Page 68 of Happily Ever After… Again and Again

“Yes, it was by fucking accident. Can we walk down memory lane after I get it out? It’s starting to hurt.” He hates it, but the last words come out in a plaintive whine.

Jay’s face crumples at the tone. “Oh, baby. It’ll be okay.” He’s not mocking Rowan, even though he’d have every right, because this is stupidity of epic proportions. Worse than any fuck up he’s had, maybe ever—and that is saying something. The show of genuine sympathy is enough to make Rowan’s eyes tear up.

“How long have you been stuck? Do you have the packaging? Did you call Leo first?”

Rowan lets his stomach settle and takes a deep breath. Jay will fix this. Rowan should have called him first. “About five hours, I think? And it’s right here. You guys aremy first call.”

Jay looks up past the phone, making eye contact with someone, and then Gideon’s voice comes through the phone. “What’s with the sad face? Is Ro alright?”

When no one speaks up, Gideon growls loud enough that Ro can hear him, and suddenly the phone’s screen reflects Gideon’s concern. “Rowan Foster, are you alright?” He doesn’t point his frustration at Rowan right away, and his voice is sweet and concerned.

“I’m stuck. I did something stupid and now my dick is stuck in 15 inches and seven pounds of cement.” No, it doesn’t get easier to say, and those tears he’d felt when Jay had been sweet overflow when Gideon smiles soothingly.

“Okay. Does it hurt outside of the heaviness?”

“You’re not mad?”

“No, baby, we’re not mad,” Jay says over his mate’s shoulder. Rowan can hear the indistinct murmur of Leo’s voice in the background. Probably filling Luca in. “We’re worried about you. We wish we were home with you.”

“It wouldn’t have happened if you were here.”

“You always find a way,” Gideon murmurs. “But we’ll get you some help ASAP.”

“Help? Is there a YouTube video or something?”

“On getting your cock out of cement? That’s sort of niche, no?” Luca’s voice trickles through the speaker, and he can see the top of his fluffy head under Gideon’s arm that is holding the phone. “Is his dick going to fall off? I hope his dick doesn’t fall off.”

Rowan barely holds back a retch of stomach acid at the thought. Maybe this is karma. Maybe he should have been more sympathetic about Luca’s sore, ketchup-filled hole. Yet one more thing that was his fault.

“Luc, not helping.” Leo pulls Luca away. “Jay, Sentinel says they’re ten minutes out.”

Sentinel is rescuing him. Oh, no. “You called Sentinel?” He asks, a voice filled with betrayal. So much for the fewer people knowing, the better.

“I didn’t know what else to do. We’re in fucking New York, Ro. I need someone I can trust and someone your Wolf knows. If you shiftedwhile—you know. You could do serious permanent damage.” Even Jay looks pale at the thought—maybe he’d appreciate a Rowan dildo, too.

But no one says this is his own fault.

“Ro, embarrassment is a small price to pay to save your favorite appendage.”

“Is it, though?” He mutters as he hears the front gate sliding open and a big vehicle park in front of the house. “They’re here. I’m gonna go.”

“It’ll be okay, baby. The flight crew is being called in. We’ll be there when you wake up.”

Wake up from what, he thinks, but is distracted when Tsuki climbs to her feet, on guard until the security code clears and the last Kennedy pack member he’d wanted to see is standing in his foyer with the biggest, most condescendingly amused, shit-eating grin on his stupidly handsome face. Logan Frost.

“Well, I didn’t believe it,” he chuckles as he removes his shoes.

“Don’t be mean,” Baz says, coming in behind him.

Both men are dressed casually for their evening at home, and the gentle scent of lilacs flows toward him with Logan’s cedar and Baz’s spicy cardamom. Rowan has always liked Leo’s lifelong friend more than any of the others. He’s transparently happy and sincere. As genuine as Nix in a lot of ways, and the perfect foil for a happy Leo.

Baz goes to his knees beside him, a sympathetic smile in place. “Can I look, Rowan?”

Rowan nods, embarrassed. “Sorry…”

“It’s okay, Jay said you were stuck and—whoa.”

There’s noise in the kitchen as Logan sorts through the evidence of the Clone-a-Willy, putting the pieces of the story together. “Why not just use the tube they sent?” He mutters to himself.