Page 67 of Fourplay & Fatalities

It couldn’t be simple biology. They didn’t share his DNA. But he would kill for them. He’d die for them.

What could cause someone like him—someone who saw most of the world as disposable—to look at these two little creatures and know he’d Thanos-snap half the world away without a second thought for them?

It had to be some kind of trick nature played, the same trick that made wolves instinctively want to raise a human baby as their own even though they could easily eat it.

Avi’s head jerked up as the door clicked softly open.

Zane.

He wore a pair of Asa’s pale blue pajama pants that barely clung to his narrow hips even with the drawstring pulled tight. His hair was a mess, and there were creases on his cheek from his pillow.

One look at Avi’s face and he asked, “Rough night?”

Avi sighed. “Yeah.”

Zane moved to sit beside Avi, adopting the same position, his back to the wall.

Both babies came to investigate the new arrival, but once they’d ascertained that he had no food or toys, he was abandoned for the body farm of plushies once more.

While they were playing, Avi let his head fall to Zane’s shoulder.

“Wanna talk about it?” his brother-in-law offered, his hand falling to Avi’s thigh and patting it.

Avi sighed. “It’s stupid.”

“It was important enough to wake our children up at two a.m. for a cuddle session,” Zane said. “Besides, you kind of look like a kicked puppy even on the nanny cam.”

“I was just really looking forward to tonight,” he mumbled.

He lifted his head from Zane’s shoulder, then lay down, resting his head on Zane’s thigh. Zane immediately began to pet Avi like his favorite housecat.

“Was it not as fun as you’d hoped? Did you have something special planned that didn’t work out? He is dead, right? Dad’s not going to come busting in here and give you some kind of verbal beatdown, is he?”

Before he could respond, the door opened. Asa and Felix stood in the doorway, probably having sensed that Zane had left their nest.

Avi took in his husband’s lithe body, accented by the almost scandalously short black silk robe he wore, knowing there was probably very little—if anything—underneath.

Asa wore an old T-shirt of Zane’s and a pair of athletic shorts.

“Having a party without us?” Asa quipped.

Once inside, Felix scooped up the babies, putting them back in their crib. He tucked them in carefully and gave each of them their bottles, then gestured for them all to go so the boys could get back to sleep.

Would Felix be mad at him for waking the boys?

Probably not. Felix rarely got mad at him.

They kissed the boys goodnight, then left them to go back to sleep. Avi could still hear them babbling to each other over the monitor when they returned to the spare room with their big bed.

That was where they’d fallen asleep after they’d watched a movie together earlier.

Well, half of the movie. They’d grown distracted about forty minutes in.

When Avi had woken up to eliminate his target, he’d left Asa sleeping between Zane and Felix, all of them naked and sweaty. It was clear that at some point they’d all cleaned up before returning to sleep.

Now, Zane and Felix sat with their backs against the headboard.

When Felix opened his legs and patted his thigh, Avi didn’t hesitate, crawling between them to press his cheek to the smooth skin there.