The Dragon's Daughter

Chapter 10

The next morning the two carried on as if April had been living there for months. The man had woken up at four in the morning and started cleaning up her clutter while she slept, knowing that she would probably get distracted during the day and completely forget about the mess she left behind.

As he worked, his mind kept drifting back to the image of April sleeping peacefully, her fiery hair cascading around her shoulders. He found himself stealing glances at her every chance he got, mesmerized by her presence. He didn't really believe that she would have moved in even though he offered. She was stubborn like that.

A few hours later most of the items were packed away and, despite it taking a lot of convincing, April agreed to let go of some items, like the heavy duty drill that she'd been keeping on her for months.

While the Sugar baby was on the phone, getting ready and collecting some money from Raymond Romanov, Ramee was carefully placing April's painting on the wall. One of the many benefits of having the art gallery owner as a roommate meant that someone was competent enough to handle her stolen art. He carefully mounted the museum glass frame to the wall before taking off the white gloves from his tattooed hands.

He frowned as he heard the siren giggling loudly at whatever Romanov was saying. He watched the woman twirl her black makeup brush as she flirted with the Russian man. Ramee decided that he wouldn't question her because he knew this was how she made her money but he couldn't help but feel jealous. He wanted to say something but for the sake of peace he kept his opinion to himself as she continued her conversation for five more minutes before finally hanging up.

"Hurry up April, Bleach is probably already waiting for us." He finally said, urging her to move faster. She was still sitting on the bathroom counter, her long legs crossed with her feet in the sink as she meticulously drew on the hearts on her cheeks.

"I'm almost done."  She murmured, her mouth half-full with toast that Ramee had made for her earlier.

"Don't be gross." the man replied with an exaggerated expression of disgust, trying to hide his growing attraction to her as he took the plate and placed it in the sink. The maid would clean it up, Ramee couldn't be bothered to wash dishes.

"Can you literally shut the fuck up. This is a delicate process."
"We're working on a time crunch so it would be great if you could get your ass up so we can get this fucking thing done already."

It was finally the day that they officially adopted Chase O'Dell. Ramee would never admit it to anyone but he was nervous. The man had paid Murphy and other relevant people large sums of money to speed things along but that didn't mean that they were guaranteed to come out successful. Their future as Lil Bleach's parents depended on the interviews they had and it was imperative that they were not late.

He watched in amusement as April fell from the counter as she tried moving her long legs out of the sink and onto the bathroom floor. Her tangled limbs failed her as she ungracefully landed with a soft "oof". This was the future mother of his future son. He was endeared by her.

The two continued bickering as they got ready but they were happier than usual and it was palpable. There was a teasing and flirty air that wasn't there before. Sure, they'd been getting along decently well (minus the whole keeping secrets and fucking with Marty thing) but there was something that was different.

Ramee was often snarky, but deep down, he cared about April and wanted the best for her. April, for her part, knew that Ramee could be a huge asshole, but she also knew that he had a big heart and was always there for her when she needed him financially and emotionally.

As they got ready for the big day, Ramee couldn't resist making a few jabs at April, even as he helped her brush out her hair. The redhead typically wore her curly hair a little straighter than what it currently was so he was a bit surprised that she hadn't asked him for money to go to the salon yet. He made a note to himself to give her some money for an appointment to Bob Mulet before she could ask.