The things he used to worry about were no longer an issue. If he was recognized by an old love interest, or anyone gave him shit about what they thought they knew about his love life, he could take it. There wasn’t much fear left in him. He was ready to stand up and fight for himself, using his head instead of making rash decisions. Patience, strength, caution, steadfastness—they were all the lessons he’d been learning. Each one helped him be able to look back on how far he’d come. He’d come a long way.
They received word that the renovations to the house were complete. Alek and Luka, aided by Jimmy, Presley, and Carter, moved their things into the new, enlarged space. The entire floorplan of the house had changed. Evan hadn’t seen it yet, had only glimpsed a blueprint and some photos on Alek’s cell phone, but the center hall was gone, the house divided into a huge bedroom on the right, and a large living space on the left, which led right in to an open kitchen with eating area, looking out through large windows over the wild back of the property. There were even two full bathrooms now—one adjoining the bedroom and another off the living room. A large patio had been installed through the new French doors leading off the kitchen, with a meditation garden for Brennan, a new grill, fire pit and plenty of chairs to enjoy the view. There were plans for Alek and Luka to keep working, expanding the home to include a modest sized gym and guest room, but they weren’t in a rush. They had all the time in the world.
Soon, it was finally time to bring Evan and Brennan back to see the changes. They drove over in Evan’s car. Carter, Presley, and Jimmy were already there, waiting. A big ‘Welcome Home’ banner stretched across the large front picture window.
Evan could tell everyone else was holding their breath, hoping, wondering if it would be enough to convince them they were back where they belonged.
The outside looked mostly the same. For just a second, Evan’s chest felt tight, and he hesitated in getting out of the car. Alek, Luka and Brennan had all gotten out, and were waiting for him.
“You okay?” Alek asked.
What if he was expecting too much, Evan wondered? As much as he knew he loved the idea of the house and what it meant for them as a foursome, it still seemed like
his
place, not theirs. Was it selfish? Had they made the wrong call? If everything went to hell between them, would it be his fault?
Doubts swarmed. Hunched over, biting his thumbnail, Evan froze.
Alek came around to him, opening the rear door and crouching down beside it.
“Hey,” he said tenderly, laying a hand on Evan’s leg. “No pressure, okay? If you don’t like something, we’ll fix it.”
Evan shook his head. His throat constricted. His vision blurred. He shook his head again.
“Baby, please talk to me.”
“What’s wrong?” Luka called. Alek held up a hand to tell him to wait. Brennan circled the car, lingering by Alek’s side, watching his twin closely.
“Evan, whatever this is, we’ll figure it out. I promise. But you need to tell me. Please. I can’t help if—”
“I don’t want to hurt you. Any of you,” Evan said hoarsely, trying to calm down when it all felt like too much.
“Hey,” Alek frowned, giving Evan’s leg a squeeze, then caressing over the back of his head, as if to draw him out. “Why would you think—”
“I’m a screw-up!” Evan said heatedly. “I’m always gonna be one! I screwed things up with Drew, and before, and I know everyone’s been trying to make everything perfect, but I don’t deserve that. And what if—”
“
I’m
a screw-up,” Alek blurted. “And Luka is one hell of a screw-up. And Brennan is
absolutely perfect
in every way.”
Evan shocked himself by laughing. When he glanced over, Brennan looked embarrassed but was smirking a little.
“We love you, Evan Savage,” Alek continued. “This is your family. This is your home. I’m sorry it took so long to get you here, but we’d love to bring you inside and give you reasons to hope things are gonna get better. That’s all.”
After a deep breath, and a letting go of many things, Evan nodded and said, “Yeah. Okay.”
As he walked up to the house’s front door, held open by Jimmy, smiling hugely, Evan was soon overwhelmed. What he saw inside wasn’t his house at all. Looking everywhere, at everything, all he could say was, “Whoa. This is insane.”
Brennan was at his side, holding his hand, gasping, “Oh my god.”
Shining new hardwood floors, freshly painted walls and their own blessedly familiar furniture filled out the wide open space leading from living room to eating area to kitchen and then on even further to through the doors to the patio and the fields behind the house. Recessed lighting lit everything up, banishing shadows, but small clusters of furniture made it cozy at the same time. There were a few new doors leading off to places Evan couldn’t image.
“This is amazing. This is completely different!” he said with eyes wide with amazement.
“Brennan, your meditation space is over here, away from the main sitting area,” Jimmy explained.
“Look at the kitchen!” Brennan exclaimed.
It was brand new, much nicer than any they’d had before. “Well, now one of us needs to learn how to cook,” Evan told them.
“Are you volunteering?” Alek asked with a grin.
Evan shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Bedroom’s in here,” Luka said, leading the way past a coat closet.
“Holy shit.”
It was a gigantic bedroom, with what looked like two king beds pushed together in the middle of the space. There was a large window letting in plenty of light, but blinds had been hung and were ready to block out light when needed.
“That’s not a bed, that’s a continent.”
“I love it!” Brennan said gleefully, bouncing on the balls of his feet and hanging on Evan’s arm. “Ooh! Bathroom!”
The bathroom had new fixtures, with a shower big enough for multiple people, a Jacuzzi and a double sink. A walk-in closet gave them plenty of space for all of their clothes. Back out in the main space, they peeked in at the other bathroom, almost as big and also with a shower and tub combination.
Nothing was where it used to be. Evan was amazed.
“This is incredible!” he told them. “If I hadn’t seen us drive up to the place, I’d have sworn we were any place else. We have a new house! This is a totally new house.”
“But it’s away from town, so you can go for walks whenever you want,” Luka explained. “And Jimmy is right back there. And the garage is nearby if—”
“I love it,” Evan said happily. There was a swelling sensation in his chest, like everything was lifting up, getting lighter. “I really do.”
Presley and Carter were puttering around in the new kitchen, and Evan finally noticed they’d been cooking. Flatbread pizzas were being set out on the massive island with tasteful pendant lights hanging above.
“And the best part is the amazing guest room these two are gonna be building over here,” Presley said, thumbing over his shoulder at the back corner of the house. “So we can spend the night instead of making the arduous drive all the way back to our place.”
“So, Cupcake, what’s the verdict?” Luka asked, looping an arm behind Brennan’s back.
Brennan looked more like himself than he had in weeks, and that’s when Evan knew, without a doubt, that they’d made the right choice.
“Can we seriously afford this?”
“Yeah. Charlie paid for as much as he could of the renovation cost, but the house itself is paid off. He’s signing the deed over to you and Evan. We took out a small loan to cover costs for the balance of the renovation expenses, but we’ll be paying a lot less per month than we had been for rent. This is actually cheaper than the apartment. Which means no money worries. We might even start pulling in enough to take a vacation or two.”
“Oh my god,” Brennan said with quiet amazement. “That’s... huge. I mean, I’ve been worrying about money since before mom was... Wow.” He tried on a smile and slung his arms around Luka. “It’s perfect.” He reached out, drew Evan into their hug, trapping him in an arm until Luka could get hold of him too. “Aleksy, get in here!”
Alek came over, laughing, and enfolded all three of them as much as he could.
“Food’s ready!” Carter called. “Who wants some beer? I think we’ve got a toast to make.”
When they all had a bottle or glass in hand, the lifted them and Jimmy said, “To new beginnings.”
“And family,” Evan added.
Brennan looked teary, though he was still wearing his huge smile, so Evan kissed the side of his head and drew him close to his side.
“Cheers.”
Chapter 35
Double Date
They had reservations for six o’clock for six people. It was their first time out in public on what they were calling a double date with Carter and Presley, though everyone knew two plus two usually didn’t equal six. Evan didn’t know exactly how many pairs they qualified as. There was some distinctly weird math involved. Some of the old concerns began to surface about being in public on a non-heterosexual date, drawing stares, provoking whispers, even if they weren’t holding hands or indulging in any PDA.
But when Alek got home from work just in time to leave with the rest of them, Evan forgot all about that. There was suddenly a much more pressing concern at hand.
“What did you do?!” Evan exclaimed, his mouth hanging open with shock.
“I was passing through our old neighborhood and stopped by our former downstairs neighbor, like you two could have done instead of taking matters into your own hands. You like it?” Alek smirked, running a hand over his newly shorn hair. It wasn’t nearly as short as Evan and Brennan’s haircuts, but it was a hell of a lot shorter than it had been—trimmed neatly at the sides and back while a little longer on top. “I figured there might be less attention on us if Luka and I looked a little dissimilar. I’ve been meaning to get it cut for a while.”
Flabbergasted, Evan could only flail a little.
“What? What’d I miss?” Brennan asked emerging from the bedroom with Luka right behind him, both of them dressed to impress. When he saw Alek, Brennan stopped in his tracks fast enough that Luka ran right into him, nearly knocking him over. Luckily Luka caught him first. Brennan gaped, “Holy shit. Your hair is gone!”
Luka could only gasp dramatically, pointing at his brother’s head.
“You... you look...” Evan sputtered.
“Hot,” Brennan finished.
“Yeah?” Alek grinned. He looked quite pleased with himself. Evan agreed with Brennan. Alek did look hot with shorter hair. It emphasized his features, adding some extra masculinity to his appearance. His shoulders looked broader and he seemed even older than he was.
“Yeah,” Brennan gushed, nudging a speechless Luka who was still pointing and gasping.
“I feel so... so
betrayed
,” Luka managed, clutching his chest. “You didn’t even ask me for permission!”
“He didn’t ask me for permission either,” Brennan added. “You don’t see me complaining.”
Alek flapped a hand at his brother and approached Evan. Evan felt his eyes widen the closer Alek got.
“Well?” Alek prodded with a hint of a grin at Evan’s expression.
“I-I like your haircut, Mr. Popović, sir,” Evan told him. Brennan cackled, slapping Luka on the ass to snap him out of it.
“You look nervous, Savage. It’s just me, you know,” Alek retorted, running the back of his bent finger down the front of Evan’s body.
“Well, you really look like a grownup now,” Evan explained, his gaze sliding all over Alek’s sculpted, dark hair, down to his chiseled jaw and quirked lips. “It’s kind of intimidating.”
“Good,” Alek grinned, reaching down to feel exactly how hard he’d made Evan, which was pretty damn hard. “Mm, so you
do
like it,” he observed.
“Hey! We have reservations! Hands off,” Luka complained.
“Jealous?” Alek said with a raised eyebrow. “You could always cut yours too, though that would defeat the point of me cutting mine.”
“Don’t you dare cut it,” Brennan hissed, pointing warningly at Luka, who raised his hands in surrender.
“Pshh, I’m not cutting my hair,” Luka laughed. “That will never, ever happen.”
Evan noticed how Luka’s gaze lingered on him when Alek wasn’t quick to stop fondling his crotch, his mouth tightening. He suspected some of that was due to how, now they all shared sleeping space, Luka and Brennan got to witness how often Alek liked to fuck Evan before sleep. It seemed Brennan and Luka were more inclined to morning sex. But having to watch Evan bottoming for Alek so frequently was definitely pushing Luka’s jealousy buttons. It was much rarer for Evan and Alek to witness Brennan and Luka’s lovemaking, since Alek was usually at work, and Evan out on a run or picking up some hours at the garage.
When Luka actually walked over and pulled Evan away from Alek, it was a pretty bold move, Evan had to admit, even if he was laughing at how ridiculous they both were.
“Stop touching him. We have a date,” Luka scolded, possessively holding Evan back from Alek.
“There are no rules about touching
before
a date, Mr. Handjob in the Middle of the Restaurant,” Alek challenged with a smirk. At least he was amused instead of angered by Luka’s silly power play. “Are you calling dibs on Evan tonight? Is that what this is?”
“I’m standing right here, you know,” Evan added. “I can hear you.”
“Fine. Yes, I am,” Luka answered Alek.
“There’s a reason he doesn’t work regular hours anymore,” Alek told his brother. “You can fuck him whenever you want, if it’s okay with both Evan and Brennan.”
“I’m not going to climb on after you every night, Aleksy. He’d be exhausted.”
Evan looked to Brennan, who had also wandered over and was glancing between Alek and Luka with a big, goofy grin on his face. “Is this really happening?” Evan asked Brennan. “Are they actually arguing about this?”
“Sounds more like a discussion than argument,” Brennan observed.
“Don’t I get a say?” Evan asked.
“Like you’d say
no
.”
“I might,” Evan insisted, unconvincingly.
“Evan, you up for taking both of us tonight?” Alek asked suddenly. Evan’s eyes went wide.