When they were done with supper, Aaren stood up with his plate. Hades caught his wrist—at the same time black spots burst through Aaren’s vision. Aaren swayed and made himself stay upright.
“Sweetheart?” Hades got to his feet hurriedly, eyes narrowed.
“I feel weird,” Aaren said. “Dark spots. And maybe my head is kind of stuffy.”
Hades frowned. “Sit down. I’ll do the dishes, and we’ll go home.”
“‘Kay.” Aaren said, sitting down. This felt better.
Actually, the longer he sat, the worse he felt. Was he catching something from Ballus’ house right now? Or was this from the night he slept over when Ballus was sick? He wrinkled his nose.
I can hang in there for a while more. It’s not that bad.
He watched muzzily as Hades rinsed the dishes and set them out to dry.
“Why isn’t the dishwasher working, anyway?” Hades grumbled.
“It broke and Ballus hasn’t fixed it yet. He said it’s cheaper for me to wash the dishes.” Aaren rolled his eyes, but it made everything feel even worse.
“Fuck him,” Hades said. “Except not really. No one wants to fuck his ass. I’m done. Let’s go home.”
Aaren barely found the words to respond. Hades looked around and grabbed Aaren’s phone. Then he scooped Aaren up with one arm, turned off the lights, and carried Aaren out through the front door.
The next morning, Aaren woke up with a terrible cold.
21
SICK
The phone alarmpierced his brain like a knife.
Aaren whined and huddled into the warmth beside him. “No, no, no...”
Oh gods, his throat hurt too. It felt like he was deep-throating sandpaper.
“Sweetheart?” a familiar rumbling voice said.
“No,” Aaren moaned. He wriggled closer to Hades and tried to bury his head under Hades’ arm. When that did not kill the horrible alarm, he threw his arm across Hades’ hip, except he bumped into something straight, hard, and unsexy. “Kill it!”
“Kill the alarm?”
“Yeah. Hurtsssss.”
The alarm stopped. Blessed silence filled the room, and Aaren sighed.
“Thank you,” he mumbled into Hades’ side.
A large hand petted his head. “How are you feeling?”
Aaren tried to shake his head, except that made everything spin. “Spins. Feels bad. Throat hurts too.”
A sharp breath. Hades moved, which made the mattress dip more under him. Aaren slid helplessly toward his alpha. When he petted Hades’ thigh again, he realized that the hard metal thing was gone.
Before he could wrap octopus arms around Hades, Hades shifted away. Thick fingers brushed Aaren’s forehead, and Hades cursed.
“Fuck. I should’ve checked on you sooner. You’re running hot.”
Hades disappeared from the bed completely. Aaren whined louder.
