Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Eros
T he first week of vacation passed blissfully, filled with time on the beach, in the water, jet-skiing, and sex. So much sex . Every moment we were alone, one or all three of us were getting off, and it was fucking phenomenal . But now that we were one week into the vacation, it was time to uphold our deal of talking to Spencer about his job.
Which meant the glass dome the boy had placed around himself to keep his regular life from penetrating his brain and his happiness was about to be busted. I didn’t want to do it to him. Spencer was the happiest I’d seen him since I’d met him when he’d been in college, but if we didn’t bring this up and try to do something, he was going to go right back into that fog of too much work and not enough rest.
Not only were Logan and Ezra worried about him, but Jaxon grew increasingly worried about his son by the day. He was trying to maintain the fact that Spencer was now an adult, but sometimes, even adults still needed guidance. Hell, look at Zeppelin. His therapist gave him guidance every time they had a therapy session together. And sometimes, the three of us sat down together and talked about a decision we had looming in front of us.
Being an adult didn’t mean we knew everything. It also didn’t mean we suddenly made the best decisions.
“The talk needs to happen today,” Ezra said, taking a seat on the lounger next to me.
I snorted and rolled my head around to look at him. “What are you—a fucking mind reader?” I teased. “I was just thinking about that.”
He sighed. “We put it off long enough. I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking along the same process.” We both looked out at the pool, where Spencer was wrapped around Logan, both of them laughing at something. Jaxon was floating on his back, and Zeppelin was lounging next to him in a pool ring, both of them no doubt dozing since their eyes were shut.
“What are you two conspiring about over there?” Spencer called, leaning back to look over his shoulder at the two of us.
“We need to talk,” Ezra said, cutting straight to the chase. At the mention of a talk, Spencer immediately looked concerned, his brows furrowing. He looked at Logan, and a moment later, Logan nodded at him, setting him on his feet. Jaxon stood, and Zep slipped out of his pool ring. Guess they hadn’t been completely asleep. When Spencer noticed they were getting out as well, his body tensed.
“Am I being ganged up on?” he asked, defensively crossing his arms over his chest.
“No,” Jaxon told him immediately, his forehead crinkling with concern. “We just want to talk, Spencer. That’s all.”
“A talk never means anything good,” his son snapped, growing increasingly defensive. “What the fuck is going on?”
Ezra winced. Spencer wasn’t really one to curse. He left all that up to Logan. The fact that he was cursing now meant he was one hundred percent on defense, and if we let him, he’d bolt.
Logan gripped his wrist and led him toward the steps, not giving him a chance to run and ignore this. “Come on. It’s nothing bad, pretty boy. We just need to have a talk as a family.”
“Yet everyone knows about this talk but me,” Spencer snarled, his eyes flaring with anger. “Someone better spit it the fuck out.” He swung his angry gaze to Jaxon, who had just come to sit next to me. “Dad?”
I reached over and grabbed Jaxon’s hand, offering my support in the only way I knew how. Jaxon tightened his fingers around mine and sighed. “Take a seat, son.”
“No,” Spencer snapped.
Logan took the choice right out of his hands and gripped his hips before tugging him onto the lounger between his thighs. Silently, Logan grabbed his beach towel and began to towel dry Spencer’s dripping hair.
“We need to talk about your job,” Ezra spoke up, looking at him. Reaching over, he grabbed Spencer’s hand, and I breathed a sigh of relief when Spencer didn’t yank his hand away. Instead, now his anger was bleeding into confusion, his dark brows pulling low over his eyes.
“We’re worried about you,” Zep said. I was thankful Zep spoke up. He wasn’t much of one for voicing how he felt, but the fact that he was would be an eye opener for Spencer that this was a very serious topic for us. “You’re being worked half to death at a hospital that refuses to hire more staff. You’re a fucking doctor . You worked too damn hard to be treated like garbage. You’re losing weight. You barely remember anything family-related anymore. Do you even remember the last time you reached out to Jax just to talk to him without it being about the vacation?”
Spencer frowned for a moment, then shook his head, swallowing thickly as sadness began to bleed into his eyes. Jaxon sighed again, the sound pained. “It was almost six months ago,” Jax said quietly.
“I’m sorry,” Spencer croaked, his voice thick with a sudden onslaught of tears.
“It’s not your fault, pretty boy,” Logan said quietly. “Ezra and I stayed quiet about your job because we remember how happy you were when you got the emergency room position. We kept hoping your working conditions would get better, but they’re only deteriorating, and you’re deteriorating right along with them. We can’t let it go on any longer.” He pressed a kiss to Spencer’s throat, binding his arms around his husband. “You’re slowly killing yourself.”
Spencer sighed, his hands coming up to grip Logan’s tattooed forearms. But he didn’t try to remove Logan’s arms. Instead, he just held on. “I do it because I want to give you everything you never had growing up,” Spencer softly confessed. My heart broke for Logan and for Spencer for ever thinking Logan wanted more than just him and Ezra. It was so clear to me that Logan would only ever want his two husbands. “Ezra and I—we never wanted for materialistic things. Dad has given you both the parental love you missed out on, but I?—”
“Baby, you give us everything already,” Ezra rasped, leaning forward to cup Spencer’s cheeks. “ You are all we need. You could never work another day in your life, and we would still have everything because we have you .”
Tears slipped down Spencer’s cheeks. “But?—”
“No buts,” Logan said, gripping Spencer’s chin to turn his head so they were facing each other. “You’re all I’ve ever needed or wanted, pretty boy. As long as I have you and Ezra, there’s not a fucking thing else I could ever ask for. Please quit, pretty boy. I’m begging. Fucking pleading . Please quit that fucking job.”
Spencer burst into tears and nodded his head. Ezra moved off his lounger to sit with Logan and Spencer, and together, they held him. I stood, turning to Jaxon to help him up as well. “Come on. Let’s go inside and give them some time together,” I said quietly, not wanting to disturb them.
“Will they be okay?” Jaxon asked quietly once we were leading him into the hotel.
Zeppelin gripped the side of Jaxon’s head and pressed a kiss to his temple. “They’re going to be fine, Jax baby,” he assured him. “Turns out, Spencer’s big ass heart that he got from you was the cause of all of this.”
Jax huffed. “Go fuck yourself, Zep.”
Zeppelin grinned and smacked a loud kiss on his lips. “Why when I can fuck you instead?” With a wink, he tugged Jaxon into the elevator as soon as the doors opened. “I believe we’ve got enough time.”
Jaxon’s eyes heated. I jabbed the button for our floor, then gripped Jaxon’s chin, turning his head to slant my lips across his in a kiss that was definitely inappropriate for public. He moaned into the kiss, his hand coming up to grip my bare waist, his fingertips digging in.
“Yeah, we’ve got time,” I rasped. “You’ve got about ten seconds the moment we’re in our room to get undressed and get on the bed, got me?”
“Yeah,” he choked out, nodding his head. Zeppelin growled and nuzzled his neck. “I got you.”