Chapter 35
KYLEN
My brain feels a little frozen. The words out of my mouth surprise me. “Thank you for protecting me,” I whisper.
Arek rests his forehead against mine. “I will always protect you. Even if I have to do it from a point in time far beyond when you actually needed protection. You’re mine, and I’m never letting you go. You’ll never hurt again. Am I clear, Kylen Whitaker? Mine.”
I smile, tears stinging my eyes, and nod. “Yeah. Okay.”
“You have nothing more to add to that, do you?”
“What do you want me to add?”
“I said I’m never letting you go. You’re mine. Forever. You agree?”
“You think you’re going to want me forever?”
“In my family, we’ve made a habit of knowing when we meet our forever, little kit. I was a bit late receiving the message, but I hear it loud and clear now. I’m now a lesion you’re never going to get rid of.”
I laugh and grip him tightly. My muscles changing their use has the butt plug almost popping out. I wince, clenching my ass, but it’s Arek’s fingers that push it back into place. I grunt.
“I don’t mind,” I say quietly. “I want that too.”
“Good.” He pulls me back from the door and crosses the room to set me on the bed. “Now, I’m going to blindfold you while I wrap presents. You’re going to sit there with the plug firmly in your ass and wait for me to finish. Understand?”
I scrunch my face. “We agreed that we weren’t exchanging gifts!”
“I did. But I lied.” He shrugs unapologetically. “I’m greatly looking forward to spoiling you, little kit.”
Huffing, I don’t fight when he settles me on the bed where he wants me and brings my hood back up to cover my face, where he pulls the ties tight to cut off my vision. I laugh.
For several minutes, I listen to him come and go from the room as he brings in…
whatever he’s bringing in. I’m frustrated that he bought me gifts.
It’s a good thing that I didn’t abide by our agreement either.
Granted, I bought him one gift. One. With the number of trips he made from my room, unless my gift came in parts and pieces, there’s far more than one.
“Okay,” Arek says, shutting the door. “Let’s talk while I wrap. What do you want to talk about?”
“Do you want kids?”
The noise stops momentarily, and I feel my face flushing. Shocker, right?
“I don’t know,” he hedges. “Maybe one day. Do you?”
“I don’t know,” I agree. “I’m not dead set one way or another.”
“Good. Then we’ll just see what our future looks like and go from there.”
“Your whole family lives on the Van Doren Estate, don’t they?” I ask.
“Not my whole family. I think we’d need to buy the entire state of Arizona to make that happen. But all my great-grandfather Weston’s descendants and their families, yes. So, my Granddad Jalon and all his brothers and all their kids and one grandkid.”
“There’s a grandkid?”
“Actually, it depends on who we’re talking about. Since I just mentioned my Granddad Jalon, he’s going to be ground zero, which is really how it should be. So he has a great grandkid.”
“Shut up!” I say, grinning inside my hoodie. I roll to the side so I feel like I’m facing him and snuggle under the blankets.
“Yep. My older cousin Axl—who is Granddad’s second-oldest son’s first son—has a daughter who showed up out of the blue one day when she was three. I wish I’d been there to witness.”
“Wow. So you have a… niece?”
“Technically, my cousin… uh, second cousin—is that what the kid of my cousin is called? Honestly, the official relations are far more confusing to understand than what we call each other. She’s my niece, yes.”
“That’s cool. How old is she?”
“Eight? No… ten. I think. Ten makes more sense. Seriously, I’m lucky I know my sisters’ ages.”
“Weren’t they born the same day as you?”
“Yes.”
I laugh.
We talk for a long time about his family and mine. His sounds far more entertaining, though, and I love the stories he has for literally anyone he mentions. I’m so into the stories that I yelp when I feel the bed shift under his weight.
Arek loosens my hood and opens it so I’m looking up at him. “I have an early present for you, and you’re going to wear it tomorrow.”
I narrow my eyes, and they narrow further when he brings a shirt to my chest. “Oh god,” I mutter.
Together, we adjust so I’m sitting up, and I can shake out the material. There are two pieces, a hoodie and a tee. They’re the same, though. Across the chest of each reads, ‘This good boy belongs to Arek Van Doren’.
I’m caught between horror and excitement. My stomach twists and flips as I meet his eyes. His smile is pleased. “Is it strictly necessary to announce to everyone that I’m yours here? They’re my family. Not competition!”
“Yes,” he says, kissing me soundly. “Are you embarrassed?”
“No!” I say hurriedly. “I just… It’s going to demand a lot of attention, and I think you know how much I love attention on me.”
“That’s why they’re gray with black embroidery,” he says. “The message is there and loud, but not like neon.”
I laugh and hug them to my chest. “I don’t think I’m going to love anything else you can ever give me as much as these,” I confess.
“That sounds like a challenge,” he says. His mouth comes down on mine, and he coaxes me backward. I mean, yes! I need to get this butt plug out of me. I feel like a live wire. But just as his body weight settles, the room is filled with ringing.
Arek sighs. “I’ll have you know that if I don’t answer, he’ll just keep calling. All night. It’s best just to answer.”
“Your brother?” I ask.
He nods. His mouth presses to mine once more before he rolls off the bed. When he comes back, he has his tablet in hand and joins me as he answers. My eyes end up wide as he answers because I wasn’t expecting to be a part of the call!
A face identical to his fills the screen, and it’s fucking startling. I’d have thought I was looking at his camera backward, pointing at us, except that my face isn’t next to his.
Arek’s twin smiles, and I have a feeling he’s looking at me and not Arek. “Hello, Kylen,” he says, and while I think there’s a slightly different tenor to his voice, that might be my imagination trying to assign it.
“Hi,” I squeak.
“I see why you’ve kept him to yourself for so long,” Orev says, now addressing Arek. “He’s… exactly your type.”
Arek nods. “You like his pretty pink cheeks, though, don’t you?”
Orev chuckles, his smile widening. Yes, my cheeks bloom from pink to red, and I think that red bleeds into my hairline and down my neck. “Absolutely. Are you going to share him with me?”
I expect Arek to say no. I’m a little startled when he just hums. “Not yet,” is his answer, and I look at Arek in slight horror. Oh. My. God!
“You didn’t share that with him, did you?” Orev tsks.
“I need to keep some mystery in our relationship,” Arek says, and I’m seriously going to melt into the bed.
“I never understood your obsession with blushing boys, but the more I look at him, the more I think I’m beginning to understand the appeal. Then again, maybe I feel differently this time because he’s yours.”
“Probably,” Arek agrees.
“Can we join now?” a feminine voice asks in the distance. “You’ve had twin bonding, now it’s time for quad bonding!”
Orev sighs. “Fine. We’ll call you right back.”
The video ends, and I look at Arek with alarm. He just smiles. “Is there something you didn’t tell me?” I ask.
“I mean… if we’re listing things I haven’t told you yet, it’s a long list. All in due time, little kit.” He kisses me hard, his hand at the back of my head to hold me there. When he speaks again, his mouth moves on mine. “Always with your consent, of course.”
His words make my chest tight. Knowing that he’ll always check in gives me the confidence to trust everything he says. I nod, unsure if I’m agreeing to something or just trying to acknowledge his words as mine become lodged in my throat.
No further conversation can be had, though, because the tablet rings again.
This time, when Arek answers, it’s not just Orev’s face on the screen.
There are two others. The girls look remarkably like the boys and yet are also distinctly different.
First, because one is blonde with blue eyes, while the other has the same coloring as Arek and Orev.
And second, because their facial features are almost identical, even if two are more feminine than the other two.
“Blonde is Rosalie,” Arek says. “The pretty, dark-haired one is Adalaide.”
“I’m offended that you don’t begin my introduction as pretty,” Rosalie says, glaring into the screen.
Arek smirks. “You don’t need your ego stroked, Rose.”
Adalaide’s smile is soft, and I remember not long ago when Arek came into my room, shaking with rage at someone online hurting her. Making her a target or something. He didn’t get into details, and I didn’t push.
“You’re just as pretty,” Orev says to pacify Rosalie.
“Maybe not just as pretty,” Arek disagrees. “A different kind of pretty, but pretty all the same.”
“Coming from two gay men, I’m not sure I’m going to get better compliments than that,” Rosalie says, sighing.
“True. If you’re looking for something beyond that, try someone else,” Orev says.
“Anyway,” Rosalie ends the exchange, and I can feel her attention shift to me, even through the video. “Hi, Kylen. I thought Arek was going to keep you hidden from us forever.”
“From you, maybe,” Orev says. “We share everything.”
“Except for that scar,” Rosalie chides, and I have a feeling she did so to garner her brothers’ reactions. Their faces on the screen make identical scowls. The girls laugh in response, and I find I am too.
“They hate having a distinguishing mark,” Rosalie offers.
“No. We just hate that there’s something different when everything else is the same,” Arek says. “It’s not about you being able to tell us apart. It’s just… us.”
Orev nods. “We can try again to give you a scar, too.”
I look at Arek with wide eyes. “Again?”
He huffs in frustration. “Yeah. I apparently don’t scar as easily as Orev. There’s no reason that stupid scratch should have scarred.”
Orev nods again, this time with a frown.
“Why are you being so quiet, Adalaide?” Arek asks.
Adalaide smiles. “I miss listening to the three of you banter, so I’m soaking it in,” she answers. Her voice is a hypnotic mix of lace and husky baritone. I can practically feel the way it skates down my spine.
Rosalie sighs. “I miss it too. When are you coming home, Arek?”
“Next week.”
“After all the festivities.” She pouts.
“Yes, well. Kylen isn’t comfortable in large crowds, so dragging him into a party with more than a hundred Van Dorens seems mean for a first meeting.”
“Oh my god,” I mutter, feeling the color drain entirely from my face.
“You act as if there aren’t that many who live here on any given day,” Rosalie says, laughing.
“At last count, there were just under fifty permanent Van Doren residents. Did you multiply in the few months that I’ve been at college?” Arek asks.
“No, so I guess that means holidays are probably closer to a hundred and fifty strong, huh?” Rosalie says thoughtfully.
“You’re going to make Kylen pass out,” Orev notes, amused.
“That’s why we’re not there right now,” Arek says. “We’ll revisit the topic next year.”
“Oh no,” Rosalie says, shaking her head. “Next year is non-negotiable. It’s entirely unacceptable that you get a boyfriend and stop spending holidays here. Nope.”
“That’s a next year argument,” Adalaide says. “There will be considerably fewer people here next week, so it’s a good time to introduce him. We can do so in waves, too. Ease him in. Siblings first.”
“Twin first,” Orev argues, and I blush at the wicked glint in his eyes.
“You’re going to need a separate room, aren’t you?” Rosalie asks, frowning.
“That goes without saying,” Arek says. “I’m not going to stop breeding him for the entire two weeks we’re there.”
“Arek,” I whine, covering my face with both my hands.
“Indeed,” Orev says.
“I didn’t realize you were into freaky twin shit,” Rosalie says.
I peek through my fingers at the screen.
“You don’t know everything about us,” Arek says.
“Looks like your man doesn’t either,” Adalaide says, and I think there’s sympathy in her tone.
“As I said, I’m maintaining the mysterious allure,” Arek says, his arm tightening around me. I twist a little so I’m closer and can hide my face in his chest. His arm slides up to my shoulders and holds me to him firmly. I feel his lips press to my head, and I can’t stop the smile.
“You look so happy,” Adalaide says.
I feel Arek nod. “I am.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to spending time with you, Kylen.”
I turn my face just enough to peek at the screen. “Me too,” I say quietly, voice muffled.
“Okay, so you can do your freaky twin thing together first because I don’t want to see that,” Rosalie says. “And then siblings first. Then our parents. Then you can decide from there.”
“Cousins,” Orev says.
“Then uncles and auntie,” Adalaide says. “In slow progression. Not all at once. Maybe visit a home at a time.”
“And I’ll be with you too. To sandwich you between me and Arek so you feel… cozy,” Orev says.
“I think that’s less than cozy,” Rosalie argues.
“You don’t know that. It’ll definitely be cozy after our ‘freaky twin thing,’ so I’m relatively confident he’ll find it cozy and comforting. Like, sixty-seven percent sure,” Orev says.
Arek nods his agreement. I can’t tell whether they’re just messing with their sisters or if they’re serious. I’m not sure I even want to ask.
“Last is probably Granddad Jalon, Grandpa Levis, and Greylyn,” Adalaide says. “Though they have a soothing presence, so maybe it’s not best to save them for last.”
“I’ve also heard that they’re intimidating. Granddad specifically. He is the king, after all,” Rosalie says.
“Or,” Arek says and presses another kiss to my head, “we play it by ear and see how comfortable Kylen is.”
I sigh happily. Honestly, as long as I have Arek, I think I can get through anything.