Page 44 of His Boys to Protect

“Oh, yeah,” Skylar rushed to assure him, forcing on a smile. When Ward didn't look immediately convinced, Skylar added, “Charlie can't stand on differing surfaces.” He pointed at the ground. Between the sidewalk and the street, there were narrow greenbelt sections where trees grew, but on that block, the greenbelt was all bricked over. Charlie had likely felt the difference between the bricks and the concrete without even looking, but now he stood firmly on the latter.

Ward frowned, looking confused.

Shit. Did that bother the man? Skylar scrambled to explain, “It's a sensory thing. It's like being bombarded with too much information at once.”

“Oh.” Ward gave a simple nod and looked down at Charlie. His expression turned fond, a soft smile playing on his lips.

Damn it. Skylar's chest felt tight with both envy and relief.

“Oooh, look at that!” someone exclaimed.

Charlie tried to whirl around to see what they were talking about, so Skylar and Ward followed suit, keeping hold of Charlie's hands as they all turned to gaze across the street.

“I love that one,” Ward said, nodding at the display on the house across from them. Instead of lights, the trees in front of the house had oversized ornaments hanging suspended from what looked like fishing line. The lines were almost invisible in the dark, so the ornaments appeared to be floating in midair. When the slight breeze made the ornaments sway and rotate, they caught the nearby glow of streetlamps and Christmas lights alike, reflecting it all back in twinkling flashes. “They do that every year,” Ward went on.

Charlie gave a long, drawn-outsqueak.

Ward smiled. “You like that one?”

Charlie bounced in place and nodded.

Ward's smile grew into a grin.

Fuck. Skylar had to turn away again, blinking hard.

They all continued down the street, stopping to admire more of the displays. There were Christmas lights everywhere, not to mention various lawn displays. One wrought iron fence bore artfully draped garland interspersed with wreaths, while another dripped with fake icicles. One lawn was packed with holiday-themed inflatables: Santa, snowmen, reindeer, and more. Then there was the light blue house bearing a sign that readThe Home of Ebeneezer Scrooge. No sign of Scrooge himself, though. Skylar wished he could have seen that.

A tiny voice in the back of his mind whispered,Maybe next year. Except he knew that was impossible. Skylar would be long gone by then. He shook his head, banishing the voice before he could hope.

Another house played Christmas music through some speakers placed out on the porch. Charlie raced towards it, tugging Skylar and Ward along with him. They all came to a stop, and Charlie closed his eyes. He bounced in place and let out an erratic series of noises, completely off-beat with the song though he was clearly trying to match the tune.

Skylar couldn't stop staring at him, knowing how much he was going to miss things like this.

A couple walked past them, eyeing Charlie with thinly veiled disgust on their faces. Thank goodness, Charlie still had his eyes closed and couldn't see it.

“Freak,” one of the pair muttered before they got out of earshot.

Skylar tensed just as Charlie's squeaks instantly died.Oh no you didn't.

Before Skylar could do anything, he saw Ward move. The big man squared his shoulders and straightened to his full height. He opened his mouth, then paused just barely before yanking his hand free of Charlie's grasp and using both hands to cover Charlie's ears instead.

“Hey,” he barked at the passing couple. “Mind your own business.”

The pair scurried over to their car and took off down the street.

Skylar stared at Ward as a swell of emotion crashed through him.Bloody god-damned effing hells.In that moment, he felt himself fall a little bit in love with Ward.

Criminy. Who was he kidding? He'd been falling little by little from the first moment he'd laid eyes on the man, and it had only gotten worse with every moment they'd spent together. But seeing the way Ward leaped to Charlie's defense?

Yep, I'm totally screwed.

Charlie whimpered.

Skylar gasped, yanked out of his thoughts. He held tight to Charlie's hand and turned to look at him. “Charlie? You okay?”

Charlie slowly opened his eyes and glanced in Ward's direction.Mad?he signed.

“What's that?” Ward asked.

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