“And…” Chester’s voice drops to a purr. “And what are we going to do there?”
“Yes, we can have loud, raunchy sex on every piece of furniture in my house,” Obie says, and Chester throws back his head and laughs. “But I want to start making ityourhome, too. Want to make it a place where you feel safe, where you feel like you belong. We can—we can fall asleep together every night and wake up together every morning. I’ll make you coffee and cook you breakfast—a real breakfast, not what passes for food in the dining hall. And puppy, Iguaranteeyou’ll love the shower.”
Chester’s expression shifts. His eyebrows pull the slightest bit together, but he doesn’t say anything.
Obie keeps talking. “We can spend our days however we want. I have an entire safe house filled with books and subscribe to every streaming service in existence. We can travel the world, rift to every country, or—or we can just walk into town, have lunch in the Courtyard.” He meets Chester’s wide eyes. “I want to tell our friends about you—about therealyou. I promise they’ll trust you, even Cass and Ez—they’ll trust you because I do. And you can have JJ and Roma over at our house whenever you want, and you three can hang out and relax and just bepeople.Not Sanctum lackeys, not ex-hunters, not fugitives. Just friends.
“And then…” Obie trails his fingers down Chester’s side. “And then we can find some hobbies for you, too. Something you can relax and enjoy without worrying about being perfect. You can still come bowling with me if you want, but if it’s not your thing, that’s okay. I can just bring you home mozzarella sticks and curly fries and ridiculous stories about the twins. We can let our guard down and be safe and just… have each other.” He gives Chester a small smile. “How does that sound, sweetheart?”
For a long moment, Chester searches Obie’s eyes.
And then he says, “What are you talking about?”
The words are like ice water over Obie’s head. “What?”
“Obie—” Chester sits up on the mattress, staring down at Obie in bewilderment. “Obie, we can’t do any of that. We still have so much work to do here, so much we can still do to take down the Sanctum from the inside.”
Obie’s chest tightens. He pushes himself upright, matching Chester’s pose. “Chester, we’ve pretty much bled all your sources dry. There’s nothing else you have access to that we haven’t already searched, and even Nehemiah’s sources aren’t turning up much anymore—hell, that snippet you found about Kingsborough last night was the first new lead we’ve had in ages.”
Chester sets his jaw. “But will any of that be enough to bring the Sanctum down? Or to convince Bryant?”
Bryant.Goddamn it. Obie almost forgot about Chester’s obsession with getting her out with them. “Okay, let’s back up,” Obie says, holding up a hand. “I’m not saying that we’ll stop trying to destroy the Sanctum altogether, okay? Of course not. I’m just saying that we can continue the fight somewhere that lets us actually have a life together. At my house, where it’s safe.”
“But that’s—” Chester shakes his head sharply. “Obie, that isn’t the plan. That isn’t what we talked about, isn’t what we’ve been working towards, isn’t—isn’t what we wanted.”
Obie’s stomach is twisting tighter with every word. There’s a little bit of dread rising in his throat, a little bit of apprehension, but at the same time?—
At the same time, there’s a little bit of resignation, too. A little bit of bitterness.
Because of course this ended exactly how Obie should’ve known it would. Of course Chester doesn’t actually want what Obie wants.
Of course, when Obiefinallyfound someone he truly cares for after fifteen thousand years, he still can’t have him.
Suddenly, sitting here in his true form feels like an invitation to get hurt. In a flash, he snaps his human façade back into place, back to where it belongs.
Chester flinches away, pain flickering over his face. “Obie?—”
“Just to confirm,” Obie cuts in. His heart feels raw. “Last night didn’t change anything for you?”
“What?” Chester’s eyes widen. “No—no, Obie, last night changedeverything,okay? Last night changed everything, and it meant everything to me, but—” He wraps his hand around Obie’s wrist. “Baby, it changed everythingbetweenus. It didn’t change anything about our mission.”
“They’re the same thing, Chester,” Obie snaps. “Sixth love language, remember? Vengeancewasour relationship, but it doesn’t have to be—not anymore. We have more than that now. We don’t have to keep playing this game and using you as a weapon and just surviving instead of actually living. There are almost a dozen people working to take down the Sanctum and the Chain at this point. We can join them on the outside.”
Chester’s shoulders hunch, but his eyes don’t leave Obie’s. “But we can do more from in here. Our intel put the Conspiracy Fam years ahead in their investigation, remember? Now is the time to push to the finish line, not change tactics.”
“That’s not—” Obie squeezes his eyes shut, pressing his thumb and forefinger against them. “Chester, I’ve been alive for averylong time, okay? Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it didn’t fall in a day, either. We might be looking at decades, not weeks or months.”
Chester’s voice cracks. “Then it takes decades. I can handle that.”
Obie’s chest clenches. It feels very nearly like panic. “Chester. Puppy. This place is going tokillyou. It’s been trying to kill you for years.”
“I know.” Chester’s eyes search Obie’s face, like he’s trying to figure out how to make Obie understand. “That’s why I have to stay. I was—I was the prototype, remember? The successful experiment. The reason why the Sanctum started murdering families and making orphans and destroying lives like mine and JJ’s. I can’t just let that go.”
“And youwon’t,”Obie stresses.“Wewon’t, okay? But we can keep fighting from the outside, from somewhere safe. It doesn’t have to be our entire lives. It doesn’t have to beyourentire life.”
“But itismy entire life.” Chester’s voice is strained. “It’s literally my life. Obie?—”
“Come on, puppy.” Obie hates that it sounds like he’s begging, but he can’t bring himself to stop. “Come with me. Let me take you home with me. Let me take care of you. I just—I just want to spend the rest of your life taking care of you. Keeping you safe.”
