Their Reason

by Jessie G

  Ty and the waiter were dragging over another table. “Those two aren’t gonna let go till you join us, so take a load off.”

  As nice as the offer was, he didn’t want to intrude on their family time. “Oh, no, we don’t want to interrupt…”

  “You’re not. We only just got here a few minutes ago.” Ty waved him off. “Sit, Red, you two look like you need a break.”

  Once they were all seated, Ava pinned Chase and Ty with a serious look. “Can I wear my Elsa dress to our wedding?”

  Chase glanced at Ty who just shrugged. “If it’s okay with Red and Bull, it’s okay with us. But, Ava, remember we said it wasn’t our wedding. It’s Bull and Red’s wedding. Their special day that they’re sharing with us.”

  “Right, they’re sharing it with us, so we’re all getting married.” Ava nodded enthusiastically. “Except you guys, ’cause you said you were like an old married couple already, so you don’t count.”

  Ty coughed to cover up his laugh and nodded gravely. “That’s true, but like isn’t the same as is. So, maybe, we’ll all get married again.”

  Ava and Luc huddled together, their whispers barely discernable over the crowded restaurant. Finally they looked up and Luc said, “If we all get married, does that mean we’d be adopted? Will that make you our Dad’s?”

  And to think he thought his Disney wedding was complicated. Chase and Ty both looked taken aback by the questions and the seriousness of Luc’s tone. It was Ty who recovered first. “Do you want us to be your Dads?”

  Again, Ava and Luc huddled together. Bull’s grin was pure evil as he watched the potentially awkward scene play out. Yep, their marriage was a cakewalk in comparison this. Finally a decision was made and Ava clutched Luc’s hand hard when she said, “Yeah, we need Dads.”

  Chase lifted a finger as if to say give us a second and leaned into his own huddle with Ty. Their own whispered conversation was exaggerated, heavy on the hand gestures, and the kids were literally on the edge of their seats. Eventually, Ty cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table as he addressed the kids with his best parent voice. “We’d really like to be your Dads.”

  “But,” Chase cut in before the squealing could begin again, “first we’re gonna celebrate Bull and Red’s big day with them. You wouldn’t want someone else to have a party when you already planned one, would you?”

  “No,” Ava said thoughtfully, looking back and forth between all the adults at the table. “No, that would be mean. Okay, we can wait.”

  “Not too long, right?” Luc asked quickly. “I’m a handful and need a Dad to keep me in line.”

  It should have been funny, as amusing as the rest of Ava and Luc’s ploy had been. Oh, there was no doubt that the two were playing their uncles, nor was there any doubt Chase and Ty were allowing it. Luc was just hammering his point home, but instead of laughing, Red choked on his water and demanded, “Who told you that?”

  Luc ducked his head and, in Red’s mind, looked more ashamed than any little boy should. “Sister Maria said they couldn’t keep up with me sometimes.”

  “Was she old?” Red couldn’t help the note of contempt that laced his voice. The kids were obviously well adjusted and, as far as he knew, they hadn’t been mistreated in Colombia. He knew he was projecting his own experience and feelings, he just couldn’t bite back the knee jerk reaction.

  “Yeah.” Luc looked at him curiously. “Why?”

  “Well, sometimes old people have a hard time keeping up with kids. That doesn’t mean you’re a handful, it means she was tired and a bi…” Bull nudged him hard, stopping him from saying the wrong thing to two impressionable five year olds. “Cranky. Sounds like she was just tired and cranky. I’m sure your uncles don’t think you’re a handful.”

  “Nope,” Chase agreed quickly and the compassion in his voice was almost embarrassing. They all knew what he was doing, understood and accepted it, but he needed to let it go already. “He’s pretty perfect. They both are. Right, Ty?”

  “They’re both angels in comparison to me, so yep, pretty perfect.” Ty and Luc shared a fist bump before Ty gestured the waiter over and settled back in his seat. “Important, life-altering decisions make me hungry. Can we order now?”

  The waiter rushed over before anyone could answer and they placed their order. It was obvious from Ava’s expression that she was thinking everything over carefully and was just biding her time until the waiter left before she gave him and Bull her most serious stare.

  “If Uncle Ty and Uncle Chase become our Dads when they get married, does that mean you’ll become Dads when you get married?” She glanced back at Luc, as if to confirm her logic was sound. He nodded encouragingly, so she pressed on. “Will they just give you kids at Disney or do you gotta pick them up when you get home?”

  Red looked at Bull in surprise. He wanted to argue that it didn’t work that way, that Ty and Chase would get married and then adopt them, but they had already wrapped those two events together for the kids. If one came, so would the other. It wasn’t his place to correct that. In fact, he was all in favor of it, and knew the only reason Ty hadn’t already started adoption proceedings was because of the state law. The adoption ban had been shot down as unconstitutional and they knew couples who were adopting, but the law was still on the books. There was legislature on the table to finally have it removed and Ty was waiting for that to happen before he got the ball rolling. His reasoning was that he didn’t want anyone to have the opportunity to overturn it. He was already their guardian and Kieran filed paperwork to name Chase as co-guardian so that he could legally make decisions for the kids in Ty’s absence, and maintain custody of the kids if anything ever happened to Ty. For all intents and purposes they were already their Dads, the rest were just formalities.

  “No,” Bull answered slowly. “They don’t just give kids to people who get married. It only works when the kids are as special as you and Luc, and the new parents as special as your Uncles Ty and Chase. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes,” Luc answered before Ava could argue. “That makes sense ’cause our Mom made us special just for Uncle Ty and Uncle Chase.”

  “Exactly,” Ty agreed, his voice thick with an emotion Red was sure he rarely showed. “That’s exactly right.”

  Red looked between them and felt a burst of pride. Ty and Chase had settled into the role of parents so effortlessly and it was beautiful to see. There was a time when he wouldn’t have believed it possible of anyone, his own experiences coloring his perceptions, but he now knew everything happened the way it was supposed to. Another path might not have led him to Bull and that would have been more of a crime than what his mother did to him. It didn’t change his mind about kids of his own, but he was really happy to have Ava and Luc in his life, to witness their little family blooming, and was very content to be an honorary uncle.

  Chapter 6

  One cannot live on cock alone

  “Are you almost ready?” Bull leaned against the door frame and watched Red appraising himself critically in the mirror. Red’s eyes narrowed and he leaned over the sink, feeling along his cheek. “What are you doing?”

  “I think I’m breaking out,” Red grumbled as he turned his head this way and that, taking a full inspection. Bull had to bite his lip to stop from laughing. Red wasn’t normally one to primp and pose in front of the mirror, or to eye himself so critically, but the last few days he’d been taking full stock. First he thought his pants were getting tight, which was ridiculous. While he’d put on a few much needed pounds since they’d first met on the side of the road, he was in no way fat or out of shape. If anything, the contortions he put himself through every day had sculpted those necessary pounds into eye-catching definition. Then he was sure he saw a grey hair. He spent an hour sifting through every strand he could see in an effort to find it. When that didn’t work, Red begged him to look with a magnifying glass. He balked until Red threatened to have his hair dyed because he refused to show up to their wedding
with grey hair. The threat was terrifying enough that Bull inspected every hair on his head and declared him grey free.

  Now he was examining flawless skin, sure he was seeing something else that wasn’t there. “We can’t get married if my face is covered in zits. The pictures will look horrible.”

  “Seriously?” Bull pushed off the door frame and grabbed Red’s chin, holding his face up to the light. “There’s nothing there.”

  “Are you sure? Look closer,” Red urged.

  Bull leaned closer and didn’t stop until he had that frowning mouth under his. Red moaned and opened for him, and Bull felt the tension melting away. “That’s better. Now, tell me what’s really going on.”

  “What?” Red scrunched up his nose. “I just…I can’t dance.”

  Bull consider asking what that had to do with his physical appearance, then thought better of it. Red’s anxieties were few and far between these days, but when they manifested, it was always in the most unusual way. “I disagree. We dance very well together. Want me to show you?”

  “Is that a sex ploy?” Red rolled his eyes and smiled knowingly. “Who am I kidding? It’s always a sex ploy.”

  Bull slipped his hands down Red’s back and slid them beneath the waistband of his jeans. Those whiskey eyes darkened as Red pressed closer and when Bull swayed, Red instinctively followed. “I can’t really argue with that since everything you do makes me think about sex.”

  Red blushed and hid his face against Bull neck. As adventurous as their sex life was, it pleased Bull to no end that he could still get that reaction out of him. “Everything I do?”

  “Uh huh.” Bull continued the slow sway and added a small shuffle, and forced himself not to react when Red moved effortlessly with him. “Watching you eat is pure torture. I’m jealous of every bite of food you put in your mouth. Only one thing belongs in your mouth.”

  Red hummed thoughtfully before pointing out, “One cannot live on cock alone.”

  “True, true, but I can dream, right?” Bull took a step back and Red matched it with a step forward, keeping their bodies pressed tight. “Ice cream could be the worst. I think you get cones just to torture me.”

  “Now that you mention it.” Red sighed, his body fluid and relaxed, his feet effortlessly moving in direct counterpoint to Bull’s steps. “When I’m licking the cone, you get this look on your face.” Red shuddered as if the memory was that powerful. “Feral, possessive, like you could pounce on me right there.”

  “Sometimes the only thing holding me back is the thrill of anticipation. Imagining what I would do to you when I got you alone.” This time Bull was the one shuddering. “If we had time, I’d pin you up against the wall and show you.”

  Red tipped his head back and gave him that sexy smile that always made his cock stand up and take notice. “Anticipation, remember?”

  For a second, Bull forgot what he’d been trying to do. All he could think about was what he was going to do when they got back from the courthouse. “I’m anticipating a lot of things. Getting our marriage license today…”

  “There’s a three day waiting period, remember?” Red teased.

  “Marrying you in two weeks,” Bull continued, refusing to be derailed. “Having all our friends with us when we share our vows, our first kiss as husbands, our first dance as husbands…”

  “I can’t dance.” The teasing smile slipped away and Red ducked his head. “I never have and there’s not enough time for me to learn and if my body doesn’t cooperate then I’ll look stupid. I’ll make you look stupid.”

  “It’s cooperating just fine now, though, isn’t it?” Bull nudged his head up and pressed a kiss to his wrinkled brow. “Cause we’re dancing, Ian, right here in the bathroom.”

  Red’s eyes widened in surprise. “We’re dancing?”

  “Well, our bodies are swaying, our feet are moving…yeah, that’s dancing.” Watching the realization sink in and seeing Red’s smile bloom again was everything.

  Red leaned in, silently begging for a kiss, before slapping him on the ass. “We have an appointment to get to, but maybe later we can try this again without clothes.”

  In Bull’s mind, there was no maybe about it.

  Chapter 7

  You are the fulfillment of all my dreams

  “Okay, Javier and I have a few things to say.” Owen stood at the front of the bus as it pulled away from the curb. “Normally I’d start with something like ‘to your last week of freedom,’ but that just doesn’t seem appropriate for our favorite couple. I’m not sure if I believe in love at first sight, but there’s no question you two haven’t been free since the day you set eyes on each other. You’re why they write Hallmark cards and where sappy tag lines like ‘made for each other’ and ‘soulmates’ come from. I’m so happy for you both and even happier to be welcoming my new brother, Red, into the family. I’ve said it before and the sentiment only gets stronger, you are a Connor through and through.” Owen raised his glass of sparkling cider, encouraging everyone else to do the same. “To Bull and Red, may your love continue to grow every day of your long lives together.”

  The chorus of well wishes echoed through the bus as their friends toasted them and Bull couldn’t contain the swell of gratitude. To say he was lucky was a major understatement. Looking around at all the people they called family, whether by birth or circumstance, had him wondering what he’d done right to be so blessed. Yes, he who obscured all things religious, knew he was a blessed man.

  “I couldn’t have said it better and won’t even try.” Javier took Owen’s spot and held up his hand. “Bull, Red, we had a little problem with your no presents rule. You do so much for all of us and never ask for anything in return, so we contacted our resident genius about possible loopholes in your request.”

  Bull laughed at Alaric’s serene expression. “Let me guess, you put your legal team on it?”

  Alaric flicked an imaginary speck of dust from his dress shirt and cast him a sidelong glance. “Wouldn’t that be a little over the top, even for me?”

  “I don’t know if he got the legal team involved, but he was quick to point out the most obvious flaw.” Javier’s voice carried over the laughter and brought their attention back to him. “While your invitation clearly specifies a date for the event that we are not allowed to bring gifts to, it doesn’t say anything about today. Now don’t go getting your boxers in a bunch over there, big guy, I promise we kept it simple. One small gift from all of us.”

  Javier handed a regular size envelope to Red and took his seat. Red’s hand trembled slightly as he opened the flap and unfolded the single sheet of paper. Bull scanned the page over Red’s shoulder twice before looking at Javier. “You said small.”

  “It is small. Just one sheet of paper.” Javier grinned triumphantly.

  “I don’t understand,” Red whispered as he handed over the paper. “Are we going to Ireland?”

  “You are,” Saul agreed, leaning forward. “It’s all taken care of. Just meet with the travel agent during the week to go over the whole itinerary and get your travel documents. Billy and I worked out the schedule for the garage, and Owen and Colin grudgingly agreed that they can live without you for another week. So no arguments, no threats to cancel. Just say thank you so we can go to dinner.”

  Bull looked down at Red and saw the excitement mingled with the emotion in his eyes. No, of course they wouldn’t reject their friends’ gift, even though it was entirely too extravagant. The things he did, and now Red did, for them came with no strings, but he could see how eager they were for them to accept their present.

  “Thank you. I think we’re both shell shocked. This is an amazing loophole,” Bull finally said. Amid the hugs and handshakes, and more than a few tears, there was a noticeable grumble from the back of the bus.

  “We’ve got a babysitter on the clock, man, don’t squander our adult time with all this mushy crap,” Ty called from the corner where he had been making out with Chase, seemingly oblivious t
o them all. Not that Bull was fooled for a second. Even wrapped up in his boy, Ty was never oblivious. A completely debauched Chase peeked over, swiping a thumb over his kiss swollen lips, and grinned.

  It was just the diversion they needed and Bull was grateful that Ty had taken the spotlight off of them. Someone turned up the music, drinks were passed, and the horny couple in the corner went back to making out.

  “I can’t believe we’re going to Ireland,” Red murmured as he snuggled in. The way he looked around the bus, seemingly both overjoyed and overwhelmed, had Bull pulling him closer. Being the center of attention wasn’t something either of them enjoyed. “Disney and Ireland.”

  “I’m almost afraid to ask what you’re more excited for,” Bull teased. Most people would think a trip abroad was the ultimate vacation, but he knew Disney had the permanent top spot on Red’s bucket list.

  “Honestly, I’m not even sure I could answer that. I’m still shocked that we’re going to Disney, that we’re getting married in Disney. We’ll probably be in Ireland before it sinks in that we’re going to Ireland.” Red shifted and crawled into his lap. “Do you have any idea how often you do that to me? Fulfill my dreams and leave me wondering if it’s real. How can this be my life? How could you have changed everything?”

  “Me? You mean we, don’t you?” Bull knew then that he’d made a huge mistake. Bigger than allowing too many months to pass before solidifying their wedding plans. Life had seemed to settle into a routine and he missed the signs that Red was still waiting for it all to be ripped out from under him. To wake up from the dream.

  “I didn’t do anything.” Red was shaking his head, refusing to accept his part in the changes their lives had taken.

  Bull cupped his face, stopping the movement and forcing Red’s gaze to meet his. “You did everything. You forgave me for ripping you out of your comfort zone, allowed me in even though you were terrified, and trusted me even when your instincts told you that you couldn’t trust anyone. You pulled me back from the edge I’d dangled on too long, banished the nightmares, and gave me a safe place to rest. You refused to let the past hold you back from loving me. I didn’t do that, Ian, you did.”