Chapter 20 #2
“Have a mom?”
His mouth settled into a smile, and he shook his head. “No. I was raised with two dads. The shitty one disappeared on me, and my dad met someone else. Monty. You’ll like him a lot. He’s a giant marshmallow.”
“He’s part of your parents?”
“He is now,” Lucas said. He finished tying his hair, then turned and reached a hand out. Frankie took it and tugged him until Lucas was standing between his spread knees. He pressed his hands to Lucas’s waist, then dragged them upward, tugging on the way back down until Lucas dropped into his lap.
“Hi,” Frankie said when their noses touched.
Lucas chuckled. He was wearing a prosthetic in the eye that wasn’t hurt—a very bright blue one. Frankie cupped his cheek and ghosted a thumb over the bruise on his cheek. “I hate that you were hurt.”
“I didn’t love it either. You should kiss it and make it better.”
“We don’t have time for the kissing and making it better that I want to do,” Frankie murmured, but he tugged Lucas forward and grazed open lips over the injured skin. Lucas shuddered, and Frankie’s kiss got a little rougher as he made it to his jaw, then down his neck, then back up to his lips.
He took him hungrily then, a desperation in his body he didn’t fully understand. It was damn near impossible not to pin him to the bed, strip him down, and fuck the breath straight out of his lungs. As it was, he might have, but Lucas’s door opened, and a voice called through the room.
“Where the fuck are you!”
“Gage,” Lucas said. He didn’t pull back, and Frankie didn’t let go until the footsteps charging through the house came to a stop in the doorway.
“Oh my god! My eyes!”
“I have spares if you need them,” Lucas said, pulling away. He turned, and over his shoulder, Frankie could see Gage’s face reacting to Lucas’s wounds.
Gage stormed forward and took Lucas’s chin in his hands. “What the—excuse me,” he said quickly, glancing at Frankie. “But what the fuck?”
“Your dad told you, right?”
“Yes,” Gage said, letting him go. His eyes moved downward, locked on where Frankie was holding Lucas by the waist. “You didn’t call me, so I had to get the info secondhand.”
“I was busy being in pain,” Lucas told him. “Talking kind of sucks. Eating sucks. Everything sucks. It’s fresh. And aren’t you supposed to be in a mountain somewhere?”
“Dad got called back in,” Gage said. His voice trailed off. “So…this is a thing now? You two?”
Frankie swallowed heavily, and when Lucas stood up, he didn’t stop him. But he felt a pulse of something like shame. Was Lucas embarrassed by him?
“This is a thing. He’s my boyfriend.”
Frankie felt that word almost physically. Boyfriend. He’d been someone’s husband once, but for some reason, being Lucas’s boyfriend felt more powerful. More important. He couldn’t hide his smile, and Gage’s eyes narrowed on him.
“I sincerely fucking hope you’re doing something about your brother’s shit-for-brains boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend,” Frankie quickly corrected. “And we’re doing everything we can. After last night, I’m taking Fallon down to get a protective order while Charlie’s still in jail.”
Gage’s face did something complicated, and he cleared his throat. “Is he—ah. Was he hurt too?”
“No. They were able to stop Charlie before he got to Fallon,” Frankie said.
“Oh, thank god,” Gage breathed, then immediately looked ashamed. “I mean…I wish he had been stopped before he touched you. Not, like, thank god he only hit you. Fuck.”
“Gage,” Lucas said. He reached for his friend and tugged him in, knocking their foreheads together. The pose was intimate, and for a brief second, Frankie felt a possessive urge burst into life. But it faded quickly when he realized what it was.
They were family.
“I’m sorry,” Gage murmured.
Frankie stood up and hesitated before putting his arm on Gage’s. The other man startled, but he didn’t pull away. He huffed, then jerked his head, urging Frankie closer. Wrapping his arm around them both, Frankie rested his cheek against the back of Lucas’s head.
“This will be dealt with. Lucas is okay now, and Fallon is safe.”
“Dad’s coming to pick me up and take me to the station to talk to the detective,” Lucas said.
“Actually, that would be me,” Gage said softly. “I called him and said I was coming with. He tried to argue, but you know what a little stubborn bitch I can be.”
Lucas laughed as he pulled back and leaned into Frankie’s arms. “Yep. Oh, and by the way, this is a secret.”
Gage’s eyes went wide. “Dude, what?”
“Yeah. Don’t say anything.”
Gage whined loudly. “Fuck. I hate secrets. They fester, Lucas. They fester!”
Lucas smiled. “Cope.”
“Fuck you. I’m going to…” He stopped and looked at Frankie. “Can I go, uh…see if your brother’s okay?”
Frankie did better at hiding his grin. “I think he’d like that.”
Gage pinked around his ears and the apples of his cheeks, and he cleared his throat before nodding and turning to walk off. When the front door slammed, Lucas turned and slid his arms around Frankie’s waist.
“We need a do-over,” Lucas said.
“For…?”
“Dinner. Dating. Sex. We’re officially boyfriends…if that’s okay with you.” There was a note of uncertainty in his voice that Frankie hated. He didn’t want Lucas to be unsure about him ever. Not for a single second.
He took Lucas by the chin and laid a lush kiss on his mouth. “I’m whatever you want me to be, so long as I’m yours.”
“My poet.”
“My princess,” Frankie murmured back, kissing him until he was half-hard.
He rocked against him once, then pulled back.
“If today isn’t too much, then tonight. Fen is going to keep Elodie for one more night.
I think Fallon might stay here again, but I doubt he’ll mind being alone at my place as long as I’m close by. ”
“If he needs you—”
Frankie kissed Lucas’s hand until his words died. “I will be there if he needs me, but you’re important too. I will make it work.”
“I was just going to say that if he needs you and doesn’t mind me, we can postpone the sexy stuff and do family time,” Lucas said with a tiny grin.
“You really mean that, don’t you?”
Lucas’s brows dipped. “What do you mean?”
“I…my ex.” He shook his head. “It’s not important. He’s not important. I’m just not used to someone getting it.”
Lucas sighed and touched Frankie’s cheek, drawing him close again. He did that a lot, kept them bare inches apart, and he was starting to get addicted to it. “It doesn’t have to be all on you, okay? You don’t have to meet me more than halfway.”
Frankie didn’t know what to say to that, so he kissed Lucas softly, chaste but lingering, until the front door opened again.
“Are you guys still being disgusting?” Gage called.
Frankie knocked his forehead against Lucas’s as he laughed.
“Don’t hate him, but he is always like this,” Lucas murmured.
“I would never.” Frankie stole one last quick peck before pulling away and letting his boyfriend go.
Lucas turned and walked out of the room, Frankie behind, following Gage’s voice to the living room, where he was standing with Fallon.
Frankie looked at his brother. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m ready, and Gage said we had to come over together because he needed emotional support.”
“You are so fucking drama,” Lucas groaned. He walked to the kitchen counter, his fingers dancing over the surface until they found his cane. “Hey, Fallon. You doing okay?”
“Been better.” Fallon’s fingers were tapping against the sides of his thighs, and Frankie could tell he was only barely holding back his urge to sway back and forth. “Can we go? My nerves are making this harder than it should be.”
Frankie grazed a touch over Lucas’s back as he walked past him. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”
“Oh. Yeah, that reminds me. If you’re not busy,” Gage said, “there’s a new campaign starting tonight with a new party.”
Lucas shook his head. “Nope. Not even remotely in the mood.”
“Oh.” Gage swallowed. “Well, I invited Fallon—”
“That has nothing to do with me,” Lucas said simply.
“But—”
“Seriously,” Lucas said. “I’m struggling to do the nice, polite thing right now because I’m in pain, and I don’t want to go relive all that bullshit from yesterday, but I have to.
I’m not going to be offended if you start a new campaign without me.
I haven’t been feeling it lately, and I’m really not right now. ”
Gage’s shoulders sank. “I’m sorry. If you need me—”
“I don’t. I have plans.”
“What—oh. Oh god.” Gage looked at Frankie with wide eyes. “Right. Cool, cool, cool. Sweet. Amazing. Fantastic…”
“Stop,” Lucas said.
Gage’s jaw snapped shut, and then he turned to Fallon. “Pick you up at six? We have to stop and get a mountain of chips and salsa.”
Fallon’s eyes went wide. “O-okay. I can do six.”
Frankie wanted to cut in, to make sure his brother was okay with it. Fallon sometimes said yes to things when he thought that he wasn’t socially allowed to say no. But calling him on it always embarrassed the fuck out of him, so Frankie kept his mouth shut.
“Let me get my keys. Lucas, call me if you need me.”
“I won’t. But I’ll text you when I get home,” he said.
Frankie grinned, gave Gage a nod of goodbye, then breezed past his brother into the hall. It was one step toward the rest of his day without Lucas, but it was also one step toward the rest of the night, where Frankie could have him in his arms again.