Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 148 (End)

When I wake up, he's not there, and I must remind myself that there will be days like this. Even if he hadn't planned on leaving, if he was called to reap, he must go. When I glance around the room, instinctively, to make sure there was no foul play; I spot his book resting on the wardrobe. 

"Rookie." I tease silently, taking one of the blessed clothes we kept inside the nightstand to drop over the top of it, leaving it open to the scrawled page he'd left it open to. I knew better than to touch someone else's book, even if I did steal a glance to make sure it remained that I couldn't read the text. 

I feel good, my body feels stretched and limbered, long past the ache of yesterday though there is a noticeable tightness in my core that I'm conscious of. I tilt and rotate in the bathroom mirror but see nothing different, I can only write it off as what I want to feel and opt to get dressed. 

Slipping into my clothes for the day, I step into another pair of jeans and a simple shirt, for I wasn't planning to leave our home until I felt more at ease here. 

It felt odd being home, with the intention of making it my own, with little expectations beyond running the home how I saw fit. 

During the first 6 months of my change, I was also nothing but a shell, and from then it was one hardship after another as we fought to find normalcy. Checking the time, I sigh as I see it's nearing 10 in the morning and head downstairs, finding the day had started without me. 

Verando was nowhere to be seen, an alien feeling that I couldn't sense him now that we were detached. Legardo had made himself busy in the kitchen. Obviously, he had been the one to get up with the children this morning for I could hear Silvia and Darrius playing. 

"Is Verando..." I look towards Legardo, who is in the process of straightening up the kitchen from breakfast while Xavier sits at the table, happily babbling while he nibbles on a snack. While Xavier still wasn't talking well, he seemed happier to carry on a conversation with himself than he had in the past.

"I haven't seen him today, I think the cameras caught him leaving last night, at least that's what Pascal says. If I sat around wondering what my father was doing, I'd drive myself mad, Nic." 

Why did I bother with Legardo?  The tension between us made me uneasy, but my dealings with the man were minimal. I was, effectively, the other woman in his father's life.

Forcing a smile, I move toward the counter to begin the process of making myself a sandwich only to see that I am disrupting the flow as Legardo stiffens as he'd practically bowled me over. I was so used to a more practiced lycan, he tromps around the home like a child.

 "Would you like something?" he asks, uncertain, making me hedge for just a moment before I shrug one shoulder. 

"I'm fine, thank you. What are your plans today, Legardo?" I ask, licking a pad of peanut butter off my thumb as I spread it on the bread. 

"Well." The Verando look-alike pauses, looking around slowly before clearing his throat, "I'm not sure. We all live in a bit of limbo with how in and out you both have been. I'd honestly forgotten you were even here." 

 I try to think back to how often Legardo was around, trying to fathom whether he lived with us or was just here every day. As far as a babysitter went, he and Pascal were our constants. 

Spreading jelly on the other slice of bread, I nod, considering this. "A reasonable thought. I'm trying to figure out what's what since I'll be here more often now that.. well... I'm sure you're well aware of my situation. Is Pascal hired by Verando?"

He nods, weary of me. "Yes. She's the children's bodyguard." He gestures to the large bay windows, leading out into the side yard where Pascal read a book in the grass while Darrius played with Silvia.