“He gets my stamp of approval.” She kisses me again. “Want to sleep some more since you called in sick?”
“You know I won’t say no to that.”
After we go to the bedroom and Astrid slips in for a quick shower, I open my group chat with my cousin and friends.
Levi
I think I’m depressed.
Aiden
Midlife crisis? Is that why you called in sick?
More like theft-of-my-children crisis. No one told me they’d slip away one by one.
Xander
Tell me about it, Captain. I still can’t believe my baby bee has some lizard boyfriend.
Ronan
An actual lizard? Bloody hell, Xan. What happened to baby Cecy?
Xander
He’s a person, but I’d rather think of him as a lizard so he doesn’t grow on me.
I like that idea. Dehumanization won’t allow them to grow on me. Though I really doubt it with this one. Why can’t we invent a time machine so they’ll stay young forever?
Cole
Don’t even remind me of that, Captain. I get nightmares about the day my babies will introduce me to some fuckers.
Aiden
Pretty sure you know at least one of them, if not two.
Cole
What are you insinuating?
Aiden
You might want to sit down for this.
Cole
Sit down for what?
Aiden
One day, my Eli will marry your Ava and we’ll be in-laws.
Xander
Jesus. Is that a script for a horror film?
Aiden
A reality show.
Cole
I’ll kill him first, Aiden. You know that.
Aiden
Good luck trying to stop my son. We King men always get what we want.
He’s right. It’s not only about him, me, or Uncle. The younger generation is the same as well. Bran included.
I saw it in his eyes earlier. He wants to be with Nikolai and he’ll do it no matter what it takes.
He’ll be with him even if the whole world is against him.
I guess Astrid is right. It’s better to be happy for him than trying to sabotage Nikolai’s existence.
And he is much more well-behaved than Killian, so there’s that silver lining.
“Still thinking about your precious baby?” Astrid walks out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and steps between my legs. It doesn’t matter how old we get, she’ll always be the woman who does my head in. In every exciting sense of the word.
“Not anymore.” I wrap my arms around her waist. “Let me help you sleep better, Princess.”
“I love you so much.” She kisses me, and I’m done for.
I’ll think about everything else later. Now, I need to be there for the love of my life.
My wife.
My forever.