Chapter 18 #2
“Being near me means the ghosts aren’t bothering you anymore. It’s an ugly thought, but we have to at least consider that you’re just trying to keep me close, so you don’t have to deal with them anymore.”
Had the thought crossed his mind? Of course it did. But he wasn’t a completely selfish bastard. He wasn’t going to keep Fox at his side just to make his long life easier. He had to think about Fox and his happiness. What did the witch want out of life?
And that was what he wanted. He wanted to make Fox happy. Wanted to help him achieve his dreams and fall asleep each day with a broad smile on his lips. He wanted Fox to want to be with him because it made him happy, not because he was some ghost blocker.
Fuck.…Now that he was thinking about it, he was kind of shocked at how much he wanted all that. More than getting rid of the ghosts. Yes, they were a nuisance, but he’d mostly gotten adjusted to that.
The idea of Fox leaving? That hurt a lot more.
“I am extremely grateful for your gift. I’ll never be able to show you how grateful I am. But I also like being with you. I’ve never laughed so much in my life. I like how you make me feel—strong and powerful. Like I can do anything.”
“You can do anything,” Fox chimed in.
“You also need to realize that you’re special to me.”
“The magic—”
“I don’t give a shit about the magic or the prophecy. You’re so much more than the magic. You’re amazing, Fox. You’re brave and kind. I don’t know how long we’re going to have together, but I plan to show you every day that you’re not useless or worthless. You will learn to believe in yourself.”
Fox made his purring noise again, and Winter swore he could feel it in his cock.
The witch tightened his arms around Winter, pulling him in close for a kiss.
Winter closed his eyes and soaked in the touch of his mouth, the slow sweep of his tongue as if he had all the time in the world to explore Winter.
“A sexy vampire who is also sweet and considerate. Mr. Varik, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to get your claws in my soul,” Fox murmured.
“I wouldn’t mind a taste of your soul. I’ve got plans to taste all of you. While you’re here, you are mine.”
Fox shivered and suddenly pushed against his chest. Winter instantly released him and took a wobbly step away. Fox leaned heavily on the fridge, as if his legs couldn’t hold him upright on his own.
“Stop. We need showers now before we get stuck together.”
Winter sighed. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“And then we can figure out how we’re going to beat Damon and his evil minions.”
Winter shook his head. “I thought we’d go back to bed for a little while.”
Fox started tucking himself into his jeans and used his T-shirt to wipe at his damp stomach.
“Later. If we take care of Damon, we’ll know I’m not going to destroy your family.
I’ll be allowed to go home. And if I choose to stay here, you’ll know it’s because I trust you and want to date my Big Sexy. ”
“I’m not entirely sure that logic follows,” Winter muttered as he straightened his clothes again.
“Don’t worry. It’ll all make more sense after a shower and food.”
Winter wasn’t sure he believed it, but Fox was right in that he needed to stop thinking with his dick and focus on helping his family once again.
He retreated to his room for a quick shower and clean clothes.
He was just finishing his glass of blood when Fox’s thumping footsteps down the stairs echoed through the loft.
He rinsed out the glass but cursed himself.
A drink of water wasn’t going to get enough of the blood taste out of his mouth and he refused to kiss Fox tasting of breakfast.
The witch popped into the kitchen, looking freshly scrubbed. His red hair was darker when it was wet and was sticking up in all directions in cute little spikes. He was dressed in jeans and an evergreen T-shirt.
“Sorry about your cereal,” Winter said, motioning toward the untouched bowl Fox had poured that had turned a disgusting soggy mush.
Fox snorted. “I know this might come as a shock to you, but if I’m faced with a choice of cereal and having you pin me against the fridge, you’re going to win every time.
” He closed the distance between them and lifted up on his toes for a kiss.
Winter managed to keep it to a closed-mouth peck that only made Fox laugh.
“You just had breakfast, didn’t you?” Fox chuckled.
“Yes. I haven’t had a chance to brush my teeth.”
“Well, I appreciate how considerate you are.” Fox kissed his chin and turned to open the door to the pantry. He dug around for a moment and returned, slapping a small chocolate-chip cookie into Winter’s palm. “Eat that and I’ll be happy to kiss you.”
“Then I better hold on to this for a while. I need to get some work done first, and you’ve already proved that your distraction skills are too much for me.”
“Is this about Damon?” Fox grabbed the cereal mush off the counter and scraped it into the garbage disposal. After washing it away and cleaning out the bowl, he glided over to the pantry to get a box of cereal.
Winter was mesmerized by Fox’s movements throughout his kitchen.
The witch had been there for a week, and he already went about the place as if he’d been living with Winter for years.
But where Winter had thought such a thing would make him feel uncomfortable, he actually felt…
relaxed. Happy. Fox looked comfortable. There was no hesitation; he never once looked over at Winter to seek permission before he did something.
No one outside of his family ever felt comfortable around him. No one.
To the world, he was a lethal force to be reckoned with. He was the Variks’ personal angel of death. He was the boogeyman of the vampire world. He was darkness, vengeance, and horror.
And he never wanted Fox to know about any of that. The dark image he portrayed for the rest of the world couldn’t touch Fox. He didn’t ever want the man to look at him differently. He couldn’t deal with the idea of Fox being afraid of him.
“Those are some dark thoughts,” Fox murmured, jerking Winter back to the present.
“Dark things need to be handled,” Winter replied, his hand closing carefully around the cookie. “You can relax and play video games. I’m going to work in my office for a while.”
A scoffing noise escaped Fox as he deftly grabbed the milk and added it to the cereal. “Oh, you’re not leaving me out of this. I’m in it up to my freaking eyeballs.”
“It would be better and safer if you just let me handle it. If I need some information from you, I’ll come to you.”
Winter swept out of the kitchen and marched to his office at the back of the loft, but it was done to the sound of Fox’s harsh laughter.
Sitting at his computer, he signed in and started to pull up the various security programs he had running on the loft as well as those protecting Rafe’s penthouse and Marcus’s house.
He only activated the camera views when he suspected something was wrong.
For now, he only checked to make sure there had been no trouble during the day, and everything was functioning as usual.
The reassurance that his family was safe and protected helped to center him when everything about Fox was throwing him off balance.
He wasn’t working for too long before Fox plopped into the only other chair in the office, bowl of cereal in hand. Placing his feet up on the edge of the desk, Fox wiggled down on the chair until he was comfortable and started shoveling cereal into his mouth.
Winter glared around the monitor at him. “Comfortable?” he asked in the most irritated voice he could manage, which really wasn’t much when Fox was looking so damn smug.
“Eh. I should have brought the cereal and milk with me. This is gonna take more than one bowl. Somebody took a lot out of me when he woke up tonight.” Fox waggled his eyebrows at Winter, who ducked behind the monitors as his cheeks burned.
“You’re not helping me with this.”
Fox sighed dramatically. “Are we really going to have this argument?”
“No. There is no argument. You’re my prisoner. You’re going to do as I say. You will not get involved.”
Fox leaned to the side so he could glare at Winter around the stupid screen.
“Not get involved? Do you even hear how ridiculous you’re being?
I was involved the second some witch uttered my name in relation to this stupid prophecy.
I was involved the night Damon had his people kidnap me. There is no de-volving me.”
“Uninvolving,” Winter corrected automatically, then stopped and sighed. That didn’t make sense either. “Extricating.”
“That either.” Fox waved his spoon in the air, the shiny silver catching and reflecting the light with each pass. “The point is that you can shove your prisoner nonsense up your ass along with your wannabe Dom attitude. That shit ain’t gonna work on me, Big Sexy.”
“Fox—”
“Nope. We’ve got two ways of doing this.
One is that we work together to take out Damon and clear up this prophecy nonsense.
The other is that you take down Damon and the prophecy alone while at the same time fighting me every step of the way.
” Fox’s feet hit the hardwood floor with a pair of angry thumps, and he leaned close to the desk, his eyes narrowed.
“Which one do you think is gonna get you laid faster?”
Okay, so there was an obvious price that came with Fox not being afraid of Winter. Only his family had ever talked to him like this. Part of him wanted to strangle Fox, but it was a very small part. Most of him wanted to bend the man over the desk and fuck the sassy attitude right out of him.
But the terrified part wanted to lock Fox far away from the reach of Damon, witches, and anyone else who might harm him.
“This is dangerous,” Winter said carefully.