Chapter 28 – Kev
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
KEV
Standing next to Davis outside Ashley and Madigan’s office, ready to knock, ready to be seen for their appointment—their we would like to have sex appointment—Kev could have crawled right out of his skin. If anyone had ever told him he’d be creeping up on thirty and about to ask permission from a grown-ass man to get it on with his girlfriend, he’d have laughed himself hoarse. And yet…
“This’ll be fine, right?” Davis stared uneasily at the door, squeezing his hand so tightly it hurt. “He won’t, like, say no, right?” She did one of those puh laughs. Then she peered up at him. “Wait. Will he say no?”
Putting on his most unruffled expression, even though he was more than mildly worried about the same thing, that this simple request might turn into a teachable moment about restraint and patience and some mortifying mention of birds and bees, he said, “It’ll be fine. The other guys do this all the time. It’s just part of the deal.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Davis blew a breath out loudly through her lips. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
“No shame,” he said .
Smiling up at him, she echoed back, “No shame.” And then she raised her fist and knocked.
“Yo,” Madigan called out.
Davis snorted, muttered, “Seriously. Who says yo anymore?” And then she opened the door.
As soon as they stepped inside the office, Kev snorted too.
Madigan sat at his desk, his back stick straight, his hands folded, a bright red blush flashing above his beard. His buttoned-up expression was almost the opposite of Ashley’s as she stared at them from her desk, her eyes round with emotion, her smile intensely proud.
“Oh,” she said after the moment of awkward silence it took for her to realize she was who they were waiting for. Because as much as Kev would have appreciated a full family sex discussion about as much as a punch to the throat, Ashley hadn’t been invited to this meeting. “Right, I’ll just be…” She stood from her desk, stopping on her way out the door to give Davis a tight, lengthy—long enough for Davis to give him a mildly concerned look—hug. And then she was gone.
“What can I do for you two today?” Madigan asked, sitting even straighter, his expression even sterner. Seriously, he looked like he was about to tell a group of kindergartners that Christmas was canceled this year.
Feeling less certain than he had before they’d entered his office, and he hadn’t been overflowing with certainty then, Kev said, “Um. Well.” Oof. Not a stellar start. But the potential energy sparking inside him was outrageous. He wanted to make the time-out sign just so he could do fifty jumping jacks to get rid of it. Then Davis squeezed his hand, and when he looked down at her, she mouthed, “No shame.”
He closed his eyes for a long blink. No shame.
“Madigan,” he said, even somewhat steadily. “I am here today to request a night off site. To, um, spend with this woman.” He waved his other hand in Davis’s direction, up and down like she was a brand-new car in a showroom. “With Davis, I mean.” He laughed. “ Because you know her name. She’s your stepdaughter. I want to spend the night with your—with Davis. Please and thank you.”
“Wow,” Davis said under her breath. “Nailed it.”
With his jaw clenched and his armpits starting to sweat, Kev awaited the verdict.
“Okay,” Madigan said calmly, like Kev had just asked for a dental appointment rather than a date to bang his stepdaughter. “When? And where will you be going?”
Was that it? Kev thought. Would it really be that easy?
“Tonight,” Davis said. “If that’s okay.”
Sitting back, Madigan ran his knuckles through his beard the way he did when he was deep in thought—or when he was about to say something nobody wanted to hear. “Typically, I need a bit more notice before giving out an overnight pass.” And when he added, “Even for family,” Kev wanted to turn into dust, leaving nothing but a pile of clothes and shoes where he used to be.
But Davis was undeterred. “Okay, what about tomorrow night?”
Straightening some already straightened papers on his desk, Madigan said, “I think that would be fine. But,” he said when Davis wheeled on Kev with triumph in her eyes, “you have to let me know where you’re going and check in if any of your plans change. And you have to be back on the premises by noon. Those”—he clasped his hands on the table again—“are the rules. Please don’t break them.”
“We won’t,” Kev said, not only his knee but his entire body wanting to bounce. “We’ll be back on time. Early, even. Promise.”
“And Kev, Davis,” Madigan said before she tried to pull him from his office. “Have fun.” He raised both brows. “But please, please, please , for the love of god, be safe.”
Knowing he wasn’t talking about wearing their seat belts, Kev nodded, telegraphing there’s a fresh box of condoms in my nightstand as best as he could with the gesture. And then Davis yanked on his hand.
But he couldn’t go with her. Not yet .
“Can I have a minute with Madigan?” he asked. “I’ll come find you after.”
Her head tilted, her smile fading as she sensed the shift in Kev’s mood. When he squeezed her hand to let her know he was okay, she squeezed him back and said, “Of course.”
Waiting until she left the room, Kev turned toward Madigan, took a deep breath, and said, “Um, there’s something I need to say to you.”
“Kev.” Madigan’s deep voice was a sword slicing through the tension in the air. “You do not need to make amends with me. If that’s what you’re trying to do.”
“I don’t?” Kev slid his hands into his pockets. “Why not?”
“Because I am already too emotional right now,” he said, blinking hard, touching a finger to the corner of his eye. “And also, because you already have. You’ve made your amends to me with every minute of work you’ve done since you got back. No words you could ever say could be more important to me than that. But I appreciate that you’re here.” His crystal blue eyes stared straight into him, straight through him. “I appreciate that you wanted to try.”
Taking a moment to let it all sink in, or at least trying to because it would probably take more than a moment, Kev said, “Okay,” to the man who was more supportive of him, more accepting of him, and more of a father to him than anyone he’d ever known.
Even though he had a whole speech prepared, there was only one thing he wanted to say now. It wasn’t an easy thing, but he knew that it should have been. And since it should have been, he decided to pretend that it was.
“Madigan,” he said. “You’re the best man I know. I wouldn’t be where I am without you in my life. And I love you.”
“Aw, hell, Kev,” Madigan said gruffly, squeezing his eyes closed, pinching the bridge of his nose. With a quivering chin and a tear tracking into his beard, he said, “Thank you for saying that. I’m going to need a minute alone now. And I love you too.”
Wondering how a single day could last as long as the one he’d just barely managed to get through had—even if he had spent every second of it dreaming about what would happen tonight, fantasizing, preparing —Kev stepped out of the shower when someone knocked on his door.
“Who is it?” he shouted, towel drying his hair.
“Your fairy godmother,” Tex answered. “Open up.”
Wrapping his towel around his waist, he walked to the door and pulled it open.
Without so much as a hello, Tex, Ace, Stanley, Brayden, and Noah all barged through the door, filing in one right after the other like man-sized ants.
“Hey guys,” Kev said, watching his cabin fill up. “Can I help you?”
“The correct question is,” Brayden said, “how can we help you?”
Kev frowned. “Huh?”
“A little birdy told us you had a date tonight,” Ace said, sitting on the bed for exactly zero point five seconds before snatching the wolf shifter romance book Kev had torn through last night off his nightstand and flipping through the pages.
“Wow.” Kev ran a hand through his still damp hair. “News travels fast.” He knew it was too much to hope that he and Davis wouldn’t provide more grist for the Little Timber gossip mill. The mountain had eyes, after all. He’d just kind of hoped the chatter would have waited until tomorrow.
“Has anyone ever told you that you are absurdly good-looking?” Brayden asked, his eyes narrowed as he stared at Kev’s abs. “You could be a movie star. It’s ridiculous.”
“Facts,” Noah said, crossing his arms as he leaned against Kev’s closed door.
“Thanks?” Kev’s voice pitched upward because he never really knew what to say when people complimented him on his looks. It wasn’t like he had anything to do with them. “Uh, you too, guys.”
“Really?” Brayden asked. “You mean that?”
Kev nodded. “Hundred percent.”
And for the first time since Kev had met him, Brayden actually blushed. Noah just snorted and shook his head.
While Ace raised a hand to cover his open mouth, deeply concerned by whatever he was reading in Kev’s book, Tex said, “You’re probably wondering why we’re here.”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Kev replied, feeling suddenly underdressed in his towel and nothing else. “Can I put some clothes on first?”
“What are you planning on wearing?”
Kev looked at Tex, baffled by the question. “You want to know what I’m wearing?”
Taking off his hat while he sat on Kev’s couch, making himself comfortable, Tex said, “Yup.”
“Uh, okay.” It wasn’t a difficult question to answer. It wasn’t like he had a lot of options. “My jeans,” he said. “And a T-shirt. Maybe my flannel.” His lips twitched. “Davis likes that one.”
“Nah,” Stanley said while Brayden made a massive fart noise and a thumbs-down gesture.
Kev laughed. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Listen, Kev,” Tex said. “This is a big night for you. And I know Davis wouldn’t care if you showed up wearing your stinky trail clothes. But we would. You deserve to look good.”
“That’s right.” Like it was some sort of magic trick, Stanley pulled out the plastic bag he’d been hiding behind his back. “Sorry we didn’t wrap it or anything. We were in a hurry.”
“What’s this?” Kev asked, taking the bag.
“It’s a million dollars,” Brayden teased. “That’s how much we love you.”
Ignoring Brayden’s snark, Tex said, “It’s a gift. From us to you.”
Kev opened the bag, and when he peered inside, the towel around his waist slipped. Barely grasping it before it fell to the floor, he said, “Oh my god.” He looked up again. “Where did you find these?”
“Took a quick trip to the Goodwill this morning,” Tex said. “But we washed everything this afternoon. And shined the shoes.”
Kev blinked, stunned. “You shined my shoes?”
“Sure did,” Ace said, his nose still buried deep in the pages.
Reaching into the bag, Kev pulled out a nice pair of navy chinos, a white button-up that looked brand new, and a pair of brown dress shoes so well shined they practically glowed.
“They’re all my size.” He shook his head. “How did you know?”
“The pants and shirt were a guess,” Stanley said. “But Brayden’s apparently got a weird thing of comparing shoe sizes with everyone he meets.”
“I knew it would come in handy eventually,” Brayden said on his way into Kev’s kitchen to raid the cupboards. “Hey, can I have a Pop-Tart?”
“Knock yourself out,” Kev said, holding the pants up to his waist. “This is amazing.” He looked at the men hanging out in his cabin, realizing that each and every one of them was his friend. Realizing how lucky he was to have them all in his life. “Thank you.”
“Go try them on. We want a fashion show,” Ace said distantly, and then he gasped. “What did I just read? Did he just get stuck inside her?”
Laughing at Ace’s horrified expression, Kev explained, “Knotting. It’s pretty wild.”
“I’m sorry.” Ace stared blankly up at him while Noah crossed the room, taking a seat next to Ace to get a closer look. “Did you just say ‘knotting’?”
“Wait.” Racing back from the kitchen with a Pop-Tart in his hand, Brayden sat on Ace’s other side. “I need to see this.”
While they all read My Secret Alpha in shocked, wide-eyed silence, Kev gathered his new clothes into his arms and said, “Okay. I’ll be right back. ”
Emerging from the bathroom a few minutes later, his shirt tucked in, his shoes tied, his curls scrunched, he barely felt like himself. He felt new, put together. He felt like the man he’d always wanted to be.
“How do I look?” he asked, spreading his arms out wide.
“Oh honey.” Brayden clasped his hand over his heart. “Our little baby is all grown up.”
After hurling a pillow at Brayden’s face, barely missing Ace too, Tex said, “You look good, Kev.”
“Real good,” Stanley added. “You’re gonna knock Davis off her feet.”
“He’s still stuck.” Ace pointed at the book. “It’s two pages later. That can’t be healthy.”
“Oop,” Noah said after flipping the page. “Just popped free.”
“Come on, guys.” Tex put his hat back on. “Let’s let Kev finish getting ready in peace.”
After accepting knucks from Ace, a whispered “can I borrow that book when you’re done with it?” from Brayden, a firm handshake from Stanley, and another tight nod from Noah, Kev watched them leave.
“You got condoms?” Tex asked, staying behind.
Kev nodded.
“Need help paying for the hotel room?”
“No, we’re good.” His cheeks heated. “We were gonna stay at the Motel 6, but Maude Alice got us a room at the Sapphire Lodge. Apparently she gets a discount there or something.” Kev shrugged a shoulder. “I guess she goes there a lot.”
“That’s a really nice place,” Tex said with an approving nod. “Only stayed there once, but it’s classy.”
Kev smiled, running a hand down his outfit. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going in jeans.”
Then they stood there for a moment, until Tex leaned in, placing a hand on Kev’s shoulder, and doubled the gravity in the cabin when he said, “You’re a good man, Kev. I know what it’s like for guys like us. I know how we can feel like we have nothing to offer the world. Like we’ll never be good enough. Like the people we care about deserve better. But it’s a lie. Because we have a lot to offer. You have a lot to offer. And Davis is lucky to have a man like you. Uh-oh,” he said when Kev wiped his eyes. “Are your fingers getting wet again?”
Kev exhaled a laugh, and when Tex tried to let him go, he grabbed his arm and said, “Hey, Shannon is lucky to have a man like you too.”
“Oh, I know.” Tex winked, then tugged on the brim of his hat. “We’re going on our first date next week.”
“Nice,” Kev said, slapping Tex’s hand twice before they slid their fingers back, making them snap against each other. “Poor Madigan. He’s gonna have his hands full with us.”
“Well, this was the life he chose,” Tex said with a shit-eating grin. “Can’t feel too bad for him.”
When Tex left his cabin, shutting the door behind him, Kev realized the man had a point.