“Basil, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t say anything at first, looking like he wanted me to say something else, but I was at a loss of words. When nothing else came, he scoffed again and pushed past me, bumping into my shoulder along the way.
“Basil!”
He didn’t stop walking, and when he turned the corner, a sharp pain hit my chest so hard and fast, I gasped. Rubbing at it, I followed him, but when I made it down the alley, he was already gone. Scanning the sky above, I saw a black shadow flying off into the distance. He’d taken his dragon home.
Motherfucker.
“You’re back early,” Ulma said as she answered her door.
“Yeah,” I breathed out. It had only been a day since Basil walked out of our lunch date, but it felt like an eternity had passed because the bastard wasn’t answering my calls. He texted me to tell me to shove it up my ass and leave him alone until I could get my shit together. So I at least knew he was alive, the dickhead.
“You alright, Hiro?”
I shook my head and lifted a shoulder. Was I alright? No, not really. “I’m fine.”
She eyed me for a minute. “Alright, well, when do you need me next? Tomorrow?”
I mentally calculated how much money I had in my account, wondering how I was going to pay her and feed my kid at the same time, and cringed. “Uh, can I pay you by the end of the week?”
She gave me a confused expression. “You paid me through the end of the month.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Your man just gave me a bundle of cash not ten minutes ago.”
Before I could form a response to that—because what in the fuck?—my little bundle of energy came flying out of the house, screaming, “Daddy!”
I chuckled and caught her in my arms, lifting her up into a hug. She had her oxygen tube on, which wasn’t surprising since she’d hardly had it off in the past few weeks. “Hey, peanut.” I kissed her cheek. “Gimme some sugar.”
She kissed my cheek, then gave me a smooch on the lips that made me smile.
“How was school today?”
“Fine.”
I rolled my eyes at the one-word answer, gave her a little tickle, then set her on her feet, saying, “Go get your stuff so we can get home for dinner.”
“Okay, Daddy.” She ran back into the house, and Ulma and I stared at each other.
“Was his name Basil?”
She nodded. “Yes. He gave me the money, and”—she chuckled—“told me to tell you to kiss his ass.”
I shook my head at that, but a snort still came out, although I was pissed. How dare he interfere in my life that way. How dare he insert himself like that. I didn’t want or need his goddamn charity. But it wasn’t Ulma’s fault, so I took a deep breath and decided to save my anger for later. “Can you watch her after school?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks, Ulma.”
She nodded, and Rasha came back out with a big smile on her face, so we said our goodbyes and walked across the street to our house. “Go wash up and you can help me make pancakes for dinner.”
She grinned at me. “I love pancakes for dinner!”
“I know.” I kissed the top of her head, and as soon as she was upstairs, I pulled out my phone and dialed Basil, preparing to leave an angry voicemail.
To my surprise, he answered, “Hello?”
“What in the fuck is your problem?”
He sighed. “Apparently, you are my problem.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear to glare at it. “What gives ya the right to come over here and pay Ulma, huh? What is the matter with ya?” My accent tended to get thicker when I was angry.
“Being your viramore gives me the right, Hiro. And just so you know, I paid your fucking bills for the next three months, too.”
I froze in shock for several beats before my entire body ignited in red-hot anger. “I’m not a fuckin’ charity case, Basil Ellwood!”
“I know that, asshole. I know you hate accepting help from other people, but I don’t give a shit anymore. If you can’t accept me in your life as your partner, then I’ll take care of you from afar.”
“Basil, you can’t just—”
“You’re my viramore, Hiro. You’re supposed to be with me, you’re supposed to be the other half of my soul, and you have a beautiful daughter that I already care about simply because she’s yours. She is more important than your pride, Hiro Grimsby. I wanted to give you a little break so you can catch up. I was going to talk to you about it, I was going to ask your permission, but you won’t even let me ask you if she’s okay. You won’t even give me that. Don’t you understand that I already care about you? What’s important to you is important to me. Who you love is important to me. And… I’m sorry if you’re pissed, but I’m not sorry I did it. Now you can concentrate on your little girl instead of worrying about paying bills all the time.” I couldn’t be sure, but I thought he might’ve been crying.
I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out.
He breathed a long-suffering sigh out, then quietly said, “I’m here if you’re ever ready to talk… no matter when or where you are… I’m here.” Then he hung up the phone, but not before I heard a tiny sob fall from his lips.
I stood in the middle of my kitchen, staring at my fridge for so long, Rasha was in front of me without me realizing she’d even come into the room.
“You okay, Daddy?”
I blew out a breath. Was I? No, I didn’t think I was. The anger was still there, but now there was this understanding underneath it. Basil overstepped. There was no doubt about that, but he didn’t do it maliciously, no not all. He did it because he cared, because he wanted to help. And I really didn’t know what to do with that. Shaking away the thoughts, I offered my daughter a small smile. “I’m okay. Let’s make those pancakes.”
She smiled and went to the pantry to get out the ingredients.
Chapter Thirteen
Hiro
“Compelling me ain’t gonna work, asshole,” I said to the vampire I was tying up. I already cuffed him with some handcuffs that were meant to hold supernaturals, but I was wrapping him in some rope that was supposed to infuse a calming energy into him. Jasmyn gave it to me to try out, but I wasn’t sure it was workin’ too well.
“Let me go,” he growled.
I sighed. “Not gonna happen. You got a bounty on your head, and I’m gonna collect it.”
He hissed and started struggling more, so with a sigh, I hit him in the back of the head with the butt of my knife, then watched in satisfaction as he collapsed in a heap. He was going to have a bad headache when he woke up.
Slinging him over my shoulder, I carried him to my truck, threw him in the back seat, and slammed the door. As I made my way to the driver’s seat, I lifted my cloak to check my side. That bastard had been strong as hell and somehow slipped a claw between the armor at my hip. My wards helped protect me, but vamps were fast and strong, so it still hurt like hell. Luckily, there was only a small amount of blood.