Chapter Twenty-Three
P iper hesitated by the kitchen entrance, just out of sight. Her parents would tell her off for eavesdropping, but they’d have to catch her first.
“I really am grateful for what you’re doing,” August said, her voice filled with emotion.
“It’s nothing,” Hermes said, his usual sarcastic, spiky edge softened.
“No. It’s something and it matters, and I know you didn’t have to.”
Hermes sighed slowly. “I came here for freedom, to be myself, and not have to deal with… transphobes who couldn’t accept me. It’s bad enough when you run into those people in life. It’s especially bad when they’re your family and you spend every day growing up wishing you didn’t exist because they couldn’t just accept who you are. I guess the only thing I can be grateful for is the dual citizenship they gave me.”
“Shit,” August breathed. “Hermes, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Well, it’s not, but I’m okay. It meant, though, that I landed here with nothing and nobody, fresh off years of my parents wanting me to be somebody else, and my family constantly trying to replace me with siblings’ friends who they liked better.” He paused and Piper could imagine the look on his face. “I was in a shitty place when I met Piper, a really dark place, honestly. And she helped save me. She became my friend and told me her parents wanted me to move into their spare room until I could afford a place of my own. She was a lifeline when I was couch surfing, and, honestly, bed-hopping just to have a place to stay. I didn’t like myself much back then.”
“You were doing what you had to in order to survive.”
“Yes. But then Piper and her family took me in. They became this family I’d never had before and they accepted me. Her dad came with me to the doctor’s office to get on T. Her mom would introduce me as her son when people came over to the house. The Suttons were this whole world of things I’d spent my life dreaming of and thought I’d never get.”
“The world you’d always deserved.”
Hermes laughed. “Even to this day, I feel unworthy of the love and care they give me, but I understand your point. And I know Ford’s situation isn’t quite as dire, and you’d have moved to accommodate him, but this is a tiny opportunity to… repay what I’ve been given.”
“You don’t have to repay having parents who love you. God knows you waited long enough for it.”
Piper couldn’t see either of their expressions, but she could imagine exactly how they’d both look. She could hear the emotions in both their voices, and she knew this thing was going to be okay. August and Ford belonged in their family too now.
Hermes hummed. “Piper hasn’t gone into too much detail, but I kind of get the impression your parents aren’t all that great, either. And you both deserve a family that loves you and gives you a soft place to land.”
August laughed, the sound a little choked up. “They’re not as bad as yours. They’re just… very into self-sufficiency, I guess? This idea that we shouldn’t be relying on other people, and that we only deserve support to do the things they want us to. Ford being in culinary school isn’t good enough for them, so he’s on his own.”
“Yeah, well, screw them. Culinary school is amazing.”
“Yeah,” she breathed. “He’s really great and it’s going to be so good for him to have a safe place to live while he studies.”
There was a pause before Hermes said, “This is a safe place for you too, August. I know you don’t need it in the same way, and I know I can be a little… reluctant to changes I think are going to cost me my family, but you’re in now. You’re safe.”
“I promise I’m okay. I don’t need—”
He laughed a little. “I know better than most that families who have conditions on love and support mess everyone up. You seem remarkably well-adjusted, but you talk about Ford like a parent. You carry this heavy burden with you that you should never have been given. It’s okay to take some time to breathe.”
Piper felt herself getting choked up. She’d known since she met him that Hermes was a good guy, but here he was, warming up to August and letting her in, letting her know it wasn’t just Piper who cared for her. She was oddly proud of both of them—and unbelievably grateful to know them.
She was also excited for August to have that moment to breathe without having to worry about Ford. He’d be good here with Hermes.
“Who wants pizza?” Piper’s dad called from down the hall. “I’m going to run out for lunch.”
Piper slipped away from the kitchen before the others appeared, heading towards her dad’s voice.
As if they were all tiny kids, the whole crowd of them came running, excited to get their requests in.
Piper smiled when August appeared at her side, looking a little emotional but covering it well.
“Hi,” she said, grinning at the chaos around them.
“Feeling like you’re back in school?” Piper asked with a smile.
“Just a bit.” She pursed her lips, looking around for a moment. “It’s nice, though. I never got to have this kind of chaos growing up.”
Piper nodded and leaned in to nudge her. “Well, welcome to the chaos.”
“August,” Piper’s dad called, “any dietary requirements we need to know about? And pizza preferences? What do you want to drink?”
Piper couldn’t help but smile. Her parents looked like they were having the best day of their lives, which, maybe they were. Some people were made to be parents and it didn’t matter how old their kids got, they still loved parenting.
As August spoke, Todd added to the little notebook he was tracking orders in while April was typing away in her notes app. It was the one Piper knew she used to keep track of everyone’s needs and preferences. August and Ford were getting immortalized in the notes app. There was no getting out now.
“All right,” Todd said once he had everyone’s orders. “April and I are going to run and get the food. Anyone need a break and want to come?”
“Oh, my god, yes,” Shea said immediately. “I feel like I’ve been indoors for hours.”
Piper laughed. Shea had no issue being indoors, she just had a long-standing flirtation with a woman who worked at the pizza place.
“Yeah, I’ll go too,” Ford said, smiling widely. “I need to get to know my new area.”
“Fantastic!” April linked her arm through Ford’s. “How exciting that we get to help introduce you to the area.”
“And the pizza place. Pizza’s important to life,” Tood said, leading the way to the door.
Piper noticed the almost comical height difference between Ford—a very tall man—and her dad—a rather short man—but Ford still looked at him with all the reverence of a child looking at a parent, believing they had all the answers in the world.
She looked at August and was immediately struck by the look on her face, something akin to years of hurt being slowly healed by each tiny interaction Ford had with her parents. She slipped her hand into August’s. “Come with me?”
August nodded, looking away from the door to smile at Piper.
Massima and Hermes made no effort to pretend they weren’t smirking at the interaction as they headed back to Ford’s new room.
Sense would have suggested pulling August into the kitchen, but Piper led her into the bathroom, closing the door behind them. If anyone saw them leaving, they’d definitely think they’d been having sex, but Piper simply wanted a little privacy.
August looked at her with raised eyebrows before she gestured around the room with her finger. “Interesting choice of location.”
Piper grinned, allowing it to be salacious for one second before she shook her head and dropped into a regular, sweet smile. “I, uh, just thought I should tell you I was… listening in on your conversation with Hermes.”
“Oh.” August looked unconcerned. “Well, it wasn’t anything I wouldn’t say to you directly.”
Piper’s heart swelled. She’d thought that when she’d been listening—otherwise she would have given them more privacy—but having it confirmed felt warm inside. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that, whatever happens with us, Hermes was right. You’re safe here. You and Ford are part of this weird little family we’ve got now.”
August smiled. “They’re your family. If things didn’t work out, I wouldn’t keep muscling in and make things awkward.”
Piper laughed. “Oh, you think you get the opportunity to walk away from April and Todd Sutton? You think you get to walk away from Hermes once he decides he likes you? Be real right now.”
August laughed too, shaking her head. “So, you’re saying I’m stuck with you?”
“Mm.” She stepped closer to August. “Seems like it, doesn’t it?”
August smiled, matching Piper by stepping closer to her, too, and wrapping her arms around Piper’s waist. “Am I supposed to be upset about that?”
“Oh, is it not a very good threat?”
“Depends on what type of threat you were going for. The type that scares me? Not so much.”
Piper looked up at her through her lashes. “No? Was it a threat that does something else, maybe?”
“Who can say?” August asked, lifting Piper slightly and spinning to press her into the door.
“Make sure you clean my bathroom after you fuck in it,” Hermes called from the hallway, banging on the door as he passed by.
August closed her eyes and shook her head as she called, “I wouldn’t have sex in my brother’s apartment, thank you.”
She looked down at Piper, their gazes holding as Hermes called back from the direction of the kitchen. “Why not? Piper clearly doesn’t have that concern.”
Piper stifled a laugh, pressing her face into the soft fabric of August’s shirt. “I guess he’s not wrong…”
August nuzzled Piper’s hair and whispered, “I mean, it’s not like you couldn’t make me forget where we are. If we’d already slept together, maybe it wouldn’t have even been on my mind, but, for our first time, I don’t think someone else’s bathroom will suffice.”
“Second time,” Piper corrected, moving to press a kiss to August’s neck.
“Fair. Second time. First time in person.” She pulled back to look at Piper, one hand moving to run through her hair.
Piper was certain nobody had ever looked at her like they adored her before. She’d been looked at a lot of ways, and she’d had plenty of people interested in her, but nobody who looked at her quite the way August did. Of course, she’d never brought anyone else she was dating into her family this way. Some of her exes had met her family, but this was different. Piper knew it, her parents knew it, and she wanted August to know it too.
Hermes passed by the bathroom door again, not saying anything this time, just banging on the door once. Typical brother behavior, but Piper was too wrapped up in August to really register it. Their gazes held and she could already feel the where and the when slipping away, leaving just her and August.
She slid one hand up along August’s shoulder to the nape of her neck, stroking softly over short hair and silky skin.
August’s gaze flickered to Piper’s lips and back to her eyes, and Piper was certain she, too, was forgetting where they were. There was nothing suggestive about the glance though. It was full of meaning and intention, but Piper was certain the meaning wasn’t sex. She’d been wanted more than enough times that way —and she wanted August to want her like that, but she wanted this too. She adored August looking at her exactly like the two of them kissing would provide all of the answers to why the universe existed.
Every single date she’d been on, she’d been looking for something special, but she’d been so ignorant to just how special it could be, how amazing the person she might find would be. And months of knowing August, pretending this thing between them couldn’t be more, still hadn’t been enough to crash through her consciousness and tell her just how much she needed to grab onto August and never let go. But here, in their brothers’ bathroom, one look was enough to finally do it.
Maybe one day she’d hope it hadn’t taken place in a bathroom, but all she could think was that she needed to kiss August and pour every little thing that was passing between them into that kiss.
Either feeling the same or able to tell what Piper was thinking, August sighed quietly and moved her hand to caress Piper’s cheek. Her touch was electric as she moved in slowly, her eyes dancing between Piper’s eyes and lips, until she was close enough to brush their noses together.
Piper’s eyes closed as she sought more contact, luxuriated in the touch, and, finally, when she felt like she couldn’t take not kissing August for another moment, August pressed their lips together, and Piper felt like the universe finally made sense.