Am I blushing?Fucking hell.Why am I blushing?“Th-thank you.”
“My pleasure, Theodore.Don’t forget your laptop.”
Theo looked away, finding it suddenly difficult to meet Peter’s eyes.“Right.Don’t forget to leave that sword here.I’ll just go grab my stuff.”
“Please do.”
Peter folded the cloak and put it on the table along with the sword.His fingers trembled.Theo saw it when he glanced at Peter while taking the hammer and unused screwdriver out of his bag and packing up his laptop.He narrowed his eyes.
Before he could say anything, Carl cleared his throat.“I’ll stay.For cake.If you don’t mind.”
“Not in the least.”Peter sounded just a tad too unbothered to Theo, and he narrowed his eyes farther.
“You’re okay getting back to the Boudoir?”Theo adjusted his shoulder strap before he crossed his arms.
Carl shrugged.“I’ll get an Uber.Or call Kira to pick me up.”
Theo nodded.“Okay, then.See you at work tomorrow.”
Peter looked absolutely not happy about that.Under normal circumstances, he had decent control over his facial muscles.Not so now.Theo could almost feel that the next word out of Peter’s mouth was going to be “Theodore,” said in that perfectly smooth Viking vampire voice Theo had come to adore.
Before it could get that far, Theo turned on his heel.“Okay then!Corvin, Mike, let’s go.Bye-bye, everyone!”
Corvin made an annoyed sound.“Seriously, what’s on fire?”he stage-whispered to Theo.
“I just want to get home.Long day.And schoolwork to catch up.”
“Uh-huh,” Mike said.
Corvin huffed.“What Mike means to say is, thank you for coming to save us.”
A cool hand settled on the small of Theo’s back.“Happily.Though I’m sure Theo would agree with me when I ask you not to make a habit of it,” Peter said.
Mike lifted his head.“We try hard not to.”
They’d very nearly made it to the door when Laurette appeared from one of the sitting rooms, now wearing a heavily embroidered dressing gown over his clothes.
“Good intentions.I like it!Please feel free to stop by whenever, everyone.And, Corvin, Mike, just let me know the details about your wedding, yes?I’m so excited for the festivities!”
It sounded like a command, but Theo was suddenly too tired to be annoyed on Corvin’s behalf.
On their way back, after they’d dropped off Corvin and Mike, Peter leaned over the steering wheel of the Mercedes and growled at the sky.
“The bother,” he mumbled, as if he’d forgotten Theo was even there.
Theo rubbed his temple.“You need blood, don’t you?You could’ve said so back in Faerie.”
Peter glanced at Theo while absentmindedly honking his horn.The car in front of him wasn’t even doing anything wrong.
“It’s not as if I cannot manage my needs.”
“Huh.Did you know that I heard from someone who knows someone you know that you get hangry when you’re hungry?”
Peter honked his horn again.The car in front of him hurriedly changed lanes.
“You need not listen to everything Corvin tells you about the things he hears from Michael.”
Theo crossed his arms.“I didn’t say it was Corvin.It could’ve been Celeste.”
