Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 205: Make It Mean Something

"You promised me you'd make things official between us." He glanced up toward the teammates hovering and craning their necks at the front door of the villa.

Everyone already knew Mariella had him in her room every night, but the two of them had never been openly affectionate in front of the others before.

Now they were sitting pressed together on the porch swing with Mariella tucked against his shoulder, and naturally that had drawn a full audience of curious teammates.

He could tune out the staring easily enough, but he needed something real to point to.

The next time someone like Harvey came along and tried to degrade him, he wanted to be able to say plainly that they were an item.

Mariella hadn't expected him to push her for a real answer. Whatever happened to that untouchable, self-contained image of his?

That particular illusion shattered completely.

She went quiet for a moment.

He took her silence as reluctance, and his voice cooled by several degrees. "Forget it. I won't force you."

"No, it's fine," Mariella said quickly.

The faint curve returned to Chandler's lips. His eyes, warm with a quiet smile, settled on the woman nestled against him.

"That said..." Mariella blinked up at him with those clear eyes of hers, already scheming. "You'd better not lock your door tonight. I might come by your room later."

Chandler went completely rigid, as though something had jolted straight through him.

Mariella saw that she'd rattled him again and dissolved into laughter.

Chandler realized he'd fallen for another one of her tricks, and the frustration that rose in him was entirely involuntary.

She buried her face against him and laughed harder.

She didn't notice the way his eyes had grown darker, or the slow movement at his throat, or the way the muscles across his entire frame had pulled steadily tighter.

Then her phone buzzed. She glanced at it and found a message from Matthew. "Dinner's ready," he'd typed.

...

The dinner spread was extraordinary.

Two slow-cooked lamb's heads filled the room with a deep, savory fragrance. A large pot of rich, steaming oxtail stew sat beside them, its surface scattered with fresh green chives that the No. 98 team had grown themselves.

There was also sausage with bell peppers and greens galore.

The veggies were things the No. 98 team had made on their own.

Every teammate had their own specialty, and each one had cooked a signature dish. Together they'd covered the entire length of the table.

Fortunately, the dining room table was long enough to have been built with exactly this many people in mind.

Bottles of beer, red wine, spirits, hard cider, and sodas all made their way onto the table, and everyone reached for whatever suited them.

Mariella picked the hard cider, Serena chose a soda, Chandler took the beer, Matthew poured himself a red wine, and Number One reached for the spirits.

The rest of the teammates each found their preference.

The meal was a celebration of two things at once: Mariella and Chandler's return from battle, and Celestine Ridge's successful destruction of every last one of Black Bear's raiders, with order finally restored.

Mariella rose with her glass in hand and smiled around the table. "Before we dig in, I have an announcement. I have a boyfriend now. I'll let him introduce himself."

The moment her words landed, Chandler was already on his feet beside her.

He raised his glass with a smile and looked around at the assembled team. "Starting today, Mariella and I are officially together. We're each other's partner from here on out, and we're committed to one another. Thank you all for witnessing this."

He drained his glass in one clean motion.

Number One looked down and took a quiet sip of his spirits.

Matthew's expression shifted into something difficult to read, caught somewhere between pleased and not.

The rest of the team came back to themselves all at once and raised their glasses in congratulation.

Only Serena seemed genuinely caught off guard. She hesitated, then stood up slowly and asked in a small voice, "Mariella, have you thought about letting my dad be your boyfriend instead?"

Matthew went scarlet and moved to stop her immediately. "Serena, that's enough."

Serena pressed her lips together and pressed on with the earnest determination only a child could manage. "But Dad and I both love you, Mariella, and you love us too. How can Captain Zimmer beat the two of us when he's just one person?"

The teammates couldn't help it. The pure, unfiltered sincerity of it pulled laughter out of all of them.

Number Five teased gently, "That's not how it works, little one. More people doesn't mean a better chance."

The poor kid didn't know yet that having a little girl in the picture wasn't a bonus in a situation like this. If anything, it worked against her dad.

But she was too innocent, and not one of them could bring themselves to say it out loud.

Mariella walked over and rested her hand gently on top of Serena's head, smiling softly as she said, "No matter who my boyfriend is, you and your dad are both the most important people in my life. We're still going to live together, fight together, and look out for each other. That part doesn't change."

Serena tilted her small head and asked with complete seriousness, "Forever? You promise?"

"Promise."

...

At eight o'clock that evening, Mariella returned to her room to wash up.

Half an hour later, she stepped out of the bathroom and stood at the mirror, slowly drying her freshly washed hair.

The doorbell rang.

She set the hair dryer down and crossed the room to open the door. Chandler was standing there, exactly as she'd expected.

"I'm fairly certain I told you not to lock your door tonight and to wait for me to come to you." She got there first and planted herself in the doorway, blocking his path. "Why didn't you wait? Why are you the one showing up here?"