Chapter 25

Alick

"Oh." How had everything started devolving so quickly?

"You've been frowning at your phone for the past five minutes and every time that message notification goes off, it gets worse." Daddy didn't sound worried, but as I looked over he raised one eyebrow. "Well? Unless they think Walmart is frightening, I don't understand the problem."

"I think they've had too much free time on their hands lately." Still frowning at the messages that just kept getting more and more ridiculous, I shrugged. "Um, Kenzie is worried that we haven't…well, we haven't had penetrative sex yet, and Lorne has lost his mind over human wedding rituals, and I think Stefan's fueling that insanity because they've started a Pinterest board for me?"

Was I supposed to be grateful for that?

"Do I want to know how Kenzie knows that much about our sex life?" Daddy didn't seem to be frustrated but he was definitely wondering what I'd been doing.

"I didn't say that." Nope. Not taking the blame on oversharing there. "Um, it was the fact that I didn't talk about it that made him start worrying."

Daddy just sighed.

"He started thinking that meant it'd gone badly because if it'd gone well I'd have bragged about it." I honestly wasn't sure if he was right about that or ridiculous, but either way it'd started the insanity ball rolling. "When I told him he had nothing to worry about, he connected the dots."

Finally letting out a breath and shaking his head, Daddy pulled the truck over on the side of the road and put it in park. There wasn't quite enough room to climb on his lap no matter how far back he pushed the seat, but he turned and reached over to take my hand. "Alright, from what I've seen of Kenzie's logic, I can understand how he got to this point."

That was probably because Daddy was pretty sure Kenzie was insane, but at least he was polite about it.

"Me too but it's still unexpected." As I shrugged, he flashed me a grin and squeezed my hand before going back to looking serious.

"What would you like to tell him?" Daddy sounded like it was a reasonable question but I wasn't sure what he was thinking.

"Um, I was bouncing between using the privacy shield and telling his Daddy on him?" Both of those options might've been cheating, but it was hard to tell. "Do you have a preference?"

Daddy looked entirely too innocent and took the question way too seriously, so I knew to be worried when he finally nodded. "Tell him that you haven't decided to put your dick in my ass yet and you'll let him know when you make that call."

Groaning, I slouched against the seat and ignored his snickers. "No. I'm not going to break his brain and he knows I'm more comfortable bottoming."

It was just better and I wasn't sure why everyone else didn't agree with that.

Grady was still snickering as he leaned over the cab and kissed my head. "How about you remind him that we haven't even been mates for a week? And maybe you tease him that I wanted our first time to be special."

Was that a tease or the truth?

Deciding it was probably both, I frowned at him. "Then he'll just help me design the most romantic evening he can think of and you'll start getting helpful hints from half the town."

Now Daddy was the one groaning as he looked up at the ceiling like he was begging the ancestors for help. "I forgot about that part."

I hadn't.

"I'm changing my vote. I will pick anything that doesn't have those old men at the diner giving me advice on topping." As his head came back down and he leaned against the door, he gave me a stern look that sent shivers through me. "I can come up with some creative gossip-related threats if we need them."

Daddy was devious, so that didn't surprise me.

"I think I'm just going to remind him that I'm human and don't always work on dragon timelines." I shrugged as Daddy chuckled. "I'm not sure he'd believe me that not even all dragons move as fast as he thinks is reasonable."

Besides, I didn't think he'd moved as fast as he was pushing me to.

"Nope." Daddy's smile looked wicked as he leaned over again and kissed my cheek. "Now, tell me again what your good friend Lorne was worried about."

Ugh.

"Um, weddings and diamond rings and sparkly things?" It was getting ridiculous. "He wants to know what you think of a purple and white color scheme? Sparkly white like snow, not plain white. Somehow there's a big difference between the two."

Huge.

"Oh, and there are evidently a thousand shades of white that my lack of strong opinion about is driving him insane." I wasn't sure there was any logic in that at all, but my vague answers were making him nuts. "He keeps sending me pictures of different types of white? And not like different flowers. Different paint square kind of shapes that are all white."

What. The. Fuck.

"And for the love of the ancestors, don't call any of the colors silver even if they look silver. They aren't."

Grady was doing his best not to laugh but failing spectacularly. "I like the color scheme but I think I will handle picking the shade of white. How about you be in charge of finding us the perfect flowers in shades of purple and a bright, clear white?"

"Deal." I'd agree to anything that saved me from the white versus white debate.

Wait.

"We're not getting married just to make him stop texting me." We might have to do it if he got the town involved, but he hadn't thought about that yet because he didn't see why I wasn't agreeing with him right off the bat.

He wouldn't get devious until he stopped being confused.

Grady rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Of course not. We'll do it for the tax benefits and because then I can put a ring on you and the men at the diner will stop asking me if I've put a ring on it."

For fuck's sake.

"They're singing it, aren't they?" It should've been a stupid question, but he nodded. "Sorry, Daddy."

"I tried to be social and go out to lunch yesterday. I promised I'd try." Grady's expression was a mix of panic and frustration…he wasn't sure how to handle the crazy he'd found himself living in. "I was polite just like I promised, but Mr. Kennedy is trying to get them to learn how to do a flash mob. I'm not sure what year he thinks this is but he's convinced it's all the rage."

Huh?

"He wants to do a flash mob to a Beyonce song so that you'll ask me to marry you?" When he nodded, I realized I wasn't sure what century that old man was living in. "He realizes you can't be guilted into that and we aren't living in sin, right?"

Oh.

"And, um, Boyd might've chimed in to ask why you're still living in the trailer? I think he was just having fun getting everyone else wound up, but he's not helping." I might have to just kill him and apologize to Stefan later. "And I have no idea how he decided to pick that idea because I don't think you're living in the trailer."

Grady chuckled and looked slightly guilty. "That's my fault. I think I made a smart-ass remark to one of the old farts. He probably heard weird gossip."

That made more sense than anything else I'd come up with.

"Do you think you're living in the trailer?" I hadn't been worried about that but I was starting to think I should've been.

Groaning, Grady shook his head and leaned over to give me another kiss. "No, baby boy. I sleep with you and we're slowly figuring out where my stuff goes. But even if I was, that would be perfectly reasonable. Yes, we're fated mates that should belong in a romance novel we're so incredible, but we're also people who need time to get used to things."

Nodding slowly, I unbuckled and leaned across the cab to snuggle into his chest as best I could. "Yes, magical fated mates but we still have brains and emotions and we need to work out practical things."

Like the fact that I seemed to need a lot more sleep than he did.

And he was really focused on making sure I got enough to eat.

And he had a lot of art stuff.

Yep, practical things.

"So no worries about our living situation or our wedding colors?" His chest jerked as I groaned. "I like purple and dislike flash mobs."

He was just as insane as the rest of them, but somehow, he didn't seem to realize it.

"I'll remember the flash mob for the wedding notes, but I don't think Lorne or Stefan would be talked into anything like that." Now, something magical and ridiculous? They could definitely be talked into something like that. "I can't promise anything else, though."

Daddy gave me a hug. "Don't worry. I'll just call their Daddies and tattle on them."

"Thank you." I couldn't do it without feeling a bit guilty, but he could. "What am I telling Lorne about the wedding date?"

I seemed to have lost all control over the situation.

"Tell him that he has to wait until I've officially asked you and you have a romantic story to tell everyone. Then he can do it after that. No less than thirty days out and no more than six months. We're not looking for something huge or insane."

"No, nothing huge or insane." That sounded miserable. "But I can be in charge of the flowers, right?"

"Yes." Kissing my head, Daddy didn't seem to realize the whole conversation was ridiculous. "And I will make sure Lorne doesn't try to put you in a dress or a sequined tux like you're Elvis or something."

I couldn't help laughing. "He's got both of those on the Pinterest board."

"Absolutely not." Daddy made a low rumbling sound that was all pissed-off dragon. "We will have some limits on this."

Just some?

I wasn't sure if that made me feel better or not, but it was probably a reasonable limit based on who we were talking about.

"Do I get to ask when you're going to propose? Were you going to do it when we do the hike to the gate next week?" I wasn't surprised when a snort was all I got. "I didn't think you'd answer that."

My life was so weird sometimes.

"My smart cutie." Grady went very Daddy, kissing my head and rubbing my back. "But just think of it. You're going to have so many new things to worry about, you won't have time for the old ones."

I managed to let out a deep sigh instead of telling him he was a butthead, so I thought I was a pretty good sub as I fought to find a better response. "Thank you, Daddy. You're right."

He nearly giggled. "That would've been much more believable if you hadn't mentally just huffed and called me a butthead."

"No." Sitting up, I shook my head. "I'm your good boy."

Wait.

What. The. Fuck.

My eyes were probably the size of a cartoon character's based on how he snickered, but I managed to close my mouth, so I thought I was doing pretty good. "No."

"Yes." He was nearly giggly his smile was so big and he leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. "I'm not a butthead. I'm your Daddy."

"Those two things aren't mutually exclusive."

"You're not helping the situation, naughty boy."

"Shit."

"How often do you curse in your head?" Daddy's eyes narrowed and he studied my face. "And should I ask how often you call me names?"

"No."

"Shit."

Damn it, I did it again.

Blank mind.

Blank mind.

Blank mind.

Closing my eyes, I found our bond and saw that instead of a thin string there was now something that was thicker and looked a bit like a line he'd draw in one of his sketchbooks. I marveled at it for a moment before taking it from a strong black color down to a faint gray.

"Butthead?"

It worked.

Daddy was still trying to look stern when I opened my eyes again, but his were sparkling with barely suppressed laughter. "Your mate bond looks like a vine. It's really cool."

"Oh wow." The rest of my brain was just filled with static, so that was the only thing that came out. "Oh wow."

Shifting to looking very pleased with himself like it'd all been his doing, he brushed his lips against mine and smiled. "Who do you belong to, baby boy?"

"You, Daddy." Yay, words. "I'm your good boy."

If I reminded him of that enough, he'd forget my potty-mouthed brain, right?

"I think we need to have a discussion about your propensity for calling me names, baby boy." The words were technically stern, but something about the tone in his voice sent a shiver through me and had my pants fitting more tightly. "Sit back in your seat. We need to have a discussion when we get home."

Home. I loved it when he called it that.

Wait.

Discussion?

My body started moving before the rest of me caught up with what he'd said because I found myself bringing the belt across my lap before I'd even repeated the sentence in my head. "I…I'm your good boy, Daddy."

That wasn't helping but it had him reaching out and stroking my head. "Usually you are, and we're going to make sure you remember how a good boy acts."

Oh dear.

"I'll be the best boy ever." Yes, I'd do that.

He nodded, but the intensity in his eyes hadn't faded. "I know. Especially after we have our discussion."

Did he know how hard he was making me?

That was the goal, right?

"Daddy?" I managed to get the question started as he put the truck back in drive, but the rest took a bit longer to get out. "Um, good boys who learn their lessons get rewards, right?"

Daddy smiled, but there was something devious hiding just behind it. I knew I was right when he reached out and stroked my cheek. "We'll see."

He liked fucking with me entirely too much…and my dick needed to learn that he wasn't supposed to get so excited by it.