To his credit, Marcus didn’t treat Lillie like a walking doll. He gave her question great consideration. Tyler understood her need to assign a label to their relationship; it was the way children saw the world. They needed order and structure and giving him and Marcus an official title made it easier for her to picture their relationship.
“I guess you could call us that.” His response was guarded and measured and surprisingly, Marcus didn’t seek validation from him for his answer. His concentration was on Lillie. “Is that okay with you?”
“Okay.” She patted Marcus’s knee, and Tyler didn’t know whether to laugh or give in to the tears that threatened. “But no fighting. Mommy used to fight with her boyfriends, and sometimes they’d be mean and she’d cry.”
The laughter fled from Marcus’s eyes. Tyler had heard the stories before from his sister when she first came to stay with them. How she never knew who Lillie’s father was, and the string of boyfriends she had afterward didn’t like it when Lillie made noise or bothered them. She’d never said, however Marcus suspected she’d been abused by those men, physically or sexually. He wondered, as he had over the past year, where Amber was and if she was okay.
“Did anyone ever hurt you?” Surprised at the gentleness in Marcus’s voice, Tyler held his breath. Lillie hadn’t been forthcoming about what she remembered, and Tyler hadn’t wanted to push her. She shook her head, and Tyler could see the relief on Marcus’s face.
“Those bas—”
Tyler cut him off before he could finish. First on his list would be to discuss language in front of Lillie. God knows Marcus loved to curse, but he’d have to make a concerted effort to watch his filthy mouth in front of the child.
“Marcus, I’m not sure we need to get into this—”
“They were mean,” Lillie interrupted him. “They didn’t like me, and I hated them. I like living with Uncle Ty better.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “Can I have a snack? We didn’t have cookies today.”
Making a mental note to stock up on more food for the apartment, he stood, and with Lillie at his heels, went into the kitchen. Now that they’d be living here, he planned to cook most nights; a child shouldn’t exist on takeout, and he enjoyed being in the kitchen.
He rummaged around in the cabinets and found a package of chocolate chip cookies. “Go sit, and I’ll bring you some and a glass of milk.”
Obediently, she climbed up on the chair and watched with avid eyes as he put the cookies on a plate and poured her milk in her plastic princess cup. He sat with her, but Marcus remained in the living room, now busy on his computer.
After she’d munched down one of the cookies and had a sip of milk, he asked, “Why didn’t you have a snack? I know you usually do after school.” If he couldn’t pick her up from school, Lillie would go to Micah and Josh’s until her babysitter, Angela, could bring her back home.
“Yeah, but Micah and Josh had to go to the school ’cause they got mad.” She ate her second cookie slowly. “Uncle Ty?”
“Yes?” He took a cookie for himself.
“Why would people get mad at two boys getting married?”
He put the cookie down. “Did someone say something at school, or are you just asking me?” His gaze found Marcus, who had stopped working on his laptop and listened with a somber expression on his face.
“Well, some kids were teasing Jacob and Rebecca about not having a mommy and how having two daddies was weird. And the teachers didn’t even say anything.” Her lower lip stuck out in indignation. “When they said something to me, I called them stupid and told them to shut up.”
A flicker of a smile came and went on Marcus’s lips, but Tyler didn’t join him. “What did they say to you?”
She shrugged and finished her cookie, then hopped off the seat. “They kept asking me where my mommy was and why I lived with you. I wouldn’t answer them, and they said maybe I was a weirdo like Jacob and Rebecca and you were gonna marry a boy too.”
Hence her questions about marriage and boyfriends. “Would you rather not live here? You can tell me the truth; I promise I won’t be mad.”
“Nooo, I love my room and my toys and everything. I don’t wanna leave. I’ll never see my friends again.” Her eyes filled with tears, and Tyler rushed to comfort her.
“Okay, don’t worry. I want to make sure you’re happy, that’s all.” He gave her a hug and a kiss and to his surprise she left him and went to join Marcus.
“Thank you for letting me stay here. I promise not to break anything or be bad.”
“I know.”
After Lillie had gone to her room to play, Tyler once again stretched out on the sofa and found himself dozing off watching Marcus work. Tyler was still catching up from last night; between the dancing and the amazing sex, his ribs still gave him a painful twinge every now and then.
Warm lips met his and he responded, the taste of Marcus already familiar on his tongue. Nothing about kissing him was peaceful and serene. The fire Marcus lit up inside him incinerated everything else in its path. He slid his arms around Marcus’s neck and slanted their mouths together, hungry and demanding, plunging his tongue past Marcus’s lips, where they met and tangled.
Reality forced its way into the fog of lust building in his mind. “Marcus,” he said, breaking off their kiss and gasping for air. “We have to stop. We can’t do this here.”
Marcus kissed his forehead, then leaned against it with his own. “I know. I got carried away seeing you lying there. You can make it up to me tonight.”
Tyler squeezed his ass. “It’s a date.”
