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“And an upgrade to the security system,” Noah said. “I don’t remember if we’ve got a camera that has a good view of this rear door and the driveway.”
Rowe nodded. “At the very least, we need to make sure that everything is still recording even when the system is disengaged, just in case we get another smart asshole on Ian’s tail.”
“No more food for any of you!” Ian shouted above the talking.
The response was absolute silence for several seconds.
Lucas was the first to find his voice after that stunning announcement. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re all banned. If the only thing you value me for is my cooking, then you’re cut off if you aren’t going to treat me like an equal in this family.”
They all started to argue with him at once, but their words stopped when he held up his hands. “I’m serious. I get it. The Jagger shit and my past, it’s bad. Really fucking bad. Years and years of therapy bad, but I’m not an invalid. I’m not so fragile that I’m going to break when things go sideways. If you guys try to exclude me from shit on this, I will cut you all off. No more Rialto food. No more surprise lunches.” He paused and looked over at Rowe. “And I’m definitely not cooking Thanksgiving.”
The deafening silence in the room was broken by clapping. Ian twisted around to find Hollis standing in the doorway, a lazy grin on his face.
“Proud of you, babe,” Hollis said before squeezing between Rowe and Snow to reach Ian.
Ian let Hollis’s arms engulf him, pulling him in tight. He could feel the tension trembling in his body despite the smile on his face. He’d been worried and it was only now that Hollis was holding him that his husband could find some relief.
“I’m okay. I promise. Just a conk on the head. Nothing more,” Ian murmured over and over again. He tried to be strong, but Ian couldn’t deny the tremor in his own voice as he spoke. There was a bundle of fears he wasn’t dealing with yet and probably wouldn’t until he and Hollis were alone that night.
“Ian,” Snow said softly, drawing Ian’s head from Hollis’s chest to look at the surgeon. “We are sorry we made you feel like you weren’t an equal part of this family. We never meant to do that to you.”
A lump of old pain and new joy grew in Ian’s throat as he released Hollis and walked over to Snow, grabbing him in a tight hug. “I know.”
Lucas added, “We want to keep you safe, and we tend to take it overboard when it comes to you…because of Jagger.”
Ian turned and hugged Lucas. He hated that he’d hurt them, but this conversation had been a long time coming. They were spending far too much time trying to protect him and not enough actually including him in on the crazy things in their lives. He was tired of feeling like an outsider.
“And while we love your cooking, we love you more,” Rowe said. “If I’ve got to choose between never having your cooking and keeping you safe, I’ll always choose your safety.”
Ian moved to Rowe and hugged the grumbly lunatic, then pulled Noah in for good measure.
This was his family. He knew they loved him and would do anything for him, but they also needed to let him take the same risks and chances they took.
Ian stepped away from Rowe and wiped his eyes, feeling relief and maybe a little silly.
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way,” Ian said with a laugh.
“How do you want to handle this?” Lucas asked, and Ian couldn’t deny that the question felt great. They were willing to leave things in his hands.
Ian walked back over to where Hollis was standing by the center island, a questioning look in his dark eyes. Ian leaned against Hollis, inwardly smiling when his husband pulled him in tight. They were a single unit. Just how he wanted it.
“Right now, Hollis and I are following a few leads. Gidget is looking at people who’ve visited the restaurant. Quinn is trying to track the person behind the bad reviews. And Hollis is digging into my last disgruntled employee.”
“Sounds like a good start,” Rowe said with a nod.
“What are you doing about your safety?” Snow pressed.
“Until now…not much,” Ian admitted. “But until now, everything was directed at the restaurant. I’ll admit that I was kind of wondering if I wasn’t the target. If maybe someone on my staff was the real target.”
“But now we have proof that this person is out to hurt you. And not just financially or your business reputation. This was an attack at our home on you.” Hollis’s arms tightened around Ian as he spoke, his voice growing more urgent.
