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“Your nanny made you skip meals and scrub floors. I was a spoiled brat in comparison.”
“You are a spoiled brat, Rueben.”
He pretends to be insulted, pouting like a real spoiled brat.
“He’s not a spoiled brat,” Bishop cuts in, as usual playing the part of peacemaker, even when it’s not required.
I don’t think he knows how to switch that off.
Rueben smirks at me. As usual, Bishop’s sticking up for him.
Bishop looks at me. “And you had a tough childhood. No one’s going to debate that. Let’s just keep it civil. Okay?”
“We weren’t even arguing,” Rueben complains.
“Yeah, Dad,” Gus mocks Bishop. “They weren’t even arguing.”
Sapphire bursts out laughing. “Dad? Oh my God.”
“You don’t think he acts like he’s our dad?” Rueben asks her, clearly trying to wind Bishop up.
“No!” she says, shaking her head. “He’s just used to being in charge, and you guys clearly try to push each other’s buttons for amusement.”
“Alright kids,” Bishop says. “I’d better haul my decrepit old ass to bed. Don’t you stay up all night now, you hear me!”
Rueben rolls his eyes. “You have no idea how ridiculously Dad-like that actually was.”
Bishop doesn’t care. He leaves the room, and suddenly it seems like Rueben’s waiting for me to leave, next. He makes little gestures to me when Sapphire’s not looking, trying to get me to clear out. I act like I don’t know what he’s doing, because I’m not missing out on time with Sapphire when he’s already mated to her. He can’t keep her all to himself. Not while she has four mates.
“Rueben, I think I can hear your kitten crying,” I tell him.
“Aw!” Sapphire exclaims. “He must be lonely.”
Rueben frowns at me. “Don’t joke about that.”
“I wasn’t joking.” I was straight up lying, but you don’t need to know that.
“You should go see to him,” Sapphire says. “I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll be going to bed soon anyway, to sleep.”
Is she actually helping me? Or does she just love that kitten as much as Rueben does?
“Get moving,” Gus tells him, ushering him out the door before turning to Sapphire and kissing her on the lips. “Sleep well, my mate.”
He leaves with Rueben, closing the door and blocking out our spoiled brat’s complaints.
I stare at the door for a few seconds in utter shock before I manage to pull myself together.
When I look back at Sapphire, her gaze locks with mine.
“I wanted to get a chance to talk to you,” I admit. “But I didn’t think it would be this easy.”
“I know, right? I thought everyone else was going to linger around all night.”
“You wanted to speak to me, too?”
“I did. I do. But you can go first.”
Okay, I guess. Here goes nothing.
