“I feel the worry would be more about me using it up than you.”
Seri rolled his eyes before groaning. “And you want to find a new place? On what? Dreams and a prayer?”
“Seri, I have enough money. More than enough.”
The Nymph grimaced. “I…”
“I know it probably makes you uncomfortable to have to rely on me so much, but you will get to a point where it’s not me paying the bills, it’s us. I promise. And…I have started looking into a lawyer for you, so who knows, you may be richer than me soon enough.”
Seri blinked. “What?”
“Ah…I’m getting a lawyer for you, so you can sue the pants off Preston for all that he put you through.”
The Nymph's eyes widened. “You’re what?!”
“He owes you. He owes you so much, Seri. You are starting over, and you shouldn’t have to be. He took your life from you. I’m going to make sure that you can at least start over without anything hindering you.”
“That…” Seri’s face started to crumble, bottom lip trembling. “You do so much for me, Severo… Sometimes, I question what you are getting out of this…”
“I get to be by your side. I get to be by Skya’s side. You are giving me way more than I am giving you. Because it’s just money I am throwing around.”
Seri sighed. “Fine…but from whatever I get, I’m using some to pay you back whatever you end up paying the lawyers.”
Severo grimaced.
“You can’t say no. If the lawyers are worth anything, paying you back should barely cut into what I get.”
He sighed. “Fine…but don’t think I don’t know you have been keeping a tally of all I spend on you. Stop it.”
Seri pouted, before grumbling, “Fine.”
“Now, let’s make a list of all we want in our new house.”
“Yes, let us jobless people make a list for our upcoming giant expenditure.”
He stuck his tongue out at Seri. “Not jobless, yet!” He jumped off his stool and swept Skya, who was now an absolute banana-covered mess, up from her high chair. The little girl squealed as Severo spun with her.
Seri rolled his eyes. “The keyword is yet!”
Seri doom-scrolled through the house listings. At least, it felt like doom scrolling to him. Nothing had everything they wanted, or came close to the style they were looking for. And every single house was outrageously expensive.
At least, they were more money than Seri had ever had. It was making him feel even more nervous about this whole ‘letting Severo buy a house for them’ thing.
The last five days had been great… He ridiculously was wearing Severo’s clothes. Skya somehow had a horde of her own already. Other than the times he exercised his injured leg, they’d laid about and ordered food, just relaxing.
When it was just them, they’d talk about nonsense, make out, and sometimes they were intimate—sometimes kinky… Seri was still not ready for anything penetration-wise, but...things were good.
But now…now…he was just nervous. Perhaps, he had jumped too quickly into everything? Seri…had contacted his therapist, gotten a chance to see him face to face through the screen, now that he was no longer in hiding…
Why the hell hadn’t that man made a comment about how fast things were going? Ugh…what was the right thing to do? Could they just stay here? They fit. He’d lived in worse and smaller… It was nice here. So, they didn’t have a tub, or a lot of closet space. No pool, or water to swim in, to speak of, but it could still work…
It felt right to be here with Severo…yet… Why did the idea that they get a bigger place feel so right too? Wasn’t buying a house a step one took when getting married? Usually, one would think, it wouldn’t be a ‘finally stopped tip-toeing around their emotions and dating’ type of step.
Ugh…at least this issue was still less stressful than the probability of Preston getting out… So far, the man hadn’t managed to…
Slamming the laptop shut, he slumped down on top of it with a groan.
“Well, that doesn’t sound promising,” Severo said as he walked out freshly washed with a squeaky-clean Skya, dressed in a blue koala bear onesie.
