Chapter 25
FLETCHER
Over a breakfast of bacon and eggs, I couldn’t help but notice that Sky kept glancing at the calendar hanging on the wall of the kitchen.
He’d look at it for a moment, frown, and then pick at his food.
But he always went back to staring at it with a strange expression on his face. A look of almost…longing?
Adam and I exchanged a glance.
Adam cleared his throat. “Is there a date coming up that you’re worried about, Sky?” he asked, like the concerned Alpha he was.
Sky shrugged and twisted back around in his seat. “Nah,” he said, too quickly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”
I hummed under my breath. “Someone’s birthday, perhaps?” There it was—that glint of uncertainty in his two-toned eyes when he looked at me. I tilted my head. “Actually, when is your birthday, Sky?” I asked, curious now.
“No, it’s fine—” Sky shook his head, like it didn’t matter.
Adam chimed in with, “Maybe we could do something nice for your birthday, weather permitting.”
Sky glanced over at the calendar again, biting down on his lip. He was quiet for a long while, and neither Adam nor I spoke a word; we simply let him think whatever he was thinking, let him work through the problem on his own, until finally…
“It’s tomorrow,” he murmured. “It’s just… It’s not a big deal. Please don’t make it a big deal. I’m honestly kind of dreading it.”
“Aww, sweetheart, why?” I asked.
Sky shrugged and slumped forward in his chair, his arms crossed before him on the table.
“Just another day. Birthdays were hard growing up. We didn’t really have friends, so we never had parties.
River would get amped up and tear shit up or start fights.
It eventually just ended up being a cake and a card with twenty bucks in it, and that was it. ”
He sighed softly. “I’d see kids at school having birthday parties in the classroom, surrounded by friends and wearing party hats, and I’d wish I was normal. Not me. Anyone but me. So, yeah. Birthdays aren’t a great memory for me. Last year it came and went and I didn’t even tell Jem.”
Adam stood from his seat and came around the table to gently rub Sky’s back.
“Well you’re not a lonely child anymore, love,” he said.
“You’ve got two boyfriends who think pretty damn highly of you, and if you don’t want a big to-do, then we won’t do anything fancy, but what would you say to barbecuing some chicken on the grill and having a little fire tomorrow?
We can make some side dishes and desserts and just hang out outside all evening, just the three of us. ”
I watched the emotion shutter across Sky’s face—uncertainty and doubt, followed by hope and joy—right before he smiled and leaned back into Adam. “You’d really do that for me?”
“Of course we would,” I said. I got up and walked over to the calendar, grabbed the Sharpie that we kept clipped to it for any appointments, and wrote “Sky’s B-Day” on tomorrow’s date and circled it. I gestured to it with a flourish. “There. It’s official.”
Sky’s cheeks turned pink, but he smiled. I crossed the distance between us and kissed him sweetly on the lips. “Now we just have to figure out what all to make!” I winked, then stage-whispered, “That’s my favorite part.”
The following evening, the three of us set up a small folding table near the grill.
While Adam flipped the marinated chicken breasts and sprinkled them with seasoned salt, Sky and I brought out all the food we’d made—homemade potato salad, maple bacon baked beans, chips and taco dip, an assortment of cookies, and of course, my famous green fluff.
Sky looked at it dubiously.
I grinned. “Just wait till you try it. Everyone looks at it weird the first time they see it, but they always come back for seconds,” I told him, matter-of-factly.
“Mmhmm.” He sounded real convinced. “I’m sure they do.”
I swatted his ass. “Brat.”
Sky just laughed and ran ahead, but it made me smile, because there was joy behind the spring in his step. On his birthday. The day he’d been dreading. We were making it a better day for him, just by being there for him.
“God, that smells so good,” Sky groaned. “Is it done yet?”
“Not quite,” Adam said around a chuckle. “Still have to add the barbecue sauce.”
I ran my hand along my Alpha’s back, peering around his shoulder at the juicy, sizzling chicken breasts. It smelled amazing, but it would taste ten times better with Adam’s signature honey-BBQ sauce slathered on and glazed to perfection.
“Looks good, baby,” I murmured. “Can’t wait to taste it.”
“Me too,” Adam agreed. “I started the fire. Can you go check it and toss another piece of firewood on if it needs it?”
“Sure thing.” Leaning up on my tiptoes, I kissed him soundly on the lips, then called out to Sky, “Hey, help me bring some chairs out of the shed!”
Together, we pulled out three plastic chairs, complete with matching cushions, and set them up around the fire pit. Once that was done, I tended the fire. It was nice and steady, so I ran inside to grab paper plates, plastic silverware, and a cooler full of drinks.
Adam brought over the chicken on a serving platter, steaming hot and slathered in BBQ. My stomach growled simply by looking at it. Sky was nearly drooling. “Wow, that looks incredible,” he said, which made Adam laugh.
“Only the best for my boys.” He winked.
We all grabbed plates and piled the food on, then sat around the fire, chatting while we ate.
The chicken was delicious, as always. Perfectly cooked, tender and juicy, and not at all tough or dried out.
Adam was the king of his castle with all things food, that was for sure.
I thought back to those very first few months after he’d taken me in, how awestruck I’d been by his cooking.
Now look at us, running a business together in a town where pretty much everyone knew our names.
We’d come so very far. My heart felt full of love for my mate—and for our young Omega who grinned as he chattered on in a way that made me ache in the best of ways, when just six months ago he barely uttered a few sentences to us and hid in his room most of the time.
“I guess I had one good birthday that I can remember,” Sky said between bites of an oatmeal raisin cookie.
“It was our ninth birthday. River and I got an ice cream cake, and second-hand Gameboy Advances with a bag of random games. Our mom didn’t have a lot of money, but she saved for months to buy us the devices and some games for us to share.
It was like Christmas came early that year. We were so excited.”
“I didn’t know you gamed,” I said.
Sky smiled, but the tilt of his lips was sad. “Yeah… Not in a long time.”
“Would you like to? What do you like to play?” Adam asked.
“I don’t even know anymore, honestly,” Sky admitted with a shrug. “It’s been a long time. I don’t even know what games are out there.”
Adam caught my eye. I smiled and stood up. “I’ll be right back. Need me to throw away any trash since I’m going inside?” They both handed me their empty plates, and I carried the pile into the kitchen. I dropped the garbage into the trash can before heading deeper into the house.
I knew what Adam was thinking. The two of us had a Switch we played sometimes, but lately, it’d been gathering a lot of dust. It’d just been sitting in its dock in Adam’s study for months now. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought of this sooner, but better late than never, right?
Plucking it up, I tucked it under my arm and went back outside to my guys. I sat back down in my seat, and when Sky looked at me quizzically, I offered him the game system with its neon red and blue Joy-Cons lighting up beneath the firelight. “Happy birthday!”
Sky froze, his eyes widening as he stared at it for a moment. “I… I can’t take that,” he insisted.
“Sure you can,” I said. “We don’t really use it that often, and it’s got a ton of games on it. It’s getting no use right now, sitting in the office on a shelf. Might as well get some love. Here.” I pressed it into his hands. “It’s yours, Sky. Happy birthday, really.”
His blue-and-brown eyes welled up, like he might cry, try as he might to blink the tears away. “I… Thank you.”
Taking it into his lap, he turned it on and fiddled with the buttons, flipping through all the games on the main page, completely captivated by the new toy.
Just like he was nine years old again.
Adam and I shared a smile.
Then Sky set the device aside. “I’ll play with it tonight,” he said, his voice thick. “Right now, I want to spend my birthday with you guys.”
“Aww,” I said, giggling. “Well, you know, you never tried my dessert…”
Sky made a face. “Do I have to?”
“Yep!” I hopped up and grabbed a plate of green fluff for myself—cottage cheese, pistachio pudding, pecans, maraschino cherries, whipped topping, and crushed pineapple—and took it to my spot by the fire.
I scooped a spoonful up and held it out to Sky.
“Do I need to do the airplane sounds?” I teased.
Sky snorted out a laugh and shook his head, then leaned in to taste it. He chewed, his expression strange. He swallowed, tilted his head. “Okay. Let me have another bite. I’m on the fence.”
I laughed and got him another spoonful, making sure to get a cherry in there. Sky ate it and then sat back in his seat. “You know? It’s not what I was expecting, but it is kind of good, in a weird way?”
I beamed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Adam chuckled. “I, for one, love your Franken-fluff.”
“Adam likes to freeze it and eat it like ice cream,” I explained.
Sky raised a brow. “Now that I could get behind.”
“It’s damn good. That’s what we always do with most of the leftovers,” he said.
“I take this recipe to every pack gathering Gracie has, and people go nuts over it. They always beg me for the ingredients list, but I never spill my secrets.” I laughed softly, taking a bite of my sweet green fluff. “Can’t have anyone one-upping me on my signature dessert.”
We lapsed into silence, listening to the fire crackle and pop. I let out a happy sigh. Sitting between these two men, my heart felt right at home.
“Fletcher? Adam?” Sky began.
“Mmm?” we hummed in unison.
“Thank you for giving me a wonderful birthday.”
“Of course, sweetheart,” I told him.
Adam only smiled. “There’s many more where that came from.”
“I don’t think they’ll ever top this one,” Sky said.
“I’ll take that as a challenge.”
We all laughed, but I had the feeling that Sky really meant it. That today meant so much more to him than either of us could’ve ever imagined.
We went to bed that night smelling of woodsmoke, cuddled up together, with Sky snuggled in between us.
My heart was full.