Lies
Don’t Matter
By
Julia
Matthews
Adult M/M Content
If under 18 leave
sight
Unedited Story
Chapter 10
Hop
Damn. What in the . . . Situation couldn’t
be any worse. Charlie would be making another call to my father. Father was
going to go dragon shit crazy. For more than Charlie not knowing this, but
because he’d have to come to the same town as his son. Not an easy feat for two
royal dragons to be so close. My father’s dragon viewed me as a threat to his
seat of power. My dragon would view father as a opponent to be eliminated. Add
in . . . Cree. Fuck. He’d be given a crash course on dragon history. Lessons, from
the looks of things, Mr. Hodges stole from him. Not to mention the history
about his mother’s bloodline.
“Hello,” Cree slapped his arm. “I asked a
question.”
Charlie’s smile confirmed the look that I
knew Mr. Davis would be wearing. Only Cree could have gotten a smile from me
from slapping me. Let alone be the only person alive that could get away with
doing such. If only that took me having to ask a huge favor from Cree away. It
didn’t.
I took Hop’s hand and locked eyes with
him. “Do you trust me?” As if I needed to ask. My man knew I’d do nothing to
harm him, but I waited for his nod. “Then can you do what I am about to ask
you.”
“Depends.”
Course it did. My man never openly
promised something he knew nothing about. Mr. Hodges screwed up big time, but
he taught his child right. Man raised a head-strong person. One who had no
problem doing as her Godfather or me said. In most cases. There were a few when
Cree was stressed it was harder for him to let him or Charlie take command.
“I need you to hold your questions until
we get home.”
“Why?”
“What I know can’t be discussed in open.”
Cree tilted his head, studying me for a
full out minute. “There’s something else you need to tell me, isn’t there?”
Course he knew there was more. The two of
them had always been intune to one another. More so than other halves had
before they were officially claimed. Our bond being in the starting phase
would’ve allowed us to be a bit closer, but not to that point.
“I need you to let Charlie make a few
calls before I explain what is going on. I might even have to ask you to wait
for another person to arrive.”
Slow response, but I eventually got a
shrug. A verbal response would’ve been better, but if Cree wanted to wiggle out
of doing as asked he would. Still, I knew it would be the best I’d get. My man
was smart as a whip, which is why I loved him so much. That was why I knew that
history was wrong. Had to be. Cree was too kindhearted to lead to destruction.
“Hop?” Charlie didn’t look at me, but the
anguish rang loud and clear.
“It’ll be okay.”
“You sure?”
Wasn’t. Charlie knew I wouldn’t lie to
him, which is why I didn’t bother to try and put him at ease. Truth be known, I
had not fucking clue how the new turn of events would go down. One thing was
for sure . . . Cree wasn’t in danger of being forced to live with the Stone
family. She was nineteen, just like Rex said. The family tree that Rex kept
proved that. Bigger question was how much else did it prove. Would history be
written as told, or had all that shifted the day Cree chose to become a man.
Questions for father.
“Baby,” I tapped the computer, “is there
more files on here?”
“About ten others.”
“Protected or not?”
“Not.”
“Can I have the computer then?” I’d known
not to ask Cree for them if they’d been guarded. He’d demand to check them out
first and it would have been within his right. As if I could tell him no
anyway. Man had me wrapped around his little finger. And I loved it.
“Why?”
“I want to see if there’s - -“
“More to what you already know?”
Cree had him pegged. It’s why he made an
excellent other half for me. Cree would listen and question before acting,
which in my mind meant she’d accumulate well to the dragon’s way of life. I
hoped. There was time when Cree would become dead set on something and then . .
. well he’d shoot out more than a fire-breathing dragon.
Cree’s temper should have clued me or
Charlie in. Most other humans who are paired with a dragon are mild and timid,
even standoffish. Cree never had been. Charlie contributed it to me being the
second dragon in charge.
“You might as well answer him.” Charlie
banged his head against the car seat. “This is all my damn fault.”
“How so?” Cree cradled the laptop to his
chest when I reached for it. “Not until you answer me.”
“First, you are right baby, I promise to fill
you in the moment I can.” I held my hand out and shifted my gaze to Charlie.
“Second, Charlie, you aren’t the only one to blame for this shit storm.”
“Only one alive.” Charlie’s snort had me
sucking my lower lip under my upper one. Man did not pout well. “Just like old
times. One of us stirs up a stink and the other takes the fall.”
Wasn’t going to touch that with a dragon’s
tail. Father told me of how Rex and Charlie were and that those two had secrets
buried deeper than any cavern in the world. I’d taken his word to mean that
even he, the dragon leader, didn’t know. Such facts hadn’t bothered me. Dragons
like people had parts of their lives they kept to themselves. I didn’t have to
know every detail about the dragons I would lead. Or so I’d thought. Might have
been wrong. With Rex . . . hindsight was for the shit.
“What’s that mean?” Cree laid the laptop
in my hand and shot him his famous, don’t forget your promise glare.
“It means . . .”
I nodded when Charlie glanced my way for
permission. Charlie would never indulge more than he had permission to.
“. . . your father and I got into some
tight spots before. Each of us bailed the other one out. Only - -“
“Dad’s not here.” Cree moved so she sat
beside Charlie and hugged him tight. “Can I do so for him?”
Just like his Cree. The man would move
heaven and earth to make the ones she cared for happy. Another reason I’d been
thrilled to have him as my other half. The day I’d been blessed with him was
the best day of my life. No matter what happened in the future. I would never
regret the day I became part of Cree’s life.
Charlie and Cree fell into silence as they
held one another. The two of them were more like father and son than Rex and
him had ever been. Rex hadn’t openly spoken against Cree’s sex change, but I’d
overheard him discuss it with Charlie a couple of times over the years. He was
no pleased. The man never stopped believing that his little Zoe would grow out
of her desire to become Cree. Should have been more than clear to him how
serious Cree had been when he sat him and his mother down at the age of ten,
fifteen, and the day before his eighteenth birthday. Wrong. What should have
told him how serious Cree was when he gained Charlie’s permission and help to
line up someone willing to the do the procedure on his eighteenth birthday. I
knew of no doctor willing to risk such. Rex’s displeasure hadn’t stopped him
from being close to Cree, but . . . wasn’t the same after Cree proclaimed his
desire to be a male.
Even I didn’t quiet grasp the bond between
Charlie and Cree. The two of them could finish each other’s thoughts. In fact,
they pretty much saw eye-to-eye on everything. A time or two came to mind when
they’d butted heads, but they were mild and discussed until they came to a
compromise
