On the way home, Enzo and Emery sat in the back seat, seeming content to have their own little bubble. They whispered back and forth, and I pretended to not be able to hear them.
I knew, if I allowed my heart to take charge, that I could easily let both of them become my entire world. Enzo may have been the stronger of the two mentally, but he needed a safety net to fall back on just as much as Emery.
I didn’t believe that it had been Enzo’s choice to keep space between them. Not with the way they had both clung to one another just days ago.
Back home, it didn’t take long for the three of us to get the items into the house and put away. While Enzo and Emery used the tablet to search up cookie recipes, I took two items to their bedroom, setting them on the nightstand.
The lube and condoms didn’t exactly feel right, being left out, but since the nightstand didn’t have drawers, I didn’t know what else to do with them.
Their safety and wellbeing were just as important as anything else. At least this way, I would know they were using protection for whenever they chose to get reacquainted with one another.
Pushing those thoughts out of my mind, I made my way back to the kitchen. Pausing, I leaned against the wall and just watched the two. Both had smiles, eyes alight with happiness. This, right here, was what they needed.
“Want to help?” Emery asked over his shoulder.
“Nah.” I shook my head, pushing off the wall. “I have work I should do.” One more set of accounts to look through, and my last for a long while.
Emery turned back around, seeming content with that answer.
Yeah, these two needed each other. They always would.
Using the table as my makeshift desk again, I opened my computer.
Scrolling through page after page and making a few remarks here and there, I listened with one ear as the Enzo and Emery made cookies—the clattering of bowls, the flick of the fork against the metal pan.
They weren’t a normal sound in my house. I was most defiantly not a baker, but I did make amazing meals.
I jumped when the mixing bowl clattered to the floor. The metal clashing with the hardwood was loud until it stopped all together. Then, Enzo burst out laughing, bending over to rest against the counter to support himself.
I lifted an eyebrow, seeing him covered in flour. Emery, finally unfreezing, let out a squeak of apology. But he didn’t move, face covered in flour. He looked like a ghost, wide eyed and scared.
I stood, then slowly walked towards him. Closer, I noticed the flour and sugar, and some egg goo for good measure, was all over the counter and floor.
“The bigger the mess, the better the dessert tastes.” At my words, Emery’s gaze dropped to the floor, shoulders pulled inward. “Oh, Emery,” I sighed, letting my emotions take control. “You aren’t in trouble.” What kind of hell had he suffered through?
It wasn’t the first time I wanted to wrap him up and erase all the bad things that ever happened to him.
“I made a mess.” His chin wobbled. Blinking more than enough times, his tears left wet tracks down his cheeks.
“Messes can always be cleaned up. You’d have to do a lot more than this to make me upset.”
“But—”
I pulled him into my embrace, wrapping my arms around his quivering form. Emery’s breath stuttered out.
“This is nothing to lose tears over, sugar.”
Emery pressed his face into my chest instead of speaking. That was okay. At least he wasn’t panicking, so a few tears were nothing to worry about.
“I’m sorry I laughed,” Enzo said.
“I’ll help you clean up the kitchen, then you both can get showered. Sound good?”
Emery nodded against me, then pulled away. There were streaks from his tears in the powder covering his face. A few drops on his shirt, too. I kept the comment about how adorable he looked like this to myself.
I bent down to meet his eyes, but he just closed them.
“You aren’t in trouble,” I repeated.
