Once Upon a Story [ INCONSISTENT UPDATES ]

Bad Blood V

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 545

"First time I've seen the chief sleep so peacefully."

"Captain worked hard the past week."

"Ils vont tellement bien ensemble, je suis presque dégoûté."

The trio chatted, forgetting that the sleeping pair were light sleepers. Roman had woken up the second they entered the room but decided to remain still and get a few more moments of peace. That is, until he heard their cameras clicking.

"Shit—!" Echo fell back when a pillow clocked him in the face. Normand rolled his eyes as Tyrese worried about his teammate.

"Maybe we shouldn't hit the concussed teammate in the head?"

"C'est de sa faute, le crétin. Il s'attendait à quoi? Un merci?"

"Thanks for the concern," Echo pouted as he patted off the non-existent dust from his clothes. "If you won't wake up, I have better ideas."

He gave two quick whistles, and a large pit bull jumped on the bed, licking the lovebirds awake. Roman was the first to sit up, annoyed that she'd slobbered on him the most. Pearla barely opened her eyes and accepted that Bella was now lying on her stomach. She kissed her wet nose and ruffled her puffy cheeks.

"Good morning, beautiful."

Roman smiled, watching her smile return as she played with the overgrown pup. This is how he wanted her to be: happy. He wished to fill her days with endless sunshine. After she caught up with the team (and received homemade chocolate and a bouquet), Pearla felt like herself again. Her week was coming together.

Roman caught her attention with a hand on her back. "Princess, there's something the team has to tell you."

"Did Echo get another concussion?"

"Hey! It's not like I try to get one," the man whined. "People just love to treat my pretty face like a punching bag."

"Arrête d'halluciné, tu veux bien."

"Boys."

Roman chuckled. "Yes, but that's not it. The boys and I were thinking of visiting the fair."

"Lucien gave you time off?"

"We passed our assignment onto another team," Tyrese explained. "It doesn't require our level of skill, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Roman, what did you do?"

He flinched as she smiled at him. Roman feared nothing and no one...except her. Pearla could be firghtening when she was mad. "I simply demanded we have a few days off."

"Roman, you'll get it trouble one of these days."

Oh, trust me, Princess. I'm already dancing with death as it is. He distracted her with the plans of their outing. While innocently showing her where they'd go, a deeper, more sinister plan was underway. But he didn't know. They looked like they were fooling around. Roman cozied up to Pearla while actively wrestling Bella with his arm. Meanwhile, the three boys discussed everything they'd do (aka they listened to Normand and Echo blabber about the "mandatory" dress code). Nothing was out of the ordinary, but everything was already in play.

"We'll go this afternoon," Roman explained. "That way, we can enjoy the rides before it gets crowded. Do you want to join?"

"But, Lucy might not—"

"If he's so worried, ask him to send Tristan. The kid's unit is second to ours."

Pearla nodded and leaned into him, smiling as she realized what was coming.

I'll be free.