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It took a while for Peter to notice he was being stalked and not because he was ‘an oblivious dumbass’ like Destiny said, or well, not only because of that. In his defense it wasn’t like he expected to catch the attention of the town scion.
He sang three days a week in the bar and his singing was nothing special, good karaoke level at the most. He was better with the guitar but he didn’t have a passion for it, only took it up because it belonged to his grandfather, Nicolae. The other days he tended bar, had a trailer out back and mostly kept his head down around town. People still looked at his kind, Gypsy and werewolf with suspicion. Combine the two and he got a lot of side eyes when he ventured away from the poor side of town. Still didn’t keep him from getting laid but he didn’t expect it to be anything more than it was and neither did his hookups.
It wasn’t like Roman was any better, cutting a swath through the eighteen to forty-five demo in town after he got back from school.
“He’s pretty much fucked everybody you haven’t.”
Peter looked at his cousin incredulously. “Why do you even know this?”
Destiny popped him on the forehead. “Hello, I’m a psychic who owns a bar. I know every thing.”
When Roman Godfrey came into the bar he figured he was just slumming.
“Repeatedly Peter? Really? Or did you think he was here for the booze. One bottle of the liquor in his house could probably buy every drop in this bar, even if it wasn’t watered down.” She shook her head. “You stay away from that boy, he’s nothing but trouble.”
Thing is, he’d actually met some of the other Godfreys. Olivia when she came by Linda’s to score, Shelly at the library and Letha here at the bar, but he’d never met Roman. He’d seen the same stories in the paper, heard the same whispers but Roman in person was, well Peter didn’t know whether he wanted to step back or move closer. Roman was tall and ‘lurky’ with hungry eyes and once Peter noticed him looking, he could feel them all the time, when he was performing and when he was working behind the bar.
It was still two weeks before Roman came near him, and when he did, it was Letha, Roman’s cousin that caused it. He was singing that night and she came in with Roman and a couple more girls. They whooped and sang along during his performance and Peter couldn’t help but play to their table. If maybe it was a little bit to taunt Roman who sat glaring the whole time, well if the guy didn’t like it, he could leave. If Peter was a little bit glad he didn’t, well he never claimed to be smart.
He totally wasn’t disappointed the next night when Roman didn’t show, and if he was it was only because he was working the bar and the guy was a decent tipper. Ten minutes after last call, he was cleaning up, humming to himself. Peter looked up and Roman was leaning against the bar, staring at him. He knew he’d locked the door and Umpir didn’t walk through walls, but knowing Roman he’d either threatened or glamored someone into letting him in.
“I’m not serving you.”
“I’m not asking.”
“Fine.” He banged his hand on the bar, catching the attention of the small group of mostly regulars still hanging around. “ Smoke break. When I get back, you losers gotta get out of here.”
Peter stepped out into the alley and pulled out his cigarettes. He got and returned a desultory nod from the other two smokers out there. He’d taken his first deep drag when the low murmur of conversation cut off abruptly. He looked up to see Roman step out the door, eyes lighting on Peter before he cast a look over at the other two occupants of the alleyway and they suddenly had other places to be. Roman moved next to Peter and pulled out a cigarette, sliding it between his lips and cocking an expectant brow as he stared at Peter. Peter swallowed a sigh and obligingly leaned forward dangling his cigarette to light Roman’s.
“Do you try and scare people away or is it just a gift?”
Roman looked around the empty alley with a smirk. “I don’t see you running.”
He should be though, and he really should learn to listen to his cousin, except he pretty much knew what she’d say about this. This being him letting Roman follow him back in and watch him shoo everybody out so he could close up, this being him, alone in the bar with Roman.
Peter leaned back against the bar and crossed his arms. “You don’t want a drink, you already had a cigarette, so what can I do for you, Mr. Godfrey?”
Roman ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “I want to watch.”
“Bzzz, wrong, try again.” It’s wasn’t taboo to let somebody watch or anything but it was still pretty intimate and most wolves weren’t gonna share it with a stranger. Roman had to know that. He looked disappointed but he didn’t look like he was going anywhere. “And?”
“What’s going on between you and my cousin?”
Oh. He got it. This wasn’t about him at all. He was being warned off, or maybe bought off. It wasn’t the first time, though maybe the first time he wasn’t actually doing anything to deserve it.
Letha was sweet and funny and she liked to talk music with him and she never treated him like an exotic animal in the petting zoo and while it had crossed his mind because she was also hot like fire in that sweet, good girl way, he’d prefer a friend over another fuck.
But the hell if he was going to tell Roman that. If Richie Rich didn’t think Peter was good enough for his cousin, “Go fuck yourself.”
Roman stepped close until he was crowding Peter back against the bar. “It’d be a lot more fun if I fucked you.”
And that was not the reaction he was expecting, and neither was the heat that rushed straight to his cock at the idea. Not because he hadn’t hooked up with guys before -- even if rural Pennsylvania wasn’t exactly overflowing with guys willing to admit they liked dick -- but Roman was a rich prick, full of himself and an Umpir. All three things that, previous to having Roman pressed up against him, already half hard, Peter would have said no fucking way to.
“Oh wow, that’s a spectacularly bad idea.”
Roman grinned. “Yeah, it is.”
It was a toss up to which one of them leaned in first.
Roman lifted him onto the bar with ease, Upir strength making his weight negligible and that shouldn’t turn Peter on so much, but it did, as did the feel of sharp teeth against his neck, and yeah, apparently he had few more kinks than he knew about.
Truth be told, he was right in the alley, he should be running, should have run the other way the minute Roman came near him.
The first time Destiny caught them, she shrieked and closed the supply closet door. “Shit! Peter is that Roman Godfrey? Are you fucking kidding me right now?” She proceed to curse in three languages, loud enough that they had no problem understanding every word through the closed door. People on the next block probably had no problem understanding every word.
The second time Destiny caught them, she curled her lip in disgust and turned back around and left his trailer without a word. Peter didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t stand being near Roman or because the room kind of stunk like someone had been fucking for hours, which they had. The wolfy part of him wanted to roll around in the scent, and truth be told, the human part of him kind of did too.
The third time Destiny caught them, she stormed in, instead of out and slammed the door loudly, making them jump. She crossed her arms and glared at them.
“This is some seriously unnatural shit. It’s like cats and dogs fucking or something. You two idiots are going to cause the apocalypse.” She shook her head, and turned to leave, then turned back, eyes narrowed. “Also, if you fuck in the bar one more time, I’m going to curse your dicks to fall off.”
They were quiet until she left and then Roman’s eyes met his and they were cracking up, laughing so hard that Peter’s ribs caught a little.
“I think half the reason you’re fucking me is that it drives your mother crazy.” They were at Roman’s house and given that Olivia had looked at him like he was her next meal when he showed up at the door, he thought he was going to have to call Roman to meet him at the gate or something. She’d eventually stepped away to let him in and he’d hurried straight to Roman’s room, feeling her sharp glare bore into his back as he headed up the stairs.
Roman grinned up at him and trailed his mouth down across Peter’s chest, nipping lightly at the skin, teeth out just enough to make it sting. “Maybe.”
“What’s the rest of it? Keeping Letha away from me?” Peter didn’t know why he was asking, what he was pushing for. They’d been hooking up for nearly six weeks but it wasn’t like they’d exchanged fucking promise rings or anything. As far as he knew, Roman was still fucking around when and wherever he pleased and if Peter wasn’t doing the same it was mostly because he was lazy and having Roman on the steady was convenient. At least that’s what he swore to Destiny when she side-eyed him.
“Letha and me, we’re never gonna happen. She’s way too sweet for me. Too sweet for you too, in case you were planning some kind of freaky, cousincest thing.”
“Olivia wants me to hook up with Letha. Some kind of Upir breeding thing.”
Peter couldn’t help the shudder that went through him. Pretty much anything that Olivia Godfrey wanted was bad news. “I don’t want to know.”
“Me either, actually.” Roman rolled over and grabbed a cigarette off the nightstand, lighting and inhaling deeply. “I’m fucking you because I can, because I want to. Because you want me too. And because I still want to watch.”
Something settled in Peter. He reached over and took the cigarette out of Roman’s hand, taking a drag off of it and tilting his head back, blowing fat rings of smoke out. The grin he gave Roman was all wolf. “You want to watch, you’re gonna have to earn it.”
Destiny was quiet so long it scared him when he told her Roman was coming over the next full moon.
“Oh Peter.” She laid her hand on his chest. “You’ve always had a wild heart, and I was always afraid you’d give it away to the wrong person.”
He opened his mouth to tell her it wasn’t true, that wasn’t what this was, except he couldn't because it would be a lie. “Fuuck me.”
Her laugh was tinged with sadness even as she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “I think Roman’s got that taken care of.”
And it was true in too many ways.
They still weren’t calling the thing between them anything, not even a ‘thing’ really. After Roman watch him change, and was curled in Peter’s bed, waiting for him the next morning when he got back, things were different though. They felt more connected somehow. Really that’s the only reason why Peter even reacted when Roman told him he had to go out of town for a business meeting. He wasn’t sure what his face did exactly but it made Roman laugh, wrap his arms around Peter, and pull him in for a lingering kiss.
“Believe me, I don’t want to go, but I’ve already gotten a lecture from Olivia. ‘You want to be a grown up, darling, act like one.” His imitation of his mother’s inflections was perfect. “Blah,blah if you insist on hanging out with,” He waved a hand. “You know the drill.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, Gypsy trash?”
He nodded, and leaned down to nuzzle Peter’s neck. “Some mad ravings about watching my rings and horses. Who ever knows what Olivia is talking about. She’s so cryptic I don’t think even she knows.”
Roman backed him toward the sofa, deft hands already stripping him of his shirt. “It’s only going to be for a couple of days.” He shoved Peter down and straddled him with a smirk. “Meanwhile, show me how much you’re going to miss me.”
Two days turned into two more and then a week,with a quick text here and there from Roman and Peter tried not to be paranoid. He knew Roman was working, he just didn’t know what else he was doing, didn’t know if the what, was actually a who or several whos. And he couldn’t ask. There was no way he’d be able to hide how much the thought bothered him. Still, when he found out that Letha had gone along on the trip, he stopped wondering. He knew who Roman was doing. Sure, he knew exactly why Olivia made sure to pass that information along to him when she saw him at Linda’s but that didn’t make it any less true. Roman’s feeling for his cousin were no secret and if she’d finally decided to reciprocate? Well Peter knew where he stood and that was outside the servant’s door.
Last call had cleared out most of the bar. Peter had called cabs for those in need and now he was trying to politely disengage from one of the newbies that had come into the bar with a group of tourists -- and really, who the fuck toured Hemlock Grove? Sonja was practically in his lap, she had both arms wrapped around his shoulders and was leaning in so her very nice breasts were nearly at mouth level. Six months ago he’d already have her back in his trailer. Now he wished he were actually interested, instead, all he could think about was the asshole who was walking toward them right now with a scowl. The asshole who hadn’t even bothered to call and say he was back in town.
“When did you get back?”
Roman ignored him, focused on Sonja. “Get. Out.”
She flinched back from Peter, grabbed her purse and practically ran out without looking back. Peter turned to glare at Roman. Roman was glaring right back.
“What the fuck?”
“How long did it take you after I was on the plane to find someone else?”
Oh, but he didn’t get to do that. Peter crossed his arms. “About as long as it took you to cuddle up to Letha.”
Roman threw a hand in the air in frustration. “You’re seriously still on this shit? Letha’s fiance wouldn’t have been very happy with that arrangement.”
Peter frowned. What now? “Letha’s engaged?”
“Yeah. She’s been dating the same guy since high school, Tyler. They’ve been doing the long distance thing.”
“Then what the fuck was all that about, warning me off ?”
“They had a big fight last summer, decided to take a break and I didn’t want you slipping in when she was vulnerable.” He shrugged, faint pink trailing across pale cheeks. “Besides, it was a way to get your attention.”
Ooooh “Oh.”
“Yeah you dick, oh.” Roman tilted his head, eyes piercing as he observed him. “So who do I have to kill?”
Peter blanched. Wow, he wished he thought Roman was kidding. “Nobody, Jesus! We never said we were exclusive.”
Roman nodded. “True, so I’ll just maim them a little.”
“Yeah, no, we’re not going there. Neither of us can afford to throw stones. We start again, new rules.”
Roman shrugged. “Fine. You could have just said you didn’t hook up with anybody else, though.”
“How did you? Did you compel people to find out who I slept with?”
He smirked. “Of course.”
Peter couldn’t do more than shake his head. It wasn’t like he didn’t know who he was involved with. “Crazy fuck. It was embarrassing, okay. My dick decided to be particular.”
Roman wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him in and dropping a lazy kiss on his mouth. “Just your dick?”
He shrugged, expression placid, despite the way his stomach flipped over with happiness. “Eh, maybe the rest of me too.”