Page 21

H arlow glared at the waitress as she sat the grilled cheese down in front of Foxx, daring her to comment. Her face remained just as sour as it had been since they’d walked in, but she did stiffen slightly under his pointed gaze.

Without saying a word, the woman, whose name, according to her tag, was Samantha—not that she’d introduced herself, or said a single word to them—quickly sat down his and Gavin’s food before scurrying off.

To say the looks of the locals had been unfriendly, as they’d walked into the diner, would truly be a grand ass old understatement of epic proportions. Having everyone in the small diner slowly look towards you in horror and disgust, while some other asshole drops a plate in ‘shock’, had been an experience.

With her gone, Harlow turned his glare on Gavin, as the dragon continued to hold onto his motherfucking arm. “Get off,” he ground out.

“It’s funny how he keeps trying.” Gavin chuckled, before picking up his fork and taking a bite of his coffee cake.

“Yeah, he’s persistent like that,” Foxx said with a half-hearted giggle. The vampire’s mood hadn’t improved much, thanks to how unwelcoming everyone fucking in there was.

A sad care bear could sometimes mean a sensitive care bear. Meaning, depending on what was upsetting him, his brat could sometimes be more affected by others, over things he’d normally just brush off. But then, he had to say, it was a first for him to have a server walk up and just stare with their pad of paper out—rude ass bitch.

“Shouldn’t you be jealous or something?” Harlow asked, trying to prod the man into a better mood.

Foxx blinked. “Of what?”

“Of another man clinging to me! Defend your man.”

The vampire stared blankly for a moment before bursting into laughter that he clearly felt. “You can’t be serious!?”

Harlow kept his expression neutral, even though he felt satisfied that he’d succeeded. “I am completely serious. Get him off me.” He shook his arm, Gavin snickering as he held on.

“Why should I?” Foxx smiled. “The man may look at you with stars in his eyes, but it’s not in the least bit sexual. Seems like unnecessary effort.”

“Wow, didn’t know I’m not worth the effort,” he drawled, pretending to be hurt.

“Aww, do you want me to be jealous, Old Man?”

“I do.”

Foxx snorted. “You don’t.”

“Pretty sure I just said I do.”

The vampire smiled sweetly in a way he knew meant danger. “Harlow, if I ever have reason to be jealous, you’ll have reason to pick out a casket.”

Harlow smirked at the threat. “Planning to bury me if I step out of line, Brat?”

“Mmm,” Foxx hummed. “Just give me a reason, Old Man.”

His smirk widened. “I?—”

“Stop it!” Gavin snapped, as he practically yanked his arm from his. “What is wrong with you two, we are in public! As if the nearest nosy ass humans needed a new reason to stare. But congrats on successfully making me uncomfortable enough to let go! Eat your food, it is quiet time now!”

Having done it many times himself in the past, Harlow could say he knew pretty well how Foxx reacted when being told to shut up. Which was, it had the opposite effect. It was likely the worst thing you could possibly say to the vampire if you wanted him to stop talking .

“Oh, you just royally fucked up, Gavin. Have fun,” Harlow said with a laugh, while picking up his breakfast sandwich and taking a bite.

As the flavors burst in his mouth, he had to say, for a bunch of bigoted brainless fucks, they at least knew what they were doing in the kitchen.

“Oh, and what’s wrong with talking about me burying my boyfriend deep in public?” Foxx cocked his head, his sweet smile spreading.

“Why did you just word it that way?! And you know exactly what you two were doing!” Gavin growled.

“I think if I want to talk about burying my partner deep in my hole, I can if I want to. Wherever I may be. It’s called freedom of speech. Oh wait, I forgot, you bloody yanks are hypocritical and purely subjective when it comes to what you personally classify as ‘freedom’.”

Harlow took another bite of his sandwich, fully amused as the dragon started to sputter. “I-I’m not even technically American! Also, seriously?! My…I mean, your hole?!”

“Ehh, your accent says you are close enough, even if you weren’t born on this plane. Also, if I dig it, it’s mine, isn’t it?! What else would it be other than burying my boyfriend in my hole?”

“Oh, my God.” Gavin groaned, covering his face with his hands. “I am disengaging. I am not here. I am closing my ears, and pretending I hear nothing.”

“That’s an interesting coping method,” Foxx mused with a giggle, before picking up his grilled cheese and taking a bite with a happy and very smug sounding hum. “Oh, that’s a good grilled cheese. They may be assholes, but they at least know what they’re doing,” the man said as he finished chewing.

“Yeah, no complaints about the food.” He paused and started eyeing what was left of his sandwich suspiciously. “Unless they spat in it or something?”

The vampire chuckled. “We’d be able to tell.”

He nodded. “Good to know.”

“Can one actually mess up a grilled cheese?” Gavin asked.

Foxx looked over to Gavin at the question, the man no longer hiding his face. “I thought you were disengaging?” he asked cutely.

The dragon huffed. “I now know why Harlow calls you a brat.”

He giggled. “He calls me a brat because I’m a petty ass bitch, and prefer payback over forgiveness. It's best to not forget that.”

“ My petty ass bitch,” Harlow growled, the man smirking as their gazes met.

“Please stop flirting in front of me,” Gavin whined.

Foxx just smiled and took another bite of his grilled cheese. Mm, buttery and perfectly toasted, with the cheese all melted. “Perfect. And yes, it is possible to mess it up. I’ve had some where the bread was dry and tasteless…as tasteless as the people in this place.”

“That’s one way to describe bigots,” Harlow drawled.

Gavin snorted, but stayed quiet. The conversation lulled as they continued to eat.

Foxx had to say he was thankful that the dragon hadn’t asked, or pushed him to find out what had made him cry. Not that he would have told him if he had. But Gavin hadn’t. The man had just babbled away about random shit on the ride there, seeming okay with his less than enthusiastic answers and Harlow’s grunting. Though, if he was used to dealing with Harlow then non-answers and silence wouldn’t be abnormal to the dragon.

One person asking about what he was feeling was enough. Foxx wasn’t sure if he would manage to tell Harlow every time he was feeling sad or down, but he supposed he should try…

Okay, maybe he could just do it every once in a while and see how it went? The dreams weren’t like every night. If he started slowly, and gradually told him more, making sure to stop when it felt like too much, that would be fine, right? Maybe Foxx could tell the dhampir about one night each week? No—every other week! That would be.. .

Ugh, why did even the thought of doing that sound so bloody horrible? What was so wrong with bottling it all up?!

Foxx jumped as their waitress practically slammed the piece of cookie dough cheesecake, that he’d ordered earlier with his food, down in front of him, the badly cut piece falling on the table as she did. The cheesecake slice was so sad looking, he could only assume she’d taken a full slice and carved out one third of it to give to him.

“Seriously?!” he huffed, while glaring at her. She said nothing, just turned and walked away. “She is not getting a tip! Also, how is that a slice?! It’s a sliver at best!’”

Harlow snorted. “I’m thinking she doesn’t care.”

“She's probably hoping that being rude makes us leave faster.” The dragon tsked.

“Well, ain’t that too damn bad, because I just decided to come here for every bloody meal until we leave this shithole of a town tomorrow night. In fact, I think I’ll get some knitting supplies and spend all day with my ass parked right in this spot.”

“Menace.” The dhampir chuckled. “Why does it feel like I’ll be bailing you out of jail before we leave here?”

“The whole point of us delaying leaving was to relax, not to get arrested by the locals, which I would assume you two would think is the opposite of relaxing.”

Foxx eyed the dragon silently, with Harlow doing the same, before they both said, “Why would you think that?”

“What do you mean ‘why would I think that’?! Please don’t tell me you two are seriously considering it as an option?” Gavin whispered fervently.

Getting arrested would…be highly entertaining, to be honest, or end with a bullet in his ass, but either way, it’s likely he would have fun. “I don’t know, it kind of sounds fun.”

“You seriously want to get arrested, Brat?” Harlow drawled.

“What I want—” He smiled evilly. “—is to cause trouble. You up for a little chaos and toddler meltdown, Old Man?”

The dhampir slowly smirked. “Meltdown away.”

“Wait!” Gavin snapped.

Foxx huffed. “What?”

The dragon cleared his throat, his gaze oddly shifting away. “If you are going to cause a scene anyway…can you cause it towards the back of the diner?”

He frowned. “Why?”

“I want that,” the man said softly, pointing covertly behind him.

Foxx looked back, eyeing the display case near the entrance of the restaurant. It was filled with trophies and pictures of what he was assuming was the local football team—well, soccer to Americans. Also in the case was a framed football shirt, which had green stripes and a small, yet oddly cute, depiction of the Loch Ness monster. Next to the framed shirt was a shiny silver statue of the same nessie that was on it. The things were all…‘interesting’, but he wasn’t exactly sure what Gavin was pointing at or wanted.

“One of the trophies or…?” he asked just as softly.

“Pft, no.” The dragon’s nose wrinkled before he whispered, “Why would I want one of those? I want the nessie. It’s cute and shiny. I want it.” Gavin’s pupils seemed to dilate as he spoke, his eyes beginning to look like space with these tiny, bizarre pinpoints of light appearing.

Foxx pursed his lips. “Interesting. I always assumed the treasure hoarding thing was just a myth.”

Harlow scoffed, the man’s voice low as he said, “Treasure, my ass, he’s just drawn to shiny shit.”

Gavin’s eyes returned to normal in an instant as he huffed, “And what’s wrong with that?!”

“Nothing at all,” Foxx beamed. “I’ll do it. Take away.”

“Yes!” The dragon pumped his fist. “Oh, just so you know, my ass will be getting the fuck out of dodge once I do, because being arrested is not even remotely an option for me.”

“Fair enough!” He giggled.

“Wait a minute?! For Gavin, you are ready and willing to actively participate in helping him steal something, but with me , I accidentally take a couple of keychains and you call me a klepto!? Which is what he actually is, by the way!” Harlow growled, his anger coming across even though the man’s voice remained low.

“Yep!”

“What do you mean, yep?!” the dhampir snapped .

“Well, maybe next time you should steal from assholes instead of a nice, hardworking woodwork artist?”

“He steals from everyone ! The motherfucker probably took shit from our apartment.”

Foxx looked at Gavin. “Did you take something from our apartment?”

“Nope,” the dragon said without hesitation, before noting, “You two don’t really have anything shiny, and as nice as they were, wood sculptures don’t really interest me.”

“See, he didn’t.”

Harlow rolled his eyes.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, our horrible waitress just so happens to be right where I need her to be, and I have a scene to make, a Karen to embody, and a possible arrest record to create.”