Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Asad
“Asad, before you go, can we speak with you for a moment? Anna will keep Morgan company.” His mom made it sound like a question, but it wasn’t really, and Asad knew that. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have brought Anna over for Morgan.
“Sure,” he said. Strangely, he wasn’t as bothered by the request as he would have been a couple of days ago.
He didn’t immediately tense up or assume his parents wanted to chide him about something to do with Cyrus, who was across the room talking to his mother-in-law.
Something in their dynamic had truly shifted between the family dinner on Monday and last night at the wedding, and he was curious but not wary of the request. Although he probably shouldn’t answer for both himself and Morgan.
He tilted his head at her. “Do you mind?”
“Of course not.” She smiled and turned to Anna.
“How are you doing this morning?” They walked off as Anna answered, headed toward where the tables were set up with food.
He doubted Morgan would get anything. So far, he’d never seen her get seconds of any meal, but maybe Anna wanted to grab something.
Asad turned back to his parents. They were looking at him earnestly and perhaps a little uncomfortably.
“So, what can I do for you?” he asked since neither of them jumped on the silence that was gathering between them. His parents glanced at each other, one of those little glances couples are able to do after being together for a long period of time where not a word is said, but everything is shared.
His mom cleared her throat.
“We wanted to say how nice it was to spend time with you this week. We’re hoping you’ll come back home more often… or maybe we could come visit you?” She looked at him hopefully.
He almost took a step back out of surprise.
His parents had never come down to visit him.
He’d never been sure why, whether it was because they hadn’t wanted to or hadn’t been sure of their welcome, but that his mom was bringing it up at all made something in his chest fill with warmth.
There had always been some part of him, deep down, that believed they didn’t try to visit him because they didn’t care to.
“That would be great,” he said, though he wasn’t sure how logistics would work since he didn’t have a guest bedroom, and he doubted they’d be down for sharing his couch—which was not a pullout. Definitely his apartment wouldn’t be up to their standards.
On the other hand, they could definitely afford a hotel room nearby. Whatever. They could figure that out later.
His mom smiled brightly, and even his dad’s lips curved into a small smile. Then her smile faded, and she glanced at his dad again. There was more. Lifting her chin, she met Asad’s gaze squarely.
“We also… we need to apologize,” she said before faltering.
To Asad’s surprise, his dad picked up the verbal baton rather than letting the moment linger, his voice gruff but sincere.
“We weren’t fair to you when you were a kid. Our only defense is that we didn’t realize at the time what we were doing. We never meant to make you feel like… like you didn’t mean as much to us as Cyrus. Eventually, we realized what we’d done, what we’d been doing, but it was too late to change it.”
“By eventually, he means recently.” His mom chimed in, and his parents shared a guilty-looking glance.
Asad was floored. This went far beyond anything he’d expected from them, even though they’d been clear about wanting to make amends.
“A friend of mine brought up ‘glass children’ and ‘the well child,’ and once I learned more about it, I realized that’s what we’d done to you.
” She met Asad’s eyes, chewing on her lower lip.
“We’re so sorry. We have some habits we’re working on undoing, but we wanted you to know that we do want to fix things—”
Unable to listen to anymore but also unable to speak, Asad stepped forward and wrapped his mom in a huge hug.
She made a little sobbing noise against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him, gripping him tightly enough to make him grunt.
Then his father’s arms were around him as well, holding on to both of them, and it was Asad’s turn to suppress the sudden urge to cry.
He clenched his teeth against it, blinking rapidly.
Then he let out a small ‘oof’ sound as something hit him from behind.
“Family hug!” Cyrus said loudly in his ear.
Laughter bubbled up out of Asad, breaking the tension and the threat of tears. He could hear his mom’s laugh as well and his dad’s chuckle. Twisting, he opened his arms to include his brother in the hug.
For the first time in a very, very long time, it felt as though they were truly a family.
He knew it didn’t mean everything would be perfect immediately, but it was as he’d thought last night—these were the first steps. And they were far bigger first steps than he’d thought they would be. He hadn’t expected anything more than he’d already gotten… but it felt really good to get it.
Lifting his head, he could see quite a few people looking over at them, but his parents didn’t seem to care that they were making a scene.
From across the room, both Anna and Morgan were watching and smiling.
Anna was actually beaming. He couldn’t help but wonder if she might have been the person to bring up ‘glass children,’ whatever that was, to his mom.
He had some research to do when he got home, but right now, everything was almost perfect.
Morgan’s gaze met his, and she smiled sweetly at him, making his chest tighten for reasons other than his mom’s crushing grip. He could see her happiness for him, and it made him feel… odd.
Morgan
Her home had been invaded.
All she really wanted to do was sit quietly by herself, but the group chat had blown up as soon as she’d let her friends know she was home, then all of the sudden, everyone was coming over.
She didn’t really know how it happened, so she hadn’t been able to stop it.
She also worried if she’d tried, her friends might have decided they wanted nothing to do with her.
But she was so tired.
Especially because it was nonstop questions about the week, about Asad, about the wedding, though most of the questions were easy to answer. No one asked if they’d had sex. They just assumed she and Asad had followed the ‘rules,’ so she didn’t have to lie.
At least her friends were also feeding her, so she didn’t have to worry about that.
They’d ordered pizza for themselves and a salad and mozzarella sticks for her and Amy.
Pizza gave her heartburn, but the mozzarella sticks seemed to be okay as long as she didn’t eat too many and didn’t use the dipping sauce.
“So, what happened while I was away?” she asked, trying to shift the attention from her.
“I got my bloodwork done, and I’m seeing the doctor next week to go over the results,” Amy offered up.
Unlike Morgan, Amy’s mozzarella sticks were still sitting on her plate.
She pushed some of the lettuce around on her plate, looking pretty glum, even though her voice was chipper.
“Which is good. Because it doesn’t seem to matter what I do, I just keep gaining weight. ”
“Well, I like your curves,” Sam said, glancing around and almost daring anyone to say otherwise. As a curvy woman herself, Sam rocked her curves with confidence.
“Honestly… I think I’d like them too if the wedding wasn’t coming up. I just want to look perfect, and Jeremy… well, he’s…” Amy’s voice trailed off. She looked like she was struggling to come up with the right words for what Jeremy was.
“Being a judgmental prick?” Carolyn didn’t mince words, raising her eyebrows at Amy. Sam shot Carolyn a quelling look, not that Carolyn seemed to notice.
“He’s concerned with her health,” Noelle argued, frowning. “With as little as Amy is eating, it is worrying that she’s gaining weight. Look, Amy, you haven’t even touched your mozzarella sticks.”
Picking up one of the sticks, Amy took a deliberate bite, but then she set it back down on her plate as she chewed. There was an odd expression on her face.
“Noelle is right. He’s just concerned.” Amy ducked her head.
Morgan looked around as everyone frowned at Amy. She wasn’t sure why they were all frowning, but clearly something was wrong.
“Has he said anything that crosses the line from concern to being a judgmental prick?” Marissa asked, far more gently than Carolyn likely would have.
“No, no, I mean, not really. It’s fine. He’s concerned, and the stress of wedding planning is getting to him.”
“What is he doing for the planning?” Morgan asked, interested. She was curious how Amy and Jeremy’s wedding would be different from Cyrus and Anna’s.
Amy’s mouth opened.
Closed.
“Um.”
“Well, I’m sure just the stress in general of knowing how much needs to be done for the wedding is getting to him,” Noelle said quickly, shooting Morgan a dirty look.
Oops. Somehow, she’d made things awkward and uncomfortable even though she didn’t mean to.
“Sorry,” she said immediately, even though she didn’t know exactly what she’d done wrong or why it was okay for Carolyn to call Jeremy a judgmental prick, but it wasn’t okay to ask what he was doing for the wedding planning.
“I was curious what you’re doing for the wedding because Cyrus and Anna’s was my first, and I wondered what might be different. I want to be a good bridesmaid.”
“Well, we’re looking at locations right now, and that’ll help us decide on catering and things like that.
We do have the guest list. Jeremy’s mom got theirs to me yesterday, which was great because that’s helping us decide on the location.
” Amy smiled, looking a little more relaxed now that the topic had shifted away from Jeremy to the actual wedding planning.
Morgan relaxed, too. She’d done the right thing.
“And I’m planning on going dress shopping next month, regardless of where my weight is, so I can at least get an idea of what I want. Plus, we need to pick out the bridesmaid dresses.”
“Isn’t that kind of early?” Morgan asked, surprised.
“Yeah, but they have to make the dresses, then sometimes they need alterations,” Sam explained. “Well, for some dresses. Sometimes, you can get things right off the rack, but not always.”
“I want you to each be able to choose a style you love.” Amy beamed at them. “I want them to be floor length and sage green, but you can get whatever style you want that fits that.”
“Sounds good to me,” Marissa said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “And thank you. I prefer that kind of set up. Not too many dress styles look good on every body type, and we’re all very different.”
That was a good point. Morgan liked the idea of being able to pick out her own dress, too. Certain fabrics really bothered her to wear, though she would have found a way to tolerate it for Amy’s sake. Picking out her own should keep it from being a problem.
Before anyone could say anything, the front door opened, and Brian walked in. His eyes widened as he looked around at all the women in his home, then he grinned.
“Hello, ladies,” he said, giving them all a nod. “Welcome home, Morgan.” He waved at her before setting his keys on the table.
“Hi, Brian,” they all chorused together, then started giggling.
Suddenly, Morgan was very glad all her friends were there because seeing Brian, a well of anger rose up inside her. Had he known that Asad had been told not to have sex with her last week? Had he been one of the people to make that decision for her?
It didn’t seem impossible, considering he lived with her.
Yes, she was here to help with the mortgage payments on the house—he needed the rent she gave him—but she knew the other Doms also considered him her protector.
They asked him before scening with her, and they checked in with him after, asking her how she was doing, to see what he said as well. And he was constantly monitoring her.
Sometimes, Daddy Dom Brian acted an awful lot like a dad.
Not her dad, of course, because her dad would never have given her the kind of freedom Brian did, but Sam had pointed out that he had kind of inserted himself into a ‘father figure’ slot, even though he was only a few years older than her.
At the time, Morgan hadn’t minded because she’d needed someone to cling to, someone to help her stand on her own two feet.
Now, though, she had to clench her jaw against demanding to know if he’d been a part of the decision to cock block her and Asad.
This wasn’t the time, though. Not with her friends there.
“Hi,” she managed to say, though she didn’t think she did as good a job hiding her emotions as she’d hoped because the word came out a little choked, and everyone looked at her.
A hot blush rose up in her cheeks, and she rocked on her seat, reigniting the sting from the welts Asad had left, which helped settle some of the turmoil inside her.
It wasn’t just the pain; it was also the reminder of him.
She realized, it didn’t matter what Brian and the other Doms wanted—she and Asad had done what they wanted. Some of the anger she’d felt fled in the face of her satisfaction.
She felt… rebellious.
“Sorry I forgot to let you know everyone was coming over,” she said, looking around. “It just kind of happened. Do you want some pizza?”
“Sure, thanks.” Brian smiled, his shoulders dropping back down. Noelle immediately scooted over, making room for him and smiling brightly as he grabbed a folding chair and put it between her and Sam.
“How are you doing, Brian?” Noelle asked, leaning toward him with interest as he served himself a few slices of pizza. She was sitting up straighter than before, focusing completely on him. Across the table, Carolyn and Marissa smirked at each other.
It wasn’t the first time it seemed Noelle had a thing for Brian. Morgan had trouble imagining it, but unlike Brian and the other Doms, she certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone who they could and couldn’t have sex with.
Besides, it was nice to have the buffer between her and Brian while she got her emotions under control. Eventually, though, they were going to need to have a talk.