Jael glanced over at Asher, bloodcurdling screaming filling the otherwise silent room.
"You don’t have to sit with me like I’m geriatric," He said flatly.
"I’m not," Asher defended, well aware that Jael always isolated to deal with grief. "We’re watching a movie."
Jael kept a straight face as he watched the flashing images on the screen. "I don’t remember my face being a part of the movie."
Asher went quiet, caught.
Jael scrubbed his face with a long-suffering sigh, "Go to bed Asher, I’ll be fine."
The Alpha stubbornly sat tight, flinching at a sudden noise from the movie because he hadn’t been paying attention.
Jael stopped trying to get rid of him after that, because if he was being honest with himself, he would have gotten to his feet and left.
But Asher’s familiar presence was comforting, and he wasn’t eager to return to his room.
They sat in companionable silence for a couple hours, Jael staring right through the screen when Asher’s head fell on his shoulders.
He expected it, he had known the exact moment Asher fell asleep, and he could have chased him off to bed then.
But maybe Jael was starting to get older, because he wanted to relieve the memory of taking Asher to bed.
He settled in to wait for Asher to fall deeply asleep, reaching into a pocket to grab a mint.
He popped the gum in his mouth, his gaze trailing from the movie to study the entire room.
Jael rose to his feet after a while, Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters.
When they were younger, he wouldn’t have carried Asher this thoughtfully. Dragging him by one of his legs was more common.
But Asher was sturdy, he could handle it.
Even now, the Alpha was much taller than him, powerful arms nearly choking him out as he held him tight.
He slipped quietly in their bedroom, well as quietly as he could while Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters.
Caspian roused when he got to the bed, sitting up while rubbing his eyes.
"Asher slept off watching movies with me," He explained the obvious.
"Thank you," The Omega said, his voice feather soft.
Jael had to look away from Caspian’s eyes, those kind blue eyes seemed to see right through him.
"Goodnight, Jael," Caspian said to him after the had gotten Asher comfortable on the bed.
The Alpha had immediately wrapped himself around the nearest person, Caspian unfazed by the Alpha wrapping himself around him.
Jael waved in response as he walked out of the room. He didn’t head for his own bedroom, instead he went for the front door although it was the dead of night.
The guards on late night duty went on alert when he showed up, going back to their quiet conversations and card games when he waved them away.
Jael couldn’t stand another night of staying up, ceiling-watching got boring fast.
It was the reason why he had suggested a movie night, a distraction was necessary.
As he drove out of the mansion to go on a late-night drive, he found himself reaching for the center console.
He stopped halfway and reached in his pocket again for another mint gum.
The first couple of weeks after Lucy’s death, quitting smoking had been easy.
She had always tried to get him to stop, and he always procrastinated when he would.
And after he left the burning warehouse behind, he vowed to ditch smoking. It was the least he could do to honor her memory...
That had been easier when the grief was an open wound he carried around, now that he was becoming numb, things were much harder.
The realization that Lucy was really gone was sinking in, as well the resurgence of his terrible coping habits to deal with her absence.
He found himself reaching for a cigarette often now, although he had cleared out all of his stash, so he had taken to chewing gum recently to keep himself busy.
But he didn’t expect it too, he just didn’t want to resort to smoking again.
Jael cruised around for hours, the roads were empty, so he barely had to pay attention, driving in circles without a destination.
He returned to the mansion shortly before dawn, only to clean up and get started on a new day without sleeping.
Caspian scrapped his plans of going to the hospital to spend the day with Jael.
He barely did anything though because Jael kept him out of sight of the ’redecoration’ so all he did was munch on snacks and watch movies while Jael handled everything.
Things between him and Asher couldn’t be better, but it was still surprising to get a call from Asher...
"Want to get lunch with me?"
Caspian was already on his feet at the invitation, "I’ll pick you up," He answered confidently although he couldn’t drive.
Asher’s chuckle made him smile but he had been serious.
Would he be driving? No, but he would pick Asher up regardless.
"Just sit tight, I’ll come get you." He said, hanging up.
Caspian glanced down at himself, the bedroom was currently out of commission so he couldn’t change out of his current clothes.
That made him wince because he hadn’t planned to leave the mansion at all, so he wasn’t exactly dressed for the public eye.
He wore comfortable pink sweatpants and a little black top with ’cutie’ written in garish pink glitter across the front.
He was dressed for a pajama party at best, and a grocery store visit at worst.
Caspian went to find Jael to report his predicament to the Beta.
Jael had listened patiently and then told him to wait, disappearing for a moment.
The Beta returning with black running shoes and a black pearl necklace made him stare in disbelief.
"Could only grab these," He held the items up with a straight face, "They match your shirt." He went on.
Caspian had so much to say that he said nothing, quietly reaching out take the shoes and accessory.