11. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

U lises was expecting the knock on his door. Easton and Jarrell were supposed to come over along with Jude and Raylee. They were making Ulises's love life a party. It was annoying but in an endearing way. Ulises smiled and shook his head.

"You guys. This is ridiculous." Ulises pulled open the door. "I honestly don't need help…"

Ulises eyes widened when he saw Izzy. He peered around him into the driveway to discover Daruss was with him, along with Jude and Raylee. They all must have ridden over together.

Ulises didn't know what to do. A part of him wanted to shut the door in Izzy's face, lock himself inside and take a bath while he answered the messages of two people who actually liked him. Three people ,if he counted Seryn's new chef, but he was already talking to him.

Izzy stepped closer with concern in his expression. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Did that come out as annoyed rather than fearful? He hoped so. He didn't want to give Izzy a reason to get aggressive with him again.

"You're pale." Izzy reached for him as if he were going to pull him in for a hug, but Ulises stepped back.

"I'm fine." In truth, he'd been dizzy for a while but it had gotten worse since Easton had upped the dose of the medication. He needed to mention it to Easton because it had gone on too long. Not that Ulises was a doctor, but he thought it might be the medication. It was hard on his body. "Why are you here, Izzy?"

"I'm crashing your party." Izzy grinned. He'd given into Izzy's charm because of that grin in the past, despite knowing about his reputation.

"No."

"I knew you'd say that. That's why Daruss is staying too."

"Daruss is welcome. You are not."

Izzy's expression softened. Maybe he was apologetic but there was something else softening his eyes too. Something Ulises hadn't seen before. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I won't lose control like that again. And I would never hurt you. I promise, baby."

Ulises sighed. If he could kick his own ass he would. And then he'd shake himself and ask why he always gave in to Izzy when he should send him packing. "Fine. You can stay. But if Daruss leaves, you have to as well. And don't call me baby."

Izzy smiled. "Okay, sweetheart."

"Or that either."

"Honey?"

"No." Ulises left the door open when he went back into his apartment. "Nothing but my name."

The others had given them privacy by staying at the bottom of the steps, but they’d come inside after the argument was over. Jude held out his hand. "I need to see their usernames."

Ulises sighed and shook his head. But he nodded to his phone which laid on the coffee table. "Would anyone like anything to drink?"

"I'll get everyone something. You should sit." When Izzy entered the kitchen, the space grew smaller. He took up so much room inside the apartment. "I'm fine."

Izzy growled despite his promise. Ulises stiffened and backed away from him. The fear must have shown in his expression because Izzy sighed. "You're not feeling well. I can tell. Let me help. Please."

Ulises nodded, giving Izzy what he wanted. What would happen if he didn't?

He moved around Izzy. Izzy mumbled to himself. "I shouldn't have come."

Ulises had to agree. He wondered why Izzy had.

When another knock rang through the apartment, Ulises went to answer it only for Daruss to stop him. "Izzy's right. You're a little pale."

Ulises sighed. "That's just my skin tone."

Something about what Ulises said excited Jude. "We should go to the beach. Not the lake in Wingspan. Only dragons swim in that. But the big lake. We can make a whole day of it."

Ulises shrugged. "We can also hang out at your brother's house."

Jude shook his head. "That makes more work for you, doesn't it?"

"Mitch cleans the pool. Not me. I'll wash the towels. It's nothing much." Ulises liked hanging out with Seryn and Mitchell. The biggest issue was he always thought about what he needed to clean. He couldn't shut off his housekeeper brain, even when he was supposed to be having fun.

"But going to the beach is supposed to be about you. Sun and sand. Relaxing. Are you going to be able to do that at Mitch and Seryn's house?" Raylee sat on the coffee table in front of Ulises.

"Probably not." Ulises wasn't that much of a fan of sand, if he were being honest but he supposed a day of relaxing wouldn't hurt. "Why does it have to be about me, though? I'm not special."

Izzy growled again but this time Ulises ignored him. It was easier to do when he was several feet away.

"I'm going to feel your neck, okay?" Raylee asked before touching him.

Ulises nodded.

Jude sat on one side of him and Jarrell on the other. Jude took his hand, holding it. "Every day should be Ulises's day. It should be a national holiday. Why? Because you're amazing. Most of us in this apartment understand just how special you are."

The last thing Jude said was clearly directed at Izzy.

Ulises didn't respond. He didn't feel special. He didn't deserve a whole day where it was just about him. That would feel weird. "The beach is fine but it has to be about all of us. Not just me."

Easton and Gavin came inside after a knock on the door. Izzy let them in as if he lived there.

Easton stood next to Raylee. "What's going on?"

Raylee answered before Ulises had a chance to. "He seems to get pale when he stands for any length of time. And there's some involuntary moment."

Involuntary movement? Really?

"Meaning?" Easton pulled one of those pen-sized lights from his pocket. "How's your vision?"

"I'm fine." But something was different. Ulises bit his lip. "Sometimes things get…blurry. But not all the time."

"He swayed while he was in the kitchen." Raylee answered Easton's earlier question.

Ulises wasn't aware he’d been swaying.

Raylee stopped touching his neck and moved aside. "Feel under his jaw."

Easton put the pen back in his pocket and sat in front of Ulises. He was used to Easton's fingers on his neck. "You need another scan."

Ulises groaned. "I hate that metal tube."

Easton smiled. "You should be used to it by now."

"So not the point."

"I know. Also, no more driving. If your vision is blurry, it can be dangerous. And I want you to stay with someone. At least for a while. I'd prefer it if you stayed with Gavin and me. I can monitor you a lot easier."

"He can stay with me." Why was Izzy volunteering?

"Absolutely not." It would be a cold day in hell before Ulises moved in with Izzy. "I don't even know why you're here. This was supposed to be for my friends and me. You crashed my party."

Izzy handed Ulises his bottle of water. Ulises always used the same one. "There's electrolyte powder in it. Golden Cherry."

Ulises narrowed his eyes. "I'm not staying with you."

"It's either that or I'll drive you where you need to go."

Easton stood. "No motorcycles. Not even as a passenger. You could black out and fall off. And also, the party is over. Ulises needs to rest."

Ulises sighed. "I'll stay with Easton and Gavin."

"You’re staying with me." Why was Izzy harping on that one thing?

"It's not your decision." Ulises stood and headed toward his bedroom. Since Raylee had said he swayed on his feet, it made him super conscious of how he walked.

There were too many people in his apartment. More than had ever been inside in the three years he'd lived there. With four big dragon shifters there, space felt a little tight. While almost everyone there cared about him, with the exception of Izzy, whose presence still baffled him, it wasn't something he was used to.

"It will be my decision if you put yourself at risk. Now let me help you pack your shit. You're coming home with me." What an overbearing asshole.

That was it. Ulises met everyone's gaze with a smile. "I appreciate everyone coming by, but Easton is right. The party is over."

That was a gentle way of telling them to get out, right? Ulises needed time to himself. And time to breathe.

"Do you need help packing?" Jude asked.

"No. Thank you." Ulises touched his neck. "I've been sick a long time. Most of my life. I'm used to it, but I understand most of you are worried. You don't have to be. I've become very good at navigating this."

His vision blurred but he ignored it. He must have swayed. He wasn't aware of doing it but everyone else in the room was. Izzy swept him off his feet so fast it startled him. "I've got you."

Easton mumbled about changing his medication, which was what Ulises thought too, but he supposed they needed tests to rule out other things.

Gavin took charge. "Are you going to be okay here for a while?"

"I'll be fine. I just need to pack after I rest. I won't drive. And I’ll call you for ride when I’m ready. If that’s okay?" Ulises met Izzy's gaze. "You can put me down."

"If you want to stay here, I’ll stay with you."

"No way!" Ulises wasn’t the only one who protested. Easton and Jarrell also did. What came as a surprise was that Jude didn't. Jude had a knowing smirk. Raylee bit his lip and leaned into Daruss.

The rest of them didn't have much to say about it.

"I'll sleep on the couch."

"Put me down!" The last thing Ulises needed as Izzy hanging around.

Izzy put him on his feet again but he kept an arm around his waist. "I'm staying."

"I don't want you here."

"I know. But you still need me."

"I need someone. Not you." Ulises turned toward the bedroom. He grabbed his suitcase and started packing his clothes. “If you’re going to keep arguing with me, I’ll just go now.”

“We’ll wait for you to pack, Ulises,” Easton yelled from the living room.

"I'll pick you up in the morning to take you to work," Izzy called from the other room.

"I’ll call if I need a ride.” Ulises really wanted to hate Izzy, but it was difficult when all of his demands were about helping him. “What a jerk.”

"I heard that."

"I don't care."

Izzy had the nerve to chuckle and it came from the bedroom doorway. "Are you going to agree to me driving you?"

"No." Yes because Izzy was like a wrecking ball, blowing through Ulises’s defenses. But he wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"Please."

Ulises turned. "Get out of my bedroom."

"It's not like I haven't been inside before."

"That was before you said you were pity-fucking me."

"What the hell, Izzy?" Jude shouted.

It was humiliating that all of his friends were in the other room, hearing the entire argument.

"I told you right after I said it that I lied.."

Ulises shook his head. "I think you told the truth."

It was difficult for Ulises to believe someone would want to be with him in any capacity. He was sick all the time. He didn't blame anyone for not wanting to stick around.

Izzy growled again and grabbed the shirt from his hand. "You're wadding it all up. It's gonna make it wrinkled."

Ulises sat on the bed and let Izzy pack for him since he was being so critical about everything. "Why do you care if my clothes are wrinkled?"

"Because I just do, okay. And before you start in on me again, let's just agree to the fact that I'm a shitty person for saying what I said." Izzy grabbed a stack of shirts out of his dresser, putting them into the suitcase. "Also, your packing skills are for shit."

Ulises shook his head. "That's nice. Go ahead and insult the guy with the lumpy neck. Cause he has nothing else to worry about but satisfying your perfectionism."

Izzy sighed. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

"It's not. I should know how to navigate your health issues by now. It's just that you make me crazier than she ever did."

"Who are you talking about?"

"My sister. She had health problems too. A lot like yours actually. Only her tumors were cancerous."

"Was she human?"

"Yeah. Same mother. Different fathers. My dad was a dragon shifter. Her’s was human."

"I'm sorry about your sister."

Izzy smiled. "She would have liked you."

"Why do you say that?"

"You're so calm about your health. She would have found comfort in that."

"I've dealt with it my whole life. You just get used to it. And the possibility of dying, I guess." Not that he wanted to make the conversation morbid, but it was something he'd had to consider more than most people his age. Death had stopped scaring him a long time ago.

"She wasn't ready." Izzy should his head. "No. That's a lie too. The truth is, I wasn't ready to let her go."

That took a lot for Izzy to admit. Why he was confiding in Ulises was in question, but he let Ulises in when he probably hadn't with very many people.

Ulises touched Izzy's hand. At first Izzy hesitated but he laced their fingers together. He didn't stop there. He pulled Ulises up from his seated position on the bed and hugged him.

It didn't have to mean anything, right? They'd been Dragon Skull family for three years. Their past sexcapades didn't have to muddy those waters.

When Izzy ended the hug, he smiled. "I'm the one who should be comforting you. Not the other way around."

"That's okay. It's what friends are for, right?" Ulises continued packing where Izzy left off.

"We're friends, now?" Izzy took the clothing from him.

"Haven't we always been?" Ulises took them back from him. "I've got it. But thanks."

"But just friends?"

"Just friends, I promise. You don't have anything to worry about with me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know what I mean." Ulises waved off the comment and stuffed the clothing into the suitcase. "I'm not going to chase you like some of the others have. I'll respect your boundaries. I know where I stand."

"I don't think you do." But Izzy left the room, standing right outside the open door. He watched Ulises as if he were worried about him falling over but it seemed he wanted space at the same time.

When Ulises was done, he shut the suitcase and zipped it.

"Let me get it." Izzy took the suitcase from his hands. "This thing weighs as much as you do."

"It has rollers." Ulises needed to get it off the bed. He could roll it the rest of the way.

Izzy shook his head. "Stubborn."

"I'm giving you what you want."

Izzy turned, getting so close Ulises felt Izzy's breath on his face. "You don't know what I want."

Ulises pushed at Izzy's chest. "Actually, I do since you told me the other day."

"Why do you always have to argue with me?"

Ulises shrugged. "It's a gift. Now get out of my face, Izzy. I mean it."

Izzy grinned and shook his head. But then he chuckled as he carried the suitcase.

"Do you not hear me when I said the suitcase has rollers?"

"I heard you. Since I'm not ninety pounds soaking wet, I can carry it."

"I am not ninety pounds." Ulises flipped him off behind his back.

The others in the room chuckled. Thankfully, Gavin and Easton were the only ones still there.

"Maybe not. But you’re a sassy boy who needs duct tape over his mouth and a spanking."

"You're not my daddy, so fuck off, Izzy."

Izzy mumbled something that sounded like, "Not yet." But that couldn't be right. Izzy didn't want a permanent boy and Ulises didn't want to be anything less.