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Chapter Twelve
“Tell me to go to work.” Frey was lying on his stomach in the middle of Lane and Bowen’s living room, and Briar was on his back, putting bows in his hair. It was not unlike the times that Rex tested bridal makeup on him or tissue paper veils. In fact, it was almost meditative.
Bowen sighed, looking down at him over his cup of coffee. “Go to work, Frey. Get out of my house.”
Bowen had just officially moved in. His own place was being used as a vacation rental while they attempted to find a long-term tenant, which Frey also knew was stressing the couple out. He didn’t want to add his own problems to theirs, so he waited for Briar to finish, and then he rolled over and took her with him.
She giggled, kicking her feet, and he pretended to be a monster until she got up and ran into the other room. When he looked up, Bowen was smiling softly at him.
“You’re such a good dad.”
Frey rolled his eyes as he started to pluck the bows out of his hair. “It’s not like it’s hard, man.”
Bowen shrugged. He’d taken to being a second parent like a duck to water, but he’d also spent years as a nanny before his career as a stunt actor. It was odd to think of him in action flicks since he was probably the most maternal out of all the guys in the Single Dad Club—whose name was being amended because no one wanted to lose Lane, even though he was firmly in the camp of getting married again.
He took a step forward, then winced and pressed his hand to the top of his thigh.
Frey had to stop himself from reaching for his friend. “What happened?”
Bowen waved him off. “Work injury. They warned me at PT it was going to suck if I decided to go back to acting.”
“Worth it?” Frey asked. He knew Bowen had been away on a shoot a few weeks back. There wasn’t a huge demand for disabled stunt actors, but the fact that he was getting any work at all was lifting his spirits. And Frey was proud of him.
Bowen smiled softly as he used the counter to brace himself, walking around to put his cup in the sink. “It was amazing. It felt good, you know? Like…I don’t know, like this thing I thought I lost has come back.”
Frey had never really experienced anything like that before. Though, maybe he had a little. He’d done everything in his power to stop thinking about Renato, but every time he breathed in, he swore he could smell his cologne. He and Renato hadn’t been on the same shift for a few days, which wasn’t abnormal, but Frey was starting to wonder if it was on purpose.
And he was starting to wonder if the hand job in the theater had been for revenge. If Renato had wanted to get under his skin, he’d sure as fuck succeeded. And if he hadn’t, then Frey had to live with the fact that he owed the man an orgasm, but he hadn’t seen him in order to be able to give it.
He hated that almost as much as the knowledge that Renato might just be fucking with him.
“You good, man?”
Frey snapped out of his thoughts, and he looked down at his shoes. “Yeah. I actually do have to go to work. Thanks for letting me whine. And for picking up Rex later.”
Bowen waved him off. “He’s my future wedding planner. I’ll take all the time I can get.”
Frey chuckled, but he felt a profound sense of gratitude that none of the people in their lives thought Rex was weird. He could only imagine what Jace might have thought. He was as queer as any of them were, really, but he’d always lived with a little hint of internalized homophobia. He wanted this perfect life. He wanted everything to be normal according to everyone else’s standards.
And Frey had never been more glad his son wasn’t growing up with that.
“Do me a favor?” Bowen asked as Frey reached for his keys.
“Name it.”
“Can you run these baking pans over to my brother’s? My leg is fucking killing me right now.” Bowen shoved over a short stack of cookie sheets, and Frey swept them up.
“No problem. I needed to ask Gage if he could do some babysitting coming up soon,” Frey told him. He leaned in, and Bowen turned his cheek to accept a kiss, which he wouldn’t have even six months back. His heart felt full.
Outside was warm, bordering on hot, which Frey appreciated. He was definitely a summer kind of guy, and he was looking forward to using what he had left of his banked time off to take Rex to the beach. It used to be a lonely trip, but now he could usually get a few of his friends to tag along with their kids, and it felt like a real vacation.
He made a mental note to say something to Adele about it as he crossed the law, then came to a halt when he saw Adele in the driveway leaning in someone’s truck window. It took Frey a second to recognize Dallas since he only ever drove his car when it was his time with his baby.
Dallas spotted him right away and beckoned him over with a grin. Adele spun, then held out his sizable arms for the baking pans, which Frey handed over.
“I should let them borrow all my dishes,” Adele said. “These look like new.”
Frey snorted. “So you’re saying to invite them over to babysit more often?”
