Page 91 of Under Water

I bow my head. “We haven’t really talked about all that stuff.”

God, it’s more and more obvious how much we don’t know about each other.

North shakes his head and squeezes me tighter as we reach the door. Past the screen, I can see Easton lifting Elio onto the swing bed, and Leo’s arranging pillows for him so he can sit comfortably.

“It took a long time for Leo to open up to me about all that. He had no trouble talking about his former husband, but when it came to their parents…” He trails off for a second, then shrugs. “It wasn’t outright abuse or anything. Leo struggles to see it as neglect because they were never hurt, and they always had their basic needs met. He compares himself to me and my mom and everything, and he doesn’t feel like he has the right to call it trauma.”

“That’s bullshit,” I mutter.

North rolls his eyes. “I know. And Easton is the same. He’ll take work, but I promise he’s worth it.”

“Trust me,” I say as I watch Easton settle in next to Elio and start swinging, “I know.”

NINETEEN

EASTON

Going back to work sucks. Especially because I walk into the station to find streamers and a banner congratulating me on my first boyfriend. Everyone except Ozzie is wearing a huge smirk. Ozzie looks genuinely happy, which probably means he thinks this is a legit party instead of people mocking me for taking so long to realize I was bisexual.

He hugs me first, and then everyone else follows.

“Lube,” Lex murmurs. “A lot of lube will save your pretty little ass.”

“Don’t be afraid of experimenting. But remember, not everything hole-shaped is meant to go in a hole,” Kelsey says seriously.

I shove her back, and Camilo takes her place, slinging an arm around my shoulders. “If either one of you hurts the other one, I will make you pay. And you’d better be nice to him. He’s been fuckin’ through it.”

I roll my eyes. “Thanks, Cap. Like I haven’t seen it with my own two eyes.” I drop my voice and lean in closer. “Any word on the fire?”

“Arson,” Camilo says quietly. He pulls me over toward the table covered in sandwiches that North definitely had a hand in making. Everyone else has, thankfully, gone back to whatever they were doing before I got here. “The inspector turned everything over to the detective who’s working on Rune’s case. Did he hear from his ex at all?”

I bite my lip, then sigh. “He came over.”

Camilo’s eyes widen. “To your place?”

“There was a tracker on my car. I left it in my driveway since he knows where I live, and we’ve been checking Rune’s car before he leaves the house.”

Camilo lets out a slow breath. “The restraining order?”

“I think Leo’s going with him to take care of it today,” I tell him. He’d mentioned something about it before he and Elio left for the school.

There had been a lot going on over the last few days, and so much of it was a jumble. At Leo’s, we ate outside in the gazebo after North fired up the barbeque. I sat on the swing beside Elio, Rune wrapped around me. We took a lot of mocking heat from his kid, and I didn’t even mind the gagging sounds because it meant Rune was kissing me every time we heard it.

And then we went home, and though the tension was high because Rune kept waiting for Neal to show up and fuck everything up, life went on as normal. I had my days off with Rune, he got Elio to and from school, and now I’m working a ten-hour shift to cover Kelsey, who agreed to take all of mine next week while we’re house-sitting for North and Leo.

It’s going to feel domestic.

It’s going to feel very real, being out in the middle of nowhere, just the three of us. Like the house is ours. We’ll be playing pretend, but it’s a fantasy I hope will become real in the future, when Rune and I are ready for that step.

“You good?” Camilo asks.

I realize I’ve gone a little too far into my thoughts, and I clear my throat. “Yep. It’s just new and kind of scary.”

“I remember the feeling,” he says and shakes my shoulder. “For what it’s worth, in spite of all the shit-talking, everyone’s happy for you.”

I don’t doubt it. This is my family. These are the only people besides Leo who don’t feel like strangers to me. Even my parents are that in name only, and sometimes I wonder if I’d be able to pick them out of a crowd if I had to.

Not that they’d ever want me to.