I drag him back, then manage to pull the sheet over us as his bedroom door explodes inward. Papa turns on the overhead light, and Dad is standing there with a fucking holster strapped to his shoulder. There’s no hiding what we were doing, especially when Sy not-so-surreptitiously pushes the massive dragon dildo under his bed with his toe.
Cupcake, still in the drop position, is shaking and growling.
Every being in this room is a compressed spring on a hair trigger, waiting to explode.
Papa, looming large, rubs the back of his head as Dad, thankfully, leaves the goddamned hand cannon holstered.
“What.The fuck.Is going on here?” Dad asks, punctuating each phrase with a ragged breath.
Silas ducks his head, covering his eyes. He reaches for his collar, forgetting that he’s not wearing a shirt. He curses, then feels above the headboard, pulling down a pair of his dark tactical sunglasses. He puts them on.
I place my hand on his chest. “I’ve got this,” I whisper. Turning my attention to Papa, I narrow my eyes. “Silas and I are obviously in the middle of an intimate moment. Can one of you explain the need to break into his place, armed to the teeth?” Igesture to the ceiling. “And turn off the fucking light. It hurts his eyes.”
“Don’t use your reasonable voice with me, young man.”
Papa grabs Dad’s arm. “Ro.” He shifts his attention to me. “We read the ops report, saw him hallucinate in that warehouse. Read the script of you two talking.”
“We tried to call you,” Dad says, his breath ragged. “And you never picked up the phone.”
Yep. Totally my fault.
Except…no.
“That still doesn’t give you the right to fucking break into Sy’s condo!” I stare at my fathers, wondering what the fuck possessed them. “And hewasn’thallucinating. As it states in the report, he had a PTSDflashback.”
I give Dad a significant look. We’ve all seen him work through a flashback. I don’t even need to tell him how hypocritical he’s being right now.
“And shut that fucking light off. I’ve already asked you once. Don’t make me turn it off for you,” I say, reaching for the sheet.
Papa gives Sy a hard look, then makes his way to the wall and turns off the overhead. The one salt lamp on my side throws everything into Halloween shadows and Dad’s breath goes funny.
“I’m taking off my sunglasses. And I’m going to reach over and turn on the lamp on my side,” Sy says. After hesitating to make sure, I dunno, that my dad doesn’t go for his gun, Sy slowly, carefully does as he said.
In the meantime, Cupcake still looks like she’s going to vibrate out of her skin.
“Bring Cup onto the bed with us,” I say, glaring at my fathers.
“Cupcake, come,” Sy commands, and she fliesto the bed, curling against his front. I tighten my arm around his waist from behind, and he lets out a slow breath, sandwiched between his two protectors.
Sy looks up at me, his eyes shifting to silver blue. His expression holds such vulnerability.
Despite the tension in the room, I kiss his cheek. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
He smiles.I love him so much.
“Oakley,” Dad says, his voice breaking, “you cannot be with this man. You know what his father did to me. Junior is ten times more dangerous than Senior ever was.”
I expect Sy to shut down. Instead, he breathes. Cupcake licks his face, and he relaxes by fractions. Turns his head to kiss my shoulder. My fathers watch on in horror. I nuzzle Sy’s ear.
“That man wasnotmy father,” Silas says, his voice steady. “My name is SilasHernandez. My fathers are Erik and AntHernandez. And I would never harm Oakley or anyone I love.”
Dad snorts. “What the hell do you know aboutlove?”
His question is as pointed as Sy’s stiletto and draws just as much blood. Silas knows he’s not a psychopath, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his doubts. Whether or not Dad was aiming that low, he hit his mark.
Silas goes quiet, like the deepest part of the ocean.
I tighten my grip on him, lowering my mouth to his ear.
