Chapter 10 Escaping Oblivion #3
“Yeah, that’s going to be a problem,” he muttered, making me shake my head and scoff weakly, walking past him toward the living room before collapsing onto the couch.
The cushions dipped familiarly beneath me, the scent of fabric softener and my shampoo wrapping around me like a promise that this was real. I was really here… Still alive.
“You’re telling me, I mean, what’s next? I touch something and accidentally summon a dragon!?” I exclaimed with a dramatic toss of my hands, making him scoff.
“As long as it’s not wearing a kilt and you can understand what it says…
fucking McBain brothers,” Bo muttered this last part like I would know what he was going on about.
Although what the fuck was that about a dragon wearing a kilt and talking?
Honestly, I was too tired to do anything but offer him a look.
“Don’t ask,” he commented and, for once, I didn’t.
Bo followed a second later, clambering up beside me on the couch with far less grace.
His earlier panic was finally bleeding off enough to make room for exhaustion.
For a while, we just sat there, neither of us speaking, the silence filled only by the faint hum of the city below my apartment.
At some point, the quiet became oppressive enough that I picked up the remote and put on a mindless reality TV show.
I couldn’t even tell you what it was about, only that the overly dramatic voices and artificial arguments felt bizarrely soothing.
Eventually, my gaze drifted around the room, taking in the space with fresh eyes.
My apartment wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, but it was mine.
Every inch of it was earned through years of saving and careful planning.
The furniture was modern and comfortable, chosen because I liked it, not because it fit anyone else’s expectations.
Clean lines, neutral colors, small pops of warmth scattered throughout in the form of cushions, artwork, and the odd sentimental piece I hadn’t quite been able to part with.
There were hints of my upbringing if you knew where to look.
A small charm on a shelf, a pressed flower framed above the desk, things that tethered me quietly to my family without overwhelming the space.
It wasn’t a witch’s home, not in the way my mother’s had been.
Not heavy on herbs, candles, or incense.
This was an office girl’s apartment, practical yet homely.
A place I’d built for myself, piece by piece.
My bedroom, though, was another story entirely.
Bo’s eyes drifted down the hallway as if hearing my thoughts and narrowed slightly.
“What’s in there?” he asked cautiously, jerking his chin toward the closed door.
“None of your business,” I replied automatically, even as a tired smile tugged at my mouth at the sound of his annoyed huff. So, to make it up to him, I ordered yet another pizza, knowing that after the day we just had, it was more like therapy at this point.
We ate straight from the box, legs stretched out, ice cream containers sweating onto coasters I had no care to move. The sheer normalcy of it all made my head spin, as if my brain was still struggling to catch up with my body.
But stranger still was the comfort I found in not being alone.
Bo’s presence seemed to settle within me, like I was getting used to him.
Of course, I knew he didn’t belong here, and that was still a problem.
One I knew I would have to face on my own, as there was no way I was putting him at the mercy of that man.
That terrifying, masterful being that I knew had the power to destroy me without even laying a hand on me. But of course, he had touched me, hadn’t he? A devastatingly soft caress of my cheek that still, hours later, had my stomach in knots.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him, and not in the way that I should. Not in the way that told me he could kill me, but instead in the way that…
Ignited me.
My mind was in a torrent of turbulent thoughts, and it was enough to make me jump when my phone buzzed.
I answered without looking, my sister’s voice instantly cutting through the haze.
The conversation shared was between mouthfuls of melting ice cream as I reassured her that I was fine, and I promised I’d explain everything properly soon.
Not tonight. Tonight, I was too tired to unpack any of it.
So, when I finally stood and stretched, a heavy weariness settled into my bones.
“I’m going to bed,” I announced.
“Good, I’m exhausted.” Bo yawned.
He started down the hall after me, and I stopped abruptly, blocking the doorway to my room with my body.
“Absolutely not.”
He peered past me, eyes widening.
“Are those frogs?”
I shoved the door shut and pointed firmly back toward the living room.
“Couch,” I ordered, making him scowl.
“Terrible hospitality,” he grumbled, making me fold my arms and look down at him like I was scolding a child.
“I don’t see you paying for the pizza,” I shot back, earning a muttered curse as he shuffled away.
I lingered in the hallway for a moment longer, my hand resting against the door, my thoughts circling back to the club and to the man I’d left behind.
To the way he’d looked at me, the way he’d said that name as if it belonged to me.
“Bo,” I called softly.
“Yeah?”
I hesitated, then asked the question that had been gnawing at me since the moment he’d spoken it.
“What does Inanna mean?”
There was a brief pause before he answered, his tone different now, more serious.
As if he himself couldn’t understand why the lord had called me that either.
Because, despite Bo being physically absent throughout all that had happened in the club, it didn’t mean he had missed it all.
But instead of asking him how he knew, I waited with bated breath for another answer.
“It’s Sumerian,” he finally said, and before I could press him on its meaning once more, he shocked me to my core when he told me…
“It means Goddess of Beauty.”