Chapter Four
Whentheyarrivedbackattheapartment,Augustwassittingonthecouchwatchingtelevision,buthepickeduptheremotetomuteitandleanedovertheedgeofthecouchtolooktheirwayastheysteppedintotheentryway.
“Hey,” Florian said awkwardly, their uncomfortable conversation coming back in a rush.
“There’s some takeout on the counter if you haven’t had dinner yet,” August said, gesturing toward the kitchen. His gaze lingered on Kade as he said it, but the taller man was shaking the sand out of his shoes and didn’t seem to notice. “Come here, Florian.”
Florian scowled, glancing at Kade, who looked back at him with a blank expression and shrugged. “Alright,” he sighed, and stepped into the living room to sit down next to August.
“Look,” his uncle sighed. “Sorry about earlier. Maybe I overstepped.”
Florian glanced away uncomfortably. “I understand,” he muttered. And he did understand, really, not that it made the conversation any less awkward. Objectively, itwasa lot of change in his life all at once; and now that it had been a few hours, he couldn’t blame August for worrying about him.
“I just want to make sure you’re alright,” he continued, his voice low. “And... I don’t know Kade that well, but he seems like a good kid; and I know Jerah loved him, and he looked up to Jerah a lot. But I worry that maybe this is going to be too much all at once for the both of you, or you’re doing this for the wrong reasons.”
Florian opened his mouth to snap something in response, but Kade beat him to it.
“I’m right here,” the other man’s voice came from the kitchen, in the same cool, level tone he had used with Cameron at the corner store. August winced, glancing over in his direction.
“Well, come over here, then,” he sighed, and Kade stepped out of the kitchen to face them, a slight frown on his face. “Sorry, Kade. I don’t mean to be rude, really. I’m just telling Florian I’m worried about him, about you both.”
“I appreciate your concern,” Kade replied. “But I can promise you it’s unfounded. Florian and I...” He hesitated, and Florian recognized the faint look of embarrassment rising in his features. “The first time we met here, I liked him. I thought he was handsome. This has nothing to do with the Winter Court or the wolf clan. Florian and I, this would have happened regardless of—of King Jerah. So there’s no need to be concerned.”
Embarrassing as it was, Florian felt a faint hint of pride and affection bubbling in his chest at the words. Kade had thought he washandsome, even back then.
Next to him, August sighed and leaned back onto the couch. “Alright. You don’t need to tell me twice,” he said, shaking his head. “I won’t bring it up again. Are we good? Anything else that needs to be cleared?”
Kade and Florian exchanged a glance, and Florian shook his head. “We’re good.”
“Good,” August said, standing up and gesturing at each of them with both of his hands. “In that case, some ground rules while you’re staying here. No sex in the apartment.”
“Uncle August,” Florian groaned, feeling his face burn crimson.
“I’m serious! This is my house. If you want to be a king and make your own rules, go back to the Winter Court,” August replied, though a grin had spread across his face as he said it. “No sex in the apartment. I guess that’s it. He can sleep in your room if he wants.”
“Yes, sir,” Kade replied stiffly, and August chuckled, shaking his head and sitting back down. A visible embarrassed flush had risen in Kade’s face as well.
“Fine,” Florian muttered, getting up to join Kade. As far as rules went, that seemed pretty lenient. “I guess we’ll have to go out to the back alley instead.”
August started to laugh, shaking his head; but Kade’s face twisted into a bewildered look, and Florian burst out laughing as well. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he added quickly, to Kade’s obvious relief.
“Maybe he’ll be a good influence on you after all, Florian,” August teased.
When Florian checked the next day, he didn’t find any direct flights to Iqaluit, the city in Nunavut where, according to Kade, a curtain to the wolf kingdom lay close by. Instead they would have to go to Montreal and take a smaller plane from there. He bought tickets for a flight in five days, feeling a strange mixture of guilt and gratitude when he used his father’s credit card to do so.
With time to kill, they spent most of their time out on the beach—Kade had never been in the ocean before and seemed quite interested in the whole experience. He wasn’t a great swimmer, but Florian did his best to teach him. Mostly, they stood in waist-deep water and let the waves crash into them, lifting them off their feet a bit, before settling back down in the sand. It was fun, Florian thought, and Kade seemed to be enjoying their break as well. He had never seen the other man smile and laugh so easily. When they were tired, they would lay out in the sun, dozing and cuddling and sometimes kissing. That made itmuchharder to keep his hands out of Kade’s pants, though, so he tried to keep kissing on the beach to a minimum.
Though August didn’t ask, he still spent a few hours in the morning down in the shop, mostly making necklaces and bracelets from shells that he gathered when they were on the beach, and occasionally getting up to help customers. Making jewelry and small trinkets was his favorite part of the job, and he had no idea when he would have time to come back and work on his own projects for the shop again, so he resolved to do as much as he could while they were home.
Kade sat with him each morning, helping in little ways; Florian worried that he would be bored, but he seemed content just to be there, watching him work and observing the people that came in to shop. He even seemed to be warming up to August and Nadia, who came by to see Florian at least once a day.
The days passed slowly, lazily, but soon enough it was the night before their flight. They set out everything for their trip in the living room, so they could get up and go first thing the next morning.
“Are you nervous?” Florian asked softly as they lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling in the dark. His mattress here was much smaller than the one that they’d shared in the Winter Court, so they had to huddle close together for both of them to fit, though neither had voiced any complaints so far. Next to him Kade took in a deep, sleepy breath.
“No,” he answered. “Are you?”
“A little bit,” he admitted.
