Page 31

H arlow leaned down and kissed Foxx on the forehead. “I’m going to go grab us breakfast,” he whispered.

The vampire muttered something unintelligibly in his sleep, before snuggling into the blankets he’d wrapped himself in. Chuckling softly when Foxx disappeared under them completely, he straightened up and headed for the door.

Harlow paused with it open the moment Gavin sat up in the second bed in the room.

Thanks to a stupid fucking festival—or whatever the hell it was—they ended up all having to share a room.

Clearly not fully awake, the dragon eyed him, blinking slowly.

“Need something?”

“The water is on fire,” Gavin muttered, before flopping over and starting to snore…again.

He snorted—fucking idiot. Shaking his head, Harlow left.

Once settled in the driver’s seat of his Jeep, he was about to pull out when his phone started ringing. Putting it back into park, he fished the annoying fucking thing from the inside of his jacket. Eyeing the oddly familiar number, he answered it—thankfully, on the first try.

“I’d ask how you know this number, but?—”

“ I have my ways ,” Gabriel Semper, the owner of the Inner Village, drawled with clear amusement. “ Well, that and I know your boss’ number .”

That answered that. “Is there a problem?”

“ This is not so much a problem call, but one done out of courtesy. The property you were most interested in, someone else has put in an offer. ”

He stiffened. “How much?”

While there had been a few he’d looked over online, the one that he’d thought would work best for their needs was located in Hollow Moor, something he’d mentioned to the bird.

“ You are mistaken. The previous price we discussed has not changed. This isn’t me trying to up my profits, or start a bidding war. This is me wanting a commitment. The other buyer is willing to purchase it immediately. But if I am nothing else, I am particular on who lives in my domain. And as the curious bird that I am, I’m afraid I’ve become quite fascinated by the idea of you and your vampire moving there. Mind you, I’m not opposed to the person in question, but we all have our preferences. ”

Every single time he’d spoken to the phoenix, somehow the man always managed to, at some point in the conversation, say a whole fucking lot without ever getting to the point. “What are you asking?”

“ Buy it, now.”

Harlow’s jaw clenched as he suppressed his irritation at being ordered instead of asked.

Gabriel chuckled. “ Oh, sorry, habit. What I meant to say is that you have a choice. Buy it now, or lose it. ”

“Do I have time to at least ask my boyfriend before making a decision?”

“ No, I’m afraid once I hang up, the choice will be gone .”

Harlow let out an angry growl.

“ Ah, dhampirs, always so temperamental .”

He took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out. “I’ll buy it.”

“ Wonderful.”

Yep…wonderful… As long as he figured out how to tell Foxx, and not end up buried six feet underground with the rest of the vampire’s ex-boyfriends.

Foxx glanced up from his phone, tossing it aside when the door to their hotel opened. He smiled at Harlow, who walked in carrying bags of food and a drink carrier.

The dhampir’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze never leaving him as the man deposited the stuff on the table and approached. “It was today, right?”

“It…?” Foxx blinked.

The man tugged him up and wrapped his arms around him. “Charity’s funeral? You look sad.”

Ah, his smile must have been off. He had thought he’d successfully faked it.

Foxx took a deep breath and slid his arms around the man, burrowing his face into Harlow’s chest. “It indeed was today. I was looking at the pictures Tony sent me. It turned out pretty, with all the flowers…”

“We could have gone back.”

He shook his head, rubbing his face against the man. “No, it’s better that we didn’t. I’m not ready yet. It’s better that we keep doing what we need to do. Especially since we are no closer to finding Iggy or Maverick. Also, we are only three hours from the next group. Charity…I’m sure she would prefer we be doing this than mourning her. Besides, tonight we’ll go after that bastard who kept her niece from her.”

Harlow pulled back slightly with a hum, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “The woman was definitely a ‘get things done’ type of person. And she always had our backs, even when she was screaming at us.” The dhampir snorted. “For that alone, I think we owe it to her to make sure the man suffers greatly.”

Foxx smiled for real this time, even if it was more sadistic than happy. “We’ll have him begging for death by the end.”

“That we will, Brat.” Harlow chuckled before giving him a chaste kiss.

“You know.” Gavin sighed. “You two are almost sweet together, in a twisted, sadistic, murdery way.”

“Sweet!?” Harlow gagged. “Ugh…don’t insult me.”

Foxx giggled. “My Old Man is the sweetest, especially when he wants to murder and torture with me! ”

“Ugh, stop.” The dhampir blanched as he pulled from his hold.

“Oh, but you are! And you know what, I am going to add this to my list of things to use to convince Alastair of that fact.”

“What list?!”

“The list I started after the last time he argued with me about it?”

“Tear it up!” Harlow demanded.

Foxx blinked. “But…it’s digital.”

“Then delete it!”

Ignoring Gavin, as the dragon had started laughing, Foxx crossed his arms and smiled up at Harlow as he said, “No.”

There was no way in hell he was deleting a few months’ worth of work.

Harlow growled, “Why the fuck not?!”

“The reason is simple, Old Man. I need it.”

“The fuck you do!?”

“I do, because I will win my argument.”

The dhampir sputtered, before hissing, “Please don’t!”

“But I will.”

“I would PREFER if you fucking didn’t!”

“But I’m going to, because you, Old Man, are sweet. And EVERYONE will either agree with me, or be forced to agree. I’m not particularly picky on how they agree, as long as they do.”

Harlow groaned. “Please don’t, for the love of fucking all, Foxx. Please, don’t do this to me. I have a reputation as a cold-hearted psychopath.”

“And it’s wrong,” Foxx chimed.

“IT’S NOT WRONG! I’M LITERALLY FUCKING INSANE.”

“Eh, so am I!” He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean we can’t be sweet together!”

“YES, IT DOES!”

Gavin, who had been laughing this whole time, and still was, cried out, “Oh fuck—hah—my stomach. Oh, it hurts—hahahah!”

THUMP!

He glanced over his shoulder at the sound, snorting on realizing the dragon had fallen off his bed.

“Give me your phone. ”

Foxx looked back to Harlow, his brow raised at the man’s outstretched hand. He scoffed, “Yeah, no.”

“Foxx!” Harlow groaned. “Come on, just delete it!”

“Not gonna happen.” He scooted past the man and went to the table.

“Foxx!”

“Nope,” he chimed sweetly as he took a seat and snagged the cup with his name written on it from the drink carrier.

“Foxx,” the dhampir growled. He was now just standing there, looming beside him.

“No, no, no,” he hummed, his smile widening as he took a sip and tasted hot chocolate—another blatantly sweet thing to add to his list. “Mmm, just as sweet as my Harlow.”

He had to keep a man who remembered what he did and didn’t like to drink, as those were hard to come by.

“FOXX!”

Slowly, he looked up. “Yes, Old Man?”

Harlow glared. “You are such a fucking brat.”

“Always.” He giggled.

The man roughly rubbed his face as he started to groan.

Still on the floor, Gavin’s laughter abruptly cut off as the dragon, unfortunately, and somewhat breathlessly, asked, “Is that a flower on your ass?”

Harlow’s hands slowly lowered as his eyes narrowed. “Is that a what on my ass?”

Foxx swallowed hard, his smile turning sheepish.

The dhampir glanced over his shoulder, his head snapping back around fast. “Foxx,” Harlow ground out. “Why is there a pink flower on my ass?”

“I…can explain?”

“Oh, can you?” Harlow said gently, before growling, “Then do it!”

“Umm, well, you see, I—” Foxx made a break for the door.

“FOXX!”