The Teddy Bear Club

by Sean Michael

  “Let’s do it from the house. You’ll have privacy, and I can watch the kids.”

  “Thanks. I really appreciate it.” How many times had he said that to Aiden in the last few days? And why did he think he was maybe going to be saying it a whole lot more in the coming weeks? God, he hoped this didn’t drag out too long.

  “It’s okay. I know that family stuff can be crazy.”

  “Yeah, I guess you do at that.” He checked U, finding his son staring up at him. He made faces at U, looking for a smile or even a giggle.

  U blinked at him and blew bubbles, little feet kicking madly in the sling. He laughed, pure joy filling him. This was worth anything, even having to face his mother’s hatred and whatever else she planned to lob at him.

  “Dylan! You learned bubbles.” Linds pressed a sticky kiss to his son’s face.

  U’s eyes crossed and he jerked, then laughed, the sweet giggles contagious, and Dev found himself laughing too.

  Bee squealed, like she was fighting for Dev’s attention.

  He smiled down at her and stroked her sweet baby cheek. “I know you’re here too, princess Bee.”

  She turned and latched on to his finger, sucking hard.

  “Somebody’s hungry, Aiden.” He looked at Aiden, realizing their faces were very close like this. He wouldn’t have to move very much at all to take a quick kiss.

  “Is she?” Aiden smiled at him and stole a quick, chaste kiss.

  He smiled right back and nodded, then licked his lips, but he couldn’t taste Aiden there, only sweet from his ice cream. He straightened again, his finger sliding from Bee’s mouth with a little pop. “Yeah, she totally is.”

  “Good thing I came prepared, huh?” Sure enough, Aiden pulled a bottle from the diaper bag and popped the nipple in Bee’s mouth.

  “It is. And good thing I gave U his bottle after I called you. He’ll be good for at least another hour. I brought the formula with me, but I didn’t get a chance to make any bottles up.”

  “Babies are a lot of works,” Linds informed him.

  He couldn’t disagree. “They are. But they’re worth it. They grow up to be smarty smart kids like you.”

  “With teefs. The baby has a teeth.”

  “Yeah. Teeth are a lot of work for babies, aren’t they?” Everything was a lot of work for babies, in fact. Growing up was hard.

  “Uh-huh. They cry lots.” She scooted closer to him, watching him closely, and then she licked her ice cream around the edge, exactly like he did.

  Oh man. Did that make him feel good or what? He took a few licks from the top.

  Sure enough, Linds did the same thing.

  He kept licking his cone in new ways, to see her copy him. He glanced up at Aiden, giving him a grin.

  “You two must be friends now.”

  “I think so.” And that was a good thing, for as much time as he was spending with the family and as much as he liked Aiden and wanted to keep seeing him, it would have sucked if she hated his guts.

  “Good.” Obviously Aiden agreed. Thank God. “Finish up your ice cream, Linds. We need to get home and have nap time before we play Legos.”

  “Nap time. That sounds amazing, actually.” Dev could totally feed U and then nap for a while. Now that the adrenaline was gone, he felt tired and used up. The encounter with his mother had taken a lot out of him, despite how short it had been.

  “Yeah. I figured you could make your phone calls, and then we could all have a rest.” Aiden touched his wrist, the caress gentle and light.

  Dev turned his hand to link his fingers with Aiden’s. “That totally works for me.” He’d almost forgotten about having to call Logan—shoving the hard stuff to the back of his mind.

  “Good deal. Everything will work out, hmm?”

  He loved that—the easy assurance that things would be fine. He wanted that sort of Zen.

  “From your lips to the universe’s ears.” He got up and made sure U was still properly seated in the sling, then threw out the napkins they’d used as Aiden cleaned Linds’s face.

  He took a couple of breaths and told himself it was all going to work out all right. With a good friend at his back and U’s little face looking up at him, he could believe that everything was going to be fine.

  Chapter Seven

  AIDEN got all the kids settled while Dev dealt with things. He knew that Dev was going to have to tell him what was going on, but he’d dealt with people in crisis his entire life and he knew that you had to do what was most important first.

  First, make sure the person was safe. Next, provide basic necessities—in this case, ice cream and a place to make private phone calls. Then comfort. So, mochas. That would work.

  Dev came in when they were almost done—perfect timing—running his hand over his face and through his hair. “Well, thank God that is over. And that you got me with Logan before my mother showed up.”

  “I made mochas.” God, he wanted to know what had happened.

  “Oh wow, you’re amazing. Thank you.” Dev took his and took a sip. “Oh damn, that’s perfect. I don’t know what I’d do without you. The kids are down and good for a while?”

  “They’ll be fine. Come have a sit.”

  They sat in the living room, the couch comfy, and that way they were close in case Dev needed a hug or a simple touch.

  “Thanks. Thanks. I nearly died when I saw my mother in the lobby.”

  “What did she want?”

  “U. I don’t think she even knew his name. All she said was ‘give me the baby.’ God.” He shuddered. He wasn’t giving U up, especially not to her.

  “Nonsense. He’s your son.”

  “And in her eyes a freak like me shouldn’t have a child.” Dev shuddered. “She’s horrible, and she spews all this religious crap. I’m not going to let her have U. He deserves better.”

  “Of course not.” Oh God. That was some sick shit. Thank God for his folks—they’d loved him, no matter what.

  “That’s what Logan said. Even though the adoption hasn’t gone through yet, I’ve begun the process, and Terry left him with me. That gives me an edge.”

  “You know you two are welcome to stay here as long as you need to, right? Honestly. I know you have levels of overwhelmedness.”

  “Are you sure, Aiden? Because I’m not sure I can live there until this whole thing is resolved, and that could take months.” Now that Mother knew where he lived, he’d have to worry about her showing up or sending one of her church people to snatch U, and he couldn’t live scared all the time. He couldn’t.

  “I have the room. We’ll have to get you a comfortable place to work and go get a few of Dylan’s—should I call him Dylan?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. I have a feeling he’s always going to be U to me, but I like Dylan as a name. I like that it was chosen by someone I really like.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, that’s pretty special. She’s pretty special, my girl.” In fact, his kids were both amazing.

  “Yeah, she definitely is.” Dev drank some more of his mocha and settled more comfortably in his chair. “I had to give Logan all the details of what happened when I came out. How they kicked me out. He said if it becomes a fight between us over who would be a better parent, her intolerance will help my case. We need to find Terry and get her to sign her parental rights over to me.”

  “Does he have someone working on that?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, he does. He’s doing it for free, man. Crazy.”

  Aiden nodded, but he knew Logan. Hell, Logan was using Harry Lender for his private investigator work. He had a three-year-old son he’d never seen because his ex-wife’s husband wouldn’t let her share custody with a “fudgepacker.”

  “I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t met all of you. It’s like you were put in front of me at exactly the right time.”

  “It happens like that sometimes, doesn’t it?”

  “It does. I might stress over things, but I do believe in the univer
se and all things having their place and reason.” Dev snorted. “Even my mother. I might not understand why things happened like that, but I trust that I’ll eventually figure out the lesson I had to learn.”

  “Well, then. You two stay for a bit. We’ll go get his high chair and stuff.” Somehow they’d figure things out, right?

  “That’d be great. If I can leave U with you for a couple of hours and borrow your car, I could pack up the stuff I’ll need and bring it back….”

  “Sure. Of course. Do you want me to see if I can get you some help?”

  “You know anyone who would be able to?” Dev looked at him like he was Superman.

  “Let me call Zack. He always knows a college kid that could use twenty bucks.”

  “That’d totally be awesome, not having to do it all by myself.” Dev leaned forward suddenly and kissed him, lips lingering on his. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re more than welcome.” It was worth the lecture he was going to get from Logan even, about moving someone in.

  “Yeah? You’ll let me know if we overstay our welcome, right? I’d hate to have you annoyed I’m still here.”

  “Hey, you promise to do some dishes, I’ll be a happy man.”

  “I will do all the dishes. I can help with the bills too—I’ll totally pay my share.”

  “You don’t….” He stopped, thought about it. “You know, that would help a ton, really. I’m not hurting, but then I would be able to squirrel some back.”

  “It’s only fair—if I’m going to be mooching off you for more than a few days, I want to help pay the bills.” Dev took his hand and kissed his fingertips. “Thank you again for… for everything. God, I’ve been saying that a lot, but I totally mean it.”

  “You’re welcome.” He leaned forward and kissed Dev, hard enough that Dev knew he meant it, but not so hard that it was a come-on.

  Dev’s smile felt good against his lips, and a moment later Dev pressed back, kissing him in return. Then their lips parted, and Dev was still smiling. “I could get used to this.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I could too.” He needed to call Zack, though, and he needed to work while the kids were napping.

  “But you can’t right now because I’ve got to go and pack, and I should do it while the kids are asleep. Be better for you. Easier.” Dev gave him another kiss, lingering this time, and Aiden could tell Dev wanted to pursue this too.

  “Let me call Zack and we’ll work out someone to meet you.”

  “Sounds good.” Dev sat back, putting some space between them. “It shouldn’t take me long to pack together enough stuff for the both of us. I already brought games and my computer. So I can work and we can play.”

  “Works for me. Clean out your fridge and bring his high chair? Oh, and if you have extra towels? I’m short.” Excitement filled him and he grinned a little.

  “You got it.” Dev chuckled. “You seem awfully excited about some extra towels.”

  “You know it. You have any idea how many Linds uses a day?”

  “Uh. I would have said one, but I’m guessing I’m off?”

  “Four to five. She’s a whirling bath dervish.”

  “Except when she doesn’t want one,” Dev pointed out, laughing softly. “I will bring every towel I have, I promise.”

  “You rock. I’ll make some calls.” He handed Dev the keys.

  “Thanks.” Dev took the keys, then leaned in and gave him a quick, hard kiss. “I’ll try and keep it to a couple of hours.”

  “I’ll text when I know who’s going to come and help.”

  “Okay.” Dev gave him a hug and headed off. The man did fill his jeans very nicely.

  Aiden grabbed his cell and dialed the Bean, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Zack to answer.

  “Roasty Bean, we put the roast in your morning. This is Zack. How can I help you?” Zack always sounded so chipper on the phone.

  “Hey, honey, it’s Aiden. I need a favor.” Famous last words.

  “How much is it going to wind up costing me?” Zack asked, voice threaded through with laughter.

  “Nothing. Devon—he’s having some issues and is moving into my guest room until he figures it out. He needs a kid to work for an hour or two to help him load his car.”

  “Moving in with you? Indefinitely? Is that a good idea?” Even as Zack teased him, he could hear his friend looking through papers.

  “He’s needing a friend for sure—maybe we’re a little further along than that.”

  “Well, at least you both have the same kind of baggage.” Zack chuckled, then cheered. “Here it is. I knew I’d kept resumes and shit. I’ve got two guys who would be happy to fetch and carry for cash.” Zack rattled off their names and numbers.

  “You rock, man. See you tomorrow?”

  “I’ll be here. I expect you and the new guy who you’ve become very attached to already to be here too. I need my baby snuggles.”

  “With bells on, I promise.” He said his goodbyes and hung up, then arranged some help for Dev.

  They needed to get him home before suppertime.

  Chapter Eight

  DEV gave U over to Zack, who’d made grabby hands the second they’d arrived, and settled back in his chair. He could hardly believe this was only his second time at the informal get-together. So much had happened in the last five days, and now he was living with one of the men he’d met here, another was helping him get everything in place to have U be his all legal and aboveboard, and his baby had a new name.

  It was almost like a dream, except there were enough terrifying moments that he knew very well it wasn’t. He closed his eyes and took in the wonderful smell of baked goods and coffee, waiting for his hazelnut latte to arrive.

  Logan was laughing at some joke Aiden was telling, Linds in her Uncle Logan’s arms.

  He could hear Zack’s twins playing with the huge pile of Legos the Roasty Bean had stockpiled in their little kids’ zone in the corner. They were arguing over whether the princess would drive a red car or a blue rocket ship to get to her friend the dragon’s house. He was voting for the rocket ship because, well, rocket ship. Who wouldn’t want to get around in one of those?

  He closed his eyes for a second and let himself relax. He wasn’t uncomfortable at Aiden’s, not at all, but they were always juggling the kids, and three were noisier than one.

  One of Zack’s baristas plonked his drink in front of him and he jerked, realizing that he’d actually dozed off. He had no clue how long for, but everything sounded the same as it had when he’d first closed his eyes.

  He cracked one open. Nobody seemed to have noticed he’d been sleep-sitting. It was a good thing he’d gone with the latte after all, since he clearly needed a dose of caffeine.

  “Can I go play, Daddy?” Linds was wriggling and tugging at Logan, wanting down, and Aiden nodded, eyes on her as she ran over to her friends.

  Dev chuckled. “Much as she likes her Uncle Logan, you’ve got nothing on a pair of six-year-old girls.”

  “This is true. I wonder sometimes if I shouldn’t have had two.”

  “Wouldn’t it be harder to have two that you only see on weekends?” He thought it had to be impossibly hard for Logan, only getting to see his daughter now and then. He’d only had U for a few months, but he already loved him so much, it would hurt to have to give him up for most of each week.

  “Yeah….”

  Oh, that was…. He shouldn’t have said that. “I’m sorry, Logan, that was really insensitive, and you’ve been nothing but wonderful to me.” He sighed and took a few more mouthfuls of his coffee for something to do with himself.

  “No. No, you’re right. I’m being a grump. Obviously I need more caffeine.”

  “Or maybe less,” he teased, trying to alleviate the slight awkwardness.

  “Oh, honey.” Logan leaned close and winked. “There’s no such thing as too much caffeine.”

  He had to laugh. He also had to agree. “I prefer mine cold, though. Give me a
Coke or a couple of energy drinks and I’m a happy—and awake—camper.”

  “Yeah? Aiden likes his Coke, but he hides it from the kids.”

  He knew that. He knew where Aiden’s stashes were and that he liked late-night kisses. He smiled just thinking about it, his gaze cutting away to Aiden, who was talking animatedly with Zack. Aiden was cute as hell, and Dev was falling for him.

  “Oh, you’ve got it bad.”

  He blinked at Logan. “What?”

  “Nothing. Ignore me.”

  “Ignoring you seems kind of rude. I simply didn’t understand what you said.” It was funny how easy it was to talk and be with Aiden, while he and Logan seemed to be constantly tripping over each other. He looked back at Aiden. That made them compatible, which was nice considering how good the kissing was.

  “Maybe a little bit. It’s obvious that you two care about each other. That rocks.”

  “Oh. Heh.” He felt his cheeks heat. “He’s a great guy.” Dev hoped Aiden didn’t mind that people knew, that his friends knew that… what? They weren’t a couple, not really. But he wanted them to be, didn’t he?

  “He is. He hasn’t dated in a long time.”

  “How long is a long time?” Was it because of the kids, or had Aiden been celibate before then?

  “Hank wasn’t into the family life, you know? Linds showed up and he was gone.”

  “Ah, right. That totally sucks.” He looked over at Aiden again, who glanced up. They smiled at each other.

  “I don’t know. Better that the girls weren’t used to him and then he bailed.”

  “God, yes. You totally have a point.” Dev chuckled, shook his head. “You are all a bunch of Pollyannas.” It was that or he was the biggest Debbie Downer.

  “That’s right.” Zack grinned at him over U’s head. “We’ve worked through most of our sh—schtuff, you know?”

  “Your ‘schtuff?’” He laughed, loving the twisted word. “So I’m next in schtuff working, eh?”

  “Indeed. We are the kings of working other people’s schtuff.” Oh, Zack looked so happy with himself.