Page 149 of Squad Ghouls

“Did you sleep well?” I asked, running my fingers through his hair, and he hummed, leaning down to rub his nose against mine.

“So well.” His voice was still rough and deep from sleep, and it made me want to melt into the floor. “Although, I do have a bone to pick.”

“With?” I asked and he looked around.

“Barth!” he said. “Figures he’s not here yet.”

“What’s he done now?”

Ryan scowled. “Gave me a six out of ten last night. A SIX!”

I giggled. I’d been dead tired, and while I loved everything we did in bed, I’d kinda gone the pillow princess route the previous night, lying back and thinking of Wales while Ryan ate me out until I passed out. Literally.

“I didn’t see that,” I said and he widened his eyes, pointing at me.

“SEE! You literally blacked out. A fucking six.”

“Take it as a challenge.” I patted his chest and he puffed it out with a nod.

“Oh, I will!”

A chain rattled behind him and we both turned to see Harri walking into the dining room, dragging Larri over the floor by the chain tying them together. Larri was limp on the floor, not a single sound coming out of his mouth.

“Harri…” I pointed down. “Is he…?”

“Dramatic? Yes,” Harri said. “A pain in my arse? Also yes.”

“What is he doing?”

Harri shrugged. “He has decided he wants to try to sleep. So this is what I’ve been dealing with for the past few nights. A limp dick hanging off my hand.”

“Ew.” I scrunched up my nose at the visual. Harri shrugged.

He tugged at the chain and walked forward, settling into one of the chairs and using his toes to roll Larri under the table.

I stared at Larri’s prone form for a moment before deciding I didn’t have it in me to try and work out what was going on with the two of them.

Bronwyn came next, materialising in front of me and shooing me off to take over the kitchen. I’d had a feeling she wouldn’t like being replaced, but I’d wanted to do something nice for everyone. She huffed and puffed as she corrected every little thing I’d done. The glasses were moved a bit to the left, the napkins were re-folded “properly” and the flowers were fluffed until they looked like a professionally arranged bouquet. She put the rest of the food onto serving plates and set them on the table. I didn’t say anything about the single plate she set aside on the counter.

I smiled and thanked her, grabbing Ryan’s shoulders and ushering him towards the table. Popty was swirling around us, waiting to see where Ryan would sit so he could engulf the chair next to him. Once Ryan was settled, I sat on the other side of him, chuckling when Popty reached out and pushed my chair a bit further away as he pinged directly into Ryan’s ear.

“Yes, he texted me,” Ryan told him, unlocking his phone and showing Popty. “He told me to tell you hi.”

The shadow froze. The ping started and died before it finished. And then Popty just melted into a dark swirl and slid off his chair. Ryan shook his head and left his phone unlocked on the table. Not a second later, a tendril reached up and snatched it.

I laughed softly and turned my head to find Andrew standing in the doorway, watching us. I sat up straighter and returned his smile.

“Good morning, Andrew,” I said. He shuffled inside, quiet and still unsure of his place at the table. We all did our best to make sure he knew we wanted him there, but he struggled sometimes.

Barth in particular, for some reason, made it his life’s mission to include him. He’d sing in front of his room in the middle of the night to “help him sleep.” He’d invite Andrew to hang out with the crew on the ship every day, and he’d made a huge deal out of it the few times Andrew had accepted.

He showed up now, right on cue, threw his hat onto Andrew’s head, called him a lad, and ushered him to an empty chair without breaking stride.

“This looks great, Owain,” Andrew said softly.

I smiled. “We have a day off today. You’ve all worked so hard these past few weeks and the B&B is doing better than ever. I wanted to thank you all.”

They all cheered and Ryan squeezed my leg under the table.