A snort escaped him. "I've never heard someone call Gavin a little birdie. Don't think he'd find that complimentary."
"Yeah, well. " And I had no idea what to say. Again.
Roane stood in a fluid motion. His body was tense. "Do you think that I'll never be over her?" As his head lifted up, his eyes caught mine. Piercing. "You think so little of me? That I'll never be able to move past Talia? Is that what you think of me?"
Oh hell. This was not what I expected. "I think that she was a big part of you. I think that…" What did I think? "I think you still love her and that you always will."
"Talia was a part of my life. A big part of my life, but she wasn't my entire life. She wasn't the reason I woke up. I didn't think of ways every morning to protect her, ways to help her live a better life, ways to make sure that she never felt the pain that so many others would in our world. I didn't start a war to protect her. I didn't make myself ache every day because I missed her so much when I knew that she needed to live a normal life. I didn't kill vampires or humans without a second thought for her. I never did those things for Talia."
My eyes couldn't leave his.
Roane started to come to me. "The elders thought I was growing too close to her so they sent me away. I went. I never argued. I never considered it. I didn't fight for her and I was gone for over a year before I felt her death. And when I felt it, Davy, it didn't hurt. She was where she wanted to be. She was at peace. I loved her, but not like I love you. I love you to the point of starting a war for you. I love you to the point where I want you to be in college. I want you to have as normal of a life as you possibly can. Because one day I know that you'll have to leave all of that. You're going to have to stop being a normal human and come by my side to be the Immortal. I know that you don't want that. I know that you want me, but you want to be normal more. And I'm trying to help you. I am, but it's so goddamn hard when you disappear for three months and I can't do one thing to bring you back to me. And then, suddenly, you're here. You've come back to me and I had nothing to do with it. You brought yourself back. You saved yourself. You did it. Not me. It's a hard pill to swallow when I'm able to protect anybody, but I can't protect you, the one person that I would do anything to save. I can't. And then you tell me about Talia's daughter. I'm reminded that it's another thing I can't give you. I can't have a child with you. And I want to. I want so much to do that. I want to have a normal life with you, but I can't. We can't, but you can have parts that are normal. You can still have a child. I didn't think Immortals could, but she did so you can—"
I stopped him and placed a finger over his lips. They were so tender. And then I replaced my finger with my lips.
It felt right to kiss him again.
Roane picked me up and kicked his door shut at the same time. He sat me down on his desk and his mouth opened. He took control and his tongue swept inside. He demanded entrance and I let him. I felt him rub against me, teasing, capturing. I grabbed onto the back of his head and held myself against him. He groaned as he sucked on my bottom lip.
A knock sounded at the door and Roane growled, "Leave!"
They didn't. They knocked again.
"No." I held him tighter.
"Who is it?"
"It's Gregory." We could hear his hesitation. "There's a guest asking for you. She wishes to enter the premises."
"A guest?" Roane pulled away now.
"No," I whimpered. Our time was here. I wasn't going to let someone stop us.
"I'm sorry." He kissed my forehead and stood back. "I should go. Gregory wouldn't interrupt unless it was important."
"But—" My mouth fell open and I watched him walk towards the door. "This is important!"
Roane flashed me a grin. "Don't worry. I'll be coming right back, quicker than you think and you'd better be naked."
I perked up at that thought.
He was gone then, but it wasn't long before he was back. When he came through the door, a pained look was on his face. I had a brief second to ponder why before the guest poked her head around Roane.
"Kates." My mouth hung open. I knew I should've said something more welcoming, but holy moly.
With a squeal and a skip, she threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. "Davy! It's so good to see you again."
I patted her back. "You left to find someone? Who was it?"
Not to mention, what was with the happy note? When she left, she'd been morose and depressed. She'd gone to search for someone. Now she was back. With a simple white tee shirt and jeans, her hair gleamed bright blonde instead of the dirty locks she'd had before. She looked nothing like the mischievous bad girl from before.
She laughed and pulled away from me. "I lied to you."
Shock. Not.
Kates added, "I made it sound like I needed to deal with my daddy issues and Blue suggested that I should go and find him. I'm not stupid. I knew that she wanted me out of your life. She can't brainwash you when I'm around."
I narrowed my eyes, frowning as I heard more evidence against my old sponsor.