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“Let’s wait to get the full story before you spiral anymore. Akio doesn’t need to see you like this. He needs a friend he can lean on, not someone who’s got their arms up and ready to fight. There will be a time for that, just not now.”
I let my shoulders relax, my body sagging into the counter. He’s right. I can’t fight his battles for him. At least not yet.
My men help me cook and get the house ready for our guests. I’m surprised they’re going along with this, but I’m glad. I think they know Akio is just like Evie to me. I love him like a friend and brother, nothing more.
When the doorbell rings, I race to answer it. Grabbing the door handle way too hard, I throw myself at Akio, who is much closer than expected, and we nearly tumble down the front steps.
Luckily, Havoc is there to help balance me, and Adrian helps Akio. While they both look a little sad, they don’t seem as devastated as Akio sounded on the phone. I know he’s probably trying to put on a front right now, and I want to hug him until he drops it. He doesn’t have to do that here.
“I’ll help with the bags,” Arrow offers. Havoc joins him and Adrian as I pull Akio through the doorway and start walking him to their room. He holds on tight to my hand.
“We put you in the opposite wing as us because Havoc was terrified I was going to try to add the two of you to our throuple.”
Akio snorts, although not as loudly as I did when Havoc suggested such a thing. When we get to their room, I open up the door and shout,
“Surprise!”
I might have Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-ed the room just a tad. Akio's mouth drops open as he takes it all in, tears forming in his eyes immediately.
“No, no, no,” I say as I run to him. We both move to sit on the end of the bed as he wipes at his cheeks. “This was supposed to make you smile or laugh. Not cry.”
He chuckles, using his shirt to collect the fallen tears.
“They are happy tears, I can assure you.”
His words are in English and spoken very well. He grins at the shocked look I probably have on my face.
“I have been practicing so that I could talk to Havoc and Arrow when I visited at some point.”
I nudge him and his cheeks turn pink.
“You’re the best. No wonder they’re worried you will steal me away.”
He wraps an arm around me and pulls me into him. I hold him there, gently squeezing to tell him I love him no matter what.
When he pulls back with a sigh, he stands to swipe a chocolate-covered strawberry from the dresser. All sorts of chocolate-dipped treats line every surface I could put them on. Pretzels, homemade marshmallows, and even spoons dipped in chocolate and sprinkles just for fun.
“Why all of this?” he asks.
“Chocolate is the cure to everything, especially with you. I’ll never forget when you shared yours with me in class. I had the most awful period cramps in my life, and you told me chocolate was the secret to happiness.”
I take one of the marshmallows from the night stand as a sad smile crosses his features.
“My mother used to tell me that.”
“Really?” I ask, stuffing my mouth full of the heavenly sugar and groaning as it melts on my tongue.
He grins as my cheeks puff out, and I nearly choke with laughter. By the time I swallow, the mood has shifted back to a gray cloud.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He turns around to stare into the mirror, an odd look coming over him I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
“The reason my mother used to say that chocolate was the key to happiness, was because it was the only thing that would change my mood when I had periods as a young girl.”
A young girl?Oh, I see now. Akio is trans.
“Is it bad that I’m jealous that you no longer have those? I could have chosen to not keep them when I was sterilized. But my dumb ass decided that it would make me feel like I didn’t just give up a huge part of my life.”
