Safe and Sound (Twist of Fate 2)

Because he was happy.

Because he’d finally found himself.

A discreet cough had Bennett chuckling and dropping his arms from around me. I, of course, wasn’t so quick to respond as my eyes met Bennett’s growly boyfriend, Xander, as he approached us. But there was no real anger in his eyes as he shook my hand and tucked Bennett up against his side. He knew Bennett was his.

Always had been and always would be.

“Yeah. Otherwise we were screwed. It was Bennett’s turn to make dinner and he was planning on shoving a bunch of veggies in the Vitamix again,” Xander said as he skimmed his lips over Bennett’s temple.

Bennett shot his boyfriend a look. “It’s called soup and you love it.”

Lucky scoffed. “It’s called veggies in the blender and it leaves all three of us hungry ten minutes later.”

I walked to the kitchen cabinets, helping myself to the plates and silverware while Bennett and Xander began getting drinks for everyone. By the time we sat down together, Lucky’s nose was buried in his smartphone.

I raised a brow to Bennett and he rolled his eyes, mouthing the word teenager at me. Bennett had recently legally adopted Lucky after he’d discovered the young man’s foster family had been abusing the teenager. I knew Xander had plans to adopt Lucky as well, but I suspected he was waiting until they moved to Colorado at the end of the school year to make it official.

Without even looking up from his slice of pizza, Xander reached his hand out toward Lucky, palm up. Lucky stared at it before narrowing his eyes at Xander in defiance. Xander just continued to eat his pizza until Lucky sighed and slapped the phone in Xander’s palm. Xander pocketed it before ruffling Lucky’s hair and turning to me.

“What’s troubling you?” he asked. “You look like you just watched Batman lose a fight with… what was the villain’s name? Han Solo.”

“I… what? There are so many things wrong with that statement, I can’t even…” I said, before catching Xander giving Bennett a wink. “Oh, fuck you. That’s not nice.” I shot Bennett a glance because he’d clearly clued Xander in on how much I hated when people got the superhero universes mixed up. The thought instantly reminded me of Ash’s joke about Star Wars and the Force the first morning I’d met him.

Bennett reached out and put his hand on my arm. “No, seriously. What’s going on?”

“Who says something’s going on?” I asked lamely. All three of them laughed. “Fine, there’s a guy.”

They all whooped and hollered and slapped each other on the back before settling down and looking at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

“Yeah, yuk it up. The thing is, I asked him out and he said no.”

Silence.

“Say something. I need help,” I urged, not adding that I was interested in so much more than just dating Ash. Even though I considered Bennett and his guys my family, I was reluctant to share my suspicions about Ash’s personal life with them.

“Who’s the guy?” Bennett asked. “Where’d you two meet? Wait. It’s not the bouncer from the—”

“No,” I said quickly. “This is someone I met at a coffee shop.”

Xander cut in. “And he won’t sleep with you, and you want to know why.”

“No,” I responded with irritation, mostly because Xander was somewhat right and the comment was well-deserved, since I didn’t exactly have a lily-white reputation when it came to dating.

Mostly because I didn’t really “date” guys.

Xander cocked his head at me. “Surely you’re not talking about actually dating the guy? I thought that wasn’t your scene.”

“It’s not,” I murmured as Xander’s words eerily mirrored my thoughts.

“Then what exactly are you looking for? You just want to get him to say yes to keep your success streak alive?” Xander taunted. I felt my jaw tick.

“No. I like him. I’d like to get to know him. On a date,” I insisted.

Lucky snorted. “Sure you do.”

“I do. I really do. Dammit, why is this so hard for you guys to understand? This guy’s different,” I snapped before throwing up my hands in frustration.

It was quiet for a moment while six eyes studied me.

No, make that eight eyes because even Bear, the dog, was watching me with what I could only describe as a look of confusion. God, I really needed to sleep because I was fucking losing it.

Bennett was the first to speak. He slowly reached out his hands to Lucky and Xander and spoke in a careful, measured tone. “Oh my god. It’s happening.”

“Shut up,” I snapped.

Xander nodded as he took one of Bennett’s hands reverently in his. “It is. It’s happening.”

I looked over at Lucky. “Help me. Please.”

Lucky laughed. “You know it’s serious when he’s looking to me for help. I’m the world’s oldest virgin.”

Bennett and Xander locked eyes and high-fived each other while Lucky shot them the bird.