“Too true,” she agreed, giving Dex’s biceps a pat. “As long as you’re both happy, we’re happy for you both.”
And Dex was happy. In fact, he hadn’t been this happy in a long time, so he said, “Thanks. Cya is really great. You just have to”—he thought aboutthe rough rocks in Cya’s studio that just needed someone to polish them to make them shine—“tumble them a bit.”
“Oh dear,” Quin said.
Toni shook his head. “You’re too young to talk about your sex life with us. For real, it feels like a criminal offense.”
“No, that’s not—” he chuffed a laugh. “I meant, like, how you tumble stones to smooth them out. Cya has all these boxes in their workshop of ugly, sharp rocks, but then they use the tumblers and grit, and the rocks turn beautiful. The beauty was always there; the rocks just needed someone to look deeper, you know?”
Embarrassed, Dex tucked his hands in his pockets and scuffed the carpet. “Cya’s like that, and maybe I am too. We got rough edges, but we just needed to look past those and see each other’s gooey centers.”
“Really don’t wanna know about twenty-year-old gooey centers,” Toni lamented.
Quin folded her hands on top of her tummy and shook her head in fond exasperation. “I think it’s a very sweet analogy.”
“Thanks,” Dex muttered, shooting Toni a glare. “I’m twenty-two, by the way.”
“And I’m turning thirty this year, so forgive me for wanting to set boundaries,” Toni sniped back.
“Oomph.” Quin winced, hand cupping the underside of her belly. “And now I have to pee again. By gods, can’t this kid keep their heel out of my bladder?”
Dex opened the door for her, and she smiled in thanks, heading to the bathroom. She had the slightest waddle to her gait, and it was just the cutest thing.
Before Dex could follow her out, Toni stood and rounded the desk. “Hey, Dex, hold up.” He ran a hand through his indigo hair, then propped both on his hips as he worked his jaw. “I, uh, just wanted to say thanks.”
That was probably the last thing Dex had expected him to say. “Oh, you’re welcome. Um, for what?”
“With Jude.” Just the way Toni said his partner’s name was pained, like he had to drag it through gravel to release it from his throat. “What you did for him. Thanks.”
“I didn’t—”
“Yeah, you did,” the Elas interrupted, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You were there for him when he needed you, and that means a lot. To both of us.”
Guilt settled low, and Dex looked away. “I didn’t mean—it was an accident, you know, and… I just…”
The smile on Toni’s face looked gouged out by glass. “I know, but you did good, kid. You did real good.”
Unable to stop it, his tail wagged, even as he chewed on the inside of his lip. “Is he—like, um—”
“He’s okay,” Toni said softly, and a wave of sour sadness stung Dex’s nose. “He’s healing up just fine.”
“And”—he swallowed thickly—“and you two?”
The fingers on Dex’s shoulder twitched, then flexed. “We’re gonna be fine too.”
Nodding, Dex hooked his hand on Toni’s forearm, careful not to crush his fin. “I’m sorry, Toni.”
Another blast of grief, and Toni’s black eyes flooded with tears. “Yeah, Dex, me too, man. Me too.”
Maybeit was the wrong thing to do. Maybe it was inappropriate, and Quin would make him watch one of those sexual harassment videos Gem hated. But Dex was willing to risk it, so he threw his arms around the Elas’s shoulders and hugged him tightly.
Tonioomphedin surprise, arms splayed wide and unmoving for only a second before he was banding them around Dex’s waist and squeezing him right back. The older man’s chest hitched, then he trembled, then Dex felt something wet soak into the fur of his neck.
The door opened, and Quin froze like an animal caught in the crosshairs of a hunter. She made to back away, but Dex was already reaching for her, snagging her wrist.
“No, no, no,” she muttered.
“Get in here, Mama,” Dex said.
