Page 27 of Admiring His Omega
“I’m sure.” Mal blew him a kiss. “We’re in a tavern, recruiting mercenaries for help with our next adventure. It’s the perfect place to bring in a new character. Are you ready?”
“I have my second character sheet filled out just in case.”
Mal winced. “Sorry about the extra work. Rick always hazes the newbies. When Tripp first joined us after he began dating Shayna, Rick cursed him with rotting limbs. Every time he attacked something, a limb would fall off. Tripp couldn’t stand it, so he rushed a monster with a higher challenge rating and died. Rick made us all go back and start again so Tripp could create a new character.”
“I didn’t know Tripp played.” Cain tilted his head as he thought of the loud man that joined Mal’s yoga sessions. He really didn’t seem the type to have the patience and imagination.
“Oh, he doesn’t.” Mal chuckled. “He hates it and calls us dorks. He just played at the beginning because he was trying to impress Shayna.”
“That sounds like him.” Cain studied Mal’s face, soaking up his semi-presence like a flower in the sun. “What did you do today?”
“I worked on my next cooking episode. I decided to do an episode on drying herbs. Then Bianca and I went foraging with Truffle and Betty. I found some wild blueberries and strawberries. Bianca found some raspberry and blackberrybushes, but they’re not ready to pick yet. We’ll go back in a few weeks.”
“How is Bianca doing?” Cain asked. Mal had told him about the fight with Paula.
“She’s out of school for the summer and working a lot at the grocery store. When she isn’t there, usually she’s with me. Her and Paula haven’t made up yet, but I think they will. Even if I don’t know who Bianca is dating, I can’t understand why Paula is being so close-minded about it.” Mal shook his head. “Enough about me. How are you doing with Roe’s case?”
Cain was quiet for a moment.
“You don’t have to tell me anything,” Mal said, voice soft.
“No, I want to.” Cain sighed. “James Dorsey tried to hire someone to assault me and Jasper in the hopes that he could intimidate us into dropping the case.”
“What?” Mal’s eyes narrowed, filling with rage. He looked like a very angry wood elf which made Cain smile.
“Earlier today, we interviewed some shady people the couple has been talking to and one of them admitted what he was asked to do. Good news is the man turned Dorsey down, but will testify. Bad news is, we don’t know if Dorsey was successful in hiring someone else to do the job.”
“That son of a –”
The computer beeped as others started signing into the roleplaying platform Mal and his friends used. The game tabletop appeared and four other faces popped up in tiny boxes at the top of the screen.
Mal growled. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”
Cain nodded, smiling despite the stress of the day. His angry wood elf was a healing balm. “Don’t worry. We both have guards now. The firm insisted.”
“They better have.”
Mal ended the call, then signed into the gaming platform. Mal’s group consisted of two other men and one woman.
One of the men, a handsome blond, smiled wide. “Hey there, Cain. I’m Rick. It’s really nice to meet you. Mal has never invited anyone to our game before. You have to be special.”
“Shut up, Rick.” Mal’s cheeks flushed as he cleared his throat. “Anyway, this is Shayna, Rick, and Rodney. Everyone, this is my, um, boyfriend?”
“Is that a question?” Shayna asked, brown eyes twinkling with laughter. “Do we get to decide?”
“I am his partner,” Cain replied calmly.
“Partner in lurve.” Rodney grinned.
“Exactly,” Cain agreed.
Everyone except Mal laughed for a minute, then Rick took charge. “Okay, that’s enough teasing. Did everyone review Cain’s character sheet? He’s an orc warrior specializing in axes.”
“Exactly what we need.” Shayna clapped. “We have a druid, a thief, and a priest, but we really need a tank.”
Rick sighed. “Only because our druid refuses to use any of his powerful summoned beasts.”
“They may get hurt,” Mal said, frowning. “My babies are special.”
