Unbroken (The Protectors 12)

“Matty’s fathers,” Aleks whispered to me. “Hawke,” he nodded at the bigger man with the gun. “And Tate.”

“Hi,” Tate said as he reached out to shake my hand. “You must be Vaughn.”

“I am,” I said. I shook his hand, then Hawke’s, then looked at the three boys who were all watching me with curiosity.

“You’ve got lots of hair on your face,” the boy in the middle said. He was as tall as Matty but had black hair, whereas Matty’s was brown.

“And you have no pants,” I said. “You must be Leo.”

The kid looked down at his underwear that had some kind of superhero I didn’t recognize on it. “We had to get here fast because Pop-pop said Aleks was hungry,” Leo said as he eyed me like his comment should make perfect sense to me.

I chuckled and said, “Got it.” I looked at Matty. “So, you’re Matty. That must make you” – I looked at the smallest boy who looked like he was a couple years younger than the other boys – “Jamie.”

Jamie nodded but remained silent.

“Guys, this is Vaughn,” Aleks said.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Matty asked.

“No—” Dante said.

“Yes—” I responded at the same exact time, not bothering to look at Dante.

“Matty,” Magnus called. “Guess what MawMaw and I are doing today.”

Leo suddenly whispered something into Matty’s ear. Matty nodded and spouted, “Cleaning the bathroom again?”

Aleks, Hawke, Tate, and I all burst into laughter as we looked at the two men on the other side of the kitchen island.

Magnus looked at a flushed-looking Dante. “I guess our secret’s out, babe.”

“Jesus,” Dante muttered, then he went around the island and knelt down in front of Matty and his little friends. “No, your Pop-pop and I are getting married.”

“Can we throw your flowers?” Leo asked excitedly.

“Oh, well, we don’t actually have any flowers,” Dante said as he looked around the room.

“We can use this, MawMaw,” Matty said as he grabbed the box of cereal.

“Sounds like a plan,” Magnus said. “But Leo, buddy, you’re gonna need to wear pants for the wedding. Isn’t that your dads’ rule?”

Leo’s face fell, but Matty grabbed his arm. “I’ve got my Captain America pajamas here!” he exclaimed and then all three boys were off like a shot.

“Hey, this cereal doesn’t have any fruit and flower shapes,” Aleks said as he studied the bright red box of cereal.

“The company discontinued the shapes last fall,” Hawke said as he went in search of coffee.

“I’m not going to ask how you know that,” Dante murmured.

“Well, MawMaw, when you have your own kids, you’ll get to deal with that day when your child discovers that his favorite cereal looks different and even though you try to explain that the taste is the same, you feel so damn bad that you decide to do something about it.”

“What’d you do?” Dante asked. “Threaten the company or something?” he asked jokingly.

“We got a letter from the company’s lawyer politely asking us to never contact them again,” Tate said as he patted Aleks on the shoulder and then went around the island to get his own coffee. Then he was hugging Magnus. “Congrats, you two.”

Then it was Hawke’s turn. “I need a best man,” Magnus told him.

Something warm passed between the two men that I didn’t quite understand. But it had Hawke smiling and patting Magnus on the back.

“A lawyer?” Dante asked. “What exactly did you say, Hawke?”

“Nothing, MawMaw,” Hawke drawled.

Dante shot him the bird at the nickname.

The behavior seemed par for the course for this group. It reminded me of my own family.

“Hmmm, does taste the same,” Aleks said. “Wonder why the cereal Con gave me looked different?”

“We use that house as a safe house. Con keeps it stocked with nonperishable stuff. The cereal had probably been there for a little while. And you guys took that cereal with you to the beach house when you left—”

I had the sense to shut up when Aleks stiffened next to me. I thought it was because I’d brought up the reminder that he’d snuck out on me that morning, but when I went to reassure him I was no longer angry about that, he blurted, “Are you going back?”

The tremor in his voice had the entire room going silent.

“Back where? To the Hamptons?” I asked. “I don’t actually live there,” I began, but Aleks shook his head.

“No… are you going back there.”

It hit me all at once what he was talking about. It was a topic we’d avoided since we’d left New York… well, in truth, we’d avoided it altogether from the moment I’d made it clear how much he meant to me. Mentioning the safe house had brought the reality of our situation crashing back in on him.

He was asking if I was going back into the dark world where kids were sold for sex.

“Shit, Aleks, I’m sorry,” I whispered.