“I fear we’re going to need more to convince them,” Exo finally said with a grunt. “I think we’re going to need irrefutable proof. Photo evidence, maybe even video evidence to convince them to letORBITexist.” Exo said the name of the creature committee like he hated how easily it rolled off the tongue.
“Sadly, I think you’re right.” Wallace exhaled sharply.
“So…you’re going to come to Piper?” Kroven shook his head. “I could have told you all of this over the phone if you were just going to need to fly into town anyway.” Agitation perfumed off his words, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“I’m sorry if I wasted your precious time, Kroven.” Exo sighed. “I wanted to hear everything in person, as I’m sure Wallace did as well. You act as if you hate being here.”
“I don’t hate beinghere,” Kroven stood up abruptly from the table, his chair rattling backwards off key. The nearby mix of humans and Orbs that adorned the restaurants were awarding us their attention. “You know exactly why I don’t like being within D.C.”
“Ahh, blaming me again? Can we finally move on from the past? I’m willing to if you are.”
“That depends. Are you ever going to apologize?”
“For saving your life? Never.”
“Fuck you, Exo!” Kroven slammed his fists on the table as he stared his friend down. “I’m done feeling obligated to whatever you ask of me. I’mdone. Understand?”
Exo sighed, giving awkward smiles to the patrons of the restaurant that were still invested in the outburst our table had created. “I’m sorry for what I did to you, Kroven. Truly. It was wrong. I see that now, but I can’t take it back. Don’t turn your back on the rest of the sangamar because I was an idiot who acted rash that day.”
Wallace and I shared an uneasy glance, one that said ‘glad we’re humans and not involved in this’, but all I wanted to do in that moment was comfort Kroven. I’d never seen him so full of overflowing rage. I wanted to snuggle him into the mattress of the huge bed waiting for us back at the hotel.
Extending an olive branch in the form of his unfurled hand, Exo offered it to Kroven. “I’m sorry, Kroven.”
Several awkward beats transpired, but luckily for us all, the attention from the other people trying to enjoy their dinners was mostly gone. Kroven stared at Exo’s hand for a long time, long enough to really make Exo sweat. Or maybe he was really thinking about weighing the option of cutting Exo out of his lifefor good. A spiral of exhaustion proceeded Kroven as he grasped Exo’s hand and shook it once for finality.
“Fine.” He glanced at me and I instinctively stood up from my chair. “Come to Piper and see it for yourself, but kindly leave me out of it for once. My boyfriend and I are leaving.”
Wallace’s eyes bulged, but not as much as Exo’s did. “I’m sorry, yourwhat?”
“I won’t be clarifying further. You heard me.”
And then Kroven took my hand to leave. I mumbled a quick “Nice to meet you both!” before he was pulling me out of the restaurant. It wasn’t until we were outside, storming down the sidewalk that Kroven started to cry.
Not knowing what else to do, I pulled on my hand so he was forced to stop walking and he was whirled around to face me. I pulled him in for a loving embrace and felt his racked sobs pouring into my shoulder as he cried. I rubbed his back, swearing that everything would be okay and that I was here for him. He nodded once and then his cries filled my ears again, the night around us stilling as my handsome sangamar pulled the trigger on all the emotion he’d been harboring since we touched down in the city.
Chapter 21
Our car rideback to the hotel was chillingly quiet. I’d waited there on the sidewalk outside the restaurant for Kroven to self-soothe and after he’d sufficiently cried from the overwhelming emotions throbbing inside his frame, he’d simply said he would order us a ride back to the hotel. He’d leaned against me for comfort in the back seat, and I’d held him, unsure if I should say anything else about what had just transpired.
In the end, keeping silent seemed to be the best medicine for Kroven. Once we were safely back inside our hotel room, he sighed and shucked off his suit jacket and tossed it to the floor. His button-up was already forgotten and joined his jacket before I finished locking the door behind me. When I walked further in to the hotel room, I found Kroven on the bed, sprawled out face down as his body made a star with his outstretched limbs.
He was in his underwear and nothing else, his blond hair sticking to his neck where he’d sweat during the meeting with Wallace and Exo. Gingerly, I sat down next to him on the mattress and started rubbing his bare back.
“Are you okay?” I cringed inwardly at my word choice,shaking myself mentally as I added, “What can I do to make it better or at least a little bit easier for you?”
Kroven sighed again as he flipped over, his hand finding mine in the rivets of the sheets. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“We don’t have to.” I hadn’t expected that he wanted to, but it was good to get confirmation that he wasn’t in the right state of mind to explain why he’d been so ravaged by emotion following the dinner.
“Actually,” Kroven’s voice dipped lower than normal, and my eyes caught the bulge in his underwear growing by the second. “There’s one thing that might take my mind off of everything.”
I stifled a laugh. “That’swhat you’re thinking about right now?”
“How can I not when you constantly look so beautiful?” Kroven sat up, winding his arms around me in a cocoon of affection. I could feel my cheeks warming at the compliment, but he kept going. “And when you were so patient and caring when I was at my most vulnerable.”
Without warning Kroven grabbed me and tossed me down on the bed underneath him. I let out a yelp and started laughing at my quick change of scenery, enjoying the view of Kroven holding himself up over top of me.
“You’re insatiable.” I laughed, but wagged my eyebrows and tilted my head. “Not that I’m complaining.”
