Page 91 of Endlessly Raphael
“I’d like to offer my father and Ali their former positions.”
“Do you think they’ll take them?”
“Yes. You know that our relationship has improved, but they have the knowledge. And more importantly, they have the desire. I wasn’t meant to be caged in an office ten hours a day.”
Rapha kisses my temple. “You know I support you.”
“I know. It just feels like such a letdown after everything I went through to get it.”
“Don’t look at it that way. It was that conflict that led us to each other. Your grandfather was looking out for you.”
My heart flutters in my chest. I’m glad the butterflies this man gives me didn’t go away. “So romantic.” Reaching up, I rub the back of his neck. “I want to make pretty, badass clothes. Stuff vampires would like.”
Rapha’s face lights up. “I love that idea.”
“We could have a boutique with your art and my clothes.”
“If it would make you happy, I’ll make it happen.”
“Thank you.” I brush my fingers across his cheek. “I want to be with you more too. I don’t feel good when we’re apart for too long. I want slow mornings and steamy nights. I want to spend so much time with you we make other people sick.”
Rapha responds by kissing me. It quickly turns heated, and we grind together on the couch. That is until the sounds of his brothers’ voices bleed through our walls.
“What’s going on out there?” I ask.
“No idea,” Rapha replies, more than annoyed, but we’re both off the couch and heading out to the common area where all the vampires and their mates are gathered around Thorn.
“Is something wrong?” I ask.
Eros turns to us with a smile on his face. “Nope. Thorn is having an existential crisis so we’re taking him out.”
“Another one?” Rapha asks. “It’s been at least fifty years since the last. I thought he was over it.”
“I don’t want a stupid mate anyway,” Thorn yells, sloppily trying to push past his brothers.
Something tells me he could get away if he really wanted to.
“Is he… drunk?” I ask.
“He fed from a bunch of people at a rave,” Syn says, his tone disapproving.
“What does that do?” I ask.
“It’s the highest a vampire can get,” Justice explains. “It takes a lot for us to feel a buzz. Thorn spends a lot of time pushing the limits.”
Yves’s door opens and he steps out wearing jeans and a black sweater. It’s the first time I’ve seen him look so casual. “Whoever is coming, let’s go.”
“You’re going out with us?” Bowie asks, clearly shocked.
“Thorn needs his brothers.” He walks over to Thorn, gently lifting his chin. I watch as the two share some kind of exchange and Thorn presses his forehead to Yves’s shoulder. Yves holds him for a moment before kissing the top of his head.
“I am shook,” I whisper.
“It’s hard to see,” Rapha replies. “Thorn is so strong. Something got under his skin.”
Syn turns to us. “A rare sight indeed.”
“Nothing a few hours of brotherly love won’t fix,” Midnight says. “We’ve neglected him. All of us found our mates and nothing is the same as it was.”