Page 107 of The Holy Grail

For the love of God

Malcom had originally opted not to take any bereavement leave, but after the headstone debacle, he decided to take the two weeks that were part of his employee benefits at Klein & Schmidt.

He ended up going to see Lauren again, and her take was while it wasn’t his finest moment, it did tell her Malcom obviously had stronger, deep-seated issues with Monroe than Malcom had previously thought.

“Great,” he muttered. “Just what I needed … stronger, deep-seated issues.”

He spent a lot of the first week keeping to himself, mainly because once the adrenaline had worn off and his mind had cleared, he felt embarrassed by his behavior. Mortified, even, because it felt like the actions of an unstable teenager, who couldn’t control their emotions.

So, he practically lived in his little room, verbal journaling (as well as some written) and just thinking. His libido took another dive, as did his normal fastidiousness, and he shuffled around the house in sweat pants and T-shirts, sometimes not even bothering to put clean ones on in the morning.

On the third day home, Evan, who was with him most of each day, actually tossed clean clothes at Malcom and ordered, “For the love of God, go take a shower and then put these on … and maybe burn the clothes you’re wearing, because I don’t ever want to see them again. ”

Malcom also found himself not sleeping very well, and baking in the middle of the night, which he found therapeutic, but by the end of the week had amassed dozens of cookies (and a few cakes), which Evan and Jules ended up having to get rid of.

While Evan took his brother and sister each a cake, Jules delivered cookies to Paige and David’s house. She then hung out with Paige for the rest of the afternoon, getting caught up on everything, while David and Jacob went to the park.

“You’ve done …” Paige trailed off to look down at Julian, as if making sure he wouldn’t overhear what she was going to say next. “Double penetration?”

Paige’s eyes were as wide as Jules had ever seen them. “Yes,” she answered.

“Holy shit. What was it like?”

“Well, it wasn’t like how it is in books, that’s for sure. I mean, it took preparation—it actually took almost forty-five minutes of prep, with gallons of lube and butt plugs—and then it only lasted three minutes.”

“Three minutes? That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Was it painful?”

Jules pressed her lips together for a moment.

“That’s hard to answer, because it wasn’t really painful, although I can see how it would hurt if you were just getting a cock pushed into your ass without a lot of care.

It was more like uncomfortable at first, because I wasn’t used to it, but I did end up enjoying it, though. ”

“Who was in your, um …”

“Ass?”

“Yes.”

“Evan was, because he’s the only one with that kind of experience.”

“God, the next time I see him, it’s going to feel awkward … knowing what I know.”

Jules chuckled. “For you, maybe, but he won’t care. Even if he knew I told you, he wouldn’t care.”

Paige looked down at Julian again before whispering, “David and I have talked about doing it.”

“Really? Does he have … experience?”

Paige nodded.

Figuring the experience had likely been with Ashley, his ex-girlfriend, Jules stepped around that landmine and said, “You should give it a try. Anal is easier when that’s all you have going on. At least, it looked easier for Mal. ”

Paige’s eyes widened again.

Jules response was to grin at her friend. “Yeah, we’ve been having a lot of fun.”

The best part of the afternoon though, was being able to hold Julian for long periods of time without making him cry. At three months old, he was now sporting some wisps of golden-brown hair, and clearly had his mother’s brown eyes.

In short, he was adorable. Not to mention, he had the coolest name.

“This actually isn’t too bad,” Jules mused. “There’s still no way I’d ever have one of these of my own, but borrowing yours for a few hours here and there is something I can see myself doing.”

“Really?” Paige asked.

“Absolutely.”

“Does that include Jacob?”

“Of course.”

Paige pursed her lips for a moment. “Well, how would you feel about borrowing both of them two weeks from tonight?

David and I have tickets to the Foo Fighters concert, and we were going to have Julian and Jacob stay overnight with Valerie, but I'm sure the boys would love to stay with you, instead.”

Momentarily taken aback at the unexpected request, Jules nonetheless said, “Of course. I’d love to borrow them—” she broke off as the word ‘overnight’ finally registered in her brain. “Wait, did you say ‘overnight’?”

“Yes. The concert probably won’t be over until around 11:00 p.m., so David and I are planning on getting a hotel room downtown.” Paige tilted her head. “But if you think that would be too much—”

“No, it won’t be too much. Not at all.”

“Are you sure? Because—”

“I’m sure. One hundred percent.”

“Do you … need to check with Evan and Malcom first?”

“No. Consider it set in stone.”

When David and Jacob got home, Paige told David about Jules agreeing to watch the boys the night of the concert, and for a moment he simply blinked at her. “For the entire night?”

“Yes, the entire night,” Jules said.

“Yay!” yelled Jacob, almost making Jules flinch .

“Inside voice, Jacob,” David admonished, before turning back to Jules. “Evan and Malcom will be there, too, I assume?”

Just to be contrary, she countered, “And if they weren’t going to be?”

“Well, then—” he broke off as Paige gave him a warning look. “Then, that would be … fine ... obviously.”

When Jules arrived home, the first thing she did was put the half dozen colored pictures Jacob had given her on the fridge.

As she was finishing, Evan came into the kitchen with Dawn Corleone on his heels, looking like he’d reached his limit for whatever the day had thrown at him, but smiled when he saw the pictures.

“These are really good,” he noted.

“They are,” she agreed.

After grabbing a beer, Evan hopped up onto the island and was immediately joined by Dawn Corleone. “How was your visit? How’s Cat Lady? Julian? Jacob? David? Their cats?”

“The visit was great. Paige was great and so was Julian. I didn’t see much of Jacob and David, or their cats.”

“I’m glad you had a good time.”

Jules went to stand in front of him, moving his knees apart so she could get closer. “I had such a good time that I volunteered to watch Julian and Jacob two weeks from tonight, while Paige and David are at the Foo Fighters concert.” She rubbed his thighs with her hands. “For, um, the whole night.”

“The whole night? Like all night?”

“Yes. I figured with the three of us here, it shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. Three adults, two kids … easy peasy.”

Evan pulled his phone out of his back pocket and pulled up his work schedule. “Not so easy peasy. I’m working that night.”

“Not anymore, you’re not. I need you here. ”

“Mal will be here.”

“Are you kidding? He’s as helpless as I am when it comes to kids. You need to be here, because Paige is trusting me to do this. And David doesn’t trust me, so there’s no room for error.”

Overlooking the obvious flaws in her logic, he sighed. “Fine. I’ll see if I can switch with someone.”

“Thank you,” she said, leaning in to kiss him. Then, because Malcom still hadn’t made an appearance, she asked, “Where’s Mal?”

“In his room.”

“How’s he been today?”

“I don’t know. I’ve hardly seen him, actually. I did get him to take a shower and put on clean clothes, though, so that’s a win, I guess.”

“We’ll count it as a win. Did he shave?”

“No.”

Jules made a face as she picked up Evan’s beer and took a drink.

Evan released a long sigh. “I’m worried about him.”

Watching Malcom struggle stirred up a lot of memories of watching Paige struggle, so Jules had a lot of empathy.

That being said, it wasn’t easy to watch a second time.

“Me, too. Especially since he’s lost interest in making dinner—” she broke off as she realized how bad that sounded.

“I’m not saying that because I’ve gotten used to having delicious dinners made for me almost every night.

I’m saying that because losing interest in things you like to do is never a good sign. ”

They looked at one another for several moments, until Evan broke it. “Well, I guess we should start making dinner, but God, I just don’t want to have another meal with just the two of us. Oh, Jesus, no offense,” he quickly added.

“None taken,” she replied dryly. “I don’t want to have another meal with just the two of us, either.”

“So, should we go and drag him out of his room, or what?”

Jules shook her head. “I have a better idea,” she said.

Then, as she got herself a beer of her own, she told him what it was.

“What do you think? It might be a little underhanded, but if he’s in there just doing nothing, it might draw him out, and if it doesn’t, then I guess we’ll have to order a pizza. ”

Slowly, a smile spread over his face, and after clinking his beer bottle to hers, they got to work .

“How about spaghetti for dinner?” she asked, raising her voice just enough so Malcom would hopefully hear it.

“That sounds good,” Evan replied, equally as loud. “Where’s the spaghetti?”

“I’m not sure. Start checking all the cabinets. I’ll look for the sauce.”

Together, they began opening and closing cabinet doors, making a fair bit of noise, enough that Dawn Corleone fled the kitchen.

“I can’t find any spaghetti sauce,” Jules said.

“I think Mal makes it homemade—not that I can tell the difference, to be honest.”

At the deliberate, and totally over-the-top insult, Jules chuckled silently before saying, “I can’t, either, but let’s not tell him that.”

“Deal.”

Evan half-filled a pot with water and set it heavily on the stove, then leaned back against the counter and took a drink of his beer, making a face that Malcom hadn’t taken the bait, yet.

“You’re supposed to wait for the water to boil before putting the spaghetti in,” Jules said.