Page 99 of Awakened Desires

I shrug. I don't have an answer to that. I only know that I'll do everything I can to help Callan.

"I guess what I'm saying is that it might not be as short-term as we're thinking,” Hendrix says. “I think we have to be prepared for that."

I’m amazed at how mature he sounds all of a sudden.

“Maybe we should have a show of hands?” he suggests. “All in favour of letting Callan and Aidan stay here indefinitely if they need to?”

My jaw drops when all my housemates raise their hands. Admittedly, some are more hesitant than others, but that hardly seems to matter.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

"All of this is a moot point if the landlord won't allow it," Preston points out.

"And if Niamh decides to keep the baby," Beau adds.

"Of course," I say. “As I said, nothing is set in stone. Niamh is probably just tired. We all say things we don't mean when we’re tired and stressed."

"Hypothetically speaking, I don't think the landlord will mind," Hendrix says.

"What makes you say that?" Stefan asks.

“He doesn't mind eight kinky guys in the house. Why would he mind a baby?"

"He?"

Hendrix fidgets. “They."

None of us knows anything about our landlord, as the letting agency arranges everything. They even let us choose a replacement housemate when Oscar moved out. We pretty much handled the whole process when it came to finding Quinn, including putting a post on the My Kinky Housemate app. When I say we, I mean Stefan. He did the admin, but we all voted on which applicants to invite round to look at the house. It seemed odd. Not that the landlord wanted to be hands-off, but that they didn’t want the letting agent to fill the empty room.

"I don't know if there are any regulations against having more than eight people in the house," Preston says. "So we do need to ask."

"We should ask just in case," Quinn says. "Then we know where we stand and will be able to let Callan know there’s a room here for him and Aidan if they need it."

"I'll contact the letting agency in the morning," Stefan offers.

"Thank you,” I say.

He shrugs. "A phone call doesn't take much effort, but it will be up to the landlord. If they say no, there's not much we can do about it."

I nod. "Of course, I understand." I open and close my hands. "But knowing you're all willing to have them stay here means a lot."

"What about rent?" Theo asks. "Would it get cheaper for all of us, or would we pay the same so that Callan doesn't have to worry about money?”

"I'm not asking—" I begin, but Hendrix raises his hand, cutting me off.

"We'd pay the same," he says in a strangely determined tone.

I can't help but gape at him. I might've expected a statement like that from Stefan, but definitely not from Hendrix.

"I think Callan has enough to worry about, don't you?" Hendrix asks as he looks around the room, making eye contact with everyone, including me.

My heart flutters when everyone nods in agreement.

Hendrix puts his hands on his thighs and stands. "That's settled, then. Is the house meeting over?"

"We were having a house meeting?" Theo asks.

"It certainly turned into one," Fraser says. He yawns. "I'm tired. I can't be bothered cooking tonight. Who's up for takeaway?"