Chapter 1 #2
“Yep, that was us. Still wild I’m in those books.” His cheeks were even redder now, and if it wouldn’t be super weird to call Zay’s grandfather, of all people, cute, I’d think he was cute. But he was Zay’s grandfather. Ew. Weird. I was being weird.
To cover that… weirdness, I said, “You know, in high school, we had to write a book report on a famous person who helped our country or something like that—I can’t really remember the exact prompt. But the teacher gave us a list of people to choose from. You and Ailin were both on it.”
“Oh really? Who’d you pick?”
Now I felt my own cheeks heating. “Um… honestly? I, uh, picked Ailin.”
That made him bark out a loud laugh again. “Oh god, he’s gonna love that.”
“To be fair, you were in my book report too since you guys did a lot of things together, but yeah, I definitely did a multi-page report on Ailin.”
“That’s hilarious. Did you tell Zay about this?”
I snorted. “No. It’s way too embarrassing.”
He grinned at me. “It’s not embarrassing at all. I think it’s awesome. Do you remember why you picked him? Or was it just random?”
I shrugged. “Truthfully, I ended up picking Ailin because I read about him taking in and adopting all the kids in his coven after, well, you know after what, obviously. But yeah, I thought it sounded… really amazing to have a family like that. So I wanted to learn about the man who cared that much about kids, some of whom he wasn’t even related to. ”
I didn’t realize I’d stopped what I was doing and was staring off into space until Sebastian’s arm came around my shoulders as he pulled me into a gentle hug.
I so wasn’t used to things like this—this simple affection from a parent-like figure—but I found myself leaning into him and accepting the embrace gratefully.
He hugged me for a few seconds, then surprised me further by kissing my forehead before he released me and whispered, “You have a family now, Hugo. No matter what, I promise you, you have a family now. I know it’s hard to believe this, but even without your connection to Zaos, we would want you as a part of our family. ”
My eyes filled with tears that I quickly wiped away with my wrists as I sucked in a deep breath.
Instead of fighting it, instead of dismissing what he said as him simply being kind in the moment, I decided to go with my gut instinct, with my heart, and believe him.
Everything inside of me was telling me he meant every word.
So I sent him a shaky smile and whispered, “Thank you.”
“Anytime, sweetie.” He smiled softly at me. “You’re an Ellwood now, so you better get used to hugs.”
I let out a laugh, grateful that he’d cut the tension. “I’m trying. Might take me a minute.”
“Yeah, I get that. It took me a while too. I grew up in an orphanage, so I never had a family. Not until Ailin came along and turned my world upside down… in the best possible way.”
I took another breath, calming my emotions. “That’s how I feel about Zay.”
We shared a smile, and after a moment, he said, “I’m glad you two found each other.”
“Me too.”
“Honestly, I’m really happy Zay has you.
He was always such a serious kid, always afraid of making a mistake, like he thought we’d send him back if he wasn’t perfect.
I can’t even tell you how many times all of us had to tell him it was okay to make a mistake, that he could make a hundred billion mistakes—honestly, there’s no limit—and he’d still be a part of our family…
” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, yeah, he was always really serious, and tends to be serious even now. So I’m glad he has someone who knows how to joke around and make him smile.
He already seems lighter these days, and you’ve only been together for a few months. So… thank you for that.”
I shrugged, unsure of what to say to that. It was a lot of information about Zay as a kid, but also a really sweet sentiment. “I love him. He’s amazing, so I’m the lucky one.”
Sebastian sent me another smile. “That may be true. But, Hugo, he’s also lucky to have you.”
I sucked in a huge breath. “I… I, um, thank you.”
“It’s the truth.” He looked at the counter. “Now, we better make those ten extra sandwiches before everyone out there starves to death. In case you’re wondering, it’s Ailin who’s complaining and acting like he’ll die if he doesn’t eat soon.”
I snickered at his eye-roll, then made a face when I thought about how much food Zay’s little brother consumed every day, and I reassessed the sandwich pile. “Uh, I think we might need more than ten more.”
Sebastian laughed loudly and began helping me with the sandwiches since the sides were all finished.
It didn’t even surprise me when the back door opened a minute later and Zay walked inside. I should’ve known that my reassurances wouldn’t stop him from checking on me, especially after all the high emotions that’d come from my little chat with Sebastian.
Luckily for me, Sebastian had me laughing, so I wasn’t in an I’m-about-to-cry-over-my-sister-or-over-Sebastian’s-kindness mood.
Zaos took one look at me and let out a relieved sigh as he smiled. “Hey, mezelie.”
“Hey back, Zay.”
He grinned and walked over, kissing my cheek as he rested a hand on my hip.
I’d been surprised at his willingness to show physical affection in front of his family members, and I’d definitely felt weird about it at first. But Zay always kept the touches light and pretty PG, and I couldn’t deny that I liked the fact he didn’t feel the need to hide what we were to each other.
Every time he touched me or kissed my cheek, I felt… loved and cared for.
It was a nice feeling. One I wasn’t used to, and definitely one I needed.
The pull I felt toward Zaos wasn’t something I could ignore. It wasn’t something I wanted to ignore. And having him give me all these sweet touches helped soothe the part of me that wanted to lock him away in our bedroom forever and ever and never let anyone else even look at him.
Zay said my viramore possessiveness wasn’t as strong as his since I was a human.
But I was pretty sure he was wrong about that.
Zay gave my hip a squeeze, then walked to the sink to wash his hands before he jumped in to help with the food. We got it done quickly, and soon we were carrying out what looked to be a billion sandwiches and a shit-ton of sides.
I heard a few cheers from the crew—they didn’t usually get served food like this on jobs, so they loved working here since we fed them every day—and after only a minute, the table was surrounded by hungry people scarfing everything down.
I was half convinced I’d have to go back inside to make even more sandwiches.
Zaos let out a small laugh and nudged me. “I think it’ll be fine, but if we run out, I’ll make more. You’ve done enough today.”
I shrugged. “I want to help, and this is pretty much the only thing I can do.”
Zay leaned in so his lips were right beside my ear.
I knew he only did it to keep our conversation private, but I couldn’t help the shiver that ran down my spine when his breath hit the skin of my neck.
His quiet chuckle proved he’d seen, but all he said was, “We hired a crew so we wouldn’t have to do any of the work at all, so there’s literally nothing you need to do.
Trust me, we’re paying these guys well.”
I sighed because I knew it was true. Ailin and Sebastian were actually paying for the renovations, because apparently, that was what they did in their family—helped each other out with no strings attached at all.
It was so weird.
But also really lovely.
“Thanks, Zay.”
He smiled and kissed my temple, then grabbed my plate and filled it to the brim before setting it in front of me and doing the same to his own plate.
He was so sweet.
And he was all mine.