I blurrily looked at him, confused. An odd sensation went through me. Don looked as he usually did, though his royal purple hair was tied back, not hanging free. He was shirtless, but that wasn’t weird either. I’d asked him to sleep next to me without his shirt on before. I liked the feel of his scales against my hand or face.
No, it was none of that. But for the life of me, I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten into his room or when. The last thing I remembered was drinking in my room with everyone.
“You were drunk,” Don said, voice low and soft as he settled me against him.
I closed my eyes, head pounding.
“Kalvoxrencol pinged me, and I brought you here.”
Nothing besides a vague sense of unease, like I’d done something reallyreallystupid, was coming to mind.
“You need to drink water. Kalvoxrencol says that’s how to cure human hangovers.” Don gently set me away from him, thenmoved toward the dispenser on the wall. “I confess, I haven’t researched much about human care, but I will.”
“I should be able to take care of my own damn self, but research away. It’s not like I can stop you,” I muttered. What the hell had I forgotten? Had I done something embarrassing with Seth and Teddy? This was Don’s ship, so I imagined if we had done something truly asinine he would’ve told me already.
As I shifted on the bed, my shirt caught under me, making me tug on the fabric. “What the hell?” I asked, looking down at the mass of cloth around me. I recognized it. “Why am I wearing your shirt?”
Don’s tail flicked as he handed me the glass of water. “You vomited on your clothes last night. Your shirt got the brunt of it, so I put you in one of mine.”
Like a floodgate being released, everything I’d done last night came pouring back. Smacking Fyn. Calling Don mine. Asking him not to fuck anyone else. Puking on him.
Fucking hell and all the good things in the universe, I’d puked on him. Multiple times. He’d seen me vomit. There was no way to recover from that. Abandon ship, call the reaper, put a fucking fork in me. This whole whatever-we-were was done.
I groaned, shoving the water onto the nightstand, and buried my face in the pillow to hide my burning cheeks.
The bed shifted when Don moved behind me. He nuzzled my back while his tail coiled around my leg. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
Unlikely. Of course I was embarrassed. I wished a black hole would suck me in so I didn’t have to face him.
“I wouldn’t like that,” he said. “I would miss you dreadfully.”
Resentment pooled in my stomach. I couldn’t even be embarrassed in private.
It was instantaneous. The moment he heard my thoughts, Don drew away.
“No,” I growled, rolling over. I snagged his hand, but he didn’t look at me, expression completely blank. “No, Sweetheart. I didn’t mean it. I’m just fucking embarrassed. I love you hearing me. You know that.”
Don nodded, but the damage was done. It had been bound to happen sometime. I couldn’t police my thoughts constantly. That was impossible. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to hurt him.
“Please?” I asked as I conjured the image of him lying on the bed next to me. “Please, Sweetheart. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
He settled beside me, and I pressed against him, breathing in his light scent. Nothing else calmed me down like he did. I kissed his chest. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, Vince.”
“No, it fucking isn’t. You’re allowed to be mad at me for hurting your feelings, Don. Yes, I cannot control all of my thoughts, and I’m going to think shit things at times, but I never want to hurt you.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I forgive you.”
“I’m embarrassed because I puked on you after making unreasonable demands and smacking your brother. Caleb’s going to be pissed I hit Fyn.”
“I liked you claiming me, though if you could refrain from hurting my brothers, I would appreciate it. Even Kalvoxrencol,” he said, making me frown; I still kind of wanted to kill him, not that I would, but I sure as hell would keep planning it mentally.
Don continued, “I don’t want anyone else, Vince, so your request isn’t unreasonable. I would also prefer if I was the only person you were having sex with.”
“I don’t want anyone else,” I said with a shrug. Why would I want anyone besides Don? I was a possessive asshole. I could only focus my attention on one person at a time for the most part, except for Seth. Though even with Seth, I didn’t want to sleep with him anymore.
A smile tugged at the corner of Don’s lips and his grip tightened a bit. “As for the vomiting, I don’t care. You are mine to take care of.”
