She nodded, and the tension in her shoulders released. “Nice to meet you. Thank you for saving us.”
I smiled and stepped inside. “No need to thank me.”
Oakley walked over to the couch and sat down, so the rest of us followed suit. Oak asked, “Did you get ahold of your parents, Lilura?”
She shook her head. “No. They haven’t answered any of my calls or anything. They… well, I didn’t leave on good terms with them, obviously, seeing as they… gave me up. But I thought… they’d answer if I called, you know? Especially since I’ve called multiple times in a row.”
Oakley ground their teeth together. “We can have someone go to their home and check on them.” That likely hit a spot considering their relationship with their own mother. No wonder they were so determined to help this girl out.
She nodded and pushed her hair behind her ear. “That would be good. Thank you.” She took a breath. “I suppose you want me to go over everything I remember?”
Oakley nodded. “Only if you feel up to it.”
She squared her shoulders, and I couldn’t help but admire her bravery. “I’m good. I want you to catch these bastards so they don’t harm anyone else.”
Oakley sent her a small grin. “That sounds good to me.”
After Oak finished Lilura’s interview, they asked her to join us for lunch. There were a few restaurants on some of the lower levels of the tower, so we took her to one of those, and then Oakley decided to take her on a shopping spree since the poor thing didn’t have any clothes or even any belongings that actually belonged to her.
After all the hard stuff was finished, Lilura and Oakley really hit it off. Maybe because they were both younger. Maybe because they’d both survived horrible situations.
Or maybe because Oakley was that magnetic and everyone who met them always wanted to be around them and spend time with them.
I knew I did, that was for sure.
By the time we took Lilura back to her condo, it was nearing five o’clock, and I was beat.
For some reason, Oakley walked me back to my own condo, and as we headed down the hall to my door, they said, “Let’s go out drinking tonight.”
I blinked. “What?”
They snorted at me and wrapped themself around my arm—mmm, I really like that.They’d been touching me in some capacity all day, and I was really loving it.
Even if it was also a little bit torturous since I couldn’t touch them back the way I really wanted.
They said, “Let’s go out drinking. I’ll invite Ker, Anton, Jed, Shiro, Phae, and whoever. We can go to a supe bar that serves blood for the vamps and dwarf beer for us.”
“You want to get drunk?”
They nodded emphatically. “Yes. After what my dad did to us today, I could use a drink.”
The last thing I wanted to do was go out tonight—I was feeling my old age at the moment—but if that was where Oakley would be, then they could count me in. “Alright. But we have to get all our notes and things from Lilura to the team that’s handling the traffickers now.”
Oakley beamed. “I did that already.”
“What? When?”
“While Lilura was trying on some clothes, I put everything together on my phone and sent it off. I got a tersethank youfrom the new team lead, which is bullshit, but whatever.”
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
That made them stop short. “What? No, I’m not.”
I snorted. “You are, but I’m not going to argue with you. I know how stubborn you can be.”
They sighed. “True. I’d obviously win.”
“Obviously,” I said sarcastically with an eye roll, making them laugh.
