Chapter 16
Felix sat at the breakfast table nursing a cup of coffee.
It was the ass crack of dawn, but Liam had wanted to talk to his father before he headed out for the day.
Something about informing the alpha of the pack about taking a mate.
Were culture made Felix’s head ache, but the rest of last night made it spin.
It’d been like some weird fairy tale come true.
Liam was his husband.
How was that possible? If he wasn’t so deliciously sore, he’d think he dreamt it. And good lord, was he sore. A smirk slid over Felix’s lips. He might not be enough of a deviant to have sex in his parents’ bed, but apparently that hang-up didn’t translate to their shower. Whoops.
He made a mental note to scrub it down before they came home, which by the voice message waiting for him this morning, would be sooner than he’d thought.
His mother had called late last night to tell him that Aunt Helen had passed.
They were staying one more day to finalize arrangements for her and the cats, then would be back tomorrow in time for the Yule ceremony.
Settling Aunt Helen’s estate would wait until after the holidays.
Felix ran his thumb over the handle of his coffee mug, staring into the living room at the long brick mantle. Dollar store stockings for the urchins hung beside the older, church craft fair ones for Felix and his sister.
Fucking Felicia.
He sighed, taking another sip of coffee, his thoughts going back to last night, to all of the pillow talk he and Liam had shared.
Where they would live. How they were going to tell their families.
Liam’s hopes and dreams if he got custody of Sarah.
Felix chewed his lip. The plan right now was for Liam to move into Felix’s apartment, but if he got custody, they’d need something bigger.
How much bigger had been on both of their minds.
Wrapping his head around being someone’s stepfather was surreal enough, but the rest of it…
Felix scrubbed his hands over his face. God, somewhere along the line he’d definitely fallen into an alternate reality where everything was moving at the speed of light.
If someone had told him four days ago that he’d be mated to Liam and have a ready-made family waiting in the wings, he would’ve laughed in their face.
He didn’t know when his mindset done a one-eighty about the urchins not being his responsibility, but that was where he was at.
Felix’s gaze slid to the kitchen, taking in all the wear and clutter.
The bills on the fridge, too many of them stamped overdue.
Granted, the situation here wasn’t tenable, but would it be if he stepped in?
He wasn’t hurting for cash now, but he would be with four additional mouths to feed.
And, despite Liam’s assurances of support, after everything he’d gone through, Felix was hesitant to take him up on that.
He sighed, falling back against the chair. His parents wouldn’t be home until tomorrow, and even then, he still had time to think, but it weighed on him.
Footsteps thumped down the stairs, and Sway plodded into the kitchen with Cruze behind her. Felix’s brow rose at the tween’s early appearance. He’d figured he’d need to pry her out of bed with a crowbar.
“Good morning,” he said as Sway scaled the counter like some bizarre red-headed lemur and rummaged for her cereal in a cabinet. “You’re up early. Make sure you brush your teeth after breakfast—you both skipped it last night.”
She shot him a venomous look as she hopped down and poured a heaping bowl of tiny marshmallows with maybe three flakes of what he’d actually consider grains.
“More like we didn’t sleep,” Cruze muttered, shoving slices of bread into the toaster.
“Yeah.” Sway pouted at him from beneath furrowed brows, her hands on her hips. “You clean pipes really loud, Uncle Felix.”
Felix almost choked on his coffee. Shit. Probably shouldn’t have made that quip when she’d interrupted them last night. He swallowed with difficulty. “Oh?”
“Oh.” Cruze glared at him. “Is Liam still here or did he leave?”
Felix debated playing dumb for all of three seconds. “He went home a while ago, but will be back to take Axle out with him.”
She slammed the lever on the toaster down, and Felix’s brow rose.
“Is that a problem?”
“Yeah,” Cruze said, spinning on him. “Sarah’s already pissed at me because he’s been here so much and that I got to spend time with her grandparents. She’s gonna freak out when she finds out you two are f—dating,” she quickly amended, going beet red.
“Uncle Felix is dating Liam?” Sway squealed, splashing as much milk onto the table as her cereal.
“You are?” Axle asked, shuffling into the kitchen and grabbing a bowl. “Cool. Does that mean we get to spend more time with him? Liam’s awesome, and I wanna go play with those dogs again.”
Felix pinched the bridge of his nose. This wasn’t exactly how he planned on broaching the subject, but— “Yes. Liam and I are together, but I’m not sure about the rest. Aunt Helen passed last night, and Gran and Gramps will be home tomorrow.”
Cruze’s toast popped up in the ensuing silence.
“Then things will go back to how they were,” she said after a long moment.
“I don’t want them to!” Axle yelled, dashing his bowl onto the floor and storming out of the room. Sway burst into tears and scrambled into Felix’s lap.
He stared at the mess as she sobbed against his neck. What the fuck just happened? His eyes flicked to Cruze, and she scowled at him, her hands fisting at her sides.
“You’re just like her. You pretend to be all nice and then leave.”
Then she was gone, stomping up the steps before he could even open his mouth.
“Please don’t leave, Uncle Felix,” Sway sobbed, clutching at him.
“What? No.” He smoothed her hair, an awful, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
God, was Cruze right? When he’d first gotten here, leaving was exactly what he’d planned on doing.
Suffering through this, then getting back to his life as soon as their car pulled into the driveway.
He put his nose to Sway’s frizzy curls, trying to remember why.
He had a job he hated, a cat that thought he was a pet, and spent most of his time waiting for either Jena to call or Able to wander back into town.
It suddenly seemed so empty.
His arms tightened around Sway. “No. I’m not going anywhere. Come on, we need to go talk to your brother and sister.” Felix scooted her off his lap and stood. He took her by the hand, going into the living room. “Cruze! Axle! Get in here. I need to speak with you both. I-it’s important.”
Axle stomped in and flopped onto the ratty Berber couch, his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were red from crying.
Sway went over and sat beside him, hugging his arm.
Through the front window, Felix caught a glimpse of Liam’s Jeep pulling into the driveway.
Good. He should probably be here for this, too.
“Cruze!” Felix yelled again. “Seriously! We need to talk, and I only want to say this once.”
Another minute passed before she huffed to the top of the steps and sat. “What?”
Felix’s eyelids fluttered. Jesus Christ, he couldn’t believe he was going to do this.
“Look, I’m not saying you were wrong about my intentions when I first got here, but your mom filing papers changes things.
Gran and Gramps aren’t exactly young, and I’m sure you know money around here is tight.
I’m not—I can’t make any promises, but I’m planning on being around more, okay? ”
“With Liam?” Axle asked, his eyes on the were as he stepped into the room behind Felix.
“They know we’re together,” Felix said, sensing his hesitation.
“Oh. Um, then yeah. I told your uncle I was hoping you could help me with a bunch of stuff out at the compound, and I am going to come to the pageant tomorrow, if that’s still okay with you?” he asked Cruze.
“Whatever,” she muttered, disappearing back into her room.
Liam looked at Felix. “Do I wanna know?”
He rolled his eyes. “She’s pissed because Sarah’s mad at her for spending time with you and your parents.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess I can see that,” he said, stoic for a moment before a smile bloomed over his face. “But that means she does want to see me.”
Felix’s heart swelled at the hope on Liam’s face. “It certainly sounds like it…how did it go at the compound?”
His smile bloomed into a full-out grin. “Really well. My mom wants everyone to come over tonight for Yule’s Eve dinner to celebrate—I mean, if you guys don’t have any other plans? We can ask Jena and Chase, too.”
“We don’t, and you know very well that I’m up for anyone cooking that isn’t me.”
“Great. Ask Jena and let me know, so I can get back to my mom.” Liam squeezed Felix’s shoulder. “You ready Axle?”
“So ready.” He bounded up and ran into the kitchen to grab his jacket.
Felix scowled after him. “Have a great day, Uncle Felix, thanks for letting me go, Uncle Felix.”
“Bye, Uncle Felix!”
“Whoa, hold up,” Liam said, giving Axle a look. “I’m pretty sure you need to clean up the mess in the kitchen first. That’s your bowl smashed all over the floor, isn’t it?”
Axle rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh yeah, that.”
“Dustpan is in the laundry room,” Felix called after him, pointedly not meeting Liam’s eyes. Just remembering that sordid chain of events that’d taken place in there last night was enough to get him all hot and bothered.
Liam chuckled and gave Felix a quick peck. “I’ll make sure he does a good job. We’ll be back here to pick you guys up, say five?”
“Make it six. Cruze has her last rehearsal at four.”
“Perfect.” Liam waved and headed into the kitchen to oversee Axle’s cleanup.
Felix pinched the bridge of his nose, then his eyes snapped to Sway. “Why are you so quiet?” It was off-putting to say the least.
“I’m thinking,” she said, picking at her cast.
He leaned against the kitchen’s doorway, broken shards clattering behind him as Axle swept. “You do that?”