Chapter Twenty-Nine
Roman
Waking up with Oakley in my arms was the best thing—I would always think that, no matter what else was going on.
Waking up to my phone blaring five million times—even though I’d put it on silent before falling asleep—was the opposite of the best thing.
I could only assume it was Garrick calling and that he’d had his viramore—who was, regrettably, a very talented witch—use a spell to make my phone ring extremely loud. I was going to kill Tan the next time I saw him.
“Holy shit,” Oakley moaned out. “Please make it stop.”
“I put it on silent.”
“That means Tan’s doing his voodoo shit to make it ring. He and Dad won’t stop when they get like that. Ask me how I know.”
I snorted, kissed their forehead, earning a tired smile from them, and rolled away to grab my phone from the nightstand. I glanced at it, huffed, and answered.
“What?”
“Is that really how you’re going to speak to me after you escaped your cell?”
“Yep.”
Garrick sighed, and I could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose.“Is Oakley okay?”
“Safe and sound, as they always are with me.”
“Good. I was worried about them.”
Beside me, Oak rolled their eyes, but they looked amused too. They could easily hear Garrick’s side of the conversation, I had no doubt.
Oakley scooted closer to me and rested their head on my chest, so I wrapped my free arm around them, kissing their forehead again as they sighed, relaxed and seemingly happy.
“What do you want, Garrick?”
He huffed, sounding annoyed and resigned at the same time.“I want to… apologize.”
My eyebrows raised. I hadn’t thought he’d apologize so soon. I knew Tan would make him eventually, but this was a lot sooner than expected. “You do?”
“Well… no, actually, I don’t want to, but Tan’s making me.”
Oakley snorted, and I raised my eyes to the ceiling, asking for patience. “So you think flipping out at me and locking me in a cell was an appropriate response?”
“Yes.”
Oakley sat up, grabbed the phone, and put it on speaker, saying, “For fuck’s sake, Dad. You’re being ridiculous. And so mean.”
Garrick was quiet for a few seconds.“I don’t want him to take you from me, Oakley, and he already has.”I could hear the dragon growl in his voice.
“Roman would never take me away from you. We both live in the same building as you. Why would he take me anywhere? And even if he wanted to, do you really think I would want to go?”
“You haven’t been home for months, and you haven’t spent any time with me since you came back. Why would I think you want to stay?”
“Because a reasonable person would realize that I’m mad at you about taking away the case—you know that. And that has nothing to do with Rome. It’s all you because you’re acting like a lunatic.”
Garrick sucked in a deep breath, and I could hear Tan whispering something in the background, although I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Garrick sounded calmer when he spoke this time.“I understand that you’re upset about that, but why aren’t you home now? Why aren’t you in your condo? I went looking for you last night and this morning, and you haven’t been home.”
Oak rolled their eyes. “Dad, you locked my viramore up in a cell yesterday. I didn’t want you doing that again, so we left.Once you calm down and act like a rational person again, we’ll come back.”
