgasms, we were still getting to know each other.
Oz happily told us how he’d been an electrician in Milwaukee, but he’d been strangely reluctant to ask Rafferty for a job until this week.
He shrugged. “It was really my badger who wanted me to wait. And since he was excited about taking the temporary security guard job, I guess he knew what he was doing.” He looked at us shyly from under his lashes then fiddled with his placemat.
I stalked toward him, pointing the spoon I’d been using to stir the potato salad. “Oz! Did you say badger? Your second self is a badger? When can we see him?” I was grinning way too hard. I couldn’t wait to squish his little furry face!
Oz glanced out the window, then at Arch and me. “Uh, I can show you after lunch? He’s probably a little bigger than you’re expecting though.”
Arch grabbed Oz’s hand. “Makes sense. You’re a big guy. We’d love to meet him when you’re ready.”
Oz appeared doubtful, but he nodded. I raised my spoon toward the ceiling. “Okay, I’m adding that to the agenda. I hope you cleared your schedules for the afternoon, because we have lunch, sex, Oz shifting, and then we have to pick my mom and Eloise up from the airport.”
I noted their surprise but didn’t wait to answer any questions, just spun around and went back to making lunch.
Arch cleared his throat. “Manny?”
“Yes, mi cazador?”
“You want us to go with you to pick up your mom and her girlfriend?” I couldn’t tell what his opinion on this plan was.
I smirked down at the sandwich I was putting together. “I do, yes. Would you mind driving? That way Cassandra can take a break before I go to work.”
Arch’s tone was a little uncertain. Huh.
He might not have met the parents of a significant other before.
“Uh, sure. I need to let my team know where I’ll be, but I already told them I wouldn’t be back in the office for the rest of the day.
I figured I wouldn’t feel like going back after our, uh, lunch. ”
I quickly finished making the sandwiches, thinking all the while how lucky I was to have Arch and Oz in my life, and how I hoped they’d stick around. By the time I put our plates on the table, I was more than primed to discuss where we were going with each other.
Oz cocked his head, scanning my body, but I held up a finger when he opened his mouth.
“Sorry, big guy, I need to get this out or I’m going to explode.
” He chuckled, spreading his hands to indicate I should proceed.
“Thanks. And please go ahead and eat. I’ve just been stewing about this.
” Neither of them took a bite. I looked between them and breathed in deeply.
“I know we haven’t been seeing each other very long, but I want us to be official.
Like in-a-relationship official. Together.
Dating with intentions for more. What do you think?
” I deflated a bit after getting it all out.
Arch reached across the table and held out his hand.
I put mine in it. He gave me a wobbly smile.
“As long as you keep in mind that I’ve never been in a long-term relationship thing before.
I’ve never met anyone’s parents, and I don’t know if I’ll be good at being thoughtful or considerate, but I’d like to try. ”
Oz put one arm around Arch’s back and his other hand over ours in the center of the table. “I’m in.”
“Yes!” I slid my hand out from theirs, jumped up from my chair, and ran around the table to lay kisses on both of their faces. Then I ran back. “Okay, please eat now. We have a schedule to keep.”
Arch coughed but I was pretty sure he was covering a laugh. I ignored him and took a bite of my sandwich. “Oh! Oz, what were you going to say earlier?”
He nodded. “Right. I wanted to ask what you’ve been using your magic on, because it’s a little dimmer than it was Sunday.”
I frowned. “Nothing that I can think of. There weren’t any magical kids at work last night.”
Arch tilted his head like Oz had done. “I see what you mean.”
I shrugged and kept eating. I was starving all of a sudden.
Oz turned to Arch. “One day last week when I was having a mild panic attack, Manny hugged me. It felt like he was sending his magic into me, but I couldn’t be sure.” Arch lifted his eyebrow at me, and I shrugged again.
I swallowed my bite of potato salad. “I wasn’t doing anything on purpose.”
Arch turned to Oz. “What’s your theory?”
He pointed at me. “I didn’t notice the change in his magic until after he made lunch.”
I froze mid-chew and stared down at my plate. Had I been sending my magic into the food? Huh. I made an I-don’t-know noise and kept eating.
Arch leaned back in his chair to stare at me. “You do seem extra hungry, Manny. What were you thinking about while you were making the food?”
I took a sip of iced tea. “Talking to you about our relationship.” I frowned at their plates, my heart starting to beat faster.
“Do you think I put magic in the food to influence you without your consent? Did you actually not want to be in a relationship?” Before I could go too far down that path, Oz shook his head and Arch held up a hand.
“You didn’t force us to say anything we didn’t mean. Plus, we hadn’t even eaten anything at that point.”
Oz held up a forkful of potato salad. “I will say, though, this is the best turkey sandwich I’ve ever eaten, and your potato salad rivals my mom’s. But unless you put a secret ingredient in them, there’s nothing about the recipes that are particularly unique, right?”
I nodded. “You watched me make them.”
Arch held up his half-eaten sandwich. “So you’re putting your care for us into food you make? You want us to enjoy the meal, or you want us to be happy? Something like that?”
Once again, I shrugged. “I suppose.” Could we talk about something else?
“Can Jackson do this?”
“Not that I know of, but I can ask them.” No one spoke much for the rest of the meal, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable.
When we were done, Oz and Arch said they’d do the dishes. Oz leaned down to pick up my plate and gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “Lunch was delicious. Thank you for the care you put into it.”
“You’re welcome, big guy.”
While they were busy cleaning up, I went into the bedroom.
We needed to get this show on the road. We only had two hours before we had to leave for the airport.
I’d prepped myself before Arch and Oz had arrived, so really I only needed to get naked.
Quickly I shucked off all my clothes, laying them over the back of the chair by the window so I could put them on again later.
Then I pulled down the top sheet. Hmmm. What else?
I looked around. I was still missing two things.
Two people. What were they doing out there?
I stomped out of the bedroom, down the hall, through the living room, and around the corner to the kitchen. Arch and Oz were kissing. Kissing!
“Are you kidding me? You couldn’t do that where I could watch?” They broke apart, and both of them jerked in surprise when they saw my nakedness. “I’ve been waiting for you in there for days!” I pointed back toward the bedroom.
Oz gave me a bashful smile. “Sorry?”
“I’m not sorry at all. Come on, brat.” Arch walked forward, leaned down, and grabbed me around my middle before hoisting me over his shoulder.
Immediately I was back in the clearing, the vampire running with me under his arm. I stiffened before I started thrashing to be put down and screaming, “No! No!”
“Manny! Manny, look at me!” I blinked down at Arch, who was on his knees on the living room floor, not touching me at all. Oz hovered behind him.