Chapter 23 Morning of Departure
twenty-three
Morning of departure.
Sunlight hit my face, and I groaned, wiggling.
Tam whined, then curled tighter around me before Nyx basically flopped on top of me and covered both of us.
Warmth that had nothing to do with the sun bloomed behind my ribs and clung to me.
I dragged my fingers over Tam and Nyx, smiling softly at the pair.
Never could I have planned for them. It wasn’t possible. But I’d never been happier in my life.
But today was departure day, and I wasn’t upset about that. Yet… I was leaving Jared. He wouldn’t be mad; he’d only ever wanted what was best for me. And this, with Nyx and Tam, was most definitely what was best for me.
However, I was going to have to tell Jared.
I continued to stroke my partners as they both slept contentedly next to—or on me, in Nyx’s case.
Leaving Jared meant staying with the people I had come to love.
He would be shocked, no doubt, but he wouldn’t try and stop me.
Or more accurately, he couldn’t stop me.
There was no separating me from Tam and Nyx.
Slowly, I wiggled out of their embraces. I made sure to keep each step light and my movements careful. I didn’t want to wake them. Neither would be upset if they did wake up, but that didn’t matter. If they could sleep, they should.
When I came to the door, I paused to look back at them. Nyx was on top of Tam, his head buried on their chest, and Tam had their tentacles curled around him. Something soft and precious grew in my chest at the sight of them together. I adored how much they loved each other.
Going downstairs, I sat on the couch and drew my legs up, just staring at my comm.
This was going to be harder than I thought.
When I’d met Elijah, Jared had been living on the same space station as us, and he’d hated Elijah with a burning passion.
I should’ve listened to him; I hadn’t, though.
Jared had been the one to move off the station first, to come here to Valojor before Elijah and I had moved. Now, I was going to leave him.
Best to get it over with.
I pushed his comm link, and less than ten seconds later, my brother’s voice sounded in my ear. “Are you alright?”
“Why?”
“I just expected to see you after the lollikrake couple left, not to get a call from you.”
I worried at the couch beneath me and stared at the twisting flames in the fireplace. “About that?”
“Are they extending their stay?” Jared asked.
I could hear him moving around on the other side of the line. He was probably getting ready for more guests. Jared was always busy, never not working. I cleared my throat. I repeated, “About that.”
“No, Chase. Fuck no.”
I closed my eyes. “I really like them both.”
He sighed. “You always do this.”
“It’s different this time. They are different. They’re not Elijah.”
“How do you know? You only met them two days ago.”
That was true, but I wasn’t sure how to explain the all-consuming feeling I had for Nyx and Tam. “I know, but I love them, Jared. Both of them just fit with me.”
“What are you telling me, Chase?”
“I’m going to leave with them.”
“What? Today? Chase.”
Worry was evident in his tone, and it made me wince. Jared had basically raised me, and I’d made him worry more than was probably fair, especially with the whole Elijah fiasco. Still, I couldn’t not be with Tam and Nyx. They were part of me.
“I love them, Jared.”
Jared took a deep breath. “I’m worried about you, but I recognize this is your choice.”
“I promise they are different.”
“How do you know that, Chase?”
“Nyx and Tam paid my debt.”
“No,” he growled. “They paid for your time.”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see it. “No, they let me keep that money. They paid the debt off. No strings. Nothing. They want me to keep the money for these three days as backup, to make me feel safe.”
Silence was blaringly loud in my ear. It went on for so long that I looked at my comm to double-check that Jared hadn’t disconnected, but eventually, he asked, “What?”
“Nyx and Tam paid it off. No questions. Well, Tam did demand Elijah’s name, so they could kill him,” I replied, chuckling.
“He deserves it.”
“He does.”
Jared sighed. “Are you happy?”
I thought back to this morning and the pure comfort of waking up with them pressed against me. “Yes.”
“You’ll call me?”
“Yes.”
“You won’t let either of them have access to your account?”
“No.”
“Fine. I won’t say a word against it,” Jared said. “But if they treat you badly, I want you to come back here right away. At the first sign, Chase, not as a last resort. Do you understand?”
I smiled. “Neither of them will be mean to me. Well, except for how I like them to be mean.”
“Ew. I don’t want to hear about that.”
That made sense, but I burst into laughter.
“I haven’t heard you laugh in a while.”
“There hasn’t been much to laugh about,” I commented, rubbing a hand over my thigh.
“I want to meet your Nyx and Tam when you come to get your stuff.”
My teeth sank into my bottom lip to keep from chuckling as I pictured Jared and Nyx facing off, but I truly believed my brother would see what I saw. Tam, Nyx, and I belonged together. I nodded, saying, “Sounds good.”
“Alright. I’ll miss you, kid.” Jared sighed, and I heard a chair scrape across the floor. “Now I have to hire someone else.”
I hummed in sympathy. Finding someone who wanted the good pay and lodging was easy, but finding someone who wanted to deal with this non-stop Christmas-wrapped nightmare all the time was another matter entirely. Jared struggled to keep good employees.
“I love you,” he grunted.
My eyes burned. Jared wasn’t one to display emotions, let alone talk about them. I said, “I love you too.”
After ending the call, I dropped my comm and let my head fall back against the arm of the couch.
That had been harder than I’d thought, but it had to be done.
There was no way that I could’ve left without having a real conversation with him.
I owed Jared everything. He had taken care of me when our parents hadn’t wanted me anymore, not shirking the responsibility or blaming me.
When I’d been drowning in debt and starving, he’d brought me here.
While living here hadn’t been a dream, it had been nice to be near Jared.
Looking at the bright sky out of the frosted window, I smiled. This snow-covered extended vacation was coming to an end. But more importantly, I was going to spend the rest of my life with the two people I loved.
I should make them breakfast, I thought. Nyx had been the one who was cooking, but I wanted to take equal care of him and Tam. This way, I could show just how much I loved them and how good a boy I was going to be for them.