“Ash, just help me out, please? I’m sorry, so sorry—.”
“What’s the point of bringing them into work? They’ll just get in the way. Take the day off and indulge yourself. They’ll be gone by tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll get an Uber then,” I said, my fingers clawing at the sheets.
“Probably for the best. That many guys wouldn’t fit in my car.”
Therese, is that wise? You know how your conveyances affect me, Miazydar said as I ended the call, looking at me with big, brown, puppy dog eyes.
What else can I do?
Perhaps leave the man things here? They look fit enough, they could do all that cleaning you were so upset about last week.
We both looked at them speculatively. They definitely were big and strong. Almost as if in response to my gaze, Dark and Tattooed flexed his bicep and Blondie Bear stretching his arms over his head, his shirt pulling up to reveal washboard abs. My eyes bumped on down over each ridge, following that happy trail of light-coloured hair until… I jerked them up and his smile widened.
“I couldn’t help hearing your sister suggest you stay home today,” Tattooed Bad Boy said, grabbing my phone and placing it on the bedside table.
“And we could certainly find a way to pass the time,” Connor said, taking the position at the head of the bed, his body replacing my pillow, his fingers turning my shoulders into putty.
If you are going to mate with the man things, I’ll be in the next room, the dragon dog said, though we must start working on mental shielding. Today, Therese.
The reminder that my dragon life partner would feel everything I felt down our link had me straightening up and stepping outside the multi-armed octopus of guys. “I need to have a shower.” Blondie Bear was instantly standing by my side, that grin only getting wider. “By myself. Stay here, have a coffee, watch TV or something. Just keep out of my undies drawer and out of the bathroom.”
“We can draw this out all you like, babe, but you know how good it will feel when you finally surrender.”
“No surrender, never surrender,” I muttered and closed the door firmly behind me.
2
Twenty minutes later found us all standing on the side of the road outside my house. I crouched down, clipping a collar onto Miazydar who gave me a look of complete betrayal.
“I have to, bud. They won’t pick us up if I don’t.”
You could have left the man things at home, had them walk to the shop, anything but this.
Yeah, but M, this way I can dump them on Jez. They’ll make her very happy and then she’ll give you lots of those treats you like.
Dragons are above bribes, he said with a lift of his nose.
That bag of half empty liver snacks at work says otherwise.
“So, he’s alright in cars, right?” the Uber driver said as we all clambered into the soccer mum van.
It’d been the only one that could fit the seven of us.
“Yes,” I said, waiting for everyone to be seated and buckled up. The car pulled away from the curb before I finished the sentence, “Just, if I tell you to stop the car, stop the car!”
“What?!” The guy slammed his foot on the brake.
Therese, I’m feeling quite ill.
“It’ll be fine, I promise. Let’s just wind this window down a bit.”
After negotiating an extra fee for cleaning the driver was finally happy. Well, not happy, but reconc
iled to taking us to the shop. The minute the window was opened, Miazydar was on Crowe’s lap, nose poked through to suck in the fresh air. He didn’t start gagging until we were well and truly in peak hour traffic. Unfortunately, my dragon dog got motion sick very easily unless he was travelling under his own steam. I bought an old motorbike with a sidecar from Gabe as that was the only compromise I had found that worked. The air in his face, the movement, all felt as close to flying as he’d experienced this side of the portal. The Uber driver’s face fell once he heard the rhythmic hurking sounds coming from the dog, but he was fighting his way into the big roundabout near the shop so he couldn’t pay it too much mind. The car next to us wasn’t so lucky. Partially digested kibble sprayed all over his door. I just caught his look of surprise and horror as it disappeared under the deluge and then we were off again.
“Is that all of it?” the Uber driver said, eyes wide in the rear vision mirror.