Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ATTICUS
“Don’t you want to ride in the other car?” I ask both Yorick and Johnny. Ideally, they should both just drive together and let me live in peace.
“Johnny is here for you, sir,” Johnny says.
“Yorick is also here for you,” Yorick tells me as he reaches from the back seat to rub his fingers all over my face. One even partially ends up in my mouth.
I’m tempted to bite down on it, but then I’d have to hear him whine about the tooth marks in his fingers for the next six hours. He’s busy back there on Julian’s laptop, though, so at least he has something to do.
“We should play a travel game to pass the time,” Yorick announces.
“I thought you were researching Wick,” I say.
“I can do both. I am amazing.”
I grunt in response to that.
Yorick is not deterred. “Let’s play I spy! I spy with my little eye… something tall and white!”
“I’m not answering—”
“Windmill,” Johnny answers.
“You’re correct!”
“Johnny, I forbid you from playing,” I order.
Johnny’s quiet for a minute before saying, “I do not see something round and red because I am not playing.”
“Ooh, that sign on the bridge!”
I slowly look over at Johnny, who is acting like the nonexistent traffic in front of him is the most interesting thing he’s ever seen.
“We should play a game to get to know each other better,” Yorick says.
“Aren’t you busy?” I ask.
“I always have time for my boo.”
“Johnny, can we please make a pit stop for some earplugs?”
“You’ve requested earplugs before to drown Yorick out, but his voice appears to be too strong… it can penetrate all earplugs,” Johnny reminds me.
“I will get earbuds, then, and drown him out with noise.”
“I’m just innocently sitting here! You’re always so damn feisty! Okay, we’ll go around in a circle and ask questions. My first question is… have you ever been in love with someone who isn’t in this car? I have not because my love doesn’t stretch out beyond this vehicle.”
“What about that girl you gave one of my priceless rings to?” I ask.
Yorick freezes. “Why is your memory so good? That was just like a crush.”
“And the guy you were making out with in my bed?” I ask.
He clears his throat. “I was just… checking… whether he still had his tonsils. Alright, your turn.”
“I feel love for nothing,” I declare.
“What about the time you broke your body in six places to save human Yorick from falling to his death?” Johnny asks.
“You did that for me?” Yorick asks, his eyes practically hearts.
“I had use for him,” I growl.
Yorick’s face is crammed between the seats so he can stare me down. “How did I not know this happened?”
“You were unconscious,” Johnny replies.
“How did you know this happened? You weren’t around then… were you?” Yorick asks.
“I know everything,” Johnny says.
“Did Atticus write a diary or something and you just spend your nights reading it?” Yorick asks.
“I can envision it. ‘Dear Diary, today Yorick, my favorite person in the whole wide universe, came to visit me. I was almost giddy and could barely hide my excitement. I called him Borick and grumped at him because I could scarcely contain the pitter-patter of my heart.’”
“There’s an entire catalogue of diaries just about you,” Johnny lies, which makes Yorick laugh.
“When did you become so disobedient? Do we need to revisit your contract and make it stricter?” I hiss.
Johnny’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. “No, sir.”
“You’re such a grouch. Don’t take out your frustration on Johnny that you have to play the bad boy routine,” Yorick says as he throws his arms over my shoulders.
Thankfully, there’s a seat between us or I’m afraid he’d be clinging on like his life depends on it.
“It’s Johnny’s turn to answer the question. ”
“Yes,” Johnny says.
“Ooh. Who, what, where, when?” Yorick asks curiously, but I know Johnny won’t speak any more on the matter.
“Years ago,” he replies.
“Yorick, why don’t you focus?” I ask, trying to escape the confines of his arms.
“I am focused,” Yorick says, though I question how he could possibly be while hanging off me.
I pry his arms off, and he goes back to tapping on the laptop. I close my eyes and wonder how I’ve gone from risking my life to accomplish Morpheus’s bullshit to having to keep all of these people alive. They claim that joining me in this fight will help, but I have my doubts.
A patrol stops us once we enter Wick’s district, but all I have to do is flash the invitation and inform them that the car behind me is included in my group, and we’re waved through.
Yorick comments, “They don’t require blood checks like Casimir’s district does, but they obviously have a stricter border patrol.
I bet they’ll be watching us closely. I have no idea how you’re going to pretend to be Morpheus.
This district is huge, and the number of vampires who’ve been invited to Wick’s gathering exceeds two hundred.
Someone there has to recognize you or know what Morpheus looks like.
I think you’d be better off saying that you represent him. ”
“Possibly,” I say as Johnny drives to the hotel that accommodates vampires.
Not that I trust anyone, but if our group is wary, we should be safe.
After obtaining the key cards, I pass them out in the lobby.
I’d made sure to get plenty of rooms so I wouldn’t have to share with anyone, but when I pass Yorick’s key card to him, he looks at it in disdain.
“I don’t like sleeping alone. I’m still wounded and the poison is still affecting me. What if someone comes into my room?” Yorick asks.
“Then you kill them.”
Of course he’s dissatisfied. “Hmm…”
“Sleep with Johnny.”
“I had plans, sir,” Johnny says. “Yorick has informed me of the location we must keep an eye on, so I’m going to spend the daylight hours assessing the exterior.”
Yorick’s eyes are fixed on me as he slides his key card into the “Return your key card when you check out” box. “Whoops.”
“Guess you’re sleeping in the hallway,” I say.
“I’m glad you’re not that evil,” Julian tells Casimir.
“To Yorick? I can be meaner,” Casimir assures him.
“It’s not a competition!” Yorick whines.
We’re all on the same floor, so after Johnny leaves and the other four go to their rooms, it’s just Yorick and me. “Have a fun night out here. If you get tired of the hallway carpet, you can go ask them for a new key. Make sure to tell them where your previous key card is.”
I slip into the room and shut the door. When he doesn’t make a fuss outside the door, I hesitate and stare at it. Like… why isn’t he beating against it and whining? Instead, I listen while he just sits down outside the door. Is he… is he trying to guilt me into letting him into my room?
Ha!
As if I could ever be guilted into doing anything.
I listen to him adjust in his spot in the doorway as I cover the windows, even though they claim to be sunlight proof. After that, he still hasn’t moved or complained, and why does that irritate me more?
He can live out there for all I care. It’ll be his second time sleeping outside my bedroom door, and I’m prepared to make this a long-term thing. Because I will not open this door.
With a growl, I yank open the door, and he crashes into the room since he’d been leaning against it. “Go get your key card back.”
Yorick crawls over and wraps his arms around my leg, like he knows I won’t jerk back because of his wounds that are almost healed.
“I missed you.”
“We were apart for four minutes.”
He grins at me. “That kind of speaks more about you than me, doesn’t it?”
Fuck.
“You sleep on the chair,” I say as I point to the uncomfortable-looking thing. But without hesitation, he gets up and shuffles over to it, though that doesn’t mean he sits on it.
“There’s clearly an ass print on this chair. Look at it. It’s really gross. I could not possibly set my royal ass on that chair. I am an earl, you know that, right? A real-life earl.”
“You might have mentioned it once or five hundred times. You went through a spell where you insisted I called you Yorick, Earl of something.”
“Now I just want you to call me that in bed,” he says as he winks at me.
I ignore that and climb into bed after giving the ass-printed chair a once-over. “Good night, Your Lordship,” I say with zero emotion.
I close my eyes only to listen to him shuffle over to the bed. When I open my eyes, he’s looming over me.
“That bed sure looks comfortable.”
“It’s not.”
“Looks better than the floor or the ass chair.”
“Just rub your ass on it and then it’ll at least be your ass print. Embrace it at this point.”
His eyes narrow a little. “My body has been weakened by poison for you.”
“Sounds horrible. Go sleep in Johnny’s room. I’ll instruct him to stop surveillance and spoon you.”
That makes Yorick grimace even more than the ass chair did. “Johnny slightly terrifies me.”
“How the fuck does Johnny terrify you?”
“Like what is he? No one knows… but I bet you do. What is Johnny? How old is he? Why does he let you control him?”
“You really want to know?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“You promise not to tell anyone?”
“I promise.”
“He’s…” I huff. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this…”
I can see Yorick’s eyes locked on me in anticipation. “I’m listening. I’ll even sleep in the ass chair if you tell me.”
“The tooth fairy.”
Yorick grabs my pillow out from under my head and smashes it down on my face. “For that one, I’m fucking sleeping in the bed.”
Instead of going around, he just dives on top of my body. His hand socks me in the dick and the gut while he clambers over me.
“Whoopsies. Sorry about the inadvertent grope. Bet you liked it.”
“Out of my bed.”
“It’s a king; you’ll never even know I’m here,” he says, crawling under the covers and scooting so close to me he’s practically riding my thigh. He crams it between his legs, closes his eyes, and tosses his arm over my chest like I might not notice any of this.
“You are invading my side of the bed,” I hiss as he feigns sleep. “I can feel your dick on my thigh.”
“Yeah? There’s more of that, if you like what you feel.”
“Maybe I’ll go spoon Johnny if you insist on sleeping in here.”