Chapter 5 Wes
WES
Diego’s leg brushed against mine. I didn’t think it was intentional, but him leaving it pressed along my thigh was.
I didn’t make a big deal about it, but internally I was fucking screaming with joy.
It was such an innocent thing, a touch most people wouldn’t think twice about, but it was something that could send Diego reeling.
It had been a while since he’d reacted that way, but the triggers were unpredictable, even if it was an accident.
As if I weren’t already celebrating the small victory, he then reached over me and grabbed popcorn from the bowl on my lap. He wasn’t even looking, his focus on the TV, and somehow that made it even better. Diego felt so safe around me that he could relax even when I was in his personal space.
“So wait, I’m confused. I thought I was following the cursed energy thing, but what the hell just happened?
” my son, Riley, asked from the oversized beanbag on the floor that he was sharing with his stepbrother/boyfriend, Beckett.
We’d just started watching JuJutsu Kaisen, and some of us were following along better than others. Me falling in the latter category.
“I know some of the ability explanations are needlessly confusing,” Matty, who was on his own beanbag next to them, replied.
He began to rapid-fire explain everything we’d seen.
The boys had a tray between them with snacks, popcorn, and drinks.
Matty reached over and shoved a handful of M&Ms into his mouth.
I leaned back onto the couch, feeling at peace. Seeing my kids, and I was including Matty and Beckett in that, biology be damned, get along while I got to watch one of my men’s newest obsessions with him was a blessing I’d never take for granted.
Luca and I had just come back from three weeks out of the country a few days ago.
It had been protection, hired muscle, which was one of my least favorite but also the easiest most of the time.
The worst part of it had been missing Diego, my kids, and the other guys who had stayed home.
We tried to avoid gigs that kept us apart for long periods, but sometimes it was necessary.
This one had gone off without incident at least, and I was fucking glad to be home.
“I’m just here for the Gojo/Geto bromance,” Brooks chimed in.
The other guys had all found excuses and fucked off when they’d discovered it was anime night for our family time, but Brooks had chosen to stay with us.
“I’m reading the best fanfiction now. They’re fu—” I reached over and covered Brooks’s mouth before he regaled us with the spicy content from his newest read.
“Not in front of the kids, sweetheart,” I scolded him, causing Beckett to crack up and Riley and Matty to glare at me.
“I’m eighteen, thank you very much,” Matty reminded me indignantly.
I still couldn’t believe that. The last year and a half, since Matty had come into our lives, had gone by in a flash. So much had changed. “Brooks can give you the details when I’m not around. I’d rather keep it PG with this audience.”
Riley snorted. “Are we supposed to pretend that we don’t all know that I’m not the only one in this room who calls you Daddy?”
Shoot me, please.
Riley had only called me Dad a handful of times, and I remembered every single one of them. Would treasure them forever. But the kid better never call me Daddy, especially now that he’d admitted he knew what kind of relationship I had with Diego.
I glanced at Diego, wondering how he’d react, since he was kind of private with that. But the calculated look and hint of a smile let me know he wasn’t mad. “No, you call him Dad. I call him Daddy. That’s wildly different.”
Beckett and Brooks both cracked up while Riley just stuck his tongue out at Diego.
Matty looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here, but at least he didn’t seem traumatized.
He was doing so well after all the shit he’d gone through, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still struggle sometimes.
He was awkward when sex was brought up around me, but I didn’t know if it was because he saw me as a father figure or if sex was a trigger for him in general.
It was never fun when a parental figure tried to give you the safe sex talk, but I wanted him to know it was okay to come to me, to any of us, about any questions, concerns, whatever, and we’d never get upset at him for it.
Diego slipped his hand into mine, and I was once again grinning like I was on top of the world. I loved this fucking man so much.
“Thanks for letting us pick this for movie day. I know anime isn’t really your thing,” Diego whispered, his voice soft.
Turning my head so he could see me clearly, I brushed my finger along my lip.
It was our unspoken way of asking if it was okay for me to kiss him.
We had developed a whole system that allowed me to ask for consent without having to mention it every time verbally.
It hadn’t taken us long to know that being asked sometimes triggered him, though he had no idea why.
Relying strictly on a safeword didn’t work either because sometimes he wouldn’t realize he needed one until it was too late, and after the second panic attack that had resulted in us both kneeling in the bathroom while he’d vomited and I’d comforted him, I’d known we’d needed a different approach.
So we’d come up with this. Our own personal sign language. For some reason, it was easier for Diego than a verbal question, and he still had a chance to think about it, where just using a safeword didn’t always give that option.
He smiled and nodded, just once, but that was all I needed.
I leaned over and brushed my lips against his.
It was chaste—Diego would never want more than that in this company—but it proved the point.
Diego was mine, and I would gladly watch every anime on Crunchyroll just to see him smile the way he was now.
“All I want to do is spend time with you, angel. I don’t care what we do.”
“Aww, you two are so cute,” Brooks inputted as he grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl.
“Oh, fuck off,” Diego shot back half-heartedly, throwing said popcorn at Brooks’s face.
“Hey, watch it! I still haven’t recovered from the spanking last time we had a popcorn fight and Mav found some smushed into the seats a month later.”
Diego snorted. “That was a fight? I seem to recall you dumping a whole ass bowl on my head, entirely unprovoked.” Now it was my turn to laugh. Unprovoked was a strong word. “Besides, you liked that spanking. You showed us the bruises on your ass for days after.”
“Not me, thank God!” Matty chimed in.
“Wait, I didn’t see them either!” That was Riley.
Beckett tugged him back by his hair and bit the side of his jaw. “And you never will, butterfly. The only man’s ass you’re gonna see is mine.”
“AND that’s my cue to leave,” I joked, pretending to stand up.
Before anyone could respond, my phone buzzed. I frowned at the name that popped up. Deshaun Demarcus, my former boss before I’d gone private. We hadn’t left on the best of terms, he hadn’t been happy I was leaving, and we hadn’t spoken since the day I’d turned in my credentials.
I felt five sets of eyes on me as everyone seemed to pick up my tension from the call.
“Wes?” Diego asked, concerned. His fingers were hovering over his own phone, like he was ready to fix whatever my issue was remotely. Which, he probably could. I smiled tightly.
“It’s okay, angel. Just my old boss.”
I hit accept. I was tempted not to, but whatever reason Deshaun had to call me probably wasn’t good and would be worth a listen.
“Wesley Hayes speaking.”
“Wesley, it’s Deshaun Demarcus.”
I squeezed Diego’s shoulder, letting him know everything was fine, and then quietly left the media room, closing the door behind me.
“Hi, Deshaun, it’s good to hear from you.” It was a little odd still calling him by his first name. I had spent years calling him boss or captain and the occasional sir, but I didn’t think I’d ever called him Deshaun to his face before. Old habits died hard, I supposed.
There was no doubt in my mind that this conversation wasn’t casual, but until he said otherwise, I had no intention of revealing my concern.
I walked about halfway down the hallway.
It wasn’t far enough to keep the nosy fucks I called family from listening in if they wanted to, but at least I’d likely see them coming.
Except possibly Brooks. He could be a ghost when he wanted to be.
And his training with Il Fortunato had only made his already considerable skill more impressive.
“Same. How is everything going in retirement? I heard you went private?”
Technically, I had when I’d left the SEALs and started working for him, but since we’d been contracted by the military, it wasn’t the same as what Il Fortunato was. Less military operations, more . . . well, everything else.
“Mm-hmm,” I answered noncommittally. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Deshaun, he’d been a good boss to me, but a lot could happen in the time since I’d separated from his organization, so I had no intention of giving away more than I had to.
Besides, we both knew damn well that Deshaun knew exactly what I was doing now.
Deshaun grunted when he realized he wasn’t getting anything from me, which, c’mon, he should’ve known that already.
“What can I do for you, Deshaun?”
That got a genuine laugh from him. “You were never one for bullshit, Hayes.”
I didn’t respond. There was no need.
“I’m calling as more of a courtesy than anything.”
“Okay . . .”
“Do you remember Charles Ramirez?”
I leaned against the wall, trying to place the name. It sounded familiar. “The accountant?”
“Yes, he was the head of the forensic accounting department for the last twenty years.”
There was something about Deshaun’s tone. “Was?”