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"Sounds good. Hope you enjoy your book, then. Shall we?" I asked Ryk, and he hurried to the door, making me chuckle as I followed behind him.
"I didn't realize it was this quiet in the evening," Ryk murmured after we'd been walking for a few minutes, and I glanced down at him with a smile.
"Yeah, it's nice, isn't it? This area is all residential, so it gets really quiet at night," I said, taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly. My grandmother had left it to me when she died, and while I'd intended to sell it at first, I'd fallen in love with the house and the neighborhood when I came to check it out.
The ping of my phone stopped Ryk from replying, and I shot him an apology as I pulled it out. Seeing Mom's name on the screen, I said, "Just a sec."
Mom: Will you be picking up Moon and Candy soon? I think they miss you.
"Fuck," I mumbled under my breath, feeling like a very shitty dad for having forgotten to pick up my kids. At first, I'd moved them to my parents' place so they wouldn't get anxious with all the moving frenzy. Then I'd thought I should let the guys settle in first, and then between work and everything, I'd kept putting it off.
"What's wrong?" Ryk asked, and I looked at him as I answered.
"Uh, that was my mom. I was supposed to pick up my pets, and I forgot. She was asking when I'll come over to get them," I explained, and Ryk's eyes widened.
"Oh! I think I remember Nico mentioning you had pets. When I didn't see any, I guess I thought he'd been talking about one of the other places he'd looked at."
"I moved them to my parents' place so they wouldn't get anxious," I explained, and he hummed.
"Do they live far from here?" he asked, and I shook my head.
"They're about a fifteen-minute walk that way," I said, pointing toward the street we'd come from.
"Oh, that's really close! Will you need to get a lot of stuff?" he asked. "I mean, toys, beds, that kind of thing."
I shook my head, scratching the back of my neck. "My parents spoil them, so they have their own set of everything. I'll just need to get the two troublemakers."
"Then we can go get them now, if you want," Ryk said, and I raised my brows in surprise.
"Really? You don't mind?" I asked, and he shook his head, a smile lighting up his face.
"I love animals, so I'd love to meet your pets. And your parents too!" he added, jumping up and down on his tiptoes.
Laughing, I sent my mom a text saying I'd be there in fifteen, and we started walking toward their place with Ryk showering me with questions about my pets.
"Oh my God. We'll now have a Moon and a Star in our home," Ryk said with a cackle when I told him their names, and I chuckled. I'd thought of that the day I first found out Star's name, but Ryk seemed to be even more amused by the coincidence. "Teasing him is going to be so much fun!"
By the time we reached my parents' place, Ryk's face was red with laughter after he'd listed out all the jokes he was going to use on Star. Ryk was funny and so upbeat and cheerful it made me a little envious. I wished I had that kind of a carefree attitude, but I was always too serious for my own good.
"Wait, wait!" he said when I went to ring the doorbell, and then he straightened up and took a few deep breaths. The flush on his cheeks had lightened considerably when he finally nodded, and I bit back a smile as I rang the bell. My parents were going to love Ryk, but I had a feeling they wouldn't accept his 'roommate' status, even though that's exactly what he was.
Ryk
"Oh shit! What's your last name?" I asked as I heard footsteps closing in on the door.
"Huh? It's King," he said a moment before the door opened, and I mentally shook my head at myself. How could I have forgotten his last name?
"Dakota! It's so good to see you," an older woman—I still had a really hard time telling human ages—with hair similar to Dakota's and warm brown eyes said as she greeted us with a smile. She was almost as tall as Dakota, and I could see where he got his warm aura from. Then her eyes turned to me and brightened even more. "Who's your friend? Is he your boyfriend?"
Dakota's cheeks flushed as he shook his head, and I bit back a grin at how cute he looked. "This is my roommate, mom. Ryk, meet my mom, Vanessa King. Mom, meet Ryk."
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. King," I said, and she waved me off.
"Call me Vanessa. Or better yet, Mom," she said, and my eyes went wide.
"Really? I can call you Mom?" I asked, then glanced at Dakota to check if he minded. He had a smile on his face, so I assumed he didn't.
"Of course, honey. Now come on in," she said, and we stepped through the doorway into a warm, homey house. Was this where Dakota had grown up?
