Page 35

Listening to the distant noises of his family out on the sun-kissed terrace, Aldous released a long exhale. Instead of fetching a round of drinks like he’d promised, he trod through the long kitchen, coming to a stop at the tinted window. Mum and Bri were sat in the cabana next to the pool, wearing easy smiles as they spoke.

Aldous knew it was in Jensen’s nature to be mistrustful, but Mum’s first instinct was to welcome stray chicks into their family and love them like her own. His focus moved to Warren, throwing his gleeful daughter into the air, her little legs kicking as she splashed down into the pool. Warren, then only a boy of eighteen, had been Rhys’s cellmate in prison, but the moment Rhys mentioned that Warren received neither letters nor visitors, Mum had provided him with both.

All it had taken was for Aldous to mention that Bri hadn’t had a great relationship with her recently-deceased mother. He could almost see the transformation in Mum’s eyes. A stray chick to welcome.

Just don’t think about that time I watched Bri and Roman go down on each other on the mattress in that cabana.

“Need a hand? Or a mouth. I’m not fussy.”

Aldous turned to find Roman leaning on the marble countertop a few feet away, his scarred eye full of suggestive mirth. “Have I ever told you how alarmingly quiet you are?”

Roman shrugged, crossing those final steps to look out the tinted window. “Force of habit. I’ll try to be louder if it makes you more comfortable.”

He shook his head. “I don’t mind it when it’s you. And considering your line of work, I’d rather you go unnoticed.”

Through the window, Roman grinned as they watched Jasmine leap into the pool after Felix. “You enjoying having your family here?”

“I am,” Aldous responded slowly, watching Bri light up across the terrace, even from afar. He wasn’t lying. He was enjoying introducing his family to Bri. It was always going to be nerve-wracking, but Mum would never turn anyone away.

A frown of disbelief burrowed across Roman’s forehead. “But?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love that my mum’s out there getting to know Bri, that she’s treating her like a daughter-in-law.” Aldous let his hand clasp around Roman’s. “I just wish she knew what you were to me too. You deserve a family fawning over you just as much.”

Roman’s eyes fluttered, and Aldous had the unusual feeling that he’d caught him off guard. He lifted a casual shoulder, but Aldous could still see traces of the surprise in his expression. “I already do have a family fawning over me, baby. I have you and Bri.”

Fuck, when he was this sweet Aldous wanted to melt. “Publicly.”

Roman nodded towards the cabana. “We’ve done some filthy things in public. Do you, perchance, recall a Mexican government building?”

It was an effort not to smile. “If this is the sort of thing you’re going to talk about, maybe I won’t introduce you to my mother as a—.”

“ Nooo ,” Roman whined, an insolent gleam curling the edge of his lip. “I can be a good son-in-law, I swear. I can talk about things other than filth.”

Aldous gave his head a shake, spreading his palm out over Roman’s chest. “I know,” he whispered, until his lips ghosted over Roman’s. “But I love you just the way you are.”

“I love you all the more for it.” Roman hummed into the kiss, leisurely sampling from Aldous’s lips. “And it’s kinda fun to sneak around, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.” He could concede that point, eyeing his family out there. “They have no idea what we could be doing in here.”

A frown came to Roman. “So uh, if they ask where my room is, what am I supposed to say? That I curl up at the foot of your marital bed like a dog?”

Like Roman would ever make Jasmine sleep at the bottom of the bed. She was beneath the covers with them every night—but the question did have him stumped. “None of them are likely to come up to the top floor,” he thought out loud. “Just imply there’s another bedroom up here.”

Roman nodded, throwing him a smirk. “Don’t want them to think I’m corrupting the baby of the family.”

Aldous let out an amused huff, turning towards the window as he realised that the cabana was empty. Mum was in the pool with Felix and Lucie, but Bri was nowhere to be found. Roman turned with him, until his arms wrapped around Aldous’s midsection. “Far too late for that, don’t you think?”

Roman rested his head on Aldous’s shoulder, his snort sending a tingling sensation down his neck. “It just might be.”

He heaved out a sigh, letting his head softly lean against Roman’s. When was the last time he had felt so… light ? Sometimes it felt like his entire life had always been dragged down by something. Trauma had been the main aggressor, but over the last couple of months, Vivian had cast a worrying shadow over them all.

His trauma would always be there, but lately it seemed to take up less space in his mind.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he realised how they were standing. Roman was behind him , his front pressed against Aldous’s back—and he hadn’t even registered it. A year ago, someone standing behind him was sure to send him into a panic attack. Doubly so if it was a man.

And now look how far I’ve come.

How much of that healing had taken place because of the man he loved?

“I just want you to know,” Aldous began, swallowing the lump in his throat. He took Roman’s hand, expecting to feel his wedding band and forgetting he’d shifted it to his other hand to go incognito. He’s putting it back on the second they leave. “The reason why I haven’t told my family about…about us. It’s not because I’m ashamed of you, Roman.”

“I know,” Roman replied, all easy confidence. “I did have eight thousand subscribers in my FanClub, after all. I’m a hot piece of ass.”

Jealousy flared inside him like a spark of lightning in a thunderstorm, but he pushed it down. He could be jealous later. “The reason I haven’t told my family, it’s…” The right word eluded him, until eventually he admitted defeat. “It’s cowardice.”

“Baby…”

Aldous ploughed on. “Because of what Friedman di—”

“I know,” Roman said, firmly cutting him off. “There’s history there that muddies the sexuality fluids.”

Well, that sounded revolting. A smile threatened to slide onto his lips. “Fluids?”

“What about juices?”

Aldous made a disgusted laugh, repressing a shudder. “That word should be punishable by death.”

“Point is,” Roman moved on. “I can be patient, baby. Rome wasn’t built in a day.” He paused, his scarred eyebrow hitching in sly amusement. “But I can be erected much, much faster, if you feel the need.”

The offer was tempting, but—

“Did you find it okay?” Bri’s distant voice came from the corridor outside. The door to the terrace closed a moment later, locking out the summer heat.

Roman’s touch hurriedly disappeared from around Aldous’s waist as Jensen answered. The sound of his voice made Aldous go rigid with panic. His voice was closer than Bri’s—alarmingly close. “Haven’t got there yet.” Jensen cleared his throat. “Just had to answer an email.”

His gut clenched with a ripple of apprehension that was so strong he felt sick. How long had Jensen been out there for? Had he heard them? Panic wiped his mind when he tried to recall everything that had been said.

Enough to know I’ve been hiding something from him.

Bri entered the kitchen first, making a beeline for the fridge and giving the two of them soft looks as she did. She paused halfway to the fridge, a notch of concern etching itself between her brows. “Aldous? What’s up?”

He barely heard her, straining to hear his cousin’s slow, uncharacteristically hesitant steps. Jensen rounded the corner looking more unsure than Aldous had ever seen him. He’d always envied Jensen’s purposeful confidence, even in the most dire of circumstances. Fuck, Aldous remembered going to visit Jensen in prison after he’d been convicted of Friedman’s murder. There hadn’t been so much as a chink in his armour.

But now?

Jensen knew. Those sapphire eyes landed on Aldous, tumultuous with uncertainty. And was that judgement?

“Say something,” Aldous croaked, his heart rattling in his chest. Fear froze him in place, and he felt like the traumatised 13-year-old he had once been, confessing to his family.

Jensen’s attention flitted over to a confused Bri. Brackets of disapproval lined either side of his mouth.

“About what?” Bri asked, taking Aldous’s hand.

Shaking his head, Jensen only had eyes for Aldous. “Maybe we should discuss this in private.”

The censure was so strong Aldous could almost taste it.

Roman’s shoulder bolstered his own, his eternal support. “Anything you want to say to him can be said in front of all three of us, Jenny.”

“Don’t get fucking demanding with me. I trusted you to protect him ,” Jensen spat, storming towards Roman. “Not…not this .”

“I would die for him,” Roman replied, his voice ringing with a fierce honesty. “I would die for them both.”

Roman’s assertion brought with it memories of the day Vivian died, seeing him disappear into the smoke and wondering whether he’d just lost the two people who were most important to him in the world.

Throughout it all, Roman had been fearless, taking the trials and tribulations of that day in his stride—and managing to keep them all alive at the end of it.

If Roman could do that, then the least Aldous could do was be honest .

“Jensen.” His voice was raw with emotion, a croaked rasp in the tense kitchen. “I told you me and Bri were happy, but I also didn’t tell you the whole story.”

“And what is the whole story?”

He could barely hear anything over the pounding of his heartbeat. “I’m not straight,” he said simply. “I don’t know what I am exactly, but I know I’m not straight.”

Jensen released a fleeting exhale, his brows pulling together as he looked at Bri questioningly. His hand twitched slightly, as though he wanted to reach out, but it remained at his side. “Is that what you think I’m angry about? Aldous, there is nothing that would make me stop loving you. I know this probably isn’t how you intended to tell me, and I’m sorry for that. I just…” He waved a hand towards the door. “Came in at the wrong time.”

Embarrassment threaded down his spine in hot rivulets. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough to know that you love each other.” Jensen’s eyes crinkled. His next question was for Bri. “So you know about the two of them?”

Bri nodded. “Of course.”

“I assumed you were cheating,” Jensen told him, before giving Roman a sardonic look. “That was half of the reason I was angry. I apologise.”

Aldous still needed to clear the air. “And the other half?”

“The other half of my anger has nothing to do with any of you, or your relationship.” Jensen’s throat bobbed. “I’m angry at myself—that I failed to create an environment in which you felt comfortable enough to tell me, to the point where you had to put on an act with Bri to hide yo—”

Aldous cut Jensen off before he could go any further. “It wasn’t an act,” he said quickly, wrapping his arm around Bri’s waist. “Nothing I’ve told you has been a lie. I love Bri.” He shrugged, feeling Roman’s shoulder on his other side. “It just so happens I love Roman too. Our relationship—our marriage—isn’t just me and Bri. It’s all three of us.”

“Oh.” Jensen’s expression stuttered as he processed the news, surveying the three of them. “Well, I didn’t expect that.”

A snort of amusement left him. “Neither did I.”

With his astonishment clearing, Jensen’s expression morphed into relief. “But you’re happy?”

Aldous nodded. “Happier than I’ve ever been.”

“Then that’s all I need to hear.” The pride in Jensen’s eyes was distinctly paternal, his broad shoulders dropping slightly as he exhaled. “Even if it does mean Roman annoying the shit out of me for the rest of my life.”

“You were getting that either way, Jenny,” Roman winked, before sucking in a sharp, excited breath. “Does that mean I’m officially Uncle Roman now?”

Jensen pinched the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Thank you so much for reading Aldous, Roman, and Bri's book! Apologies it took so long to arrive; a combination of my style of working and my MS flaring up is to blame. I've changed the former and (fingers crossed) am on the tail end of the latter, so I hope to have Stone Cold Fox out quicker.