Page 11 of Forged

Bax sucked in a breath—which was probably the wrong thing to do, since it filled his nose with Nick’s smoky scent—and rocked back.

“Shit. I don’t have time to go up to the house and change,” Nick said, almost like the two of them hadn’t had a moment. “Can you take this back up for me?”

He started shrugging out of his costume even before Bax said, “Yeah, sure.”

Bax would have made a joke or said something witty and brilliant about helping Nick to undress, but all the energy had been sucked out of him and even Nick’s brilliant hug hadn’t put it back. He was a man without a coven. He would need a lot more hugs from Nick to replace the part of his soul that had just been ripped out.

FOUR

For the next week,Nick couldn’t get Bax out of his head. He’d been anxious about losing much-needed sculpting time to Robert’s insistence that everyone at Hawthorne House should spend the day pretending to be a medieval peasant, but thanks to Bax, he’d had a lot of fun. He’d been well aware that Bax had been teasing him with the stories he’d made up, but strangely, Nick didn’t mind.

Those fun and games weren’t the reason Nick couldn’t shake Bax off for the next few days, though. As he fed the kids supper once they’d returned from his mum’s, bathed them, then tucked them into bed, he worried that Bax was sitting across the hall in his generic family flat feeling alone. As he took a moment to play with the kids the next day, he hoped that Bax had someone to make him smile and laugh. As the week wore on and he instructed his class in a few more advanced techniques for creating balustrades, he found himself wondering if Bax was sitting by himself in one of Hawthorne House’s unused offices or if he had company while he reviewed the arts center’s books.

It all boiled down to those text messages Bax had received when the two of them had been standing there after filming.Nick might not have been the most savvy person on the planet when it came to emotions, but he knew sadness and disappointment when he saw it. Bax had lost a load of friends all at once, and as cheery and cheeky as he seemed most of the time, Nick could see that it bothered him.

He was concerned about his friend feeling alone and unloved, that was all. It was the same concern Raina had had for him when she’d approached him at uni and invited him out for drinks with a few of her friends.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly like that. He’d ended up marrying Raina. That definitely wouldn’t happen with Bax. Bax wasn’t his type at all. Bax was a man, for one, and he wasn’t attracted to?—

That train of thought was cut completely short as he glanced up from his work in the forge and spotted Bax jogging along the path that ran through the Renaissance Faire village. It was early in the morning on the Saturday after the filming day and Nick was up early and working on the unicorn. The forge was hot, so he’d rolled some of the canvas sides up to ventilate the area a bit better, which gave him a beautiful view of the surrounding vistas. It was still January and chilly, but the weather had warmed up a tiny bit.

That was probably why Bax was jogging in shorts, his pink legs exposed to the elements. He wore a long-sleeved shirt that was already a bit sweaty and clinging to his torso, which told Nick he’d been out running for a while. He really was fit for an accountant. That wasn’t the first morning Nick had seen him out jogging or walking around the estate early in the morning. He was reasonably certain the way Bax always went outside before dawn every day had something to do with his faith, but he hadn’t asked about it.

As soon as Bax jogged out of his view, Nick started. He hadn’t realized he’d been staring. He hadn’t realized the sight of Bax jogging was something worth staring at. Bax was objectivelyhandsome, though. There was nothing unusual about noticing an objectively handsome man.

Except once again, he couldn’t shake Bax from his thoughts as he finished some of the fine details of his unicorn head and set his work aside. Maybe Bax was running from something. Maybe he needed someone to run after him and let him know everything would be okay, that life went on after loss. Nick knew all about that.

He forced himself to concentrate on cleaning up the forge and securing the fires so they would be ready later, if he could find the time to come back and work. He needed to get back up to the house and see to his kids. His sister-in-law Rebecca was looking out for them at the moment, but she had to go out, most of the other Hawthornes were busy that weekend, and he couldn’t keep relying on his mum to do his parenting for him. Besides, he wanted to be a good dad, and a good dad prioritized his kids over his art.

He was adamant about that, but it didn’t stop him from glancing wistfully back over his shoulder at the pieces of his unicorn before leaving the forge and treading back up to the house.

“Daddy! Daddy!” The kids were full of energy and greeted him enthusiastically once he made it back to his flat.

“Alright?” he greeted them with a laugh, picking Jordan up when he charged right into his leg. “Let Daddy have a shower before you go throwing yourself at me.”

“Daddy, I want crumpets and jam,” Jordan told him.

“You can have crumpets and jam,” he said, his heart filling with love for the simple wishes of his babies.

“Um, no they can’t,” Rebecca said, coming out of the kitchen with Macy in her arms. “You’re out, love. You’re out of almost everything. When was the last time you went shopping?”

Nick answered with a sigh. Buying groceries was one more thing that seemed to fall through the cracks as he tried to juggle all the balls. Delivery services didn’t like to go all the way out to Hawthorne House either.

“I guess we know what we’re doing today,” he told Jordan. “Just let Daddy shower first.”

Jordan hugged him then squirmed to get down. Rebecca was alright with staying an extra fifteen minutes as he cleaned himself up, but that was it. He raced through his shower and dressing, then dove into full dad mode.

That was how Bax found him several minutes later, as he carried both kids out into the hall, dragging Macy’s buggy behind him with one foot. Bax had just come out of his flat as well, looking freshly showered himself and smelling like heaven.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Bax said with pretend seriousness, as if they were conducting some sort of secret affair, which was ridiculous, instead of doing normal, everyday things with kids in tow.

He laughed anyhow as he adjusted his hold on Macy to stop her from slipping out of his arms. “We should meet down at the forge where it’s quiet and cozy more often, then,” he joked right back.

It didn’t feel like a joke, though. He wasn’t sure what it felt like. He didn’t want to examine why he’d said it too closely.

Fortunately, Bax laughed. “Do you need help?” he asked, holding out his hands like he would take one of the kids.

“We’re just going to Sainsbury’s to stock up,” Nick said, pulling the buggy around so he could deposit Macy in it, which was a feat of incredible dexterity, considering he had Jordan in his other arm.

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