“Ha!” Mickey laughed. “You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack.” Pops settled back in the pillows. “I’m not waiting around for your ‘office’ to get their shit together. I wanna have dinner with my grandson and his boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend is a strong word.”
“Fine! The one you’re doing the horizontal hokey pokey with.”
“Pops!”
“No? Too much?”
Mickey sighed and kissed Pops’ hand before standing up. He found the television remote and gave it to him. He also set Pops’ cell phone with the charger up on the bedside table. “You need anything, you call me. Your nurse is gonna be coming by tonight to check on you.”
“And dinner?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Mickey paused. “You know how to make lasagna?”
“Lasagna?” Pops grinned. “Somebody is looking to impress, huh. Kinda a lot of effort for a not-boyfriend.”
Mickey stared.
“Fine, fine. Yes, I can make lasagna. I’ll send you one of those text things with the ingredients and what we’ll need so we can make homemade lasagna for the vampire who isn’t your boyfriend.”
“Thank you.”
“I love you, Michael. Be safe out there.” Pops smiled encouragingly. “Business takeovers can be dangerous, okay?”
“I love you too. I will be.”
They both knew this wasn’t about business takeovers, and Mickey was grateful that the facade remained intact.
It was better this way.
Mickey kissed Pops goodbye one more time and left. He moved some of the boxes back to hide the door, making a mental note to give the nurse a nice bonus for what she was going to have to do. He shut the back door and pondered the broken lock.
“What’s wrong?” Duncan had been waiting a few feet away, and he came over when he saw Mickey messing with the door.
“I busted the damn lock when I broke in.”
“I’m sure it’s fine.” Duncan shrugged. “I mean, the nurse has gotta get in, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll pick up some new locks or somethin’. Roger’s real good with this kinda shit. Maybe I’ll ask him.”
Duncan smirked.
“Shut up.” Mickey headed back toward the car. “Let’s go.”
“I’m just saying…”
“How about you say nothing?” Mickey considered driving away immediately and leaving Duncan here to avoid this conversation. He got behind the wheel, eyeing him and daring him to continue.
Perhaps sensing Mickey’s anger, Duncan waited until he was safely in the car and buckled up to comment, “I think you two are really cute.”
“I’ll show you fuckin’ cute.” Mickey sped off, tires squealing, whipping the car around a corner so hard it felt like the car might tip.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Mickey!” Duncan howled as he braced himself against the dash. “Come the fuck on!”
Mickey smugly relaxed his driving after that, and he enjoyed how Duncan continued to cling to the dashboard for the rest of the trip back to Alistair’s house. He parked the car in the rear again, noting Jules’ El Camino was there too.
