Chapter Twenty-One

One week later, Kellum blinked open his eyes and stretched his arms over his head. He encountered the wall for a moment and then yawned.

Rolling to his side in the narrow bed, he trailed his eyes over Creed’s sleeping face. The bunker beds were not made for men of Creed’s size to be shared, but they had made it work over the past seven days. The smell of coffee lingered on the air, drifting in from the bunker’s kitchen.

Reaching over the side of the bed, he snagged his briefs from the floor and eased them over his hips. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he rubbed at his face. Creed’s big palm suddenly moved up and down his back and he glanced over his shoulder. Creed sprawled on his back, eyes still closed and hair askew. He’d never looked sexier to Kellum. The man’s arm was stretched out, running over him with a possessive touch, as if he couldn’t bear to be far.

It had been that way every day and night since they’d arrived at the bunker, but Kellum wasn’t sure if what they had would last outside of this place. Here, it was like living in a bubble. They’d taken the kids to the beach, a local fair, as well as the park several times—acting like a family. Kellum couldn’t let that go to his head. Aaron and Dylan already loved Creed with a fierceness that scared Kellum and if he were being honest, he’d fallen in love with Creed too. Well, actually, he’d fallen more in love with him.

He needed to plan.

He needed to get his shit together and figure out what to do with himself and the boys after Durn was taken down.

“Hey.” The sleepy rumble snagged his attention and he shifted around on the bed. Creed’s hand landed on his bare thigh and he linked their fingers. “You’re thinking too hard.”

“Probably.”

Creed eyed him with a squinty lidded look.

“Okay, yeah. I feel like we’re in limbo, you know?”

“Mhmm.” Creed’s thumb rhythmically caressed the top of his fingers. “So, what do you want to do about it?”

“What?” He blinked at Creed in confusion.

“After this is over.” Creed sat up on the bed and the sheet dropped to his waist. The move offered Kellum a glimpse of the tattoo on the man’s chest. Kellum didn’t need to read the words because he’d memorized the short yet powerful creed by tracing the words with his lips.

A man is not finished when he is defeated

he is finished when he quits.

“Kell?”

“Hmm?” He slowly lifted his eyes from Creed’s chest and caught those smokey blues. His stomach flipped and butterflies swirled.

“I want you and the boys to come back to my house after we deal with Durn.”

He sucked in a quick gulp of air. Call him stupid, but he hadn’t expected Creed to say that. Did the man feel sorry for him? Were he and his brothers just a charity case? Creed had a big heart and an empty house, so it made sense that the guy would offer.

“I need to provide on my own…for them.” Kellum ducked his head down.

A long moment of silence followed his words and he darted a glance upward. Creed had turned his eyes from him to the room. Kellum swallowed, fighting back the urge to cry, and he wasn’t sure why the fuck he’d break down now.

“How about this…” Creed started and then stopped.

Kellum held his breath, he desperately wanted Creed to fight for them. Fear paralyzed his own wants and desires for a few moments, but fuck it. If he never took a chance, how would he ever know?

“I know my shortcomings—”

“Let’s date!”

Kellum gasped when his words cut off Creed’s rambling nonsense.

“What?” Creed’s mouth dropped open.

“What?” Kellum scowled. “Shortcomings?” Then he glared, furious, and not hiding it.

“Let’s talk about what you said.” Creed sat up straighter.

“Oh no, by all means, you first,” he hissed through his teeth. “Tell me all about these shortcomings before we commence with anything else.”

Creed’s eyes grew a bit wide at his tone of voice, but Kellum was growing more pissed by the second.

“You want to date me?” Creed mumbled and Kellum couldn’t remember a time when he’d seen Creed this insecure. It was endearing, and he had to brace himself to continue.

“Don’t try and change the subject,” he demanded. “Tell me right now.”

The corner of Creed’s mouth tipped and Kellum wanted to run his fingers through the man’s cropped beard and rumpled hair and he made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. When he tried to leap from the bed, Creed grabbed him around the waist and pinned his struggling form beneath him by quickly rolling over on him.

“Let’s start with our age difference. I’m thirty-eight. You’re twenty-two.”

Kellum stopped struggling to get away and stared up into Creed’s face. He waited a few beats because he could tell that this was something that was bothering Creed.

“You told me that… once you took me and the boys home, you wouldn’t let me go. And then you changed it and said until you’re all completely safe.”

“I did.” Creed nodded and moved to sit up on the edge of the bed.

Freed, Kellum rolled to sit up next to the big guy. Very aware that their bare arms brushed and he wanted nothing more than to climb into Creed’s lap.

“I think you added that last part so you wouldn’t scare me.”

Creed glanced over in surprise and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck with a grimace.

“Didn’t you?” Kellum said, pressing his advantage. He tipped his head sideways to catch the man’s evading eyes.

Creed finally grunted and Kellum took that as a yes.

“So, if that’s the case and you really meant that once I moved in you wouldn’t let me go…why are you all of the sudden bringing up the age thing now?” Kellum swept his hand between them. “You’ve been pursuing me for a while now and don’t try to deny it.”

Creed grunted again and nodded, gazing down at his tightly clenched fists. Kellum reached out and unfolded the closest hand and linked their fingers.

“I guess I got out of my own way. I don’t want you to feel pressured. You’re so young, you haven’t dated.”

“I didn’t date in high school because I had a boyfriend for three years,” he said with considerable amusement.

Creed scowled and Kellum broke out with laughter. “Did you seriously think I was that naive?”

“Twenty-two is really young compared to my almost forty.”

“True. And if you want to throw up that roadblock, I can’t stop you.”

Surprise darkened Creed’s eyes and a line formed between the man’s brow, crow’s feet becoming more prominent at the edges of his eyes.

“All I can tell you is that our age difference doesn’t bother me at all.”

Kellum shrugged and went to rise, but he was caught, lifted, and placed in Creed’s lap. He wiggled in closer and kissed the base of Creed’s throat before he lifted his head and cupped Creed’s face. “So, are we done with this age thing?”

Creed snorted and gave a small nod.

“What else?”

“Huh?”

“You said you wanted us to come back to your house after this was over,” Kellum said.

“And you said you wanted to make it on your own.”

Kellum chewed on his bottom lip. “I changed my mind just now. You can help me.”

When one of Creed’s eyebrows lifted, Kellum rolled his eyes. “I’m allowed to change my mind, you know.”

“I’m well aware.”

“You’re going to get sick of having us around,” Kellum said, and tipped his chin up.

“Says who?” Creed smiled and it reached the man’s eyes just before his head dipped ever so slowly down and he brushed those firm lips against his parted ones.

He couldn’t stop the moan that came from his throat and he cleaved his fingers into Creed’s thick, rich hair. They didn’t hear the patter of children’s feet, but they heard their excited voices coming from down the hall and Kellum groaned.

Creed’s deep chuckle filled the room and they were both scrambling into sweatpants and T-shirts just as Dylan pounded his little hands on their door.

“Cweeeed.”

“It’s a good thing he adds that C at the beginning,” Kellum laughed, dodging the smack to his ass and he opened the door. Dylan bounced in along with Gage and Mason’s son, Joey, and even though Joey was four-years-old and Dylan three, the boys were the same size.

Seven’s brother Joshua and his brand-new boyfriend, Chase, were hanging out with Aaron and while the pair of eighteen-year-olds were six years older than his brother, all three were obsessed with online gaming.

Gage and Mason’s nanny and good friend Jenny had come with the boys and was helping Mary with childcare. Jenny was also a homeschool teacher and since it was now mid-August, she helped Aaron stay up-to-date with his studies.

Kellum and Creed took turns watching the younger boys while they each took showers and a half an hour later, they all headed to the dining area where all team members who were actually onsite, plus the teenagers, gathered.

“Just in time,” Mason said, waving a spatula at them and Kellum dropped into a chair next to Jacob. Creed settled next to him with Dylan in his lap.

“Sorry about turning your bunker into a daycare,” Creed told Ace with an up-nod.

Ace smirked. “If I minded, I would have outsourced.”

“Sowrsed,” Dylan giggled, and noisy laughter filled the room when the rest of them laughed.

When Kellum slipped his hand beneath the table and closed it over the top of his, Creed linked their fingers tightly. He wanted to burn this moment into his memory and create so many more with Kellum at his side.

It was scary to think of how much he stood to lose if things went south.