Chapter 10 #2
“I don’t know about a saint,” Justin said over his shoulder. “But I’m pretty even-tempered for the most part.”
“You’d have to be in a room full of high school students all day.”
“Eh, they’re not that bad. Most the time it’s the parents that make my job difficult.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah.” Justin got to his feet, pan in hand. “I mean, look at our fathers. You think they would’ve taken kindly to a teacher telling them that Chloé or I were failing or acting out?”
Zayne chuckled. “No. But two seconds of thinking about it and they’d probably believe that Red was running riot around a classroom.”
“Red… I like it.” Justin grinned. “And you’re right. She’s quite the handful.”
Zayne wasn’t going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole. But Ethan knew exactly where his mind had gone, judging by his smirk.
“So teaching, huh?” Zayne leaned up against the counter and crossed his arms. “You didn’t get the chef bug?”
“Definitely not.” Justin grabbed a stick of butter and cut off what he needed. “I’m only allowed to cook for them on pasta night while supervised. Let’s just say cooking is Chloé’s calling, and eating it is mine.”
He flashed a smile that was downright charming, making his dimples appear again, and it wasn’t until Ethan cleared his throat that Zayne realized he’d been staring.
Justin headed over to the stove, seemingly oblivious, as Zayne walked around to Ethan to kiss him on the cheek. “You think Julien or Robbie is the dad?”
Ethan followed his gaze back to Justin. “Ah, so that’s what you’re looking for.”
Zayne frowned. “Huh?”
“You were looking a little longer than usual.”
“Oh.” Zayne grinned. “Were you jealous?”
“No. But his sister might’ve been.”
“Nah, I’m just a nosy shit, that’s all. Aren’t you curious?”
Ethan scraped the shallots and garlic off to the side of the cutting board and picked up a couple of sage leaves. “She definitely has a unique family, that’s for sure.”
Zayne rolled his eyes. “That’s not an answer.”
“Then yes, it might’ve crossed my mind.”
“See, I knew it.”
“Shh.” Ethan chuckled.
“You were wondering just like me.”
“You could just ask.”
“Justin?” Zayne’s eyes bugged. “I don’t know the guy well enough to ask that.”
“I meant Chloé. You could ask Chloé.”
“Ask me what?”
Jesus, she was getting really good at sneaking up on a person.
“Uh, um…” While Zayne stuttered around trying to think of something he could say, Chloé handed over his club soda.
“Are you okay?” She frowned, and then looked past his shoulder to Justin. “Did he say something to you?”
“Say something? What do you mean?”
“Did he say something to make you uncomfortable?”
“No,” Zayne rushed out. “No. Nothing like that, Red.”
“Good. That’s good. I’d hate to have to kick his ass.”
Ethan’s lips twitched. “Yet I might pay to see that.”
Chloé snorted and shook her head. “Only people with too much money spend it on ridiculous things.”
For a second there Zayne thought she’d forgotten what they’d been taking about, but no such luck.
“So what did you want to ask me?”
“I, uh… It’s nothing.”
“Oh, come on. What do you always tell me? You can ask us anything. Same thing goes.”
That was true, they did say that. He just wasn’t sure whether this was appropriate to ask.
“ Zaaayne . It can’t be that bad.”
“Okay, but I want you to know I wasn’t trying to be rude or anything.”
Ethan chuckled. “Good luck,” he said as he picked up the cutting board and took it over to Justin.
“Okay.” Chloé sidled in closer to Zayne, her wide eyes begging him to continue. “Now I’m really curious.”
“I was just wondering about something, that’s all.” Shit . Now that he was asking, it seemed totally weird and rude to even voice the question on his mind.
“What?”
He let out a sigh, then decided to just rip the Band-Aid off. “Okay, here goes. You look a lot like your papa, and, well, Justin doesn’t. Sooo…”
A smile slowly curved Chloé’s lips as she stepped in close and put a hand on his chest. Then she whispered in his ear, “Are you asking who’s my daddy?”
The comment was so unexpected but so spot-on that Zayne couldn’t help his burst of laughter. “I guess I am.”
Chloé was grinning from ear to ear as she pulled away from him, and Zayne was happy to note she didn’t look offended at all.
“You’re not the first, I promise, and you’re right. Papa is my biological father—”
“And Julien is Justin’s?”
“What?” Chloé looked over her shoulder to where her fathers sat, then back to Justin, who was smiling at something Ethan had said. “Oh, because of the dimples?”
Zayne shrugged. “Seemed logical.”
“You’re right, that does seem logical, but no. I thought I told you—Justin was adopted when I was four. He was a teenager.”
Oh shit. That makes total sense. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude. And if you did tell us, I totally forgot. You’ve just got a really interesting family, Red.”
“I know, and it’s not a secret.”
Oh thank God.
“I would’ve been curious too. And for the record, you can ask me anything about them—you’re my family too.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now come on, let’s get the blender out—those mushrooms aren’t going to take long to cook.”
* * *
“THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT me, aren’t they?”
Ethan put the cutting board on the counter next to the stove and looked at Justin. “What makes you say that?”
“Because I can feel their eyes on me, and you left the conversation.” Justin glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “You don’t strike me as the type to gossip.”
Ethan smirked. “Don’t I?”
“Nope.” Justin took a swig of his beer and slid it onto the counter. “You’re like our papa—you’d rather go straight to the source than beat around the bush.”
Shocked by Justin’s accurate insight, Ethan laughed. “That’s very astute of you, Mr. Thornton-Priestley.”
Justin shrugged. “I’m a teacher. I have to read people all day. So, what are they gossiping about?”
Ethan turned to see Chloé with her hand on Zayne’s chest, laughing at whatever he’d just said.
“If I had to guess—”
“You don’t have to guess.”
He looked back to Justin, who was now stirring the butter.
“You’re right, I don’t. Zayne’s curious about who your biological father is out of the three. It’s obvious Priest is Chloé’s, but you’re more of a challenge for him to pinpoint.”
Justin’s eyes narrowed a fraction, and Ethan wondered if he would take offense to Zayne’s curiosity.
He knew it came from a place of innocence—Zayne had such a shit father of his own, and he was likely trying to decipher why their relationship had gone so wrong, when Chloé and Justin had three wonderful dads.
But the answer didn’t lie in who the blood relative was. His relationship with the senator went to shit because the senator was a piece of shit.
“I don’t actually think he’s trying to be gossipy,” Ethan explained. “You see, our fathers aren’t in our lives anymore, and I think he’s just curious about the three of yours. The relationship between all of you.”
Justin gestured for the cutting board, and Ethan handed it over. “That’s right—his dad is that asshole senator, right?”
“Right, and mine passed away when I was young.”
Justin’s hand hovered over the pan with the board. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.”
“I know. But I’m digging into your personal life, so—”
“Tit for tat.” Justin nodded and scrapped the chopped vegetables into the sizzling butter. “I like you.”
“Well, three out of four isn’t too bad.”
“Three? Who doesn’t— Papa.” Justin scoffed. “I told you. You’re too much alike. But he’ll come around.”
“We’ll see.” Ethan leaned against the counter as Justin started to stir.
“So, who does Zayne think is the likely candidate?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I left before he got that far, but he was going back and forth between Robbie and Julien.”
Justin let out a loud laugh, and Ethan took a moment to study his features. The hair, the eyes—they could’ve gone either way, but the dimples bracketing his mouth? That was what Zayne had been looking at.
“I’m thinking he’s leaning toward Julien.”
“Not Papa?”
“You’re nothing like Priest. Looks or temperament.”
“You’re right, I’m not.” Justin’s expression softened as he looked over to Chloé, and then the men in question. “I would be honored to be any of these men’s child, but I was lucky enough to be adopted by them instead.”
Adopted. Ethan wasn’t sure why, but that had never even occurred to him. With Chloé bearing such a strong resemblance to Priest, it had been a natural conclusion Justin would be one of theirs too.
“Should I apologize?”
“Why? Did you do something wrong?” Justin chuckled and stirred the contents of the pan. “I’m proud to be their son. Biological or adopted. I have three amazing fathers and one super-smart, talented, precocious sister. I’m never ashamed to talk about that.”
“I wouldn’t be either. I think you’re one of the luckiest men in the world.”
Justin tossed an easygoing grin his way. “I am.”
As he went back to stirring the filling for the tortellini, Ethan looked at the rest of the family.
Chloé and Justin really were two of the luckiest people he knew. They’d won the lottery when it came to a loving household and parents who cared for them.
Robbie, Julien, and Priest had raised two wonderful children, and the more Ethan got to know all of them, the more he was moved that they were letting him and Zayne into their close-knit family. That they’d been willing to accept them, even after the unusual way they’d met their daughter.
“You never did say,” Justin said. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“No. Zayne and I are both only children.”
“That explains a lot.”
“Such as?”
Justin laughed and shook his head. “You two just strike me as the kind of guys who are used to getting what they want. You know, only-child syndrome.”
“That definitely wasn’t the case with us when we were young.”
“But it is now?”
Ethan thought about that for a second, then a wolfish smile curved his lips. “We got Chloé, didn’t we?”
“Ha, yeah, but we both know she went after you.”
Ethan laughed, remembering the way she’d doubled down on her lie to get into the club that second night to see them.
“You know your sister well.”
“Let’s just say being alone for the first four years of her life made a lasting impression. She still suffers from only-child syndrome. Even though there’s— Heeey, kiddo.”
Ethan turned to see Chloé standing behind him with her hands on her hips, and Zayne beside her holding a blender.
“Don’t you ‘hey kiddo’ me. Here I am over there talking all nice about you, and you’re telling my boyfriend I have only-child syndrome?”
Ethan looked to Justin, who smirked. “If the shoe fits.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, snatching the blender from Zayne and putting it on the counter, where she jammed the plug in a little harder than necessary. “Who always got away with everything in this house? Not me.”
“I was older than you. I was allowed to do more than you.”
She walked up to poke Justin in the arm. “Even as a kid? I don’t think so. You had them wrapped just as tight around your little finger as I did. Psh, only-child syndrome.”
Zayne moved in beside Ethan. “You think we should step in?”
“No. I think this is a brother-sister thing.” He grinned, wishing Justin all the luck in the world. Chloé’s temper had clearly been provoked, and it was a thing of beauty—when not directed at them.
Justin switched off the stove and pointed the wooden spoon at her. “Don’t act like you didn’t bat your lashes and look all cute to get your way when you were little. You did it with me just yesterday.”
“I did not.”
“You did so. You know exactly how to play me and the parental units. Probably these two also.”
Her mouth fell open in sibling outrage, a gasp leaving her as she grabbed the pan off the stove and took it to the blender. Ethan and Zayne were quick to get out of her way as she dumped the contents inside, then jammed the lid on top.
“I don’t play anyone,” she said. “But just remember, I do know how to use a blender.”
All three of them winced as she hit the button and the appliance roared to life, and Ethan learned a very valuable lesson from Justin that night about his sister: never make Chloé mad while in the kitchen.
It seemed Zayne had been right after all.