Page 36 of Reclaiming Kendall

She thanks me before taking a quick sip and turning back to Mav who sits next to her on the couch. Teagan and Grant take up the space on the one across from them, leaving Lucas and I to stand behind them. The last thing I want is for her to feel threatened with all of us being here. However, it doesn't feel right letting Mav deal with it alone, so I stay where I am.

"Mr. Philips," she starts, but Mav interrupts her with instructions not to be so formal, and she starts again, "Maverick, I'm not sure how aware you are of your cousin's custody situation. Your mother has been struggling with him over the past couple of months, seeing as he's been getting in quite a bit of trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" he asks.

She glances to where the rest of us are, "I'm assuming this is your wife, and umm..."

If I wasn't watching, I never would've seen the tick in Mav's jaw, "Yes. That's my wife and partners."

My brain reels with that word. It's the first time we've ever given any kind of classification as to what the guys are to each other. The word fits, but it makes me feel weird as to why we have to clarify in the first place.

She swallows as if to give herself time to think before speaking, "I just had to make sure before I share information regarding William. It's probably good that you're all here together, so we make sure we don't miss anything."

When all of us stay silent, she clears her throat, "As I was saying before, your cousin has been getting into trouble with some of his friends. He's been arrested twice now, and your mother has been able to bail him out. If he gets into trouble one more time, he might be looking at time in the juvenile correctional facility."

That tick is more pronounced in Mav's jaw when he speaks this time, "I can promise you, Ms. Parks, he won't be getting into any kind of trouble here with us."

Another sip of her water, and she hits us with the one thing I've been worried about, "I've been keeping up with your mother's case, and the best-case scenario is that she does a stint in rehab and gets herself clean. Even with that option, it's likely to take months, and William needs a stable place during that time."

"Our home is always open to him," Mav states without hesitation.

Her eyes flick to us then back to him, "Are you sure? You're a young couple. I mean, you've got a young relationship. Do you think this is truly the best place for him?"

Mav's eyebrow shoots up as his lips drop the pretense of a smile straight into a flat line, "Are you asking for the sake of us, or are you implying that because we live a different lifestyle that we are somehow more incapable of looking after him?"

A deep sigh leaves her chest as she pinches her nose between two of her fingers, "Okay, let's just go ahead and address the elephant in the room, because I'm going to be honest with you, Maverick. I've been in this job for a while and dealt with more than you can imagine. Same sex marriages are still frowned upon down here below the bible belt. Your marriage is simply unheard of. I know that legally, you aren't married, so if it becomes a big deal to my supervisors then you can always claim that you live here separately."

Grant's huge body tenses on the sofa in front of me as Teagan leans forward to prop his elbows on his knees. The look on his face makes me wonder if he's trying to find some kind of legal way around this.

But, Mav's voice is calm when he declares, "I won't lie about our life, Ms. Parks. If that's what you came here to tell me, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm the only other family that Will has other than the piece of shit that left him for dead last time, and we both know that you've got more kids than you can manage right now. He's perfectly safe and well taken care of here, which is more than I can say for most of the kids that end up in your care. It shouldn't matter who I have in my bed at night."

Her face turns pink in the middle of Mav's speech, but by the end, it's flaming red, and she sputters, "I'm sorry, Mr. Philips. I didn't mean it to come off so rude. You're right, and I personally, have no qualms against anyone's lifestyle as long as the kids are being taken care of. I just had to be sure that was your intention before I left here today."

"So, we get to keep Will?" I blurt out without thinking.

Lucas shakes his head beside me, but doesn't hide his smile, and neither does she, "Yes, ma'am. As long as I can verify that this is acceptable with him..."

Cutting her off midsentence, Will's voice calls out from the top of the staircase, "Yes. I want to stay."

Everyone in the room chuckles except Mav, who is the only one who could probably see him from where he's sitting and doesn't turn. After a few more niceties with Ms. Parks, I walk with Mav to see her to the door. Once it clicks into place behind her, we turn to find Will sitting on the stairs. His dark shaggy hair is way past due for a haircut, and there are holes in the knees of his jeans, which were probably bought that way. It's his light-blue eyes looking first to me then Mav that have me coming to a full stop.

"You didn't have to stand up for me like that," he says after a minute.

Mav stuffs his hands into his slacks as he locks eyes with him, "Don't make me regret this."

Will's face loses all emotion at Mav's words before replying, "I won't. Thank you."

He stands to start back up to the second floor, but I stop him, "You don't have to thank us, Will. Everyone deserves a good family that'll look after each other."

His head drops, letting the shag hide his face. I didn't want to make him cry, but it looks like that's what's going to happen.

"You know what I think?" Grant asks, pulling our attention to where he and the other two stand a couple feet away from us. When no one answers, he smiles, "I say we take a short weekend vacation."

Teagan claps his hands and rubs them together. The sound makes Will's head snap up to them, and his lips twitch as Teagan says, "That is just what we need. Where to? Vegas? The beach?" He waggles his eyebrows at the last suggestion, no doubt, referring to our recent honeymoon. A laugh slips from my lips, and surprisingly Will's, too.

"Why don't we go camping?" Lucas tosses out.

Each one of us nod, some more quickly than others as the thought processes. We haven't been camping in forever, and it would be nice to get away from all the drama and bullshit.

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