31. Seth
thirty-one
Seth
One Year Later
E ssa's more stressed out than I've seen her in the entire time I've known her. I don't even know what could be upsetting her since we aren't on a job, and nothing bad has happened. I glance over at Adam, who keeps his face impassive even though his thoughts are just as worried as mine about what could have upset her.
She told us she needed to speak with us and then dragged us into the entertainment room. Serious conversations usually happen in the bedroom, so Adam and I are a little confused about how we should be acting right now.
"I have something for the both of you," Essa says, her lips pulling up in what I'm assuming she thinks looks like a normal smile. There's nothing normal about it. "I believe I've done the correct thing, but last night, when I was talking with Ixor–"
"The pirate?" Adam asks, his brows scrunching together as he frowns. "What did you need to meet with the pirates for?"
And why didn't she tell us? Is the unasked portion of that question, but our girl is nervous about something. Adam isn't about to push it when she's looking how she is. If she didn't look so distraught over it, I'm sure he'd be using a much different tone, but he's gentle with her when he tries.
"Okay, so I know this wasn't my place, and maybe I should've consulted either of you before I had the pirates go looking for it, but when I thought of the idea, it seemed perfect. Only after I had the film in my possession did I realize it's not really my choice to force it on you if it's not something you want."
Essa pauses to catch her breath and gives Adam and me a second to try to figure out what she's talking about. I glance over at Adam, who shakes his head with a bewildered expression while telling me in our mind that he's completely lost.
"Essa, sweetheart." Adam leans forward like he's about to stand from the couch, but Essa's whole body tenses, so he settles back down while pressing his lips tight together. "Is it a sex thing?"
"What?" Essa cringes at the question so hard it's safe to say that it's not a sex thing. Good, I don't think I would've appreciated another male getting Essa something that has to do with sex.
"What's going on then? Because you're freaking your males out," I tell her, giving her a soft little smile when my words find their mark.
Essa's shoulders slump as she curls her toes into the plush carpet. Her mouth opens to speak before she closes it, pushing out her cheeks until they're full and then slowly releasing the breath. When she finishes that, she winces before, I'm assuming, having a mental pep talk with herself.
"I have procured a video of Hannah's wedding," Essa says, her eyes on Adam the entire time, watching as her words register in his mind.
Everything about him seems to freeze in place, even his thoughts. Then panic, thick and foul, races through him before his mind catches up with the fact that Essa said it was his daughter's wedding, which means the scientists released her, just like they told Original Adam they would.
"She was okay?" Adam asks, his voice rough with emotion as he rubs his eyes with the pads of his thumb and forefinger. He can say all day long that Original Adam and him aren't the same person, and they aren't. But that doesn't stop the fact that Adam can still care about the little girls he remembers raising.
Essa tilts her head to the side and offers the smallest smile. "According to my research, she lived a long life. All of his daughters did."
Adam's jaw works as his nostrils flare. He doesn't look at either of us as he processes his feelings. "I want to watch it."
Essa tries not to look too hopeful, as though she's in Adam's mind and knows how fragile this moment is. She moves closer to us, kneeling in front of Adam. He's still not looking at her, so she loops the chain of his leash around her hand twice and gives it a reassuring squeeze.
Technically, we don't need to wear our collars or leashes anymore, but we like them a lot. Essa did modify the leashes, though. Instead of hanging free, they fall down the center of our chests, where they meet what Sloane likes to call our slutty little belly bracelets. Which is an appropriate description of the thin chain belts that hang around our abdomens.
"I've uploaded the video to your comm," Essa says, squeezing the leash tighter until Adam finally looks at her. "Watch it when you'd like."
She wipes her thumbs under his eyes before standing back up and moving like she's about to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" Adam asks, his words thick.
"I thought you might wish to watch this on your own," Essa says, her tail still tucked tight around her ankle. "I don't want to intrude."
Adam scoffs, his emotions seeming to level out a little bit at the ridiculousness of what Essa's just said. "You're not intruding. Fuck, Essa. You're the opposite of intrusive."
"Well," Essa and I say at the same time, causing us both to let out soft laughs as Adam shakes his head.
"You know what I mean," he grumbles and motions for Essa to join us on her couch. "Get over here so we can watch this."
"Right now?" Essa asks. Her tail's now lazily twitching behind her in a way that means she's done stressing over whether or not she did the right thing by looking up anything about Original Seth and Adam.
I don't blame her for being curious. I've been wanting to start searching, too. I wanted to know if Seth had a life, any life at all, once he was freed from the facility or if he continued to be the nobody, nothing he was before he was taken.
"Yes, right now," Adam growls, tugging her hand when she's close enough for him to lunge for her.
She doesn't have to fall to the couch, but she does because she loves Adam manhandling her as much as she loves manhandling him. Essa rights herself quickly, looping her tail around the high of Adam's thigh as her fingers automatically move to run through my hair.
"Have you watched the video yet?" I ask Essa as Adam fiddles with the comm tablet to pull up the video on the big screen on the wall.
"No, I thought it would be rude to watch moments not meant for me before telling you about them."
What Essa says makes sense, but at the same time, I can't help but worry about what Original Adam will look like in the video. What if he's not in it at all? Since it's his daughter's wedding, I'd like to think he's there and looking well, but he could just as easily not be there. I don't voice those concerns, but it's like Adam doesn't feel them at all. The only thing he's focused on right now is seeing Original Adam's daughters, making sure they're okay.
The screen lights up, and an unfocused camera recording is shown before it zooms out to reveal a small room filled with five young women in various stages of getting ready for a wedding. Adam makes a choking sound before they even speak, but Essa and I don't make anything of it. If he needs us, he'll let me know in our mind, but until then, he'll handle this however he needs.
"Are you sure I don't get to be in the video too?" A giddy feminine voice calls from somewhere off-camera.
"You know it's bad luck for the groom to see you before the wedding," another woman says from behind the camera.
"Mom, I don't think he'll see the video before I walk down the aisle."
Adam's swallow is audible, and I take a second to check Essa's feelings. I'm not jealous of Original Adam's wife. Was my original? Yeah, most definitely, but my Adam chose me. Essa's emotions stay firmly planted in the concerned territory, and I don't think she cares at all about anyone Adam might've been with in his previous life.
The video plays through the five girls–two are Original Adam's other daughters—who take turns telling the camera how happy they are for the happy couple. Adam smiles as he watches. It isn't a big smile but a hint of one that he doesn't try to hide.
When the camera cuts to black, I think that was all that was recorded or found, but the screen does the same blurry effect before focusing on a room of men, much like the women. They all offer their congratulations. The voice behind the camera is familiar, but unlike the grumpy version we get, this Adam sounds like he hasn't stopped smiling once.
Essa moves to cup Adam's hands, and he allows it, twisting their hands until their fingers interlock. It isn't until he's leaning against her that it hits me just how amazing this gift is for Adam.
The screen goes dark again, and the next scene shows a wedding ceremony. The music plays, and various people are guided down the aisles. Adam watches it all in awe. The version of him that walks his daughter down the aisle is older than my Adam. His temples have started to grey, his smile lines are deeper, and he's a little thicker in the midsection. But he's happy. So fucking happy.
We watch the vows and the kiss, and I expect the screen to fade to black again before showing us the reception, but it continues to record as the wedding party walks back down the aisle, everyone happy and excited for the new couple.
And then Adam's mood sours. A dark cloud falls over him, his anger spikes, and it would be comical how fast and hard his brows drop as his lips press tight. Essa also feels the shift in his demeanor, her tail tightening to give him support, her fangs lengthening in case she needs to bite him.
"Who the fuck is that?" Adam asks, pointing at the screen as though either of us knows who out of the hundreds of people he's talking about on the screen.
"Who?" Essa asks, running her fingers through his dark hair in an effort to soothe some of his anger.
Adam jumps off the couch, his whole body tensed like he's ready for a fight. When he turns to scowl at me, I realize he's pissed off at me. What have I done? Essa's already released his thigh, and he's stomping over to the screen, his finger accusingly pointing at someone in the crowd. I have to stare at it for a second before I realize it's me.
My hair has grown out even longer, and my red curls are pulled back in a little bun. I'm older, too, but it's noticeable in all my extra freckles. I don't see the issue with what Adam's pointing out. If I'm at his kid's wedding, it means we stayed friends after everything ended. That should be a good thing, right?
"Who the fuck is this?" Adam asks again, and I realize he's not pointing at me but at the man beside me. The big, beefy, handsome man with his arms over Seth's shoulder. A gold band around his ring finger.
"Oh, you married a very handsome male," Essa says to me with a hint of pride in her voice as she pats my shoulder. "He was a lucky male, I'm sure."
"You can't have a fucking husband!" Adam shouts, his intensity surprising even himself. He clenches his finger into a fist before stomping to where Essa and I sit. Essa doesn't even hide the amusement on her face as she watches this play out.
"I don't have a husband," I tell him, emphasizing that he hasn't asked me anything and that I'm not my Original, even though both of us have great taste in partners.
"Who the fuck is that, Seth?" Adam asks, thrusting his hand behind him and pointing with pretty good accuracy at the man on the screen. "You married someone else?"
I open my mouth to respond that he was always married to someone else, but instead, I cock my head to the side and let my lips pull up in a lazy smile. "Are you jealous?"
Adam glares at me, his right eye twitching a few times before he breaks eye contact, his lips pulling back in a snarl. Essa and I watch him stomp around the room, his anger simmering but still likely to boil over if he decides he just wants to rage.
"Fucking married him," Adam grumbles under his breath. There are some other expletives thrown around. A couple of times, he pauses to stare daggers at a man who's been dead for at least a hundred years at this point.
"I feel like I need a secret husband so that I can have this same treatment," Essa tells me, just loud enough for Adam to hear. His head snaps in our direction so fast it has to hurt.
"The fuck you will," Adam snarls. "Neither one of you is marrying anyone but me. You even think of anyone else–"
"Is that a marriage proposal?" I ask, cutting Adam off from his ranting.
His words die out, and his cheeks flush the prettiest shade of pink. He swallows hard, his emotions moving away from anger to being scared of rejection. Oh, sweet, angry male thinks we wouldn't say yes in a heartbeat.
"If it is, I'm inclined to accept," Essa says with a lazy flick of her tail against Adam's inner thigh.
"I think I would, too," I say, keeping my eyes on Adam to watch as the realization hits that we're not leaving him. The three of us are better together and will always be together from now until the end of time.
"If we are married, I think you should still have to wear your collars," Essa interrupts before Adam has a chance to say anything. "It brings a piece of my culture into our relationship, and I very much enjoy getting to yank you both around when we're having intercourse."
"Essa," I groan at her using intercourse. At this point, she does it because it always gets a reaction out of me. Next, she's going to be talking about my prostate the next time she's fucking me.
Adam swallows hard, the sound distracting Essa and me from our bickering. He doesn't move for a long moment, but when he does, he kneels on the ground in front of us, grabbing our hands.
"I'm not good with words, but uh, yeah, I'd like it if you both married me so I wouldn't have to ever worry about you marrying another male." Adam doesn't even look into our eyes as he asks. I still haven't broached the topic of him feeling fear yet, but I'm sure it's something he's working on with his therapist, who he's been seeing via comm since we established the ship as our permanent home.
"We already told you yes, sweet male." Essa cups his cheek and presses her lips to his temple. "With or without sweet words, you are mine, and we are yours."
Adam looks over to me after Essa finishes sweet talking him. I lift a single brow at him, smirking a little. "If you didn't know I was yours after sucking your dick the first second of our meeting, I don't know if a ring will make that much of a difference."
Adam lunges for me, twisting the chain of my leash and tugging my face to his.
"It does," he says darkly before kissing me hard and possessive. I smile into the kiss, loving that he's back to his usual self.
It takes all of three seconds for Adam to pin me to the couch, and when Essa sidles up behind him and whispers alluring words into his ear, it takes three more for him to bare his neck to her. We can worry about finding rings when we finish here, but for now, I'd rather enjoy the two best partners a man could ask for.