Casersis watched me dress from his bed, still blissed out with his hair tangled and damp around his head like a silky black halo. I loved how I could make him boneless and exhausted like that. It made me feel powerful, made me feel needed, and it was a good balm for my restless soul.
I couldn’t help it anymore. Once I had my pants on, I went back to the bed to kiss Casersis’s swollen lips and grinned down at him. “Kitten is mussed.”
He chuckled and stretched like a contented cat. “Kitten could not care any less.”
“Mm.” I kissed him again and nudged his nose with mine. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay home? Kitten looks like he needs cuddles.”
He cupped my face with both his hands and rested our foreheads together. “I will get up and shower soon. Once I dress, I will be heading back to start clearing my schedule. You go have fun with Don and Kevin.”
I had already showered because Casersis didn’t look like he was going to roll out of bed anytime soon. Apparently, I had all but fucked him senseless, and damn, did that inflate my ego to epic proportions. I was damned proud of myself, and since he looked completely content and happy, I kissed him one more time and stood up.
“Don’t waste the day, Cass.” I grabbed my sweater off the floor and headed for the secret panel that would lead to Casersis’s parlor that separated our bedrooms. “I expect you to get shit done today, so you’re all mine later.”
He snickered. “Yes, Master.”
I flipped him off, causing him to laugh harder, and he continued laughing, the sound muffled as I closed the panel and headed for the one that would open into my room. I needed a hoodie, and that meant also changing pants because a beat-up hoodie would look stupid with pressed slacks.
When I was dressed and ready, the hood pulled up to cover my ears, I left my room by the door that led out into the hall and grinned as Don and Kevin stood against the facing wall waiting for me. My body practically vibrated with excitement. It pumped through my blood. I was finally getting out of this house for a while. I would finally be able to reconnect with the world for a few hours. It was a heady feeling, and I grinned the whole way to the car and for a few miles afterward.
“You are grinning like a loon, kid,” Kevin muttered. “You have a neon sign on your forehead that says you just shagged my dad into oblivion.”
I snorted. “You’re just saying that because you had to listen in through his wire. You could have taken your earpiece out, you know.”
Kevin shuddered. “Can’t do that as his head of security.”
“What?” I couldn’t help teasing him. It was too fucking fun. “Afraid ninja assassins will climb four stories, break through the windows, and murder us mid-fuck?”
He looked distinctly green but shrugged. “I don’t trust anyone. Not even the cleaning staff.”
I couldn’t blame him, but still. It must have sucked to listen to his dad get plowed. Just the thought made me a little uneasy, but I shoved the thought away. It was fucking fun, and I wasn’t about to feel bad for having fun.
“So, where are we going?” Don asked from the driver’s seat.
“Any big box store,” I muttered. “I need toiletries and stuff. I love the stuff that Cass bought me, but some things I miss.”
Kevin glanced at me. “You sure?”
I gave him a small smile. “Yes.”
He shrugged and stared forward. “You heard the kid.”
I perked up in my seat and stared at him with wide eyes. “You’re serious?”
“You got your hood up.” He shrugged again. “I don’t see a problem with it. Besides, something my dad hasn’t caught on to is that some people get their ears surgically altered to look like yours and have been since… God, sometime in the nineteen-nineties or two-thousands. You’d probably get more people asking who your surgeon was and where you got your contacts than scientists freaking out and trying to capture you, but we still need to be careful just in case.”
Unable to fault that logic, I sat back and enjoyed the scenery as we made our way into the city. Shadetree was a giant metropolis, and even though Casersis owned the land it sat on and most of the companies within it, he preferred to live out in the forested area far enough away from the city limits that he didn’t have to see the glare of the lights at night or hear the sounds of traffic. Even though the cars now were whisper-quiet, people still had an affinity for liberal use of their horns when they were pissed. I couldn’t blame him.
Finding a big box store wasn’t hard once we were in the city. It felt strange having security tag along. Even though they were my security detail, it still felt like I was doing something wrong, but I went up and down the aisles, picking up things I wanted or needed, trying to keep the cost down since it was coming out of Casersis’s bank account. I still had reservations about using his money, but if it meant getting out of the house for a few hours, I had to pick my battles, and the one against using his money lost.
Once I had everything, I led the boys toward the checkout area to pay. Kevin, though, grabbed me by the shoulder and pointed toward the customer service desk. “You don’t have much, and the line is shorter. The security there is also tighter.”
Yeah. Leave it to my security team to be more worried about my safety than the money I was spending, but that was their job, so I couldn’t bitch. …Too much.
Waiting in line, I looked around, and on a podium near the counter, there were brightly colored signs. One boasted the dates for the state fair and listed some of the attractions, which included rides.
Casersis had promised me dates, and the fair coincided with my birthday.
Would Casersis like to go to a fair? I pondered this for a moment as we inched our way along. And as we made it to the podium, I grabbed one of the slips to see how much the tickets were and found that I could pay for them at the register.
I glanced over at Kevin but heard Don groan and glanced back at him, but his focus was toward the end of the customer service desk. I followed his gaze and found Erastus speaking to one of the workers.
What the fuck was Erastus doing in a big box store? Curious, I pondered making a detour with my cart full of shit I had picked out to see what he was up to. I’d be damned if I let that bastard hurt anyone here, but when I was about to head over, he turned, looked at me, and gave me a shit-eating grin that made my hair stand on end.
Erastus turned back to the woman he was speaking with, and it surprised me that his body language was open and calm. He reached out and gripped her bicep in a friendly move as if to offer comfort or wish her well, and she grinned up at him with such pride that it made my curiosity spike. What was he up to? But then I heard him say, “You’ve done exceedingly well, Samantha. Keep up the good work, and if you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”
Samantha beamed at him, her grin transforming her face, making her pretty brown eyes shine and her cheeks flush with pleasure. “Thank you, Mr. Armistead. I hope we continue to exceed your expectations.”
They chatted quietly for a few more moments, then he finally dismissed her, and she disappeared through the door behind her that probably led to an office, and Erastus came toward me. I couldn’t figure out what he might have wanted, but at least he didn’t seem hostile.
“Dustin,” he said as if we were old friends, “so nice to see you again.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked, or more like demanded. I couldn’t help how harsh my voice came out and looked around to make sure no one paid us any attention.
He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pants pockets with a nonchalance that made me kind of envious. “I own this chain of stores and regularly come in to check up on my employees.”
I rolled my eyes. “Need to personally make sure they aren’t stealing from you?”
He gave me a long-suffering sigh and shook his head. “Contrary to popular belief, I care about my employees, Dustin. I just had a meeting with the staff to address any concerns they might have and hand out awards to those who have proven themselves to be exceptional in their departments. Even Casersis knows that happy employees mean a better company.”
“Which means more money for you,” I muttered. “I get it.”
“Apparently, you don’t.” Erastus rolled his eyes and glanced toward the customer service desk. “I lost my own family. Happy employees mean they can take care of their own families. It also means they don’t have to deal with as much stress, which means they live healthier lives.” He turned his gaze back to me and pinned me where I stood. “And the more money the company makes, the more I can pay my employees, so yes, that does factor into it in a tangential way.”
I was rather good at telling when someone was lying or hiding something, but the way Erastus held himself—his back relaxed, chin up without looking down his nose at me, and the relaxed set to his shoulders—told me he had nothing to hide. He was completely open. During his little speech, I didn’t see a single micro-expression that could tell me he anything other than he believed every single word he said.
It stumped me. Because, the way Casersis painted him, Erastus should be a villain, and I couldn’t see him that way anymore. Was he just a nice guy with asshole syndrome?
Erastus glanced down, and I had the insane urge to hide the advertisement for the fair I still held. The wolf smirked and looked me in the eye. “Don’t tell me you are going to drag Casersis to the fair. Dustin, you are an amusing young man.”
Amusing? I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
He rolled his eyes again and glanced back to my security team. “Casersis will have kittens.” And it was hilarious that he related Casersis to kittens considering the nickname I’d given Cass back in Anatole’s the night we met. “You do realize there will be hundreds of people there each night, and he will have his entire security team as your escorts, and the poor men and women will have one grand old time trying to keep you two in their sights among the crowd, which will just increase his anxiety, and theirs.”
I honestly hadn’t thought of that, and now I wondered if it was a good idea at all. And it hurt to think that something I wanted might cause Casersis pain or anxiety. But we wouldn’t know unless we went and tried. Yeah, it would suck if we brought the estate’s entire security team, mostly because I hated being babysat and partly because they would go nuts. But there would be a lot of fun to be had if I could keep Casersis from losing his shit.
But could I keep Casersis’s mind off our safety? I already knew he would do almost anything for me, or at least, anything within his power, so long as my safety wasn’t a concern. Letting me out today with only two security guards had proven that. My safety didn’t matter, though, if Casersis wouldn’t enjoy himself.
The worst thing—the thing that bothered me the most—was that Erastus was the one to think of this first. Why was he being considerate of Casersis’s needs and feelings when they hated each other? What was his motive?
My feathers were seriously ruffled, and I had the start of a headache throbbing at my temples. Erastus’s mere presence was anxiety-inducing enough, but having this thrown at me, too? I had to keep my cool, though. I had to get through this, pay for my shit, and get back home to Casersis. Erastus didn’t seem to get the memo, but then I doubted he would take hints.
“I’ll get the tickets anyway,” I said. “If Cass isn’t comfortable with going, then that’s his decision. I’m not going to make it for him.”
Erastus stared at me for a good, long moment before he nodded. “You’re not as childish as I had anticipated. Pity.” He smiled, a feral thing with too many teeth, and tipped his head in a nod. “I hope you enjoy yourself, Dustin. I’ll… see you around.”
No, that didn’t seem like a thinly veiled threat at all. Hell, I couldn’t even keep the sarcasm out of my thoughts. And the more I tried to pick out why Erastus bothered me, the more my head pounded. I watched Erastus walk away, still as relaxed as ever while I was tense as a drawn bow, until it was my turn at the counter.
I barely made it through checkout. By the time we made it back to the car and got my bags stashed in the trunk, my head felt like someone was slamming it against a concrete slab. I collapsed into the seat. Both Don and Kevin hovered, not knowing what to do. I had wanted to do other things, but now, all I wanted to do was go home and sleep off whatever this was.
“Dustin?” Kevin roughed my cheeks with his knuckles, and at that moment, he seemed almost like a concerned big brother. “You okay, kid?”
“Massive headache,” I whispered. “Came on suddenly.”
“You’re burning up.” He cursed under his breath and glanced back at Don. “Get in the car, and let’s get him home.”
Kevin helped get me situated, and once he was in the car and shut the door behind him, he tucked me against his side. His body heat helped a little, and I closed my eyes with a deep, cracked groan.
“We’ll get you home soon, kid. Hang on.”
“What do you think is wrong with him?” Don asked.
“Most likely the changes,” Kevin replied. “We won’t know until we get him back to dad.”
Great. Casersis really was going to have fucking kittens.
