Adrian pushed off the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. Sterling, however, smiled. “That response leads me to believe that you’re the right man for the job. I’d be glad to arrange a meeting. Something casual. Are you available tomorrowafternoon?”
“Anytime afterthree.”
“You’ll meet me at the doors of the club at three-thirty tomorrow.” Sterling rose from his desk slowly, careful not to disturb the child he cradled in his arm. “We’ll introduce the two of you and make sure that the fit is right, and from there, we’ll finalize thedetails.”
“Tomorrow at three-thirty.” Cedric followed Sterling to his feet and held out his hand. The gesture was returned. Sterling’s grip was firm, and the hardened glint in his eyes promised that what he asked wasn’t some kind ofelaboratejoke.
“It’s been a pleasure, Mr. Langston.” Sterling released his hand, leaving Cedric on his own to process the unexpected turn of events. “We’ll seeyouthen.”
2
Gabriel
The spare bedroom was gone.Gabriel leaned against the doorway and looked across the room in silence, stunned into inaction. Melancholy crept down his throat and into his stomach, tingling and unwelcome. No matter what thoughts he tried to cling to, the awful feelings it brought wouldn’tgoaway.
The room he’d used to call his own was an office now. Sterling’s desk, chair, and filing cabinets occupied the space where Gabriel’s bed used to be. Not that it wasreallyhis bed, but in the few months he’d lived with Sterling and Adrian, Gabriel had grown fond of the blankets and the downy mattress. He’d liked the sleek, modern dresser across the room, glamorous with its dark finish and meticulously polished surface. He’d even liked the coat hangers in the closet, with their velvetcovering.
Now all of itwasgone.
“We turned Sterling’s office into Lilian’s nursery,” Adrian explained softly from behind Gabriel’s shoulder. He set a hand between Gabriel’s shoulder blades. “Sterling moved his office into the guest bedroom, and we’ve put the furniture that was in it into storage. We’re planning a move in the next few years, anyway—sometime before Lilian startskindergarten.”
“Where can I sleep?” Gabriel couldn’t speak any louder than a near-whisper. The way his throat tightened convinced him that if he tried to raise his voice, he’d start to cry. The last two years had been nothing but change, and after having stability for such a long time while at The White Lotus, he hated it. “I know you w-weren’t expectingme,but…”
“We had the foresight to invest in a sleeper sofa.” Adrian’s thumb worked in small circles against Gabriel’s back, but it didn’t help Gabriel feel any better. “It’s comfy. We have spare pillows and blankets, the same ones that you used when you were staying in the old guest bedroom. You’lllikeit.”
The sleeper sofa didn’t make a difference. Not really. Gabriel had slept on the floor, and sometimes, when he’d been very bad, he’d been forced to sleep while standing. Comfort didn’t matter to him as much as Adrian’s perception of him did, and it was obvious from how Adrian had done away with the guest bedroom that he didn’t think very highly of himatall.
Adrian and Sterling hadn’t expected him to come back. They’d had their baby, they’d remodeled their penthouse, and they’d worked him out of their lives. They’d expected him to recover andsucceed.
He’dfailedthem.
A part of him, a dark, twisted part, whispered that if his plan had worked, he would have been failing them, anyway. If he’d found a way to get to Garrison, Adrian would have been disappointed and worried, even more than he was now. But if his plan had worked, another voice murmured, then at least he would have been happy. At least he wouldn’t have become a burden on his brother. Adrian’s life was about Sterling now, and Gabriel’s return threatened toruinit.
“You don’t have to worry much about privacy,” Adrian promised. “We’ve got some screens we can put up, so you’ll have walls between us and you. You only need to come out when you want to. We won’tbotheryou.”
Gabriel’s fingers curled upward until he found the sleeve of his sweater. He picked and pulled at the hem nervously. Fundamentally, he knew that what Adrian said was true, but it didn’t help him get over his risinganxiety.
“Lilian is quiet. Once or twice a week, she gets a little fussy, but for the most part she’s a well-behaved baby. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her waking you up in the middle of the night. And if you’d like, we can move her crib into our room, so you won’t hear heratall.”
The slow, steady thud of Gabriel’s heart managed to rattle his ribcage. He blinked a few times in rapid succession, then took a deep breath and let it all out in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure building upinside.
“Besides,” Adrian murmured, leaning a little closer like what he had to say was a secret, “I’ve got something I want to talk to you about. It might not matter if there isn’t a room with a door or if Lilian is fussy at night much longer. Let’s go sit, okay? We should talk about it now, before we getdistracted.”
The declaration pulled Gabriel out of his head, and he found the strength to turn and look at his brother. The last nine months hadn’t changed Adrian physically all that much—his face had matured a little, his stubble thicker and his eyes more wary than they’d been before, but his hair was still the same golden-brown Gabriel remembered, and his eyes the same gray-blue that Gabriel had always wished he shared. What was different was how he held himself, like he had something to look forward to instead of something he constantly had totolerate.
It was purpose. Life. Afamily.
Gabriel’s stomach twisted. He’d lost his purpose the day he’d been pried away from Garrison, and now it felt like he was never going to getitback.
“Come.” Adrian was firm, but not overbearing. With a gentle application of pressure, he guided Gabriel from the doorway back into the living room. The leather couch Gabriel remembered from his last visit had been moved—in fact, all the furniture had been rearranged. Everything was different in small,unsettlingways.
The new sleeper sofa was in a divided part of the living room, separated from the modern furniture Sterling kept by a long, folding screen divider with frosted glass panels. The not-a-room was tiny, but it was cozy, and Adrian eyed the blankets and pillows already laid out in anticipation of his arrival. Sterling hadn’t been in the car when Adrian had picked him up and checked him out of therapy, so Gabriel assumed it was hishandiwork.
He wondered if Adrian resented him a little for it. Sterling was Adrian’s alpha, not his, and yet here he was, making a home for Gabriel when Gabriel had no claimsonhim.
“Sit. Make yourself comfortable.” Adrian nodded toward the couch. His hand left Gabriel’s back. “Do you want anything from thekitchen?”
“No, thank you.” All Gabriel wanted was the familiar blankets on thecouch.
