Page 44 of Forged

Bax smiled and lifted to his toes to kiss Nick, but his heart flopped. “I’ll pour us some drinks,” he said, then peeled away.

“Just water for me,” Nick said, dousing his hopes for a romantic night even more. “I’ll need to be on top of my game if the kids wake up sick in the middle of the night.”

“Whatever you want,” Bax said, though it was harder to keep his smile in place.

They puttered around the kitchen, settling in for a painfully ordinary evening. Just before he sat down, Bax found his phone and discovered he had a message waiting. A message from Callum.

“I know you’re not desperate to join a new coven, but we’re starting our Ostara prep, and again, we’d love, love, love you to come join us.”

Bax swallowed hard and stared at his phone. Ostara and any number of other ceremonies and celebrations with a bunch of free-spirited, like-minded men without the encumbrance of small children or snot, nappies, frozen pizza…and Nick?

“Are you joining me?” Nick asked, patting the spot beside him on the couch.

“Yeah, just a second,” Bax said.

He turned his back to Nick and quickly typed a return message to Callum. “I’ll think about it.”

He let his hand hover over his phone for a second. It felt wrong. It felt like cheating. Even though it wasn’t a romantic invitation. It was a coven, a spiritual group that he could belong to. Nick could join him, if he wanted to. It wasn’t a competing relationship. It would have been the same if someone had invited him to join the parish church choir.

Except it wasn’t and Bax knew it.

He sucked in a breath, hit send, then put his phone face down on the table and hurried away to join Nick on the couch.

“This is cozy, isn’t it?” Nick asked, tired and a little uncertain, if Bax was reading him right.

“Yeah, sweetheart,” Bax said, cuddling up to Nick’s side because he knew Nick needed it. “This is fine.”

His heart sank. It wasn’t fine. None of this was what he wanted. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to make this work.

FOURTEEN

Nick didn’t knowwhat he was doing. Relationships were supposed to bring peace and fulfillment to someone’s life. Raina had made his life infinitely better just by being a part of it. Bax made him extraordinarily happy, too, in so many ways. Thanks to Bax he was discovering an entirely different side of himself, a part that had always been there but had been dormant until now.

And it felt like everything was falling apart.

He’d only just managed to be a dad, a teacher, and an artist. Now he was trying to be a good boyfriend, too, and instead of making his life better, he felt like he was constantly a half-inch away from falling apart.

“You look tired, dear,” his mum told him two weeks after his disastrous night with Bax.

It hadn’t actually been disastrous. Yes, their plans had been forced to change and the kids had been sick, but in the end, he and Bax had spent a low-key evening cuddled up on the couch before going to bed, to sleep only, in Nick’s bed. Jordan had woken up once during the night, but he’d been able to handleit without waking Bax. Or, at least, if Bax had woken up, he’d rolled over and gone straight back to sleep.

What a wonderful thing it would be to get a full night’s sleep!

“Iamtired, Mum,” Nick said as he hoisted the kids’ nappy bag over his shoulder and scooped Macy into one arm so he could carry her downstairs to his mum’s car. “I’m a single father of two kids with a full class schedule this session and a sculpture that’s just been officially entered in the competition that’s happening in less than two months. I’m exhausted.”

He didn’t add that he was also juggling a new relationship that he desperately wanted to work. His mum would only glare at him. She knew, of course, but she still didn’t fully accept that he was bi and in a relationship with a man.

She glared at him anyhow as she carried Jordan down to Hawthorne House’s family parking lot. One day soon, Nick knew he would have to sit his mum down and have the talk with her about how he and Bax were officially dating and how that wasn’t going to change anytime soon, so she needed to accept it and treat them both accordingly.

He wondered why he hadn’t talked to her about that already. Did that mean he wasn’t convinced that he and Bax would last?

“Darling, I know you think I’m beating a deceased equine, but whenever you’re ready for the children to come live with me, you know you need but say the word,” his mum said once they had the kids secure in their car seats.

“Yes, Mum, I know,” Nick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I haven’t changed my mind. The answer is still no. They’re my kids, I’ll raise them.”

His mum pursed her lips and stared at him before relenting with an impatient breath. “Well, if you ever feel you need more time for your art,” she said, then narrowed her eyes slightly and added, “Or anything else.”

“Alright, enough. Have a good day, you two,” he said, leaning down to wave to his babies through the backseat car window.