Page 35 of Ghost of a Chance
“You promised not to call me that,” Lionel said around the chuckles.
They had both laughed at his poodle’s naming the lion side of Lionel Fluffy. Brad had argued with his other half only to give up when he was adamant that Lionel was the fluffiest—adorable—lion they’d ever met. The fact that they’d not been up close and personal with a lion before meant nothing to his poodle. “Sorry,” he hiccupped while working to contain his amusement when he sensed Lionel was actually pleased despite the name. “I won’t do it again.”
When Lionel sniffed indignantly, Brad had to work to keep his laughter under control. “There’s no need to be so hasty.”
They’d spent the last couple of days finding a rhythm that worked for both of them. Brad had brought more of his clothes and some personal items to Lionel’s, and though they’d not had the “discussion” about their living situation, Brad got how happy Lionel was with their current arrangement. “You are adorable.”
“I’m a ferocious lion, I’ll have you know.”
“I know my darlin’ and we, my poodle and I, are absolutely thrilled at that.” They were. “What can I do for you?” he asked when he caught Hector glancing in his direction through the open door.
“I’m ordering some gifts to bring tomorrow, you know, when I get to meet your parents. I just wanted to know if there is anything they like in particular.”
Brad’s brow furrowed as he considered what to suggest, after he’d seen his mate’s directory of places he had on speed dial for gift giving. His lion wasn’t great at receiving them—as was proven over the bouquet Brad had sent. Lionel, though, was a giver and sure loved to give to others. He had such a generous heart. “Dad loves to find different beers from the microbreweries that do specialty ones. If you gave Mom a plant for her garden, she’d be in heaven.” His parents might have made an enormous success of their business, but it hadn’t changed who they were fundamentally, they liked the simple things.
“Right, that will work. Oh… do I need to bring any food or wine?”
“Heck no,” Brad spluttered through the laughter at such a notion. Despite the plans for the party, his parents were over-feeders. “It will appear like they’ve catered for the entire neighborhood. You wait, my parents struggle with understanding not everyone needs to waddle after they’ve eaten.”
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely, you’ll see.”
There was a female voice in the background before Lionel said, “I’ve got to go, my next appointment is here. See you tonight.”
“I should”—Brad glanced into the nearly finished nursery—“be home earlier tonight. Do you want me to pick up something from the café? I noticed Morty had slices of pie that looked yummy.”
“That works, see you later.”
Brad was grinning twenty minutes later after getting Toby to box up the food to take back to Lionel’s along with two cream-filled donuts. Whistling, he strolled down to the basement, then stopped short in the doorway of what would be Toby’s apartment at hearing Vene, an alpha vampire bat and their plasterer, curse.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Brad stepped into the room, feeling the tension crackling between the two men, who didn’t look in his direction.
Vene, red-faced gestured at Barney, the general laborer, who was basically their jack-of-all-trades. “Ask this asshole.” He jabbed a finger at Barney, a beta giraffe shifter, just missing his chest.
Barney stepped closer to Vene, looking up at him with a hard, narrowed-eyed look that spoke to just how angry he was. The guy rarely lost his temper, but when he did, it was hard to get him to see reason.
Brad’s sigh was all internal as he walked to the two men as Barney spoke, “Who the fuck are you calling an asshole!? I wasn’t the one who plastered a fucking wall that any daft prick could see wasn’t finished. I haven’t sealed the damn plasterboard!”
“Daft prick,” Vene blustered, his face now puce.
When his large hands fisted at his sides, Brad stepped between the two men. “Stop,” he said with utter authority, having no fear of either man. He could hold his own despite being smaller than both men. “Before I fire both your ass’s for being daft pricks!”
He pushed both men’s chests, gazing from one to the other, making sure they could see he was totally serious.
Barney moved first. Vene took three more seconds. Brad counted them, prepared to fight if he had to. His good mood totally in the toilet.
It was always a last resort to consider fighting, except sometimes words weren’t enough with hot headed tradespeople. Those who worked in the building trade could occasionally make things interesting, like now. Brad took a deep breath, sensing things were still precarious. “Show me what the issue is.”
Any hope of shifting the day back into a good groove got lost when Brad had to remain in the basement. His temples throbbed with a headache that had developed from the continuing sniping Vene and Barney had done. He spent the rest of his day working in the basement to keep an eye on both men, who had shaken hands at Brad’s insistence, before they’d worked to rectify the issue with the wall.
They’d had to get all the new plaster off, which resulted in replacing the plasterboard. It had added hours of extra work, which no one was happy about when it meant Brad’s plan to leave early had disappeared along with both men’s plans. Barney had bitched about how it wasn’t his fault and couldn’t see why his evening plans should go up in smoke. It didn’t matter that Brad had to message Lionel to say he was running late because of the problem. That was the building trade. Things happen, he was philosophical, unless he had to listen to two bitching co-workers who really wanted to thump the crap out of each other.
Brad rubbed at his temples after pulling his truck in front of Lionel’s home. He sat for a few seconds, working on letting go of the bad mood both men had caused.
The front door opened, and light spilled out, then there was Lionel coming towards him. He wore the low-slung joggers he favored when at home, which made Brad drool with how they accentuated his enormous chest and how slim Lionel’s hips were.
Door open, Lionel leaned in, and his lips were captured in a sweet kiss. The kind that made Brad’s toes curl in his boots and his tummy flutter. “Had a bad day?” Lionel murmured against his mouth, kissing him again.
