“Fuck.” That anger glowed brighter, and his grip on Tarius’s hand intensified.
“I don’t remember any of this, but Aven noticed I was missing. He found me passed out in a bed upstairs.” Old hurt and phantom touches ghosted through his mind, and Tarius coughed once to dislodge a strange thickness in his throat. He hadn’t said this out loud to anyone in over a decade. “My jeans were down, and an alpha student was next to me with a condom in his hand. Aven rushed him, and he was nearly expelled for beating the crap out of the alphahole.”
“Goddess, Tar.”
“It didn’t go as far as it could have, and I am forever grateful that my big brother was there that night. That I had someone older and wiser looking out for me while I navigated life without a parent’s guidance. Like you’ll be here for Jeuel.”
Branson blinked hard, leaving his lashes shimmering with unshed tears. “I’m glad you had Aven with you that night. So fucking glad.”
“Me too. And I did not mean to bring down the mood with that awful story, but keeping things orderly, making sure everything has a place, no chaos? It helped me cope. It’s probably why I love being a paralegal so much. Research is orderly to me. I can streamline it, organize it, make the most random facts make sense.”
“I get that. Thank you for sharing your truth with me.”
“You’re welcome. You know, for a lot of years afterward, I thought what nearly happened at that party was why I had no interest in dating, or in having sex. I thought that what I didn’t even remember had somehow irreparably broken me. But I was wrong. I am who I am, and I always would have been asexual, whether I went to that party or not.”
Branson nodded slowly, the anger in his eyes giving way to understanding. “We are who we are, and there’s nothing wrong with either of us.”
“Exactly.” Tarius leaned in, and Branson met him halfway for a kiss. Branson tasted like wine and kindness and love, so he kissed his husband again, savoring those things.
“I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a naturally messy person,” Branson said once they parted. “I’m pretty adaptable in most situations, and I find the way you carefully line up your shoes to be extremely charming.”
“Very good things, all of them.”
Branson’s mobile rang, and he scrambled to pull it out of his pants pocket. “It’s Jeuel.”
“Talk to him.” Tarius stood, stretching as he unfolded his limbs, and then took his glass into the bedroom to give them privacy. He stood by the room’s only window and stared out at the boring view of the building across the street. The new apartment’s views weren’t much better, and that was okay. These buildings had been built with cheap rent in mind, not aesthetics.
With their combined salaries—and with all the credit Tarius had banked over the years by living well below his means—they probably could have bought a house. But that seemed like too much, too soon, especially when they’d rushed into marriage for purely legal reasons. Yes, love was involved, and Tarius very much enjoyed exploring his new dynamic with Branson, but a house was…more permanent.
A thirty-year mortgage said they were in this for the long haul.
Not that Tarius was even considering divorce when the ink was only a day old on his marriage certificate. They could talk about a house when Branson’s thoughts weren’t so crowded with Jeuel’s impending arrival and introduction into their lives.
Tarius drank his wine and stared at the headlights of cars passing up and down the street below. A few folks bobbed around on the sidewalk, probably heading to nearby bars to unwind after a long day at work. The floor creaked near the bedroom door and Tarius turned, surprised the phone call was already over.
“How’s Jeuel doing?” Tarius asked.
“He’s nervous about the trip, and a little scared about moving someplace he’s never been before. I think I reassured him that we’ll both be here to help him acclimate, and that he’s about to inherit more family than he knows what to do with.”
“That is a solid fact.” He held up his right arm, and Branson came to him, tucking himself up against Tarius’s side. “How about Trei?”
“I didn’t speak with him directly, but Jeuel says he’s okay. He’s feeling a little under the weather, but is ready to get out of Sonora and start over here.”
“Mr. Paxton has Trei’s travel papers organized?”
“Yep.”
Because Trei Alder was a widowed omega over the age of majority, he wasn’t subject to the same custody rules as Jeuel. But he still needed legal court documents allowing him to leave the province and settle elsewhere, and those papers left him bound to the rules for omegas in his new home province. Since Sansbury had less restrictive rules, Trei would eventually be able to choose where he wanted to live, whether it was with Branson, Tarius, and Jeuel, or elsewhere.
By moving to Sansbury, Trei had more options for his future, just like Jeuel.
“We’ll probably need to pick up some storage options tomorrow, too,” Tarius said. “Not just the sleeper sofa. I can’t imagine they will be comfortable living out of their suitcases for two weeks. We can probably borrow the dresser I used at Dad’s house, maybe shove it into that corner.” He pointed to an empty spot near the closet.
“Good idea. And maybe this weekend, we can all go out and do some furniture shopping for the new apartment? Not just the bedrooms, but apparently, my new husband likes furniture and accessories to match.”
Tarius chuckled. “Sounds like a plan. There’s also one more thing we need to decide on before our guests arrive.”
“Oh?”
