“Fiddlesticks. Of course he loves you.” This came from Isley. “Now I’m thinking about it, if there was ever a man in love, it’s Kari. He trailed after you all week, making sure you were okay. Happy.”
“He did,” Lennon agreed. “So why are you doubting it… him?”
“He… his eyes. They look at me differently,” explained Bowie.
“Can I ask you something?” Lennon came forward and placed his hand over Isley’s and Bowie’s, as Bowie nodded jerkily, uncertain what Lennon wanted to know. “Is it you not wanting to tell anyone about your relationship or is it Kari that has you keeping secrets?”
“Me,” he replied without thought.
Lennon and Isley both frowned.
“Can you tell us why?”
Lennon held his gaze as he waited for Bowie to answer him. “I’m… scared of losing him, but I’m also afraid of losing my friends. You’re my family. I already lost the first ones because I wasn’t enough.” The moment he said it aloud, he knew it was the absolute truth.
Finally.His animal didn’t hide its relief at Bowie’s confession.
“Look at me,” Lennon said, ever so softly, making Bowie realize he’d dropped his gaze. When Bowie did, Lennon grinned widely. “We’ve created a family. You, me, Isley, Frey, Wilder, Ziggy, Monty and even Hollis. We aren’t going anywhere. Your family were not worthy of you, and don’t let them be the measure of us, because we aren’t like them. We love you. If one of us left Starling Enterprises, we wouldn’t be leaving our family, just the job. You are stuck with us,always, no matter what.”
“Are you sure? My birth familyandmy adoptive family didn’t stick with me?” The sob stole Bowie’s breath as he buried his face in their joined hands.
“They were fools, and we aren’t. Neither is Kari,” Isley stated with such force Bowie took notice because Isley wasn’t the forceful type.
Tear-drenched eyes peeked up at his friends, chin wobbling. “You promise?”
“Yes.” Lennon wore a serious look.
“Always.” Isley ruffled Bowie’s hair. “And when you decide to talk to the others about any of this, we’ll be there for you, got it? It doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow or next week. Go at your pace, that’s always best.”
He sucked in a breath to stop the next sob and nodded at how much he wanted to share with the others, just not when he felt this emotionally drained. And he figured he needed to talk to Kari first. He just had to work out what to say.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kari
Kari hung back when he saw Bowie talking with Lennon and Isley, his stomach twisted into horrible knots. When Bowie walked past to collect his luggage, Kari didn’t know how to act. He wanted to help, wanted…
He swallowed a sigh, not listening to one word Kodi was saying. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Bowie returned to Lennon. His behavior suggested he wasn’t happy, but after the call with Popi the day before, Kari was totally out of sorts and didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d been thrown when Popi had suggested he leave Bowie. The very idea made him sick to his stomach and his wolf furious.
Instead of confronting the feelings, he’d put up a temporary wall around them, because leaving his boy just wasn’t even a possibility to consider, under any circumstances. Bowie would see that as rejection, and Kari would never willingly hurt Bowie, despite how his actions caused Kari pain.
Talk about how we feel.
It seems easy, but with Bowie, it’s not!
“You okay?” Kodi stepped directly in front of him, frowning. “You weren’t listening to me. You’ve been acting weird since dinner last night. Is it ‘cause Silas never told us ‘bout Ziggy?”
Kari met his brother's troubled gaze. “I knew there was something going on between them. Remember I told you ‘bout it? The scent coming from his office gave him away. Just didn’t realize how serious it all was,” Kari deflected, not wanting Kodi to start on his personal life.
“It was always serious, I just couldn’t admit it to myself,” Silas interjected as he stepped up behind Kari.
“Why?” Kari asked, turning to face his big brother.
“I doubted I was enough.”
The words slammed into Kari, and he reached for Silas’s arms, gripping them as they stared at each other. Silas looked more like Dad, whereas Kodi and him were like Popi. But their heights were similar.
“Honestly?” he exclaimed, his own problems shoved aside at what popped into his head and out his mouth. “Is this to do with those fuckers who attacked you?”
