“Not when it’s used for evil! Use your powers for good, King. Use it for cornbread!”
King moved suddenly, spinning as Leo yelped and fell forward. He caught Leo under his arms, holding him up to kiss the tip of his nose. “You’re so cute.” He pulled Leo the rest of the way up until he was on his feet. Leo blinked at him. “So youdon’twant any cornbread?”
Leo squeaked and darted for the bathroom, his cute butt on display. King laughed as he joined him. As Leo cleaned up, eager to get downstairs, King had a different meal in mind for tonight, and it had nothing to do with cornbread.
CHAPTERTHREE
With Santa’s help, Leo would give King the best Christmas gift ever! It was a bit of a challenge maneuvering around Jack, what with him at the Ice Castle pretty much all day, every day, but Leo and Santa were making it work.
Jack tended to get lost in what he was doing, and Lucky and Mason were busy fixing the roof, so none of them had any idea Leo was in the Blue Ballroom getting ready for the big day.
“You’re doing a lot of thinking in there.”
At King’s sleepy rumble, Leo poked his face out of the duvet. He’d wrapped himself up in a cocoon sometime before he woke and had just stayed like that because he was all warm and snug. King had his own duvet because they’d learned a long time ago that Leo had a habit of stealingallthe covers in his sleep and not giving them back. King had tried one night and ended up on the floor.
“Just thinking about Jack,” Leo said, which was true.
King opened his eyes and rolled over to face Leo, chuckling. “You look like you’re about to emerge a butterfly.”
“I’d like to think I have better manners. Caterpillars are very loud eaters. Also, did you know butterflies taste with their feet?”
“That’s…weird.”
“Right?” Leo snickered. “Not as weird as bush crickets, though. They have ears on their knees.”
King blinked at him. “You were saying something about Jack?”
“I’m kinda worried about him.” Leo shimmied over until he was pressed against King, then opened his duvet enough for him to wrap a leg around King’s and lay an arm over King’s chest.Mmm, comfy.
“Yeah, we’re all a little worried about him,” King said with a sigh. He covered Leo’s hand with his. “Jack doesn’t see it, but we do. Ever since that mess with Emmett, he’s been working himself into exhaustion, sleeping at the office again, and not taking care of himself.”
Leo frowned. “He’s making Fitz sad, and I don’t like it.”
“I know, baby, but there’s only so much we can do. Jack has to realize what he’s doing, no one can do that for him. I just hope he comes to his senses before it’s too late.”
Too late? “I don’t want to think about that,” Leo murmured. He sniffed, and his eyes watered.
“Leo?”
“I’m fine.”
King gently pushed Leo away enough to look at him, concern in his eyes. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“It never occurred to me that any of the guys could break up. I know that’s silly, but I didn’t think about it until now. What if Fitz and Jack break up?”
“What scares you about that?”
“That Fitz will leave. I don’t want him to leave, King.” Leo loved Jack too, but Jack wasn’t going anywhere, Leo was certain of that, but Fitz?
King ran his fingers through Leo’s hair. “Sweetheart, Jack and Fitz love each other very much, and yeah, sometimes that’s not enough to keep two people together, but you know that Fitz would never leaveyou, right?”
Leo had thought that about a lot of people in his life, but they’d left anyway.
“Leo, look at me.”
How was King so sure? Leo lifted his chin and met King’s gaze.
“Fitz loves you, and he’s a good man. He would never abandon you. None of them would. You mean too much to everyone. Would you abandon any of them?”
