Page 132 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

“No, I’m definitely right.” Gavin laced his fingers through Ben’s and pulled Ben’s hand higher onto his chest, over Gavin’s heart. “You almost broke me, Ben.” he said seriously, sounding even more sober in whispers. “Don’t do it again.”

Ben’s eyes stung as Gavin’s words sunk in. Of all the things he’d hoped to accomplish, hurting Gavin was never on the agenda. Freeing him, maybe. Giving him room to explore the world without Ben holding him back, sure. But never hurting him. Let alone breaking him. “Never again.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

Maybe they weren’t quite on solid ground yet. Ben hoped the major quakes were done, but he knew they’d probably deal with the aftershocks for a long time, maybe for the rest of their lives.

At least if they fell into a sinkhole, they’d go down together.

Ben woke up feeling better than he had in days. He’d slept late, slept hard. Over a week of restless nights had worn him out. Feeling like he and Gavin were finally making some progress in the right direction had worked better than a sleeping pill.

When he reached for Gavin’s side of the bed and felt nothing but cool sheets, his heart sank a little. He had hoped they could wake up together, make love again, and lie in bed all afternoon.

The smell of Gavin’s cooking reached him from the kitchen, though, so that helped take the sting out of waking up alone. Ben sat up slowly and started to get out of bed. Then he heard laughter.

No, giggles.

Teenage girl giggles, to be exact.

Right. Tina.

Wait, no.

Pregnant Tina.

Jesus. How had he forgotten that rather epic interruption to their regularly scheduled lives?

He pulled on some clean sweats—Gavin had even washed and put away his laundry before he left—and went to take a piss. Once he finished with the morning necessities, all he had left was to face Gavin and his sister. Fantastic.

Tina sat at the table with a plate of food in front of her and Gavin’s tablet in her hand. Ben found Gavin in the kitchen, standing in front of the stove and flipping an omelet. When he saw Ben, Gavin stepped close to him and gave him a small peck on the cheek. “Your breakfast is almost ready.”

Ben nodded, still a little groggy, still trying to adjust to the interloper in their dining room. “Thanks, babe.” He could feel Tina’s eyes on him, and he thought he probably should have put on a shirt before coming into the kitchen. “Morning, Tina. Sleep okay?”

If Gavin was surprised by his effort to make nice, he didn’t show it.

“Yeah, thanks,” she said shyly. She looked at Ben like she couldn’t stop herself from staring. “You have a lot of tattoos.” She had a knack for stating the obvious, if nothing else.

Ben didn’t have to say anything. Gavin took over for him. “Ben’s a tattoo artist. He’s really good.”

“Cool.” She didn’t sound like she thought it was very cool. Especially when she asked Gavin, “Do you have any?”

Gavin shrugged. “I will eventually, but I don’t know what I want. Ben said it should be something meaningful if I’m gonna have it for the rest of my life.”

“Are…” Tina looked at Ben again and asked, “Are all of yours meaningful?”

“Most, yeah.” He pulled his favorite mug out of the cupboard and started brewing a cup of coffee in the little single-serve deal Gavin had given him for Christmas. He loved that damn coffee maker. As he waited, he turned to face her.

Tina’s eyes got wide, which seemed weird to Ben, but whatever. She pointed tentatively toward him. “Is that a hawk?”

Ben glanced down at his chest. Why, he had no idea. He knew exactly what she was talking about. “Yeah.”

“Is that…”

He looked up and caught her eye. “Gavin? Yeah.” Okay, he needed to work on multisyllabic responses, apparently. But when he’d searched the meaning of Gavin’s name and hawk had popped up, it had seemed like an obvious choice for the one spot on his skin he’d been saving.

“Over your heart,” she said softly, as if something was starting to make sense to her. “That’s really sweet.”

Gavin beamed at him from the stove as he plated Ben’s food—omelet and bacon, fresh fruit, and a slice of french toast. Ben’s favorite.

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