“Deal.”
“I should catch a few hours of sleep myself.” She appears distraught as she tries to shake the exhaustion from her face.
Nikolai stands up and nods at me. “Thank you for letting me stay in your house, sir.”
I’m about to throw out a ‘No, I’m not letting you,’ but the expectation on Bran’s face forces me to change my mind, and I release a begrudged affirmative noise instead.
My son smiles and mouths a “Thanks” before he and the fucker go up the stairs.
He better take him to the guest room.
I’m about to remind him of that when Astrid shakes her head. “Don’t even think about being a dick. You did enough damage this entire morning.”
“I don’t like the idea of him in our son’s room.”
“He’s a twenty-three-year-old man, Levi. Stop treating him like a child. Besides, Nikolai is just so well-mannered.”
“Have you seen the tattoos?”
“You mean how beautiful they are?”
“How many there are, Princess.”
“So what? Those don’t make his personality. Since when do you judge a book by its cover?”
“Since it walks into my house and steals my son.”
She laughs and wraps her arm around mine then leans her head on my shoulder. “You’re such a papa bear. Just be happy that Bran found someone who cares about him like Nikolai does. You heard the part he hates, right? That’s exactly what we struggle with, and not only has he picked up on it, but he chose it as the only thing he dislikes. You know how closed off and inward Bran can be, so we should be celebrating the fact that he’s letting someone close, not be babies about it.”
I release a grumble.
“Levi, come on. Have you ever seen Bran smile so much?”
I groan. So she noticed that, too. Of course she did. And I hate to admit it, but she’s definitely right. I’ve never seen him as happy as he was this morning.
Fucking hell.
“I know you’re also glad deep down.” She kisses my cheek. “You better not cause Nikolai trouble.”
“So you’re Team Nikolai now?”
“I’m Team Bran and he loves that man. Besides, he’s a real lad.”
“A real lad? Seriously, Princess?”
“He gets my stamp of approval.” She kisses me again. “Want to sleep some more since you called in sick?”
“You know I won’t say no to that.”
After we go to the bedroom and Astrid slips in for a quick shower, I open my group chat with my cousin and friends.
Levi
I think I’m depressed.
Aiden
Midlife crisis? Is that why you called in sick?
More like theft-of-my-children crisis. No one told me they’d slip away one by one.
Xander
Tell me about it, Captain. I still can’t believe my baby bee has some lizard boyfriend.
Ronan
An actual lizard? Bloody hell, Xan. What happened to baby Cecy?
Xander
He’s a person, but I’d rather think of him as a lizard so he doesn’t grow on me.
I like that idea. Dehumanization won’t allow them to grow on me. Though I really doubt it with this one. Why can’t we invent a time machine so they’ll stay young forever?
Cole
Don’t even remind me of that, Captain. I get nightmares about the day my babies will introduce me to some fuckers.
Aiden
Pretty sure you know at least one of them, if not two.
Cole
What are you insinuating?
Aiden
You might want to sit down for this.
Cole
Sit down for what?
Aiden
One day, my Eli will marry your Ava and we’ll be in-laws.
Xander
Jesus. Is that a script for a horror film?
Aiden
A reality show.
Cole
I’ll kill him first, Aiden. You know that.
Aiden
Good luck trying to stop my son. We King men always get what we want.
He’s right. It’s not only about him, me, or Uncle. The younger generation is the same as well. Bran included.
I saw it in his eyes earlier. He wants to be with Nikolai and he’ll do it no matter what it takes.
He’ll be with him even if the whole world is against him.
I guess Astrid is right. It’s better to be happy for him than trying to sabotage Nikolai’s existence.
And he is much more well-behaved than Killian, so there’s that silver lining.
“Still thinking about your precious baby?” Astrid walks out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and steps between my legs. It doesn’t matter how old we get, she’ll always be the woman who does my head in. In every exciting sense of the word.