25
FLETCHER
Over a breakfastof bacon and eggs, I couldn’t help but notice that Sky kept glancing at the calendar hanging on the wall of the kitchen. He’d look at it for a moment, frown, and then pick at his food. But he always went back to staring at it with a strange expression on his face. A look of almost…longing?
Adam and I exchanged a glance.
Adam cleared his throat. “Is there a date coming up that you’re worried about, Sky?” he asked, like the concerned Alpha he was.
Sky shrugged and twisted back around in his seat. “Nah,” he said, too quickly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”
I hummed under my breath. “Someone’s birthday, perhaps?” There it was—that glint of uncertainty in his two-toned eyes when he looked at me. I tilted my head. “Actually, when isyourbirthday, Sky?” I asked, curious now.
“No, it’s fine—” Sky shook his head, like it didn’t matter.
Adam chimed in with, “Maybe we could do something nice for your birthday, weather permitting.”
Sky glanced over at the calendar again, biting down on his lip. He was quiet for a long while, and neither Adam nor I spokea word; we simply let him think whatever he was thinking, let him work through the problem on his own, until finally…
“It’s tomorrow,” he murmured. “It’s just… It’s not a big deal. Please don’t make it a big deal. I’m honestly kind of dreading it.”
“Aww, sweetheart, why?” I asked.
Sky shrugged and slumped forward in his chair, his arms crossed before him on the table. “Just another day. Birthdays were hard growing up. We didn’t really have friends, so we never had parties. River would get amped up and tear shit up or start fights. It eventually just ended up being a cake and a card with twenty bucks in it, and that was it.”
He sighed softly. “I’d see kids at school having birthday parties in the classroom, surrounded by friends and wearing party hats, and I’d wish I was normal. Not me. Anyone but me. So, yeah. Birthdays aren’t a great memory for me. Last year it came and went and I didn’t even tell Jem.”
Adam stood from his seat and came around the table to gently rub Sky’s back. “Well you’re not a lonely child anymore, love,” he said. “You’ve got two boyfriends who think pretty damn highly of you, and if you don’t want a big to-do, then we won’t do anything fancy, but what would you say to barbecuing some chicken on the grill and having a little fire tomorrow? We can make some side dishes and desserts and just hang out outside all evening, just the three of us.”
I watched the emotion shutter across Sky’s face—uncertainty and doubt, followed by hope and joy—right before he smiled and leaned back into Adam. “You’d really do that for me?”
“Of course we would,” I said. I got up and walked over to the calendar, grabbed the Sharpie that we kept clipped to it for any appointments, and wrote “Sky’s B-Day” on tomorrow’s date and circled it. I gestured to it with a flourish. “There. It’s official.”
Sky’s cheeks turned pink, but he smiled. I crossed the distance between us and kissed him sweetly on the lips. “Now wejust have to figure out what all to make!” I winked, then stage-whispered, “That’s my favorite part.”
The following evening,the three of us set up a small folding table near the grill. While Adam flipped the marinated chicken breasts and sprinkled them with seasoned salt, Sky and I brought out all the food we’d made—homemade potato salad, maple bacon baked beans, chips and taco dip, an assortment of cookies, and of course, my famous green fluff.
Sky looked at it dubiously.
I grinned. “Just wait till you try it. Everyone looks at it weird the first time they see it, but they always come back for seconds,” I told him, matter-of-factly.
“Mmhmm.” He sounded real convinced. “I’m sure they do.”
I swatted his ass. “Brat.”
Sky just laughed and ran ahead, but it made me smile, because there was joy behind the spring in his step. On his birthday. The day he’d been dreading. We were making it a better day for him, just by being there for him.
“God, that smells so good,” Sky groaned. “Is it done yet?”
“Not quite,” Adam said around a chuckle. “Still have to add the barbecue sauce.”
I ran my hand along my Alpha’s back, peering around his shoulder at the juicy, sizzling chicken breasts. It smelled amazing, but it would taste ten times better with Adam’s signature honey-BBQ sauce slathered on and glazed to perfection.
“Looks good, baby,” I murmured. “Can’t wait to taste it.”
“Me too,” Adam agreed. “I started the fire. Can you go check it and toss another piece of firewood on if it needs it?”
“Sure thing.” Leaning up on my tiptoes, I kissed him soundly on the lips, then called out to Sky, “Hey, help me bring some chairs out of the shed!”
