Chapter Eighteen
“Are they covered?” Marcus asks from our bathroom. “Neither of you are peeking?”
I groan into my palms. “No, Marco! We both have our eyes shut.”
“How do you know you both do, if yours are shut?”
“I’m about to whip open that damn door,” I grumble with all the annoyance I can muster. Truthfully, I want my hubby to have his moment, but he is simply dragging it out for dramatic effect right now.
“Okay,” he notes, whipping open the door. “You’ll be honest if it looks horrible on me, right?”
My hands slip down my face at the same time as Caleb’s.
Both of us take in the sight of Marcus, standing there in a decadent looking chiffon cocktail dress, complete with a plunging neckline and flowy looking ruffled sleeves.
The muted lavender color contrasts well with his sun-bronzed skin.
The material clings to his curves sumptuously, drawing my attention down to his smooth legs.
He must have shaved them—and I’d be willing to bet he used one of my razors to do it too.
I refuse to squabble about that though. Not when he looks so damn good in this dress. Better than that, however, is the broad grin on his face. It far outshines the sheepish expression he normally dons when he’s in one of his gender-bending outfits.
“You look stunning, sweetness,” Caleb signs, looking his fill as well. “Spin for me, babe. Let’s see how that amazing ass looks in it.”
Marcus purses his lips, trying to tamp down an even bigger smile as he does a little twirl, looking back at us over his shoulder.
“Bellisimo, Marco,” I coo, trying to emulate his nonna’s thick accent to the best of my ability. I take a step over, running my palm down the soft fabric until it lands on his generous ass and give it a little squish while biting my lip.
“Now, now,” Marcus tuts. “Don’t be so quick to try to tear it back off me. I struggled with the zipper in the back for far too long to have to frig with it again. Besides,” he hums, “I’ve got a good two hour chunk of time to enjoy it before Brody gets home from his robotics club meeting.”
“What would you like to do instead, while you’ve got it on?” Caleb asks.
Marcus shrugs. “Honestly? I just kind of want to do our normal thing. We can just hang out and do whatever. This isn’t just a kink for me. I um…” he trails off nervously.
“Want to practice normalizing it for yourself?” I offer.
His eyes light up. “Yes! Exactly that. I want it to feel natural for me to come home and slip into the clothes I’m most comfortable in.
I mean, I know I obviously can’t go out lobster fishing in this garb, that wouldn’t be practical at all, but—I don’t know—maybe the more I do it, the easier it’ll be to admit that I do it. ”
The corner of Caleb’s mouth tips up into a lop-sided, yet appreciative, grin. “I think that’s a fantastic idea.”
“Well, I don’t know what you both are going to do, but I know I need to get supper started,” I tell them. “Caleb, do you want to stay and eat with us? Maybe Cam can stop in too, when he gets out of theater club?”
Marcus clears his throat, glancing over his shoulder, down the hallway towards the guestroom. “Would you guys want to trial spending the night here?” he asks before Caleb even gets to answer about staying for supper.
Caleb blinks, clearly unsure of how to reply to that.
It’s only been a month since we’ve been back from our camping trip, and while we’ve still all spent a lot of time together, albeit separately, this is the first suggestion that we take things a step further in trying to see how a blended household will work.
While I know I’m totally for trying it out—and Marcus clearly is too, or else he wouldn’t have offered—who is to say Caleb is as comfortable?
I’m about to console him, to let him know it’s okay if he declines, before he raises his hands. “I’ll send Cam a text and see what he wants to do. If he’s in, I’ll have him toss some stuff in an overnight bag for us.”
Marcus beams, but then quickly it falters. “Wait, did I just sign myself up to have to compete with someone for the bathroom at fuck-my-life o’clock in the morning?”
Caleb puffs out a silent laugh. “If Brody is as heavy a sleeper as Cam, we could always share a shower,” he notes with a wink.
Marcus wobbles his head, the smile back on his face. “Well, when you spin it like that, it doesn’t sound half bad…”
Caleb’s eyes flit over to the sectional in our living room, and immediately it’s like I can read his mind.
“You don’t have to sleep on that tonight if you don’t want to,” I tell him.
“Our bed is a king. Plenty big enough for the three of us, even with the Jolly Green Giant… who also appears stunning in a dress, by the way.”
Marcus, at first, looks like he wants to squabble at the moniker, but then thinks better of it. “He does wear a dress, doesn’t he?”
Caleb soundlessly chuckles. “He totally does. I could see you rockin’ out a leaf dress to a jungle gala, too.”
Marcus preens, smoothing his palms down the skirt of his dress. “I don’t know about jungle galas, but Halloween is coming up. I could get away with wearing a spinach slip out in public…”
I smile up at him and tap his temple. “Now that’s a solid idea.
You could even be something for Dean to hunt, because there’s no way I’m letting you and your partner take Brody out without Caleb being dressed as the more scrumptious Winchester,” I add with a wink, which makes Caleb laugh and shake his head.
The later afternoon bleeds into evening, and as the night wears on, I’m starting to get a glimpse of what our future could potentially look like.
Marcus and Caleb both helped me work on supper, Marcus did eventually have to change and then ran out to go get Brody, and Cam came over after picking up some overnight essentials as well as Pepper.
After eating, the three of us decided to just cuddle on the couch together—ironically enough, watching re-runs of Supernatural—while the boys chased Pepper around as the curious skunk explored the space.
“Mum!” Brody shoots down the hallway from his room to the living room.
I lift my head from Caleb’s lap, where it was resting while he gently ran his fingers through my hair. “What’s up, hunny?”
“Can I get a snake? Pleeease? We’ve had a pet here all night, and I haven’t been on my video games at all.
Not once! Me an’ Cam even made Pepper a safe little play area, where he can roam around and not get into trouble.
I can take care of animals, I promise!” He pouts at me, batting his big doe-eyes.
My gaze falls on Marcus, who is scrunching his face, looking every bit unnerved by Brody’s persistence regarding getting a pet snake. I feel Caleb chuckle beneath me. He raises his hands. “Snakes gross you out that much?” he asks.
“Why doesn’t anyone want normal pets anymore these days?” Marcus gripes. “Is a salt water fish tank totally out of the question? Frig, I could bring you home a couple of lobsters or something if it’s weird you want.”
I shrug. “I mean, I’d probably boil it up and eat ‘em if you did.”
Marcus gapes at me. “Wow, really? Talk about ice-cold, woman…”
I can’t help but giggle at that.
Caleb peers down at me, a concerned look on his brow. “Should I be worried that I’ll be invited back for skunk stew someday?” he asks.
I snort, shaking my head. “Nah. I could never harm little Peppadew.” Then, I turn my attention back to Brody, who is still standing there, taking us all in. “Tell you what… yes, you can get a snake—”
He fist pumps the air. “Yuss!” he cheers.
I cut him off, however. “But, you have to chip in part of your allowance to help buy the habitat and everything…”
“Okay,” he blurts, quickly agreeing while still bouncing on his toes. “And I can keep saving up to buy the food and stuff too!”
“And I need to figure out when I can get you over to the pet store to pick everything out,” I add, reminding him that nights like this—ones where I can just relax—are few and far between. “So don’t expect this to happen, like, tomorrow or whatever.”
Brody peers over at Marcus, who holds his hands up defensively. “Don’t look at me, dude. You know I don’t want to be within striking distance of no anaconda. I don’t want none, son.”
“But you’ve got buns, hun,” I snark, alluding to the Sir Mix-a-Lot song he just referenced.
His response is simply brushing some non-existent particle off his face pointedly using only his middle finger. Caleb’s chest flutters, barely containing a soundless chuckle, before he gently claps to get Brody’s attention.
“I can take you after work tomorrow. Right after you get out of school, actually, unless you’ve got some other after-school activity on Wednesdays,” Caleb remarks.
Brody’s eyes widen. “I don’t! You’re serious, you’ll take me?” he signs back.
Caleb nods. “If that’s okay with your parents…”
“I mean, it’s fine by me. I am on call every evening for the rest of this week, so I can’t be out and about in case I’m needed, so I know I wouldn’t be able to.”
“I can tell you one thing, Brode,” Marcus chimes in. “This snake is not something you can get bored with and give up on. I will not be the one taking over caring for it if you pull that business.”
“I won’t get bored of it!” Brody promises, before scampering off down the hallway. “I’m gonna go get ready for bed early, that way tomorrow will come quicker!” he hoots.
I tilt my head to peer up at Caleb. “Thank you for offering to take him. If you didn’t, I’m sure him begging me would be all I’d hear about right before I’d need to be carted off to the insane asylum.”
Caleb smirks. “It’s my pleasure. We can get to know one another a little better while we’re at it. Say, do you think he’d like all my old comic books I used to collect?”
“Oh, gosh yes. Definitely. That would be something you both could bond over as well.”
Marcus clears his throat, picking at the inside of his cheek with his teeth. Whatever he’s about to say, he’s sheepish about doing so. His gaze fixes on Caleb. “I’m, um, I’m sorry, Caleb.”