Epilogue #2
“It’s better if we don’t talk about that.
” Ethically, I’m not supposed to use my position at the DEA for personal benefit.
I don’t think the king or Brandt—especially Brandt—will care in this case, but some of the calls I made to arrange it were to professional contacts, not personal ones, even though I made it clear the event wasn’t DEA sponsored and paid for it myself.
Dáithí gives me the heart eyes I love so much. “You did all that just so I could have my favorite DJ?”
“I’d do anything within my power for you.”
A chorus of “Aww” goes around the table, everyone smiling fatuously.
Then Hagen shouts, “Time!” and the conversation restarts.
“Any negatives from the club?” Caolan demands, barely pausing for a response before continuing, “Date three: the hike.”
“It wasn’t just a hike,” Brayan reminds them. “There was an overnight stay in a cabin too.”
Noah perks up. “Yeah, about that. Why didn’t you just camp? Camping under the stars in the middle of nature… I thought you elves would love that.”
“I’m off camping at the moment,” Dáithí replies. “Eoin did the exact right thing by finding an off-grid cabin for us instead.”
“Not much difference between off-grid and camping, especially when it’s just for one night,” Jared muses, but Dáithí doesn’t offer more information, and Jared’s too polite to pry.
There’s a short discussion about the good points of the date, but I lose some metaphorical points because Dáithí didn’t like being away from Elsking and also missed an episode of a show he’s been watching.
Personally, I think that last one doesn’t count because the show’s on a streaming service and he watched it when we got home, but Brandt insisted the timing was important.
Caolan looks to Dáithí. “Task one: pass or fail?”
“Pass.”
A cheer goes up. If I wasn’t basking in victory, I might think our friends and colleagues are way too invested in this. Ari even puts aside his sulk to grin at me.
The celebration is cut short when Steffen announces, “I’ve reset the timer.”
“You make it very hard to like you,” Andrew tells him, and gets a blank look in response.
“Why do you think I want you to like me?”
Brandt sighs, but the rest of us, especially those who’ve known Steffen a long time, stifle laughter.
I don’t care if he doesn’t want to be my friend—he’s a solid colleague and a good man.
His quirks are his business, including his identical twin brother who tried to steal his identity a few years back.
“Next task,” Alistair says. “Caolan?”
Click goes the dildo, and the next bulleted list appears. “I think we can all agree that Eoin’s shift as a receptionist was… unique.”
Noah smirks. “Entertaining, you mean. I saw the security footage and heard the stories.”
“I did my best,” I defend, then turn to Dáithí. “Did I fuck it up too badly?”
He shakes his head. “You didn’t fuck it up at all. I’d never normally leave someone who doesn’t have experience in the job alone to manage things like that on their first day, but you coped fine.”
Traces of guilt force me to admit, “I ignored the phones a few times.”
My boyfriend shrugs. “So? I do that sometimes too, if I’ve got a lot of people waiting.
You didn’t yell at any visitors, didn’t mess up the booking system, didn’t accidentally take the whole phone system down, didn’t destroy the printer…
and there wasn’t a huge backlog of work waiting for me when I got in the next day.
You even left the desk clean and tidy. As far as I’m concerned, this task is a pass. ”
“Hey!” Hagen snaps. “Don’t you want our feedback?”
Dáithí raises a brow, and Alistair rushes to speak before the whole presentation can be derailed.
“We agree that Eoin did well on this, but we want to highlight a few areas in particular.”
“Like?”
“Well, have you noticed that people are getting better at following the protocol for visitors and meeting rooms?”
Frowning, Dáithí nods. “Actually, yes. I only have to follow up with a couple now, and they’re always… apologetic.”
“There are still people disregarding the security policies for visitors?” Steffen demands, looking up from his phone. “Who?”
Andrew makes a sweeping gesture. “Eoin brought in reinforcements.”
“He…” Dáithí turns to me. “You told on everyone to Steffen?”
I wince. Was that cheating? Should I have handled it myself? “Maybe?”
He dissolves into laughter. “I wish I’d thought of that!”
“So you’re not mad?” I check.
He shakes his head. “No, of course not. You got the job done and in the process made it easier for me to do. I’m grateful.” Leaning in, he steals a kiss, then looks at Alistair. “Can I call it a pass now?”
“Wait,” Ari demands. “We need to deduct points for Eoin almost punching the delivery guy.”
“What?” Dáithí shoots upright, his hand sliding out of mine.
I glare at my second-in-command. “I didn’t almost punch him!”
He smirks, getting his revenge for the hockey assignment. “That’s right, you were going to rip his arms off instead.”
“Someone tell me what happened, right now,” Dáithí demands.
“I would also be interested to hear this,” Raeulfr adds, glancing at Brandt. “Did you know about it?”
“Pfft.” Brandt waves a hand as though possible assault isn’t even worth mentioning. “Hagen mentioned it. They got there in time to make Eoin remember he’s sensible, and nothing happened.” He pauses, then adds, “I would have at least put a little itching spell on him.”
It’s probably not a good thing when I agree with a dragon’s illogical and borderline illegal idea.
“It’s not my proudest moment,” I say in an attempt to smooth things over. “The delivery guy made it pretty clear that he’s been hitting on Dáithí, and I… got… jealous. I wouldn’t have actually hurt him.” I’m pretty sure.
“Frankie?” Dáithí looks astounded. “You got jealous of Frankie?”
It’s only the fact that he obviously thinks that’s ridiculous that stops me from spiraling over him immediately knowing which delivery guy I’m talking about.
“Your friend Frankie told Eoin he thought he had a shot with you,” Hagen says gleefully. Why are we friends, again? “Eoin was ready to use some hardcore magic on him before we arrived to distract him.”
Dáithí gives a disbelieving little laugh. “You were going to… on Frankie… because he thinks he has a shot with me?”
I shrug uncomfortably. “I didn’t say it was reasonable. And I wouldn’t have done it,” I repeat, because that part’s important.
“He’s a child still—even for a human, he’s barely an adult. How could you give his little crush enough weight to be jealous over it? He never had a shot with me.”
“I know.” It comes out on a sigh. “But some days, it felt like I didn’t either.”
His expression softens, a trace of his old guilt mixed in with the love there.
I can’t take that guilt away, but I hope it fades as our life together continues.
“Eoin, you stood me up on our first date and stuck me with the check, and I still agreed to go out with you again. Even when I was trying to protect my heart, I couldn’t make myself let you go.
Trust me… you have all the shots and never need to be jealous. ”
“Aw,” Andrew says, then elbows Noah. “How come you never talk to me like that?”
Noah rolls his eyes. “Because you’d take it the wrong way.”
“Time!”
I blink toward Steffen, who hasn’t lost sight of his goal while the rest of us bickered. He narrows his eyes on Caolan. “Next task.”
Caolan doesn’t look happy, but he nods. “Dáithí already said this was a pass. Unless he’s changed his mind?”
“Nope.”
“Then let’s move on. Cleaning Dáithí’s apartment.” The dildo clicks, and he shoots me an approving look. “The scent spell was very clever. I’m borrowing that idea to impress David.”
Andrew laughs. “You’re going to make your place smell like itemized lists and excellent timekeeping?”
Caolan’s smug smile suggests there are a few other things David likes the smell of.
“This task is a pass too,” Dáithí says, and Alistair groans.
“You’re taking all the fun out of this.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say. The place was cleaner than I’ve ever gotten it, smells amazing, and is more organized. And he improved Elsking’s hutch. We should probably combine the discussion of this task with the living entity one, because the hutch extension covers both.”
“If it means we finish faster, yes. Please,” Noah begs.
“Hold on.” Jared half raises a hand. “Before we talk about the hutch, I want to know if Eoin used spells to clean.”
“He was allowed to,” Niamh defends before I can open my mouth.
“Yeah, I know. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I just want all the details.”
Faces turn toward me.
“No. I didn’t know the exact spells I wanted, and it would have taken longer to design and fine-tune some than it did to just clean manually,” I explain.
“Damn,” Jared mutters. “Guess I can’t throw out the mop yet.”
“Let’s stay focused,” Caolan says with a worried glance toward Steffen, who’s watching his phone intently. “Eoin not only improved Elsking’s living conditions, he did research on rabbits and adopted one that had been mistreated so they could both be happier. Thoughts?”
“Don’t forget the custom collars,” Ari chimes in. “The whole team wondered if he had kinks.”
Dáithí laughs so hard, he has to grab the table for support. Across from me, the king raises a brow. “The whole team? This is one of those things happening in the office that I’m better off not knowing about, isn’t it?”
I cringe. “They only jumped to that conclusion because they have dirty minds. The site I was looking at is specifically for pet products.”
That just makes Dáithí laugh harder, and I can’t help smiling. When he finally subsides, he adds, “Even before he did all that, Eoin was looking out for Elsking—and he did it without knowing it was one of the challenges. This task is a pass too.”
A round of applause breaks out.
“What’s next?” Hagen asks. “Taking care of something important to Dáithí, right?”