Chapter Forty-eight

Bram awoke with Tyler cuddled against his side, his head was using his chest and shoulder as a pillow. Their legs were tangled. If anyone walked in now, they would certainly believe that the two were lovers. He could smell that Izabella had come back up to the apartment, and he could hear her and Devon singing and laughing. They were baking something that smelled amazing. None of the other nannies had done a lot of baking or cooking. They usually ordered out, but Bram like having someone around that enjoyed making food. It was nicer to cook it here at home than to have someone deliver it.

He wanted to get up and go out there with them, but he didn’t want to wake up Tyler. He knew if he moved, it would wake him up. So, he stared at the red canopy above the bed. He was trying to make a mental list of everything he had to do today. It just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

His phone started ringing, and that was enough to wake up Tyler. The door creaked open, and Izabella squeaked, seeing Bram reaching over for his phone. “I’m sorry, I was just going to try to turn it off.” She closed the door right away. Tyler was clearly naked, and he was only in his boxers. They both looked at each other.

“Um… oops.” Tyler rolled away from him. “Do you have any clothing I can borrow?” They were almost the same size, so sharing clothing wasn’t new for them.

Bram pointed to the closet. Clicking the answer button on his phone, “Hello?” It was his secretary from DAS.

“Um, Sir? I’m sorry to bother you so early, but the office is in total chaos. I thought you would want to know.” Bram had been expecting this call. He asked what was happening as he sat up, stretching. “There was some kind of an attack last night. Mrs. Sether was part of it. They say she was burnt to a crisp!” Her voice lowered, “Everyone is panicking because vampires can’t be burned unless it’s by the sun. Everyone thinks there must be a witch or something in the area. Because it happened in the middle of the night.”

Bram had been expecting a call that Angela wasn’t in, but he hadn’t been expecting that everyone would know what had happened. That meant someone had been watching them, if even from a distance. There were others here that were spying for the Elders. “We’re just days away from our next big fundraiser, and most of the intel for it was on her system. She had some big donations that were supposed to be mentioned. But Mr. Carlon, Mrs. Bethseda, and Mr. White are all arguing about whom will be taking her place. I think we need you to make some sort of official announcement to keep them from tearing out their throats.”

Clearing his throat, he sighed. “Get them into a room and close the door, then put me on speaker, please. Mrs. Yun.”

A few minutes later, he heard her, “You’re on speaker now, Mr. Stoker.”

“Is there are reason I’m learning of this incident from Mrs. Yun instead of one of my board members? And why am I hearing things seem to be in chaos? I understand something horrible happened last night, but I expect that those running my company would still be able to act with decorum while being professional. Mrs. Sether was the president, so I am expecting Mr. Carlon, as the vice president, will be calling the shots in her absence until a new president can be selected by myself and then voted onto the board. Unless you’re telling me that I can’t take five days off to celebrate the first year of my son’s adoption? Because I will come in if that is the case.”

They all started talking at once, until one of them cleared their throat loudly. “No, Sir. That won’t be necessary. I’ll make sure to take care of everything. You certainly deserve to have some time to yourself. We’re all a bit distraught over the news. We just needed some time to wrap our thoughts about what happened. It’s not exactly common for us to fear for our lives. But whomever attacked Angela last night killed and Elder and six Ancients.” Bram heard Mrs. Yun gasp. “Of course we’re on the fence about what happened.”

“I only heard she was burned.” Bram growled, “Tell me what you know.”

“There’s not much more. Only that there was a vampire battle down by the wharf. We know that there were dozens of vampires destroyed. It has worried us with good reason. No one should have been able to take that many of us on. And there certainly weren’t just first bloods. From what we’ve been told, there are no leads to help direct us towards the murderer.”

Bram frowned. Something was off here. “I may try to take a bit of time later today to call or stop in. if you hear anything else, you are to report it to me immediately. I’ll also not have dissention between you all, if you can’t come to an agreement, or need further instruction, you will call then too. I may be taking time off to spend time with my son, but I am here to help you get through these trying times. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” A chorus sang out over the phone.

Tyler was right behind him, his hand started on his lower back and slowly rubbed over his hip and stomach. “They’re not telling you something. How could they possibly know that much and not that we were the ones involved?”

“They know full well it was us. When they heard me on the other end, they were terrified.” Tyler leaned forward, his head resting against Bram’s back. When his lips started to trail along his skin, he squeezed Tyler’s hand on his belly. “We’re not going to do that. I know you’re worked up after feeding last night, but I’m not going to be your release, Tyler.” He said, standing up. He went to the closet to get dressed. A pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He did have to admit, he liked the clothing she’d picked out. Everything was comfortable. Though he did miss his suits.

“I think I need to call Gavin…” Tyler laid back on the bed. Only the sheets covering his nakedness, his arousal popping a tent.

Bram nodded, “At least that would be something. We need to be careful with him though. After speaking with him last night, I didn’t get the vibes that he was lying or acting maliciously, but we need to know for sure. The last thing we need is a knife in the back when dealing with all of this. And if it’s as big a ring as I think it is, we’re going to find ourselves in trouble. He can’t be seen with us in private. So, for now, you’re not going to be able to meet up.”

“Fuck Bram, we can be careful and make sure we’re not caught.”

“Tyler.” Bram snapped, “If you meet up with him, and someone is tailing us, then you’re only going to make things difficult for him. You understand that, don’t you? What if they do to him what they did to you? Or how about the simply decide he’s not worth holding onto and kill him simply because they think he could be a rat?”

“They always take hostages. I should know, I’ve been one plenty of fucking times.” Bram pressed his lips together. He didn’t like seeing Tyler get that worked up, but it couldn’t be helped.

Pressing his hand through his hair, he sat at the end of the bed. “There’s a difference between you two though. No one dares to actually take your life. That won’t be true of Gavin. His reputation doesn’t precede him in the same way. You are aware that you’re one of the few things that keep me grounded. They know better than to try to take you away before killing me.”

“That didn’t stop them from trying last night.” Tyler rubbed his shoulder, at least the swelling had gone down and the set in his leg looked to be doing fine.

Bram waived a hand in the air, “Some people are just idiots. He knew better, he just thought he was strong enough not to care. I’m going to go get myself coffee. You going to stay here and call him?” Tyler nodded. Bram smirked, “Once you take care of that, let me know. We should talk more about what he found out last night.”

As he went toward the kitchen, he saw Devon playing his new game in his room. Izabella was dancing and singing softly standing in front of the sink. She was washing the dishes from this morning. Freshly baked muffins were on the counter. Bram walked up behind her, and she was clueless of his presence. Bracing one hand on the counter, and leaning over her shoulder, he pulled the headphones she had on up and whispered, “Good morning.” She jumped, a hand flew through the air. Though Bram caught it with confusion, that she had started trembling was confusing at best. “I’m sorry, are you okay?”

Izabella stared at him, with doe eyes, large and round. After a moment, she wrapped her arms around him, her hands still damp from the dishes. “I’m sorry.” Her heart was hammering in her chest. “You scared me. The sneaking up from behind thing, I may never get over it.”

Realization dawned on him, when he snuck up behind her, she had instantly reverted to the memories of what happened the other night. “Izabella, I’m sorry. I’m such an ass, I didn’t even think…” His voice trailed off as she squeezed him tighter.

“Enough. I don’t blame you for that. And it’s not like you snuck up behind me with bad intentions.” Bram frowned, rubbing her hair. She smelled like orchids. He had un-pure intentions for sure. He was just as bad off as Tyler. Like a constant strain just waiting to be released. Mix the fact that he’d had to help Tyler feed and didn’t take any for himself, his desires were at a clear high. He’d have to go to the bar tonight and find a yummy little morsal to tide him over.

***

**Hello readers. Question for you, would you like to here the phone call between Tyler and Gavin, or Bram hunting at the club for his own release? Comment below and let me know what you would like to read.**