On Point (Out of Uniform 3)

Hell. The cocktail hour couldn’t come soon enough, his dad’s warnings be damned.

Chapter Twenty

Ben was in a mood. And Maddox supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised about that. Lord knew Ben was entitled to all the feelings, what with his dad getting married and his mother appearing out of the blue. That was why Ben had busted out the boyfriend business—he wanted to shock his mother, plain and simple, and as usual, he hadn’t thought through his actions. And now it was up to Maddox to keep this day from careening wildly off the tracks.

The ceremony was lovely and heartfelt, with handwritten vows and shaky voices, and it only underscored that Maddox was never getting anything like that in his life, especially with Ben who spent the whole ceremony looking like he was being forced to chew glass.

And the moment the recessional concluded, Ben was back at his side, effectively ending Maddox’s conversation with Ben’s mother, who seemed to pick up on Ben’s animosity and drifted away to other family members.

“What do you need?” Maddox tried for the direct approach as they made their way into the hotel for the reception.

“About four shots of Jack, to fuck your brains out, and to not have to do this reception.” Ben’s voice was low but firm.

Well alrighty then. Nice to be needed. Maddox schooled his expression to be neutral. “We can probably arrange your second request, but if I were you, I’d lay off the sauce until after your toast. I promise I’ll help you escape as soon as it’s polite.”

“Fuck polite.” Ben all but stamped his feet like his toddler nephew. “And I still don’t know what I’m saying.”

He’d rehearsed a very bland-sounding toast in the car, but he hadn’t sounded at all settled on what he wanted to say. “Just speak from the heart,” Maddox urged. I’m pretty sure you still have one of those, right? And then because Ben was the biggest perfectionist ever, he added, “And it doesn’t have to be perfect. They’ll love you regardless of how it comes out.”

Ben snorted. “They’re not going to disown me, but I’ll never live it down if I fall flat on my face.” He made a beeline for the bar as soon as they entered the ballroom.

“Which is why you should stay sober.” Maddox had plenty of experience over the years of seeing Ben bound and determined to get his swerve on, but this was the first since they’d been dating. As he expected, Ben ignored him and ordered a whiskey neat. So much for being a positive, mellowing influence on Ben’s life.

“I’m not getting smashed. Just taking the edge off.” Ben patted Maddox’s shoulder, then abruptly dropped his hand. “Sorry. Fuck. This not touching you business is harder than I thought.”

“It’s okay.” Maddox returned the arm squeeze, gentle of Ben’s healing shoulder, but way more concerned with making his guy feel better than with keeping things under wraps. “You can touch me all you want later too.”

“Promise?” Ben raised an eyebrow, eyes dark with sexy intent. “Anywhere I want?”

“Yup.” Maddox knew Ben and Trey had gotten up to some freaky stuff, but he trusted Ben to not push his limits too far. At least he hoped he could. And regardless, it was worth it to make Ben smile.

“Hey, Ben, our table is up here.” Marilee came over toting her toddler on her hip.

“I’ll see you later.” Maddox dropped Ben’s arm faster than he wanted to, and he didn’t miss Ben’s frown.

“Can you take Jordan to Kyle for me?” Marilee asked, setting the kid down in front of Maddox. “Camilla put you at a table with them. Apologies in advance. Jordan kind of skipped a nap today.”

“Sure.” Maddox held out a hand to the kid, who had to be around three by now, not quite a baby anymore, but that didn’t stop him from bursting into tears.

“Wanna sit with Mama! And Unca Ben!” Jordan wailed, a full-scale meltdown threatening.

“Hey now, Uncle Maddox is pretty fun too.” Setting his half-empty drink on a nearby cocktail table, Ben swept the kid up, and Maddox hoped like heck that he was watching his shoulder. And what was with this Uncle Maddox business? Ben didn’t usually get that toasty off a single whiskey, but first the boyfriend declaration and now Maddox was an honorary family member?

Stop. Just stop, he tried to tell Ben with his eyes. You’re going to make this thing hurt too much when you change your mind. Stop giving me all my secret wishes. I can’t handle it.

But of course Ben was too busy to get the message, leading the way over to a lavender-draped table near the head table where Marilee’s husband stood talking to one of Ben’s uncles.

“Package delivery,” Ben said to Kyle, handing over Jordan, who was still fussing. He then turned toward Maddox. “Wish me luck.”