1
ANDERS AND OMAR
“Hey, Uncle Anders!”
Oakley, nearly six and a half feet tall and still wet from a raucous game of water volleyball, jogs up with a wide grin.
Anders narrows his eyes at his nephew. Oakley is the eldest of the Wildlings and generally a good egg, but like all Wildlings, he has a mischievous streak.
“Hi, Oak. What’s?—”
Before Anders even finishes his thought, Oakley picks him up in a bridal carry and starts racing for the pool.
“Don’t you dare!”
Oakley, whose eyes are brimming with unbridled glee, cannot be stopped.
“I’m in jeans, Oak!” Anders shouts, but to no avail. “At least let me get changed into?—”
Splash.
Cheers go up around the pool, and the Wildlings pump their fists in the air. Anders is usually the one dunking the kids in Uncle Hendrix’s pool, and revenge is so very sweet. When they break the surface, Oakley is laughing so hard he nearly falls back under.
“You know, you used to be my favorite nephew,” Anders grumps, pulling at the T-shirt material spackled to his body. “I thought you were getting a degree in psychology. Somethingmature.”
“Oh darn,” Oakley retorts, unfazed. “And my concentration is in applied psychopathy, so…” He shrugs.
The laughter continues around them, but Anders picks up on the one voice he doesn’t hear. His eyes track around the pool, and there’s definitely someone missing.
“Where’s Rami?” he asks, tying his long hair back into a messy bun.
Oakley’s smile drops. “Rami caught Tadrick making out with some girl last night. Turns out, she’s his girlfriend, and they’ve been going out since middle school.”
Anders’ jaw clenches. He never liked that guy to begin with. Omar says he can’t murder their son’s shitty boyfriends, but he intends to see if an exception can be made.
While Rami is crazy smart and super mature for his age, he’s younger than all his university classmates, having handily passed his GED before most kids his age had gone to high school. He also tested out of all of his pre-reqs, even calculus, and is nearly at the end of his master’s program.
It’s easy to forget that he’s barely nineteen and doesn’t know yet how cruel the world can be, especially in matters of the heart.
“Where is he?” Anders asks, wondering if Omar would let him break their rule about not terrifying the people their children date.
Oak thumbs a gesture behind him. “He’s been hiding out in the pool house.” He lifts his wide shoulders. “I took one of Uncle Sawyer’s burgers to him, but he said he wasn’t hungry.”
Anders clamps his hand on one of Oakley’s massive arms. “Thanks for looking out for him, man.”
“Oh, you know how it is with us Wildlings, Uncle A. We take care of each other.”
Anders, in his sopping wet clothes, makes his way out of the pool, ignoring the jeers and laughs. Omar walks over with a towel and a poorly concealed grin.
“Oh, shut up,” Anders says, taking the towel from his beloved.
“Oakley said he wanted to push you into the pool, but I didn’t know he was gonna do all of that.”
Anders stops drying himself to glare at his darling husband. “You knew he was gonna do that and didn’t save me?”
“What? And miss that shocked look on your face when he jumped in the pool with you?” Omar responds, hilariously imitating said look. “Absolutely not. These are the moments a good marriage is made of.”
“You know I’m going to take that out on your ass later, right?”
