Miller
"You two look like you just had hot sex," Rhys voiced through the video call, his tone dripping with immediate judgment the second our video feed finally stabilized.
I rolled my eyes at him because, unfortunately, he was entirely right. We had spent way more time in that bathroom than originally planned because
Leo was acting like a starving Omega in heat, completely relentless, constantly demanding more.
"More, please. Harder, please."
His undone whimpers had completely derailed our timeline. We ended up using an extra ten minutes, completely ignoring the first automated warning chime that echoed through the villa’s speaker system.
When the second alert started blaring, we had no choice but to finally scramble out of the tub. We ended up throwing on whatever random clothes we could find scattered across the floor, rushed over to the terminal, and initiated the encrypted video patch to Rhys and Kayden. Luckily for us, they picked up our call immediately, sparing us from wasting the connection window.
"Your visual deduction is accurate, Rhys," Leo chimed in with a completely straight face, adjusting his glasses at the bridge of his nose. "We did, in fact, engage in a rigorous bout of copulation. To put it in clinical terms, we successfully elevated our respective endorphin levels, though the sudden auditory intrusion of the villa’s secondary alert system severely compromised our post-coital decompression phase. In short, the island’s strict administrative scheduling completely ruined the afterglow."
Rhys scoffed loudly, crossing his arms on the screen. "You are so annoying. I had hoped that at least this mandatory trip would have changed you by now, or at least fixed that irritating attitude of yours, but you are still the exact same asshole."
"I am precisely one second away from terminating this transmission," Leo demanded, leaning closer to the lens. "Where is Kayden?"
Rhys frowned at him, but before he could snap back, Kayden shifted into the frame, sitting down right beside him on the edge of the bed. He was holding Starlight securely in his arms.
"Hello to my favorite couple," Kayden said excitedly. There was a genuine hint of happiness in his voice, a lightness that made it sound like everything back home was finally going well. It genuinely warmed my heart just to see the two of them looking relaxed and genuinely happy together.
"You two look great," I chimed in, leaning over Leo’s shoulder to get into the camera’s view. "I can tell things are going incredibly well on your end."
Kayden replied with a bright smile, lifting Starlight’s front paws and waving them through the air toward the screen. But the kitten wasn’t having it at all; she squirmed out of his grip and jumped right off his lap to escape the camera. "Well, it seems Starlight doesn’t want to greet you guys today."
I chuckled, shaking my head. "She is so dramatic."
"How are things progressing with you at the clinic?" Leo asked immediately, his tone shifting back to his standard, professional authority. "Have there been any physiological complications so far?"
Kayden shook his head reassuringly. "Amara said the fluid is almost entirely drained from my body now, and the treatment is helping immensely. The baby is perfectly safe, and there haven’t been any complications at all so far."
"I am incredibly glad to hear that," Leo murmured, leaning back slightly. "Because at least you two idiots aren’t making critical medical mistakes without me there to supervise your daily functions."
"You think entirely too highly of yourself," Rhys countered smoothly, glaring at the monitor.
"Oh, please. I am Leo Ackerman, remember? My intellectual superiority is a documented statistical reality."
I rolled my eyes as the two of them instantly launched into their usual, relentless banter.
"You’re a text-book narcissist, Ackerman," Rhys shot back, rolling his eyes so hard it looked painful. "Seriously, your self-absorbed brain needs its own zip code."
Leo let out a loud, booming laugh, entirely amused by the insult. "You say that far too much for someone who is clearly projecting, Calder. Besides, it’s not narcissism if my clinical assessments are consistently flawless." He laughed even louder, completely unfazed.
Kayden finally cut them off, yelling at the screen, "Enough, both of you!" He turned and playfully slapped the back of Rhys’s head, which made me chuckle, before turning his attention entirely back to Leo, pointing a warning finger directly at the camera. "Be warned, you idiot. Keep provoking my partner and I’ll mute your feed."
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that. Leo immediately snapped his head around to glare at me, but I just raised my hands in mock defeat. "You know that I support you, babe, no matter what. Don’t give me that look." I offered him a deliberate wink.
He scoffed, turning back to face Kayden and Rhys on the monitor. "Fine. Any real drama back home yet? Anyone’s schedule I should clear so I can prepare for the funeral of the enemy? Is Rami calder dead?’’
The moment the joke left Leo’s mouth, the atmosphere shifted completely. The expressions on their faces dropped all at once, replaced by a heavy, sudden sadness. Even though they remained completely silent for a few seconds, the weight of that silence was visible across the screen.
Leo had only been joking around, but looking at them now, I realized someone might have actually died.
"What happened?" Leo asked, his voice dropping into a slow, cautious tone. "Is everything fine?"
"My biological father died last week," Kayden announced quietly.
Leo’s reaction was instant, his brow snapping down. "Oh. Well, I certainly hope he suffers in hell," he said firmly, letting out a sharp cough. "Please don’t tell me you actually went to meet him before he expired?" When Kayden didn’t immediately reply, Leo clapped his hands together with an angry, echoing smack. "You were not supposed to grant that man an audience, Kayden! Not after what he did to you all those years!"
I wanted to chime in and tell Leo to calm down, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t fully know the explicit details of what had happened in the past. Leo had been the one there beside Kayden through the worst of it, and he knew exactly how deeply Kayden had suffered during those years.