The Loneliest Dragon at Christmas (An MM Monster Christmas #2)

Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

“ J ack, what are you doing here? I saw Carrie on her shelf.” Grady stepped out of the bakery and into the alley. “Aren’t you meant to be all cosied up with your dragon?”

Jack leaned against the wall. “I met Avery’s father.”

Grady frowned at him. “All right. And you’re back here because…”

“He’s the Dragon Duke,” Jack said flatly.

“Fuck me.” Grady leaned against the wall next to him and crossed his arms. “He didn’t approve?”

Jack gave a mirthless laugh. “He thought I was a servant. Told me to use the back entrance.”

“Prick,” Grady muttered. “What did Avery do?”

Jack glanced down. “I left before I saw Avery.”

“Why?”

Jack gave Grady an incredulous look. “When the Dragon Duke tells you to fuck off, you fuck off.”

“Not if it’s Avery’s home and he wants you there,” Grady challenged. “What right has this Dickhead Duke to tell you to fuck off from Avery’s home?”

Jack shook his head. “I just don’t understand why Avery didn’t tell me.”

Grady stared at him for several moments. He let out a weary sigh. “Are you getting your underpants in a knot again?”

“What?” Jack frowned.

“Just saying, you got all wrapped up in your head when you discovered Avery was rich,” Grady said. “And he didn’t do anything wrong but have money.”

“His father is a duke.” Jack enunciated the words, trying to get Grady to understand. “That means Avery is royalty, and royalty can’t mate or marry without the king’s blessing. The king isn’t going to bless a mating between the Dragon Duke’s son and a hearth and kitchen witch.” His throat clenched. “I can’t fathom why Avery wouldn’t talk to me about any of this.”

Because Jack cared about Avery. He wanted a future with Avery. It destroyed him to think Avery maybe didn’t want the same.

“What did Avery say when you asked him?” Grady asked.

“You know I didn’t speak to Avery,” Jack snapped.

Grady leaned towards him. “That’s my point.”

Jack made a noise. “He knew the whole money and class thing mattered to me. So why wouldn’t he mention his father was a duke?”

Grady threw up his hands in exasperation. “I don’t know, Jack. Maybe instead of running off with your tail between your legs and sulking in a fucking alleyway, have a fucking conversation with him.”

Jack gaped.

But Grady didn’t seem to be done. “But just throwing it out there, maybe he didn’t tell you because, like the money, he doesn’t realise it’s a problem unless you tell him it’s a problem.”

Jack dropped his gaze. He gritted his teeth. His hands clenched and unclenched. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm his pounding heart. He stared at the dirty cobblestones. “I just keep expecting him to change how he looks at me.”

“What do you mean?”

Jack swallowed; the words felt like sludge choking him. But he had to force them out. “They didn’t always look down on us. Some of the others are too young to remember, but you and I aren’t.”

“Jack, what are you talking about?” Grady asked, voice gentler now.

“Aunt Augusta and Uncle Trenton. They used to be our family. They used to love us,” Jack bit out. “Hell, Cousin Larry and I used to be inseparable. He was my best friend for most of my life!” They’d been the same age. They’d played together every day when they’d been young.

And his aunt and uncle, they’d been like second parents to him. As a boy, his aunt had played with Jack. She’d held him, rocked him, and comforted him when he’d stubbed his toe or had a bad dream.

His uncle had often picked Jack up and placed him on the edge of the counter to watch him work in the bakery. So much of what Jack knew about baking, he’d learnt from his uncle. His uncle had even taught him his special recipe for farmer’s bread.

Then they’d gotten their jobs as servants in fancy houses. They’d stopped working in the bakery. They’d moved. They’d decided they were too good for Jack and his family. And when Grady and Jack begged them for help, they’d slammed the door in their face.

They were nothing to his aunt and uncle but “beggars in rags.”

Jack’s lungs tightened. He detested the sight of farmer’s bread now.

“I keep fearing Avery will change how he looks at me,” Jack whispered. “That he will realise he could do better than a lowly witch who works as a baker in Hovel Quarter and who lives in a tiny run-down apartment with his siblings.” His throat spasmed. “I keep thinking one day he’ll look at me like they did. When I think of them now, all I can think of is the sneers and the door slamming in our faces. But before that, they loved us.” His voice broke.

“Fuck, Jack,” Grady said.

“Avery’s father looks so similar to Avery. When he sneered at me, it made it so easy to imagine Avery sneering and turning his back on me.” Jack took a shaky breath.

“Avery isn’t his father,” Grady said.

“But his father would never approve of us. What if he gets in Avery’s head? What if Avery looks at me like I’m a worthless piece of shit that doesn’t know my place like his father did?” Jack shook his head. “I couldn’t handle that.” Just the thought sent waves of pain cascading through him. “I care for him so much, Grady. I couldn’t handle Avery looking at me like that.” He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Jack. Jack, look at me.”

After a second, Jack opened his eyes and met Grady’s gaze. Grady stood in front of him now.

“Avery might be a fancy, rich dragon but he is not his father. And he is not Aunt and Uncle Go-Fuck-Themselves,” Grady said. “I always thought those dickheads did a number on you. But you know there were signs, right?”

Jack blinked at him.

“They always wanted to be better. To do better. They always hated working and living in this area.”

“I don’t remember that.” Jack’s brows furrowed.

“I do. And when they got their new jobs, they tried to convince our parents to find similar jobs and give up the bakery,” Grady said. “Of course, Mother and Father wouldn’t hear of it. They loved the bakery. A few times, I heard them all fighting about it.”

“I don’t remember any of this,” Jack said. Had he been that oblivious?

“I’m just saying that there were clear signs.” Grady let out a breath. “I wasn’t surprised when they stopped coming by the bakery. Or when they turned us away after our parents died. I was hurt, really hurt, but not surprised, because they’d turned their backs on us long before that day.

“And I’ve seen Avery in our bakery, in our home. He doesn’t act like he is above any of it. He doesn’t act like he is above you. There isn’t a hint of that in his behaviour.” Grady laughed. “In fact, I’ve never seen someone so happy to be put to work.”

Jack rubbed a hand over his face. “Fuck,” Jack muttered. Not once had Avery ever given him a reason to doubt. Not once had Avery let him down. Avery had just been the same amazing, wonderful, sweet dragon who’d done nothing but care for Jack. “Fuck. I’m an idiot.”

“Yeah.” Grady placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “But we’re all fucking morons sometimes,” he said softly. He paused. “And you know the duke, our uncle, and our aunt might think they’re better than us, but that doesn’t make them better than us. You know that, right?”

“Of course.” Jack nodded.

“Yeah?” Grady raised a brow. “Because listening to you a second ago, when you were listing being a lowly witch, a baker, working in Hovel Quarter, living in a small apartment, it almost sounded like you thought you were beneath Avery.”

Jack blinked. Did he? Was that the reason he worried so much about Avery looking down on him? Because on some level Jack actually believed he was inferior to Avery?

Jack straightened. He’d been a fool. He’d been a bloody fucking fool. “I should go. I need to talk to him and apologise. I need to be with him.”

Grady’s lips quirked into a smile. “I think you’re too late.”

“What?”

“I just spotted a dragon.” Grady pointed to the sky.