spot.
“I’m not sure how I’m going to feel when I walk in and think about all the places you tried making me taint,” I say. “You even tried sticking me in the fridge.”
He beams, which is weird and kind of creeps me out, but he’s clearly proud of himself. “I hope when your dad pulls the watermelon out of there you think about my balls.”
“No… please… don’t.”
“And when they lay the cake on the table—”
“Dammit, McBitey, stop!” I cry as I cup my hands over my ears. “Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.”
Hela leaps into the front seat, thinking that I’m being funny, and begins biting at my fingers. “Save me, baby!” I cry as I lift her in the air and kiss her stomach. She wiggles around and then bites my nose as Artie decides licking me in the face is the perfect way to fix this situation.
“Hey! Gang up on him, you two, not me!”
“Nah, they worship me. They will never go against me.”
I stare at him, clearly not convinced as I set Hela down on my lap. Marcus reaches over and holds his hand out. I almost give him my prosthetic hand but I stop. Not because I don’t want him to hold it, I’ve gotten so much better about that, but because I want to feel his touch, so I reach out with my right and take his. He squeezes it gently as we drive.
When we arrive, we park and head inside. Claude greets us first now that he’s wormed his way into my family. Basically, Aria thinks he’s hilarious and amazing and invited him, but I don’t mind.
“Hey, beautiful,” Claude says and then plucks Hela out of my hands.
“He was talking to the dog and not me,” I say as I narrow my eyes. “Whoa… Claude… do you have a victim… I mean partner?”
“Alexei and I might have gone on a date.”
“Alexei told me you tricked him into it.”
Claude snorts. “I did not! He’s lying now!”
I snicker because Claude really does seem convinced that he had a great time. I honestly think they would be great together if Alexei could handle being with him.
Orin rushes over to us and grabs me in a death hug. He does this every time he sees me, like it’s now mandatory to risk my life for a hug even though I’m safer than I’ve ever been. But I’m always so happy to see him well that I really don’t care and hug him back just as hard.
“It’s good you’re here. Do you want to move back in with me?”
“Not yet,” I say.
He pulls back and gives me a serious look. “Can I move in with you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Come on. Just for a little bit.”
Marcus shakes his head. “You know, at one point I actually wondered if you were a creep because you were following Finn everywhere. I’d just hear the pitter-patter of your feet the entire time we’d move around the house.”
Orin stares at Marcus like he’s contemplating how hard it’d be to get rid of him. “Anyway. Aria’s not here yet because she loves being late. Said she’ll be here shortly which could mean five minutes or five hours.”
“Of course. I’m going to take the dogs out to stretch their legs. We’ll be back for the party,” I say as I put the cookies down and Marcus literally tosses the present toward the present pile.
We head outside and start walking toward the lake together. “Did you think about your naked ass on that counter when you put the cookies on it?” he asks.
“I bleached it.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Shhh, Marcus. Just be handsome. This… cocky thing you have going on isn’t very cute. It’s kind of cute but not super cute.”
He unhooks the dogs from their leashes and they take off running. Artie just gallops around while Hela runs as fast as her tiny legs can go to keep up with him. She’s failing miserably.
“You know you love it,” Marcus says as he grabs my arm and pulls me in for a kiss. I lean into him as I press my lips against his before giving him a grin.
“Only a little bit. I’m so excited to be back at work next week. Did you guys miss me?’
“Yes. I cried every day while you were gone. Karsyn even caught me in the bathroom sobbing ‘I have to wait four more hours to see my love. How will I ever survive?’” He says it so dryly that it’s clear he didn’t give a flying fuck.
“That’s sad.”
“I know. But sometimes life is just devastating when you’re not there to annoy me.”
“I don’t know if I ever thanked you enough for sticking with me. You didn’t have to stay with me, but you never hesitated. Even after your life was in danger, you stayed by my side.”
“That’s because I love you,” he says. “And I would give up everything to keep you safe.”
He’s always been too wonderful for me. “I’m glad you didn’t have to.”
“Me too,” he says before kissing my cheek. “Your sister’s here.”
“Ew.”
“I know.”
“Let’s go.”
As we head toward the house, I hold on to Marcus’s hand and just breathe in the fresh air. I never realized how much Watson had invaded my life, my thoughts, and my dreams until he was gone. I don’t know that I’m back to normal yet. I don’t know if the nightmares will permanently go away, but I know that every time I’m upset, every time I wake from a bad dream, Marcus will be beside me.
“Let’s hope she brought her boyfriend to torture,” I tease.
Marcus grins at me. “I like how I’m steadily making you more evil.”
“I was born evil. It just wasn’t until I met my soulmate that I was able to show it.”
I lean in and kiss him, thankful that we can continue our lives together without that threat hanging over us. But I know that if our relationship could make it through that monster terrorizing us, it could make it through anything.
“We’ve made it through so much together,” I say.
“Of course. We could make it through anything,” Marcus says.
“Anything?”
He looks over at me. “Of course.”
“You’d do anything for me?”
“What part of ‘of course’ don’t you understand?”
“Guess where we’re going tomorrow?”
He narrows his eyes before realization hits. “No. I will never roller skate with you ever again.”
“The couple that roller skates together stays together.”
Marcus sighs, which instantly starts making me laugh, and soon he’s laughing as well.
“But seriously. No.”
“We’ll see.” Still laughing, I bump into him before pressing a kiss against his cheek, feeling happy to face a future with the man I love by my side.