Chapter Thirteen
Remi
The realtor had been happy to meet Remi to show him the house. He pulled his truck in front of the structure before looking to the passenger side. Dom was nearly bouncing in his seat.
“Ready?” Remi asked.
“Yes! I can’t believe that this house has been sitting empty.”
Remi chuckled. “Eric just remembered.”
Remi climbed out from behind the wheel before he opened the backdoor for Lake.
Lake glanced over at him. “Are you sure you don’t want to look with just the two of you.”
Remi had gotten an explanation of why Lake was staying with them for a while during dinner. He was angry with Lake’s family and his protective instincts were going haywire. “We want you with us.”
Lake blushed. “Okay, thanks.”
He kept his arm around Lake’s shoulder, urging him behind the truck and to the passenger side. Remi opened the door for his boy who hopped out with a smile.
“Is she here?” Dom asked.
“I think that’s her pulling up.”
A red sports car zoomed down the street to pull up behind Remi’s truck. A leggy blond with a short skirt and matching jacket climbed from the low car.
She straightened her jacket before looking right at Remi.
Her smile was too perfect. Teeth too white. She ran her gaze up and down Remi’s body in a predatory way. Remi was not happy with that. Luckily, Dom was too excited to notice anything.
“Remi North?”
“Yes, you must be Mrs. Lasso.”
“Call me Maria, please.” She held out her hand.
Remi shook her hand and had to literally pull away when she didn’t release him on her own. He walked over to Dom, sliding his arm around Dom’s waist.
The realtor narrowed her gaze as her smile faltered but she quickly schooled her features. “Are you ready to see the house?”
“Yes please.” He walked Dom forward but when Lake lagged behind, Remi grasped the back of Lake’s neck.
Maria Lasso’s eyes widened for a split second.
Remi didn’t care what the lady thought about him or his relationships. Lake might not be his boy, but he was part of Remi’s family. He waited until the realtor unlocked the door and pushed it open.
“Would you like a tour, or do you prefer to check it out on your own?”
She was not doing a good job of hiding her opinions of them. Fuck her. This was about the house. “We’ll be fine on our own.”
“Fine. I’ll wait in my car to give you time.”
“Thank you!” Dom told her happily.
Even the sweet boy didn’t bring a smile to the rude lady’s face.
Remi led the boys inside the house. Already there was a difference from Eric’s house. The foyer opened into the rest of the house showing an open floor plan. Remi could see the kitchen to the right, dining room in front of a sliding glass door, and the living room straight ahead. To the left was a hall that would lead to the bedrooms.
Dom danced around. “Can we go look?”
“Yes, baby.”
He raced off, dragging Lake behind him. “Let's see where the playroom should be!”
Remi snorted. That shouldn’t have been the first thing they needed to decide but the boys deserved to have some fun.
Taking his time, Remi strolled to the right to check out the kitchen. Modern stainless-steel appliances, gorgeous marble counters and island, crisp white cabinets. The large space inviting and lit from the multiple windows. He loved it.
Remi wandered through what would be the dining room and into the living area. The space was plenty big for what they needed.
He followed the sound of laughter down the hall. The first door on the right was a modest-sized bathroom. To the left was a good-size bedroom. Four bedrooms and two baths. The master suite was empty, so Remi crossed the hall to the next room.
There he found Dom and Lake making carpet angels on the freshly vacuumed floor.
“What in the world?” Remi asked.
The boys giggled. “This carpet is so thick. We picked the playroom.”
“I didn’t pick,” Lake corrected. “I just agreed with you.”
Remi grinned. “Well then did you pick your room out?”
Lake blinked at him. “My room?”
Dom flopped over onto his stomach. “The first room had pink carpet.”
“It would make a really nice room for a pretty boy who liked pretty things,” Remi said.
Lake blushed. “I can’t just move in here.”
“Why not?” Dom demanded.
Remi crouched, taking a softer approach. “You don’t have to move in here if you don’t want. We can still prepare a room for you just in case.”
Lake’s lower lip trembled. “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Never.” He dropped down on his ass while motioning Lake closer. “Come here.”
Lake crawled closer while Dom decided to roll to his side. Remi grabbed Dom’s leg to keep him close while lifting Lake’s head to rest on his knee.
“You trusted me tonight by sharing your story with me,” Remi said. “We were already family before that but now I’m your protector too. I promised not to go after your brothers unless they touch you again. Again, Lake. If it happens again, I won’t let it pass. You’re our family too. If they can’t treat you right, then they’ll learn that you aren’t alone.”
“They’ll think I’m weak,” Lake said.
“I don’t care what they think,” Remi told him. “I care that they treat you with respect and never touch you again.”
“Okay.”
“Now tell me if you’d like to decorate a room here with us.”
“I would,” Lake said quietly.
“Yes!” Dom pumped his fist. “Ezra and Brandon in the big house and me and Lake in the cool house. It’s perfect.”
“Cool house?” Lake asked.
“We have a pool, dude!”
“They have a playroom,” Lake said. “An entire basement.”
“But a pool!” Dom shouted.
“Shall we go check it out?” Remi asked.
“Yes!” Dom leapt to his feet before reaching down to tug at Lake’s hand. “Come on!”
“I’m trying.” Lake rolled his to knees before letting Dom help him to his feet.
It took Remi a little more time to gain his own feet. He was much older than the boys. Dom and Lake were now both bouncing around.
“There’ll be no sugar for the two of you tonight,” Remi said as his knees popped.
“We don’t need sugar!” Dom told him.
“No, you don’t.” Remi waved them forward. “Go!”
“Yes!” Dom and Lake both took off running.
Remi followed behind. He could hear the sliding glass door open. Remi wasn’t a fan of doors like that. He’d broken into too many of them. That would be one change that he would have to fix before they moved in.
The boys were peering over the low iron fence. It would be tall enough to keep Annabelle out and Eric was right. They could take down the picket fence between this and Eric’s house giving them twice the amount of yard.
The big house’s yard already held a swing set and toys for Annabelle and the boys but this would give them even more room to play with. Inside they had the room that they needed. Remi had already known that as long as they had the space needed, he’d make it work. The location was too perfect.
Strolling to the back fence, he noticed that Eric and Ezra were standing on the porch.
Ezra waved. “I see you!”
“Come look over!” Remi waved the boy forward.
Ezra took off running before Eric could stop him. Once he reached the fence, Ezra had to wait for his Daddy to catch up. Eric lifted Ezra onto his shoulders so the boy could see over.
“Do you like it?” Ezra asked.
Dom and Lake ran over. “Yes!”
“Will we be able to take the fence down?” Eric asked.
“Absolutely,” Remi said. “I think it will work out well for us.”
Dom grabbed Lake’s hands before he started to jump in circles. “We got a house! We got a house!”
Lake laughed. His booming happiness filling the last of the dying light.
Remi grinned.
It was almost like someone was writing his perfect story. That after fighting for his life, struggling to prove himself to himself, putting others before him, it was finally time for Remi to have a happy ending.
At thirty-seven it wasn’t too late for Remi to find himself again.
Or the love of his life.
* * * * *
Dom
He had to take a deep breath.
The rope went around his bicep, limiting how high he could move this arm.
“Not too tight?” Remi checked.
“It’s good, Daddy.”
Remi wrapped the rope twice around his torso before moving to Dom’s other bicep.
“You’ll have to tell me if you need a drink. You’re wearing your diaper so don’t worry about that. Other than that, you should have fun with your friends. One hour.”
“I play for one hour, Daddy,” he repeated like a good boy.
“You won’t argue for more time,” Remi said. “You have work and dialysis tomorrow. You get to have fun and then Daddy will give you a bath before bed.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“Promise?”
“I promise, Daddy.”
“Good boy.” Remi took the rest of the rope to wrap around the top of the diaper and down his legs.
Walking would be an issue, but baby boys didn’t even need to walk. They had a Daddy to carry them.
Remi stepped back and licked his lips.
“You like, Daddy?”
“Very much, boy. You tell me if you need anything,” Remi told him.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Let’s go then.” Remi picked Dom up.
He couldn’t even wrap his arms around Remi’s shoulder. Remi carried Dom down the hall as Dom tried to get used to the rope that restricted his movements. Remi had been right about something else.
The tightness of the rope did feel like a hug.
Dom wiggled. The rope brushed against the soft cotton of his jammies. The plastic diaper crunched as he squirmed.
They reached the playroom door and Remi carried Dom down the stairs.
Brandon, Ezra, and Lake were already playing. Toys littered the floor as they laughed together. Dom grinned at his friends.
“I’m here!” he announced.
Lake jumped up. He was wearing a long silk skirt over a white onesie. “Look at you!”
“I’m a baby!” Dom told him.
“Cute baby!” Lake declared.
Brandon and Ezra danced beside Lake.
“Where to?” Remi asked.
“We want to play dolls!” Lake shouted.
Remi strolled with him over to the dollhouse before setting Dom down on his bottom. “Have fun.”
Dom nodded, reaching for a baby doll. His ropes held his arms down.
“Here!” Lake placed the baby doll that Dom liked best into his lap.
“Thanks.” Dom set the doll up and started to braid her hair. It had come out of the tie and needed to be fixed so that she felt pretty. She was pretty whether or not her hair was fixed but Dom knew better than anyone that some armor on the outside helped to be strong on the inside. It was why he dyed his own hair. Or now had a Daddy to do it for him.
Brandon started to move the furniture around in the house.
Lake was laying out new outfits in front of him as Ezra selected the rest of the dolls.
Lake got two dolls while the rest of them stayed with their favorite.
Dom finished braiding his doll’s hair when Ezra handed over his. “Will you do her hair too?”
“Of course. Will you make Molly a bottle?”
“I got it!” Brandon announced. “Five bottles coming up.”
“I’ll put her new dress on,” Ezra offered. “Which one?”
“Blue,” Dom answered immediately. It was the same shade as his rope. Cool.
“Okay.” Ezra carefully picked up Dom’s doll.
One thing that he appreciated was that all of his friends dropped into regression easily with him. They respected the toys, dolls, or whatever they played with.
It made playing that much more fun.
The Daddy crew—that was a silly name—were in the corner getting the twin bed changed over and ready for Lake to sleep on. They’d go to the apartment tomorrow when Lake’s brothers were at work to pick up what they needed. The Daddies were certain that they’d be able to do it in one load, leaving less of a chance for Lake’s family to get wind of what was going on.
They switched out dolls between them. Dom braided hair, Ezra changed dresses, Brandon gave bottles, before Lake put them to bed.
“We need boy dolls,” Ezra commented.
“We do.”
“I have a Cabbage Patch doll. Brian,” Lake said. “He’s in a chest in my closet.”
“We'll make sure to grab him,” Dom promised.
“We need more than one boy,” Ezra insisted.
“I’ll tell my Daddy,” Brandon said. “He'll buy them.”
“Yeah, Uncle Dane will buy us boys,” Dom agreed.
“That just doesn’t sound right.” Remi knelt beside Dom putting a cup to his mouth.
“Silly Daddy,” Dom said. He took a long pull of water. “We talking about boy dolls.”
“I think there should be more boy dolls too. We’ll see what we can find.”
“Thanks, Daddy!”
“Thanks, Uncle Remi,” Ezra and Brandon sing-songed.
“Yes, thank you,” Lake said quietly. “Uncle…Uncle Remi.”
Remi patted Dom’s back before giving him another drink. He rose then stopped to brush a kiss on the top of Lake’s head.
Lake blushed but smiled so big.
Dom tried to reach over to grab Lake’s hand but nope he couldn’t.
Ezra scooted closer to Lake until he was leaning against the big little’s shoulder. Lake nuzzled the top of Ezra’s hair before he returned to tucking the girls in.
It was bedtime for the baby girls and as Dom fought his own yawn, it might be bedtime for him as well.