Chapter 25
Charlie
I felt good. The thought hit me when I stood by the kitchen doors, leaning against the wall as I watched Oak’s party. I felt happy .
Salem made that kitten chirp sound as he stretched in his sling, then fell back to sleep.
Teague was talking to his friend Felix across the dining room, and I pulled out my phone before slipping into the lobby and through to the office.
I sat in my chair and I called my brother.
“Uncle Charlie! Daddy’s peeing!” Tristan announced.
I laughed. “Good to know, Tris. How’s things?”
He giggled. “Okay!” Then he remembered his manners. “How’re you?”
“I’m good,” I replied honestly. “Are your sisters there?”
“Yeah, they’re in Harper’s room.”
“Can you go to them, and I’ll show you something?”
“Okay!” I heard him run to Harper’s room. “It’s Uncle Charlie, he wants to show us something!”
“Give the phone to Harper, buddy,” I instructed, and she heard me even if he didn’t.
“Hi, Uncle Charlie,” my mini-me greeted me. “Should I turn the video on?”
“Not yet. Put me on speaker first.” Once she did that, I said, “Okay, here’s the thing. I have something to show you, but you can’t be loud, okay? I’ll disconnect the call immediately if you get loud.”
“That’s not cryptic at all, Uncle Charlie,” Harper snarked. I loved her so much. I couldn’t wait for her to become a hormonal teenager.
“You’ll see why. You guys promise?”
“We promise!”
I winced at the cacophony. “Okay, quietly now.” I swiped at the camera icon, and then immediately felt choked up seeing them peering into Law’s phone. “Hi, kiddos,” I managed to say, then swallowed back my tears and cleared my throat. I could tell Harper realized how I was feeling, but wisely she didn’t comment on it.
I moved my hand so that I could aim the phone toward my chest. “This is Salem,” I said quietly as I used my other hand to open the sling a little more.
There was an aborted squeal and a slap of one of the kids shutting either themselves or a sibling up.
“It’s so cute!” Marlie whisper-yelled.
“He really is,” I murmured as the kids made hushed comments.
Their awws were louder than strictly necessary when Salem realized something was going on and opened his eyes, then yawned and stretched.
“What’s going on?” Law asked from somewhere beyond my view.
“Uncle Charlie has a kitten!” Tristan exclaimed and then I learned that it had likely been him who covered his mouth, because the slapping sound was identical.
“Let me see this kitten.” Harper gave the phone to Law, and I smiled at my brother.
“Hey,” I said, the same wistful longing from before hitting me again. “Blue, meet your nephew, Salem. Salem, meet your Uncle Blue.”
“Aww, congrats on your new baby,” Law said quietly. “Did you call to show him off?”
I shook my head minutely, feeling a bit choked up.
With understanding in his eyes, my brother nodded. “Okay.” He turned to the kids. “You three, behave. You’ll get to see the kitten next time. I need to talk with Uncle Charlie now.”
“Bye, Uncle Charlie and Salem!” Harper called out just loud enough for me to hear.
Marlie and Tristan were a bit louder but not obnoxiously so.
“Bye, kiddos. Talk to you soon!”
“Behave!” Law reminded them over his shoulder, and then went to his bedroom, closing the door behind himself.
I don’t know what he’d read on my face to do that, but I was glad nonetheless.
“What’s up?” he asked, attempting casual as he sat on the edge of the bed.
I smiled and gently petted Salem’s little head with my index finger.
I hadn’t had the best family model growing up, but seeing Teague’s people be so loving and caring and just… joyful, made me start to think I might have a future here.
“I think I’m… happy.”
Law’s expression morphed into surprise, then his eyes filled with tears in an instant. “Holy shit, Charlie!”
It hit me then that he’d been hoping this would happen, but that like me, he’d been skeptical. He knew me better than I knew myself sometimes, and I couldn’t help the choked-up sob that bubbled up from my chest.
“Baby? Who’s making you cry?” Teague asked from the doorway.
Salem maneuvered himself off the sling and meowed at his other daddy. Teague came to pick him up.
“Teague, meet my brother, Law. Law, meet my boyfriend, Teague,” I gestured between them.
Teague saw the tears Law was trying to wipe off his cheeks and went, “Aww.”
Salem climbed up onto his shoulder, and Teague held out his hand for the phone. I gave it to him, and watched as he leaned his butt against the desk next to me.
“Law, it’s so nice to finally meet you. Charlie has told me so much about you and your kids. Who sound awesome, by the way. I can’t wait to meet you all in person.” Teague’s tone was light and that charming smile on his face made my heart beat faster.
“Nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard all about you as well.” There was something in my brother’s tone that had me pushing in close to Teague, leaning on his shoulder, so I could see the screen. To anyone who didn’t know him, Law’s expression was genial enough. But I recognized that assessing gaze and wasn’t surprised when he added, “I worry about my brother. His health, happiness, and safety are as important to me as my children’s.”
I groaned. “Blue–”
Teague cut me off by leaning sideways enough to plant a kiss on my temple. To Law, he said, “I get it, man. Charlie’s one of a kind. But believe me, I adore this man.” He turned his face to me, expression soft and voice softer. “I adore you.”
My heart melted a little. That deserved a kiss. I kept it quick and chaste, considering my brother was watching through the phone.
“Good. That’s how it should be.” Law’s voice had warmed considerably.
“Preach.” Teague agreed, turning back to the phone.
Law opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, there was a loud bang followed immediately by a wail. Tris, if I had my guess. Law squeezed his eyes shut for a second then stood quickly.
“I’ve gotta deal with that. But I’m glad I got to talk to you.” Law was already moving to the door. “We’ll have to plan a trip east soon. Maybe we can come at Thanksgiving. Caitlyn is out of town, and the kids are off school. Charlie, send me Teague’s number, and make sure he has mine, just in case, all right?”
I took the phone back. “Sounds good. Talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” Law disconnected. I’d have to remember to text later and find out what the kiddos had been up to.
But now I turned to Teague, leaning against him and reaching up to give Salem ear rubs. “I’m sorry about that.”
Teague scoffed, and his smile brightened his eyes. “Nah. Don’t worry about it. I expected the shovel talk. To be honest, I expect to be grilled even more when they come. It’s his job to worry about you. It’s my job to assure him you’re in good hands.”
The last was said with a suggestive eyebrow waggle that made me roll my eyes, even though I couldn’t contain my grin. He was so silly sometimes. It hit me that I found the suggestion amusing instead of uncomfortable as I would have in the past.
Salem touched my face with his little paw, drawing my attention back to the kitten. I picked him up and he curled up, so I tucked him back in the sling. He started purring and closed his eyes. Baby was still recovering from his ordeal and needed his rest.
Teague waited until Salem was settled, then lifted my chin to kiss me softly. He wrapped an arm around me. “Ready to head back to the party?”
I was, so we did.
A couple of days later, I left Salem with his aunties—including Cricket—and drove to Teague’s house for the night.
Oak had organized everything. He’d called it wanting to hang out with his grams so they could be hookers together, or some such. Then he’d not at all subtly told me Teague’s house was empty and that Nic, Dana, and the dogs were happy to watch Salem.
I knew nobody had spilled the beans to Teague, so his expression when he found me sitting on his porch when he came home from work was priceless. I’d even gotten takeout from his favorite place in town.
“Did we have plans?” he asked, beaming at me when he jogged up the stairs.
I got to my feet to meet him with a kiss. “Nope. But there was scheming from your nephew.” I gestured to the takeout bags and my overnight one. “Nic and Dana are watching Salem; Oak is at your parents’ for the night.”
Teague beamed, clearly pleased and excited. “Okay, okay, I’ll need a shower and….” He was a bit frazzled suddenly.
Grabbing the takeout bags, I said, “I got dinner. So, if you want to go shower, I’ll serve these and we’ll meet wherever you eat in this house.”
He stilled. “Wait, you haven’t been here before? How have you not been here yet?” He unlocked the door and ushered me in, grabbing my duffle.
“Because we’ve been at my cabin?” I asked, shrugging. “I’m here now?”
“Okay, let me give you the tour before I go clean up.”
I left the food on the kitchen table and followed him around the little house.
It was compact and homey in a way I adored. Clearly a man’s house, but I could tell the touches his mother and likely Regan had left behind. There were pictures on the walls, and I knew the fluffy rainbow blanket had to either be a gift from Regan or Oak, or belonged to Oak himself.
Looking almost shy, Teague put my overnight bag on the end of his bed.
“This okay?”
I grinned. “I think it’s clear where I’m going to sleep tonight, so yes, it’s okay.” He was suddenly so damn charming that I just went to him and grabbed his face, then kissed him. He gasped and I used the opportunity to deepen the kiss, and we made out for a while, until we were both hard and panting.
“Okay, okay, that was….” Teague looked a bit stunned.
I licked my lips, realizing I wanted so damn much more. “Go shower,” I rasped, my voice affected by the sudden way my blood felt as if it was electrified inside my body.
“Yeah, okay.”
I left him in the bedroom and went to check out the food I’d brought. We really needed to eat and chill for a while. It wasn’t late yet, but suddenly I had these plans I wanted to follow, and for that, I needed to be comfortable.
I thought back to the moment in the truck. How safe I’d felt, even though Teague had said a thing my brain thought of as “wrong.” He’d backpedaled immediately when I told him to not do it, and then he’d proceeded to blow my mind anyway. And I’d felt safe. The whole time. Even through the mishap, because on some level I knew Teague would keep making mistakes, but then again, so would I.
He had foot-in-mouth syndrome sometimes, and I knew that in the heat of the moment he would continue saying the wrong thing on occasion. But he would listen to me, every time. That was priceless to me. Something I’d never had or felt was a possibility with anyone else.
I just hoped I’d be able to be as perfect a partner to him as he was to me. I still didn’t know what I brought to the table, but I was trying.
Somehow, after dinner, we ended up on his massive, comfy as hell couch, watching a documentary about dogs.
Teague laid down in the corner of the couch, and I sprawled halfway on top of him.
“Do we need to watch a cat documentary too for balance?” he asked after a while.
I snorted softly. “Maybe. But let’s not tell our son we’re watching a dog one.”
His chest moved under my head.
“I was named after a dog,” I said without meaning to. We’d brushed the topic before.
Teague tensed underneath me, then relaxed slowly. “Oh?” His attempt at a casual tone was just that, an attempt.
“I told you I was named by Law, after his favorite movie character, right? Well, it was from All Dogs Go to Heaven .”
Teague’s hiss was all outrage, then he deflated again, and I could feel the sadness overtake him.
“Law always wanted a dog, right? But Mom is allergic, so of course we never got one. Sometime before I was born, they walked past a garage sale and he saw this VHS tape of that movie. He got it and watched it every day. Then I came along, and I don’t know, was such a disappointment that my parents weren’t going to name me. I was so faulty, they didn’t want to give me a family name, like Law is named after our dad’s dad and his middle name is our maternal grandpa’s, right? So, they let Law, who was five at the time, name me.
“He chose Charlie. Because of a dog in an animated movie that was his favorite. Then, of course, when I got older and realized that was kind of cool, I was already hooked on Blue’s Clues , so I started to call him Blue.” I tried to sound as if it was all funny, but it wasn’t, really.
Teague grabbed me and manhandled me until I was completely on top of him. Then he flipped us to the side so I was between him and the back of the couch. He smushed me so close I knew it was more for him than for me.
The trauma I’d carried since birth was old news for me, but for Teague, it was all new. In that moment, I knew—felt—that he loved me, as he sobbed into my hair and clutched me harder than anyone ever had.
Part of me wanted to soothe him. Tell him it was okay. But on some level, I knew this was something to be cherished; someone cared about me, loved me enough to have these feelings that I shouldn’t try to diminish.
Once Teague’s tears ran out, he got off the couch to blow his nose and looked a bit sheepish when he came back.
“Don’t,” I whispered, like I had in the truck.
Immediately, he knew what I meant. He nodded. “Okay.”
“Can we go to bed?” I asked, feeling vulnerable and needy all of a sudden.
Teague tilted his head, as if trying to read me, and I showed him everything. He smiled slowly. “Let’s.”
He locked the house while I made my way into the bedroom. I didn’t feel self-conscious as much as I thought I might. I made sure only one bedside table lamp was on, because it was nice and dim, and then stripped out of my clothes. Everything but my underwear.
I heard Teague’s gasp when he stepped into the room. I closed my eyes, letting him look his fill before he’d no doubt avert his gaze knowing how it could trigger me.
His throat clicked audibly. I smiled.
I made my tone playful. “You done looking?”
He rasped out a chuckle. “Never.” Then, “But yes.”
I opened my eyes and went to him. We kissed almost chastely, smiling against each other’s lips. Then I helped him out of his sweats and shirt and gestured for him to get on the bed.
“Close your eyes,” I whispered when he settled in the middle.
I crawled in next to him, then looked my fill. He was solid, with a working man’s body instead of the kind of gym rat ones I was used to seeing. If you’d asked me to describe what a jock all grown up would look like, I would’ve gestured at Teague.
He was hot as sin, and that wasn’t even the best thing about him.
I pressed a kiss in the middle of his chest, over his generous, kind heart. He inhaled sharply, and I smiled.
“You can open your eyes.”
He did, and looked at me like I was something precious. “Do you have a plan?”
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard, taking hold of my resolve, because I wanted this more than I’d wanted anything in a while. “If you want it too, I’d like to ride you?”
I could practically see all the blood in Teague’s body pool in his cock. It jerked inside his underwear.
“Y-yeah, that… that sounds good.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “Uh, just tell me what to do and….”
“I need to be fully in charge. If you’d keep your eyes closed, that’ll help. I’ll let you know when you can open them. And… and I don’t know how much touching I can handle.”
“Do you want the lights completely off? Would that help?” he asked, and I somehow fell for him even more.
“No. This is… this is good.” I wanted to push myself just a little. If I didn’t take this step, I would never get over the hurdles my brain was insisting on keeping between me and intimacy.
“There’s condoms and lube in the bedside table,” Teague rasped.
I reached for them and placed them next to his hip. Then I removed my underwear and his.
“Jesus fuck, Charlie,” he hissed when I promptly sucked him into my mouth.
I could feel the power he was holding back, the effort it took him not to let his hips thrust into my mouth.
I put a hand over his lower stomach, holding him down as I enjoyed myself for a moment. Then I rolled the condom over him and grabbed the lube.
“One day,” I said as I popped it open. “I’ll let you prep me.” I smiled at him. “Close your eyes, Teague.”
His chest heaved as he did as told, then looked at me again. “Kiss me?” he asked, his voice both strong and vulnerable at the same time.
I leaned in to kiss him deeply, pouring everything I felt for him into the way our tongues touched and played. When I pulled back, he winked at me, then closed his eyes.
Kneeling next to him, I prepared myself. It was always awkward, the angle never quite right, but I managed enough to know I’d be okay. When I straddled Teague, a small, anticipatory whine escaped him. I chuckled as I took hold of his cock. My eyelids fluttered shut when I guided him inside me for the first time. The burn and the fullness were a lot, but I knew it’d be perfect in just a few moments. As soon as I bottomed out, I stopped moving and realized I’d forgotten to breathe. I concentrated on that for a few moments, then chuckled at the giddiness I was feeling.
“This is the first time in about a decade I’ve felt comfortable enough to do this with lights on,” I confessed.
Teague’s hands jerked in an aborted movement. I reached for them, taking them into mine to connect us on one more point.
“I’m… honored.” His voice was tense, and I could feel the power in his body, the need and the way he was fighting his instincts to make this good for me. To make it possible.
Experimentally, I lifted a little, then lowered back down. We both groaned.
I let go of his hands and put mine on his chest, then started to ride him in earnest.
I was hard, my cock slapping against my stomach as I moved over him in the way my body dictated. It was all so damn much and not enough at the same time. The slick slide of him inside me, the burn that had turned into pure pleasure, the closeness I couldn’t quite get like this.
I stilled, leaned forward until I could kiss him, and clung to him. “Can you….”
Nodding with his eyes closed, he pulled his knees up, planting his feet on the bed. Then he began to thrust up from below.
“Yeah, just… just like that,” I gasped against his neck.
“So damn good,” Teague blurted out, his thrust stuttering when he tried to gauge if he had triggered me.
I moaned. “Hold me?”
He wrapped his arms around me and rocked his hips in a deadly rhythm that had me quaking within minutes.
Whining, I lifted myself up and he let me. I needed to come.
I leaned back, took hold of my cock, and made sure the angle was just right. I began to ride him again, practically bouncing on him.
As I felt his cock give an insistent throb inside me, I ground out, “Look at me.”
Teague opened his eyes, startled for a split second, then he let out a moan that sounded like I’d wounded him. His eyes rolled back, and his hips surged up as I ground down, both of us coming within seconds of each other.
I slumped down on top of him, in the mess I’d made, not caring in the least.
Barely able to breathe, we gasped for air and eventually he held onto the condom while I slid off him, flopping next to him as if someone had cut my strings.
A few moments later, Teague gathered his faculties and rolled off the bed. He padded into the bathroom to get rid of the condom and came back with a washcloth.
He raised a brow as if to ask if he could clean me up, but I held out my hand. Smiling, he gave the cloth to me and turned around, ostensibly to grab our underwear off the floor.
I exchanged the cloth with my boxer briefs, and he tossed it into the bathroom. Then he pulled his underwear on and pulled the sheets from underneath me.
“Ready to sleep?” he asked, smiling as he slid into bed.
For a moment, I took stock of how I was feeling. I wanted to know if I could handle sleeping glued to him like I knew I would, without a shirt or pajama pants. He would be the furnace I knew he was, so all I needed to know was if I might freak out.
Without a word, Teague got back out of bed and grabbed my T-shirt from the chair I’d dropped my clothes on.
“How about you keep this close?” he asked gently as he handed it to me.
How he understood me so well, I didn’t know. I nodded, feeling moved to the point of being unable to speak.
Without saying anything more, he turned off the light and waited until I’d folded the shirt and put it under my pillow. Then he held out his arm and I curled up against him.
I wanted to say the words, then. But when I tried to, it was as if some fear I still clung to held onto my vocal chords and made me unable to.
I loved him, and I hoped he’d understand that even without the words, for now.