by CJ Bishop
“Shit,” Levi laughed. “That’ll be a porno party for sure.”
“Got that right,” Cole grinned. He grabbed Gabe’s hand. “Come on; suddenly I need something cold to drink.”
Dane rubbed his face. “Me, too,” he chuckled.
The two couples detached from the group and went in search of chilled beverage.
“So…” Seth sighed and smiled at Ricky. “Tell us again what exactly goes on at these parties of yours.”
“You ever watch porn?” Ricky flicked an eyebrow.
“Uh…yeah,” Seth laughed.
“Well, there you go.” Ricky stepped closer until their bodies were nearly touching and his voice dropped to a seductive timbre. “You have to let go of all your inhibitions,” he murmured and traced a fingertip along Seth’s jawline. “Surrender to your rawest, most baser passions. Don’t think of us as other men, but rather boy toys that you and Jamie are playing with together.” He smiled, his eyes heavy with desire. “Can you do that?”
“Yes,” Jamie croaked.
Seth and Ricky looked at him, then they all burst into laughter.
♦
“Do you think it’s puppy love or the real thing?” Savannah and Maddy watched Chris and Noah leave the dance floor then part ways with Chris kissing Noah’s cheek…and Noah staring after him with a dreamy look in his eyes.
Maddy shrugged and smiled. “Hard to say right now.”
Appearing thoughtful, Savannah murmured, “Do you think Chris sees him as just a kid…or do you think he’s seen in him the man he will be in a few short years?”
“Don’t know.”
Savannah looked up at him. “You’re not adding much perspective to this analysis.”
Smiling, Maddy kissed her. “Well, I don’t know. I can’t read his mind. But I don’t think it would be all that strange if he felt something for Noah, even now. I mean, if Angel had met Dane when Angel was fifteen, Dane would have been about twenty-three, and I bet they would have still fallen in love—even if they didn’t act on it until he was older. But I could totally see the feelings being there nonetheless.”
“Yeah,” Savannah nodded. “I never thought of it that way, comparing it to them. Noah and Noel just seem so vulnerable. Sometimes I forget they’re fifteen-years-old.”
“Honestly,” Maddy said. “I feel like we’re way older than them when there’s only one year between us. Well, almost two for you. But even so.”
Resting back against Maddy’s chest, Savannah smiled. “I think Noah and Chris would make a cute couple. How could they not when they’re both insanely cute as it is.”
“Hey,” Maddy grumbled. “You’re not supposed to notice when other guys are cute. Unless you add that they’re not nearly as cute as me.”
Savannah laughed softly. “So you think you’re the cutest guy in the world?”
“To you.” He grinned and nuzzled her neck. “Who cares what anyone else thinks?”
“So you wouldn’t care if everyone else thought you were ugly?”
“Nope,” Maddy smiled. “Not as long as you still thought I was a hottie.” He paused and frowned. “Wait. Is that your subtle way of telling me people think I’m ugly?”
Savannah laughed and turned around, hugging his body. “What do you care?” she teased. “You said it didn’t matter.”
“In theory.”
She swatted his back. “You’re pathetic.”
Maddy chuckled and kissed her mouth. “And you’re breathtaking.”
“So are you.” She pursed her lips in an impish smile. “To me.”
Chapter 20
Jules raced over and scrambled into Clint’s lap. “Noah and Noel said they’re staying with you tonight. Can I stay, too?”
Across from Clint, Axel smiled. “Of course you can.”
“And Reuben?” He pointed at the boy who had followed him over to the table.
Axel glanced at Clint then told Jules, “Probably not this time. I think he has to go home in the morning.”
Uncertainty masked Jules’ face. “Can I spend the night with him?”
They were all aware of the precarious situation Nolan was in with his “fiancée”. Clint shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe not right now.”
Reuben leaned against the seat of an empty chair, his head down, a sad expression on his sweet face. Axel’s heart broke for the boy. “Maybe the next time Reuben visits his dad, you can have a sleepover.” He didn’t know if he was giving them false hope, but he couldn’t bear to see either little boy so sad and disappointed.
Reuben laid his head on his arms in the seat of the chair; the cowboy hat tilted to the side over his face. “I don’t want to go home,” he whispered with a soft catch in his small voice.
“Don’t you miss your mom?” Axel asked.
The boy pressed his face deeper into his arms and shook his head.
Axel looked at Clint then asked Reuben, “Don’t you have fun with your mom?”
“No.”
Axel touched his shoulder. “Come here,” he said gently and lifted Reuben onto his lap. “What do you mean you don’t have fun with your mom? She doesn’t do fun stuff with you?”
The boy shook his head, eyes downcast as he leaned against Axel’s chest. His hat started to fall off his head and he grabbed it quickly, then jumped when his elbow struck a half-empty glass of champagne, knocking it off the table. The glass broke on the hard floor, and Reuben burst into tears, startling Axel. “I’m sorry,” he cried fearfully. “I-I didn’t mean to.” He hurriedly slid off Axel’s lap and dropped to his knees, trying to clean it up. “I didn’t…I didn’t mean to.”
Axel grabbed him up before he could cut himself on the shards of glass. “Hey,” he murmured, holding Reuben in his arms. “It’s okay. It was just an accident. You’re not in trouble.”
The boy continued to tremble and sob, saying over and over that he was sorry.
♦
“Reuben?” Nolan stood quickly, aborting his conversation with Jensen Taylor when he heard his son crying. He hurried over to where Axel was holding a sobbing Reuben and took the boy from his arms. Reuben clung to his neck, shaking. “What’s wrong?” He looked at the men as Clint set Jules on the floor then reached down and picked up a broken champagne glass.
Grid was right behind him. “What happened?”
Rising from his chair, Axel looked confused. “He accidently knocked a glass off the table,” he said. “Then started crying and saying he was sorry like we were going to be seriously angry at him or something. But it was just an accident.”
Nolan frowned and gently rubbed Reuben’s back. “Son?” he murmured. “Why are you so upset? You’re not in trouble.”
His breath hitching with sobs, Reuben loosened his arms almost cautiously and raised his head from Nolan’s shoulder. “I’m…I’m not?” Fear lingered in his damp eyes.
“It was an accident,” Grid told him quietly and rubbed his hand over the boy’s head.
The two other attorneys approached, along with a few of the men.
Still somewhat confused, Axel said, “Why did he get that upset? Is it because he doesn’t know us very well and thought we might get mad at him? Does he react that way when he’s at your apartment?”
Nolan shook his head. “Since I’ve had him, he’s never dropped a dish or spilled anything. In fact, for a four-year-old, he’s almost meticulously careful with how he handles dishes.”
Jensen came forward and looked at the boy. “Reuben,” he said quietly, “My name is Jensen, I’m a friend of your dad’s.” He studied the boy’s face. “Do you get in trouble at home for having accidents like this, when you knocked the glass off the table?”
The boy nodded and ducked his head against Nolan’s neck.
“A lot of trouble?” Jensen asked.
Reuben nodded again.
Rubbing a slow hand over his mouth, Jensen addressed Nolan. “Do you mind if I ask him a few questions?”
Dread pinched Nolan’s gut. “Questions?”
“I don’t want to speak out of school,” Jensen murmured. “But Reuben’s panicked overreaction to something as simple as dropping a glass could be a red flag alluding to something more serious.”
Nolan felt queasy. “You mean…something at home?”
“Yes.” Jensen held up a cautionary hand and added, “But it’s merely a possibility at this point. With your permission, I’ll ask him a few more questions, and then we’ll go from there.”
“I don’t know if it’s relevant,” Axel offered. “But when we mentioned Reuben going home, he said he didn’t want to. Seemed to get a little upset at the idea.”
Jensen nodded slowly. He motioned for Nolan to sit down with Reuben, then drew up a chair and sat facing them. Nolan turned Reuben around on his lap so Jensen could speak to him.
“Reuben,” Jensen began with a calm, friendly tone. “Why don’t you want to go home?”
The boy sank back against Nolan but didn’t answer.
“Does your mom ever yell at you?”
Reuben nodded.
“Does she do it a lot?” he asked. “Or just sometimes?”
A crowd was slowly gathering around the table, and Nolan sensed a protective “air” developing in the onlookers as Jensen continued to question Reuben.
Reuben looked down. “A lot.”
“Can you tell me what she says when she yells at you? Does she say mean things to you or about you?”
The boy plucked anxiously at a button on his suit jacket. “She says I’m dumb,” he whispered, a quiver in his voice. “Says I should go away because I’m too dumb to love.”
Nolan held his son closer, his eyes filling with hot tears. Grid gripped his shoulder, and he could feel the tension mounting in the young man.
“You’re not dumb,” Jules said, indignation pinching his face. “She’s dumb for calling you that.”
Nolan swallowed thickly and suppressed a smile as the boy voiced what surely everyone was thinking.
“Shh,” Clint murmured and hugged Jules, his face as hard as stone. “Let Jensen finish.”
It was no secret that the cowboy had taken an instant affection to Reuben, and the brittle glare in his jade green eyes betrayed the vicious thoughts developing toward Reuben’s mother.
Jensen quietly cleared his throat. “Reuben,” he began again. “Does your mom ever spank you when she’s yelling at you? Or hit you in any way?”
Reuben trembled as soft sobs started to hitch his chest.
“I don’t mean to upset you, Reuben,” Jensen said gently. “But it’s important that you tell us if your mom ever hits you when she’s angry.”
Staring at him through tear-filled eyes, Reuben nodded.
“She does hit you?” Jensen clarified.
The boy nodded again and touched a small fingertip to his damp face.
“She slaps you?”
Reuben nodded again.
“How hard?”
Standing near Clint, Cole snapped, “Who cares how hard, she shouldn’t be fucking slapping him at all.” Jensen looked up at him, and Cole backed off. “Sorry. It’s just…” He exhaled hard and raked his hand through his hair, fury in his gray eyes.
“No need to apologize,” Jensen said. “You’re right.” He returned his focus to Reuben and asked again, “How hard does she slap you?”
Reuben choked on a sob. “Really hard.”
You fucking bitch. Nolan’s vision blurred, his heart pounding and blood boiling.
“Does she slap or hit you anywhere else besides the face?”
Reuben slid his fingers up through his soft hair. “On my head,” he whispered unsteadily, then fell into quiet sobbing once more.
Jules twisted out of Clint’s arms and scrambled off his lap. He ran to Reuben and hugged him fiercely. “He’s not going back to his stupid mom!” he cried. “You can’t make him! She’s mean!”
Nolan agreed one hundred percent, but even under these circumstances, they had to go through the proper legal channels. “She’ll be back for him in the morning,” he said thickly, feeling sick. “It’s Sunday, how do we stop her from taking him without a court order?”
Straightening in his chair, Jensen took out his cell. “Leave that to me. I can dig up a judge or two who won’t mind having their Sunday interrupted.”
“Judge Reagan,” Bronson Tate suggested immediately. “He presides over a lot of child abuse cases. He has no tolerance for abusive parents. He will sign a temporary injunction preventing Reuben from returning to that home until a child psychologist can interview him.”
“And he can stay with Nolan until a psychologist sees him?” Grid asked.
Jensen nodded. “That shouldn’t be a problem. Nolan is his biological father, providing a safe and proper home environment for his son, physically and emotionally.” He stood up. “If Reuben’s mother or her attorneys attempt to raise issues about Reuben remaining in Nolan’s care for the duration of his psychological exam…” he looked at Nolan. “I’ll make those issues disappear.” He indicated his cell phone as he stepped away from the table. “If you’ll excuse, I’ll get this in motion right now.”
The two attorneys walked away with Jensen sending out his call.
Nolan felt like he was shaking apart. He hugged Reuben and kissed his head. “You’re going to stay with me for a while,” he whispered. “Okay?”
Reuben nodded and wiped his eyes.
“Everything’s going to be okay.”
Jules looked up at Nolan, his eyes damp. “He don’t have to go home?”
“No.” Nolan smiled at the little boy, adoring him to pieces for his fierce protectiveness over Reuben.
“Then can he spend the night at Clint’s, too?”
Reuben drew back and looked at his dad, wiping his face again. “Can I?”
Nolan hesitated, then said, “I guess you have to ask Clint and Axel about that.”
“They don’t care,” Jules insisted, his excitement slowly seeping back in as he started to hop next to Nolan’s chair.
“He’s always welcome,” Clint assured Nolan.
Their joy returning in an instant, the two boys took off, hand in hand.
“Thank the Lord for making kids so resilient,” Max murmured with a smile.
Nolan nodded then looked at Clint and Axel. “Maybe it would be a good idea for him to stay out at your place,” he said quietly. “I’m anticipating some serious fallout when Patrice is served with a judge’s order preventing her from taking Reuben. It might be best if Reuben isn’t at my apartment when that shit storm hits.”
“No worries,” Clint drawled. “He’ll be safe with us.”
Nolan was convinced that was likely the safest place his son could be right now.
♦
As soon as Zoe put up her guitar and came off the small corner platform where her band was set up, John attached himself to her and never left her side. Donald kept his distance, cursing himself for coaxing John onto the dance floor because, now, John seemed uncomfortable whenever Donald got too close. Had he felt the stiffness of Donald’s crotch when their bodies had brushed together? Or seen the desire and want that Donald hadn’t been able to keep out of his eyes as he’d held John in his arms?
Whatever the case, John appeared to be avoiding direct interaction with him now.
You can stop harboring hope that maybe—just maybe—John might be gay, too; he isn’t.
He had to let it go. Let John go.
Donald released a hard breath and leaned back in his chair, his eyes still following John’s every move as his heart struggled to loosen its grip on the guy. He jumped a little when Cochise dropped into the chair next to him.
“So?” Cochise asked low.
Donald shrugged, his heart in his throat. “I need to let him go.”
“Why?”
“He isn’t gay,” Donald mumbled. “And I think I made a huge mistake in dancing with him. It made him uncomfortable. Now he feels weird around me.”
Cochise didn’t r
eply; just stared across the room at John, a knot of tension to his brow. This wasn’t first time he’d caught the Egyptian staring at John that way, a distant troubled look in his eyes.
“I’m making enough at the club,” Donald murmured. “I think it’s time I got another apartment here in the city, start taking care of myself again. What happened with Arnett is over, in the past. I’m okay to be alone now, it doesn’t freak me out anymore.” He swallowed thickly, his voice lowering as he watched John and Zoe and her band members talking and laughing. “Just…get out of the way. Give all of you more room.”
“You’re not in the way,” Cochise said.
Yes, I am. His eyes stinging as they lingered on Zoe and John, Donald whispered, “I’ll start looking for an apartment tomorrow.”
Chapter 21
“Do we have all the kids taken care of?” Horatio handed Max a fresh glass of champagne.
“Yes.” Max sipped the drink. “For tonight, Savannah is going to stay with Miranda and Chris. While Abel and Devlin are away on their honeymoon, she will stay with Emmy and Oliver.” Max smiled. “Emmy’s practically adopted her as her own as it is.”
Horatio nodded. “Emmy’s a lovely woman. I think it’s good for Savannah to have a mother figure to bond with.” He chuckled. “Except for Zoe and Miranda, she has only men to contend with around here. It has got to be exhausting for her.”
“I’m sure,” Max laughed softly. “Especially since most of them act more like boys than men.”
“They do at that,” Horatio shook his head. “So, anyway, Maddy is going to stay with Cory and Colton?”
“Yes. He would have bunked with Clint and Axel, but they’re going to have a houseful with the twins, Reuben, and Jules. Of course, the two little ones won’t be there the whole time we’re all away on our honeymoons. But for tonight, they’re definitely going to have a full house.”
Horatio slipped his arm around Max’s waist and kissed his cheek. “I can’t wait until our home is a little fuller as well.”
“I think I will love raising a child from scratch.”
