“I’m not too worried about that,” Dylan replied to Jasmine’s comment. “Our relationship is a bit outside the box, so we should be able to weather any strain along the way.”
Dylan truly believed that, believed he could have it all with Kaiden and Rus. Though he didn’t know what having it all looked like or what it’d entail for them down the road, he was still eager to walk that path with them on either side.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Decemberturned into a busy blur, but things would slow down soon enough now that he’d reached Christmas day and put in his notice. Kaiden planned to work the rest of his shifts through New Year’s, but based on what he’d heard about his managers, they had a tendency to magically remove hours from anyone who didn’t stay loyal to the company and dared to quit.
Kaiden didn’t care. The holiday hours gave him just enough to furnish his home with what he needed. A real mattress, a sofa, a television with a solid stand, a coffee table. Hell, a coffee pot. One of those fancy ones that made the foamy lattes Kaiden liked to treat himself with on occasion.
His phone dinged.
Rus included a selfie of him smiling in front of his Christmas tree. Kaiden grinned, always finding him so sweet when heactually smiled. Though the scowl was pretty sexy, too. Kaiden returned his own selfie, even avoiding a filter despite the fact he found his face a bit washed out without any makeup, and his hair needed a touch-up of emerald green dye.
Rus replied with puking emojis.
Dylan replied with heart-eyed emojis.
Dylan followed up with a frazzled faced selfie.
Kaiden replied with the laughing crying emojis.
Kaiden continued chiming into the group chat with some silly gifs, but focused more on cleaning up his place since Dylan actually planned on stopping by for Christmas. Usually, Dylanwould be overwhelmed with how busy his place got over the holidays, so Kaiden didn’t have to worry about being festive.
As he worked, his phone buzzed with another unwanted text from his mother, who’d started sending long messages expressing how much she missed him, worried for him, needed him. Her concern rang hollow in Kaiden’s ear when his absence quickly turned into how he’d abandoned his family, leaving them with nothing. Funny, since he’d literally left them with most of his bulkier belongings.
Kaiden had blocked everyone else’s number, blocked them on every social he could think of—even the platforms he rarely used—but he couldn’t bring himself to cut off his mother entirely. Though while her sad messages did tug at his heartstrings, Kaiden refused to move back, and he continued ignoring her request for his new address. After Sandra’s outburst at the gallery, after the near blows Dylan came to with his stepfather, Kaiden didn’t want to chance what they’d pull on his front lawn.
Kaiden deleted the message without reading it, finding that the easiest solution when faced with wordy guilt trips, then he went back to work until the rumble of Dylan’s car pulled up to his trailer.
Dylan arrived, handing Kaiden a bouquet of blue and white roses for the season. They were enchanting and almost distracted from the bags of groceries in Dylan’s other hand. “Before you say anything, I only got stuff I like to cook, so really this is for me. And Rus. Basically, just us. Your fridge will just have to make room.”
“I almost didn’t see the bags, distracted by that sweater.”
It was definitely a top-tier ugly Christmas sweater with a T-Rex Santa Claus, triceratops reindeer, and raptor elves.
“Cute, right?”
“Uh huh.” Kaiden pushed the screen door open, holding it while Dylan carried easily a week’s worth of food into the house.
Kaiden made a point to provide for himself, to prove he could handle this, and while he didn’t find Dylan’s assistance undermining, he also didn’t want to become dependent on it. So much of his life revolved around believing he had no choice but to rely on his family, trust his family, believe his family when they convinced him he needed them and couldn’t do anything on his own.
And yes, his relationship with Dylan and Rus was one of equals, of trust, of love. But Kaiden didn’t want anything like his lack of providing for himself to sour their connection.
“So, what’re you going to cook me?”
“Spaghetti and meatballs.” Dylan wiggled his eyebrows. “The most suggestive dish.”
“Limp noodles and squishy balls?” Kaiden countered playfully. “That is quite the suggestion.”
“Oop.” Dylan snorted. “I didn’t think that through. Okay, we’re eating hard noodles, so the suggestive dish works.”
“Or we actually have a good meal, and you can show me something hard later.”
“Deal.”
With that, Kaiden helped put away groceries while Dylan started cooking their late lunch or early dinner. While Kaiden unpacked, he found a large gift-wrapped box.
“No,” he whined. “No, no, no. You know I don’t do good gifts.”
