Pretend You're Mine (The Protectors 12.50)

“Damn it, Devon,” he growled.

I laughed because I knew exactly what he was pissed about. The cup he wore to support his package beneath his loose-fitting workout pants would be feeling a lot less supportive and a lot more constrictive now, courtesy of me.

“Sorry, can’t help myself,” I said as I gave him a dutiful kiss on the cheek. “She called you Mr. Rhodes.”

“I’ve been Mr. Rhodes for six months now,” he reminded me.

“Tell you what, baby. You get through this and the first thing I’ll do when I get you home is get that too-small cup off just the way you like.”

Sebastian flushed, then shoved me hard. “Jerk,” he groaned. I laughed. Sebastian had had to spend a lot of money replacing his thongs in the past year because I had a habit of ripping them off him even when I didn’t need to. Not that Sebastian ever complained about it. In fact, he was usually the one demanding it.

He went to move past me, so I grabbed him by the arm one more time. But this time I limited myself to a quick hug. “You’re going to do great, Bastian. I love you.”

He let out a rough sigh. “I love you, Devon.”

I kissed him chastely on the temple, then followed him into the room. I leaned against the doorframe as I watched Sebastian approach the small crowd of children and their parents.

“Hi everyone, who wants to learn how to dance today?”

One by one, little arms began tentatively going up. The kids ranged from around three to six years old. I could hear the nerves in Sebastian’s voice, but as he started introducing himself to the kids one by one, I saw the tension start to leach out of him. He directed most of the kids to the far side of the room where there was a long bar that they could hold on to while they did some of the moves.

Among the children were my three-year-old niece, Samantha, who was my sister Eden’s daughter, and five-year-old twins, Masie and Jack. Masie and Jack were Ethan and Cain’s children. They’d been fostering the twins for several months now and were in the process of making the adoption official. Masie was the more outgoing of the children, so I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Jack, who was wearing a pink tutu just like his sister, hesitated halfway across the room and then turned around to return to his fathers. It was Cain who crouched down to talk to his son and after a few seconds, he took Jack’s hand and they both walked across the room. As tough as Cain outwardly appeared to all who met him, he was mush around his kids.

My family had embraced both my sexuality and my partner with no questions asked. Sebastian had been overwhelmed at first, since he’d never had any kind of family of his own, but it hadn’t taken long for my parents and siblings to pull him out of his shell. It’d been teaching Eden’s daughter a few dance moves that had inspired Sebastian to consider becoming a ballet teacher. Physical therapy over the past year had helped heal his knee enough to where he could walk normally and even dance, but it was like the doctors had said, his professional dance career was over. He’d mourned the loss, of course, but he’d become just as passionate about teaching.

It only took a few minutes for Sebastian to get all of the kids on the opposite side of the room. He’d just started showing them a few fun stretches when the door on the far end opened. I recognized the man who entered and wasn’t surprised when Sebastian quickly hurried to him after telling the kids (and Cain, whose hand Jack was still clinging to) to keep stretching.

There was still some awkwardness between Sebastian and Darren whenever they saw one another, but that tended to be because of Sebastian’s guilt more than anything else. Darren had left Rick shortly after the Valentine’s Day fundraiser a year earlier after learning of Rick’s many affairs. Rick had actually had the nerve to show up on Sebastian’s doorstep one day a few weeks after Darren had kicked him out. He’d spouted all sorts of crap about wanting Sebastian back now that he was “free.” When Sebastian had politely told him to go fuck himself, Rick had happily told Sebastian that Darren knew all about the two of them. Rick’s little visit had come at the exact same time that our family had been celebrating the announcement that my other brother and his wife were pregnant, so it hadn’t been just me and Kirby that Rick had had to deal with. In fact, I hadn’t even had to lift a finger because Cain had sent the man running with just a few softly spoken words I hadn’t been able to overhear. And Kirby had made sure to keep a piece of Rick’s pant leg as a souvenir.