I’m not sure I like him referencing me so coldly as their mother, but I’ll take it.
Logan begins to step away, and I pull him in close.
“No way, Oliver,” I say. “You’re my husband. You’re practically Nathan and Barron’s father yourself. You’re not going anywhere.” And there’s not a chance in hell Emma could ever tell me to remove Jaxson from the shot either.
Lexy spins her magic, and we’re all good and blinded as we stagger away, giving Emily, Drake, and Ethan a chance up next at holiday-bat with Ember and Ella. Bree and Beau Geste run in, and soon they’re replicating our modern family photo shoot.
Tad honks out a laugh while stuffing his face with lunchmeat.
“I knew it’d happen.” He elbows my mother in the ribs. “Skyla and the doofuses got that threesome thing happening. What do they call it? A massage?”
“Aménage,” my mother is quick to correct, much to Emma’s prissy horror.
“We’re not a ménage,” I say, and half the room looks this way.
At one point, we had the potential, but no thanks to Gage and his wicked wiring we’re about as far away from a loving threesome as you can get.
Gage nods to Logan. “You never were good at sharing your toys.”
An indignant huff comes from behind, and it only echoes my own.
I turn to find Emily glaring at the boy I once regarded as a blue-eyed god.
“Listen, Mess, or whoever the hell you are, don’t let him get away with likening you to a toy. This is exactly the bullshit that sets a precedent and leaves our kind lingering on the margins of life. You’ve got three boys. You better nip this crap in the bud, or your children are going to grow up disrespecting mine.”
“She’s right,” I hiss to Gage. “Don’t you dare disparage me like that ever again. I don’t care if there are little ears around to hear it or not. I’m nobody’s plaything.” Except Logan’s, of course, but I don’t dare say that out loud.
Gage gives a wry smile as if he heard my internal musings, or at least he surmised as much. Gage and I knew each other so well, we could finish each other’s sentences. It doesn’t surprise me that he knows exactly what I’m thinking. But boy, would I love to know what the hellhe’sthinking.
Tad steps forward as he struggles to swallow down all the processed meat he just stuffed into his pie hole.
He shakes his head at Emma. “It could be worse. They could all be shacking up together in that love nest upstairs. It’s bad enough she keeps the kids with her. You know the boys had to have their own bedroom after the feds stepped in.”
“It was social services,” I say, much to my own dismay. “And it was cleared up after they took a look at our living situation.” And after a rather unnecessary stay with Gage and Chloe, that Logan and I had to endure right along with the boys. I shoot Gage the stink eye for making me recall such a trying time to begin with. “Regardless, even though the boys have their own room, they prefer to sleep with me.”
Emma snorts. “With you and Logan?” She glances to the ceiling. “Honestly, if it were anyone else, I’d call social services myself. But Logan, you are like my own son. It’s just”—she expels a dramatic sigh—“it’s not right for the boys to see their mother sleeping with their uncle. And for them to join in on it? Well, it’s just not natural.”
Logan grunts, “The boys are mine, Emma. It’s perfectly natural. The son who bore them is gone. Once he comes back to his senses, a lot of things will feel natural. Until then, we’re holding out hope for a full recovery on his part.” Logan shrugs over at Gage. “We want you back.”
“Ah-ha!” Tad claps despite the fact his hands are full of lunchmeat. “They want him back in the bedroom. I told you so, Little Miss Priss.” He butts his shoulder to Emma’s and nearly launches her into the television screen. “I’ve long suspected some kinky shenanigans brewing among these three. And I’m here to tell you, I’m not having it under my roof. So you can pick up your diaper-dwellers and head on over to that castle on the beach across from the bowling alley.” He leans in hard. “Just a word of warning, sexual deviance is frowned upon on this island. You keep up the three-way hanky-panky and you’re bound to be ostracized from the rest of society.”
I roll my eyes. “Been there, done that.”
Tad opens his maw while chewing and exposes us to a mouthful of bolus.
My stomach turns on cue, and a part of me is rooting for my stomach to expel its contents.
Logan dots a kiss to Jaxson’s forehead. “Don’t worry about our love life. I think you have enough on your plate. How are things going?”
Tad stops cold and turns to give Demetri the evil eye.
My God, has Tad Landon finally figured it out? Did he somehow manage to buy a clue with that faux fortune Demetri arranged to be shoved down his throat?
“Demeet is handling everything for me.” He looks to my mother. “Don’t worry, Lizbeth. Demeet and I have worked out a deal.”
Gage shoots me a look of mild alarm, and if the king who wears the paper crown is worried, then I probably should be, too.
I’m about to call out the wicked for who they are when Barron—Senior—nods my way.
