Just because I can’t have him, doesn’t mean I want someone else to.
I blinked at my own horrible, super selfish thought, and had to turn away from him to shake it off. What a terrible person I was.
Of course, Roman could seek out other people. We weren’t a couple, we weren’t dating, and we never would be. Yeah, I spentmore time with him than anyone else, but that didn’t mean anything. It was his literal job. I was his job. Roman deserved happiness.
After all, he’d been waiting for his viramore to show up for thousands of years, hadn’t he?
And despite everything I said and did, he was one of the best people I knew.
So that selfish thought just needed to take a fucking hike.
“Oak?” Roman’s voice was gentle. “I didn’t mean… I mean I… it’s not like I’m planning on… meeting anyone there tonight. You know that, right?”
Taking a fortifying breath, I faced him with a nod. “It’s none of my business if you do.”
His face went through a strange array of emotions. Sadness, hurt, confusion, sadness again. And then he pulled on his typical bodyguard-blank look I’d come to know so well. “Let’s go.”
For some reason, I had a feeling I’d hurt his feelings, but I didn’t know how, and since asking Roman about his feelings was like talking to a brick wall, I decided to let it go and followed him out the door, stuffing my bag next to his in the back seat.
Whatever.
We would go to the club, and I’d get to dance my booty off all night.
This was going to be great.
Yeah… I can’t even lie to myself.Sigh.
Chapter Two
Roman
Being at a nightclub with Oakley was a new form of torture for me. Oakley was so free, especially out there on the dance floor. Seeing them light up so happily, seeing them really come into themself, really figure out who they were, was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever witnessed.
But being stuck on the sidelines while Oakley was in the middle of the dance floor, grinding on whoever came up to dance with them was giving me new lessons in restraint.
I wanted to be the one dancing beside them. I wanted to be the one with my hands on their hips as we moved to the beat. I wanted to be the one to lean in close and breathe them in. I wanted to march over there and growl at anyone who dared to lay even one finger onmy Oakley.
But I couldn’t.
They weren’t ready.
I couldn’t even put my finger on the moment I realized who Oakley was to me. It was more of a gradual thing where I kept wanting to spend time with them, even if it was just for work, and then it went from wanting to spend time with them to needing to. It went from enjoying their company to missing them profusely when we were apart for even a few minutes.
And then one day, about six months ago, I realized exactly what this feeling in my chest was. And the second I thoughtIs Oakley my viramore?,my dragon roared in excitement and shouted in my head,MINE!
The joy of finding my viramore had been overwhelming, and I honestly couldn’t have asked for a more perfect person than Oak.
But the joy didn’t last long when I realized how… impossible this situation was.
First of all, it was clear that Oakley hadn’t realized it yet, that they didn’t feel the same pull I did. They made it very clear that they didn’t like me following them around all the time, and if they felt it, they would want to spend even more time with me. They wouldn’t push me away and ask me to leave them alone.
Second of all… Garrick.
He was going to murder me when he found out.
I winced even thinking about it.
He was going to be pissed. He’d probably shift to his dragon and try to eat me even though we’d been best friends for thousands of years.
