Page 36 of Xavier

“Apparently, his kid was saying that after a year, you should really start thinking about marriage. And I guess Xavier found that kind of funny and joked with me about it.”

“Did hesayhe didn’t want to get married?”

“Well, he’s been married before.”

“That’s not exactly answering my question,” Quinn said.

“His face told me plenty.”

“I think I see what’s going on.” He lifted himself up from the bag and headed over to me, hands on his hips. “You got all up in your head again.”

That had me frowning.

He went on. “Gage, you gotta stop doing that. You’re getting your own feelings hurt and there’s probably no reason for it. What if hedoeswant marriage in the future?”

“You should’ve seen his face, man. It wasn’t—he thought it was ridiculous.”

“Maybe you just filled in the blanks for him,” he suggested.

Frustration was rising in my chest.

It felt like I was talking in circles. I knew what I saw when I was watching Xavier talk to me about it. His tone, the way he phrased things. All of it, coupled with his expression when he’dasked me ifIthought about marriage was like all one big joke to him.

Why wouldn’t it be when the last time he was bound to someone legally, it ended in a flaming pile of shit?

If I were in Xavier’s shoes, I’d run for the damn hills anytime someone mentioned the ‘M’ word to me.

“Yo! Gage!” Zander’s face appeared in the doorway. “You got a couple of guests out here waiting for you.”

My stomach flipped.

Probably Xavier here with Dexter to tour the place.

Now that his son knew we were dating, he was probably going around on a grand tour of all my usual spots. On any other normal day, I’d be hyped to show them both around the place I spent ninety-nine percent of my time at.

Today, I was tempted to hide in the bathroom and beg Quinn and Zander to make up some excuse as to why I wasn’t here.

Dragging myself up from my chair with a sigh, I shuffled out to the hallway and followed Zander back to the main garage. A few of my coworkers were all gathered around one of the front side doors, most likely welcoming Xavier and Dexter in.

Captain Clarke was nowhere to be seen, which was out of the norm for him when it came to new guests at the fire station. Usually, he was first on scene.

Quinn slapped his hands on my shoulders from behind me and steered me toward the group, speeding me up from how I’d been dragging my feet along the concrete floor. As soon as we reached them, the group parted, smiling faces all turning to face me.

In the middle of it all wasnotmy boyfriend and his teenaged kid.

But myown brothers.

Instantly, my eyes began to water. “What the...”

“Surprise!” Asher grinned, throwing his arms around me first. Over his shoulder, I could see Greyson smiling at us in amusement, holding a medium-sized box in his arms.

I wrapped Asher up in a tight hug, not believing that he was actually here in the damn flesh. Thateitherof them were.

“When the hell did you guys get in?” I said. “When did you get time off?”

And how the hell did they coordinate behind my back?

As Asher pulled away, he stepped to the side while snagging the box from his brother’s hold. Greyson came next, hugging me tight enough to practically snap my bones in half.

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