Page 89 of Fitch

“Okay, Benj,” I said. “I gotta go. I just had to tell someone.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I slid my phone onto the kitchen counter and wiped my cheeks properly so I could wrap my arms around Dom. He kissed the top of my head. “Let me finish ordering dinner,” he said. “Go and find us something to watch on TV. I’ll join you in a minute.”

I looked up at him, hoping he could see how much I loved him on my face, in my eyes. “Yes, daddy.”

ELEVEN

DOM

TWO WEEKS LATER

I wentto Fitch’s apartment for the first time to deliver a gift. He’d been expecting me, so I could only assume he’d done his best to make sure it was clean and tidy.

And it was.

It was also meagre and dingy, for want of a better word. It was in dire need of fresh paint and new carpet, a whole new kitchenette, but the boys did keep it very clean.

They didn’t have much. Their furniture—a brown couch and a round dining table—looked old, second-hand probably. But it was theirs.

“I told you it was a shithole,” Fitch said, frowning as he looked around, seeing what I was seeing for the first time.

“Hey,” I said, giving his hand a squeeze. “It’s fine. It’s a roof over your head and somewhere to sleep, right? Don’t discredit what you’ve done for yourselves.”

His eyes met mine and he gave me a soft smile. “Well, yes. All that too. But it’s still a shithole.” He leaned up on his tippy toes for a kiss, then looked at my hands. “Did you say you were bringing something?”

“Ah, yes, it’s on its way up.”

Right on cue there was a knock, and when Fitch opened the door, he took one look at the delivery guy and what he was holding. Then he turned to me. “What did you do?”

“You said you didn’t have one,” I replied.

“But a television? Dominic, I can’t... I can’t take that! When you said a gift, I thought you meant a coffee mug with World’s Number One Dad written on it, or something.”

I didn’t want to say the TV wasn’t that expensive, nor was it the biggest or best I could have got him, because they couldn’t even afford one at all. I decided to go modest, and after seeing their flat, I’d made the right call. It was the perfect size for the room.

The delivery guy left the TV and took the empty box with him.

“Ky?” Fitch called out.

I wasn’t even aware that Ky was here, but sure enough, he came out of his room. He seemed to notice me and the television at the same time. “Oh,” he said quietly.

He was quiet by nature, from what I could gather. Taller than Fitch, but that wasn’t difficult; most people were. He was around the same age, thin, good-looking, sandy-coloured hair, with big blue eyes that never missed a thing.

“Can you set it up?” Fitch asked him, holding one of the TV cords.

Ky nodded and got busy, and Fitch gave me a shrug. “Ky’s good with the tech stuff.”

Then he remembered something. “Ooh, come have a look.” Fitch took my hand and led me to one of the doors down the small hall. He opened the door to reveal a bedroom.

There was a double bed with a cheap pine frame and pale blue covers and one old pine bedside stand, which was all fine. But there was also a tripod stand, a ring light, and on the bed, an array of different shaped boxes that contained... yep. Sex toys.

“This is Benji’s room,” Fitch said. “Well, it was. I don’t think he’ll be moving back in, even after the court case is done.”

“I don’t think Nolan wants him to, either,” I allowed. Nolan had never been happier, and I knew exactly how he felt.

“So I might have spent some of that extra money you gave me on something for you,” Fitch hedged. “Well, it’s for both of us... Okay, it’s pretty much just for me but it involves you, so...”

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