Chapter 2

Being held was nice. Avery was pretty sure he’d never get enough of it, and Rhodey kept him in his arms every spare moment he had.

“I like you needy.” Adjusting him into a more comfortable position, Dallas touched their foreheads together. “Think about it this way, my little snake. Keiran will be safer with you there. And so will the kids.”

That was unfair. Avery frowned, meeting Dallas’ eyes. “Keiran is more than capable of keeping Ana safe. I trust him.”

Dallas blinked as though the conversation had taken a turn he hadn’t expected. “I know you do. That’s not what I’m getting at. Besides…” At this point, the man was clearly scrambling for a good reason for Avery to participate. His Dom switch was off and he was down to negotiating. His hands tightened on Avery’s hips. “Rhodey wants you and Keiran to guide Danny. He’ll be there and you know he’ll be anxious with the camera crews and directors. Broadway got him out of the Hollywood conditioning.”

“And I’d like to keep it that way.” Not making a sound as he’d entered the kitchen, Rhodey slid smoothly behind Avery, trapping him against Dallas’ chest. The confinement was comforting. Solid and steady. Reaching out, Rhodey curved his hand around the back of Keiran’s neck, drawing him close to include him. “That boy of ours might be afraid of many things, but nothing more than failing to show he knows his place. And it’s not what it was once. You’ll make sure he remembers that.”

Does that mean…?

Avery’s lips parted. “Wren’s doing a full reset of The Asylum’s security system to make sure it can’t be hacked. I should stay with him. And the pool’s being cleaned and—”

“Jared will be with Wren, Quint and Seth are taking shifts at the clinic. Lawson’s overseeing the cleaning. Curtis is on top of the renovations and I trust the crew he has with him.” Rhodey gave him a slanted smile as he tore down any further objections before Avery could make them. “I have nothing to do other than keep this place safe. You will go have fun with your sister. With the other subs and the kids at The Center.” He glanced over at Dallas. “We should do something here to celebrate when the album is done. Early Christmas at The Asylum. We can avoid the bullshit when the date actually comes.”

That got Dallas’ lips twitching. “It’ll just be crazy before the crazy and we both know it. But I’m in. Maybe we can do some games to get in the spirit. Best Santa. You’d win.”

“No.” Rhodey lowered his brow. “I don’t play dress-up. But I’ll watch. You just volunteered.”

The slight edge to Rhodey’s tone left no room for debate, and Avery soaked in Dallas’ shudder as though it was his own, feeling the power of the man who owned every part of him, of them, flow over them both. He tightened his hold on Dallas when the other man’s grip slipped, letting him know, in a small way, that he understood how perfectly overwhelming it could be.

Dallas sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll talk to Jacks about the costume. And...bring up the idea to Lawson.”

“Good man.” Rhodey kissed Dallas, smiling against his lips. “Now, let me deal with our boy walking all over you.” He lifted Avery from Dallas’ arms. Gave him a stern look. “You think this is a discussion? That’s cute. Fetch your shoes. I’ll get you ready to go with Keiran.” He held Avery with one arm and patted Keiran’s ass. “You have flour in your hair. Shower and get moving before you’re so wrapped up in the next recipe you forget to leave the kitchen.”

Somehow, Keiran seemed to be the best out of those under Rhodey’s control at taking orders in stride. Avery was used to either submitting completely, or using his intuition to know when he needed to take action on his own. There were too many regular life things that fell into a gray area he struggled with and he didn’t like that at all.

Maybe he still had a few things to learn from the other sub. That was okay. Keiran accepted Avery taking the lead as needed. He was a very good student.

Tone mild, Keiran tucked himself against Rhodey’s side. “You read my mind, sir. I made some of those hot cross buns you love. Everything’s prepped for Reed to take over tonight if things run late. I know he hates how slow he feels while he’s recovering, but he’s getting so much better at managing things in the galley. A few more months and I won’t stress about having him take over full-time.”

“You’ll still be here whenever you can, working your magic, but if I know that boy as well as I do, he’ll welcome you reclaiming your space. He’s not very territorial.” Rhodey huffed out a laugh. “Except when it comes to Noah crossing the lines with his Doms. Can’t blame him there. Noah created a nice case of Stockholm Syndrome that resulted in a marriage proposal and a shitload of regret.”

Dallas bristled a bit at that. “Lawson didn’t have Stockholm Syndrome. He wasn’t being kept against his will. He...told me a bit about back then. He was young and Noah...felt like ‘the one’. He knows better now.”

Shaking his head, Rhodey lowered Avery to his feet. “I don’t think he or Curtis will ever see it. It doesn’t matter. Noah does. And he put the distance he needed to between them. That was smart.” Brow creasing slightly, Rhodey brushed his knuckles down Avery’s cheek. “In so many ways, my nephew’s become a better man than I’ll ever be.”

Without pause, Keiran exchanged a look with Dallas and took Avery’s hand, squeezing lightly to let him know he’d missed something, but he’d explain later. “I’ll go take that shower now, sir. Avery’s gonna have a blast, he just doesn’t know it yet.”

Now wasn’t the time to argue that, except...Avery hated it when he didn’t get the little things. For so long before coming here, he’d been forced to cut himself off from emotions that might prove detrimental to missions. It was like...having to learn to be human all over again.

“I know, my little viper.” Rhodey’s lips brushed his ear, his hold grounding Avery. Bringing him back to the present. To this reality. Where he needed to be. “Shelve everything else. You always second-guess rebuilding that connection with your sister. Whether you should. If you’re even capable. The answer is ‘yes’. Just be there.”

Just...be there.

So simple, but almost an impossible task. There would always be other places he’d wonder if he should have been. Missions he’d hear of that failed. So many lives lost. Futures many would never have.

His job now was to save as many as he could.

Before it had been...only destruction.

The oblivious world where most existed was beyond him. But Rhodey wanted him here.

So this was where he’d be.

One way or another.