9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Bennett

"We need to make a grocery store run after breakfast."

Setting a small glass of orange juice in front of Lucas, I heard a key in my front door and braced for Hurricane Seth. We hadn't touched base since we'd left each other in the movie theater parking lot on Friday night.

"Benny, you will not believe this alpha I met at the club," Seth called loudly. "And please, for the love of all that is holy, tell me you have coffee on."

Lucas had a clear view from the dining room chair he was perched on, into my small living room and the front door. He was staring wide-eyed at Seth, ignoring his breakfast.

Seth came to a standstill, staring back at Lucas. "Benny, there's a small person in your house."

"I'm aware." Sipping my coffee, I inclined my head to the fresh pot. "You know where the coffee is."

Seth was still wearing his clothes from Friday night, his dark hair a crow's nest on his head. His eyeliner was smeared under his eyes like a raccoon. He made his way across my kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee, his eyes never leaving Lucas.

Sitting down across from the child, Seth stared for another full minute, like he was trying to figure out if he had forgotten I had a child, or one had magically appeared when he wasn't looking. Lucas took a bite of his scrambled eggs and stared back, unblinking.

"Hello, small person, I'm Seth. The best friend. And who might you be? Better yet, who do you belong to?"

Lucas giggled but waited until he had swallowed his food before responding. Not for the first time, I noticed how impeccable his manners were. "I'm Lucas."

"Did the stork leave you for Bennett?" Seth inquired, his voice serious.

Lucas giggled again. "No. That's silly. Storks don't bring little kids."

"Seth, stop it," I ordered. "Lucas and his dad are staying with me for the time being."

Seth sat back in his chair, resting his coffee mug against his chest. "This I gotta hear. Wait. Is it G rated, or do we need to cover little ears?"

"I'm helping them out." Biting into my toast, I swallowed, before adding, "Lucas's dad is Asher's brother."

"The fuck?" Seth sat up straight at that piece of information, nearly spilling his coffee on his shirt.

"Language." I admonished him, while Lucas just ate his eggs, thankfully ignoring the curse word .

"Did the boss man know his brother and nephew were coming to town?" Seth worked as Asher's nurse in his pediatric practice.

"No, it was rather a surprise, I believe." Reaching over with my napkin, I wiped a bit of ketchup off the corner of Lucas's mouth. He had insisted he couldn't possibly eat scrambled eggs without ketchup.

"Bennett, what is going on?" Seth demanded, never one for being left out of any tea if he could help it. Especially when it pertained to one of his bosses.

Nodding my head towards the glass slider doors behind me that led out to my large back yard, I picked up my coffee mug. "Lucas, we are going to be right out there. You'll be able to see us if you need anything. Finish your breakfast, and after that we'll go to the store, okay? We need to get some stuff for your daddy, for when he wakes up."

"Okay, Bennett." He was such a great kid, and my heart swelled with something each time I looked at him. And he was being so brave through all of this. He hadn't had one temper tantrum. I knew he had to be scared, so I tried to explain as much as I could to him, about all that was going on. It helped that he could peek in and see Shay with his own eyes, whenever he wanted.

I hadn't missed the joy in his blue eyes this morning when I had told him Shay had been awake just a few hours before and was much more lucid. That his dad would probably be awake longer today and he would get to lay on the bed next to him for a while, if he wanted. That maybe we could even make a bed for Shay on the couch and they could watch a movie or something together.

Once I slid the door shut, I settled in my patio swing, rocking it gently with my foot on the concrete slab. Seth sprawled in one of the patio chairs, wincing at the bright morning sunlight. Unhooking his sunglasses from where they rested at the vee of his shirt, he slid them over his eyes.

"What the fuck is even happening right now, Bennett?"

"Look, if you're going to disappear for a weekend with a random alpha, you're going to miss a lot." Smirking, I sipped my coffee.

Even behind the tinted lenses, I could see him roll his blue eyes at me. Flipping me off, he huffed, "Don't start. I have needs. And I needed that alpha's ginormous dick. It was worth it. Even if I can't walk without wincing for a week. Now, I need the tea. You're the one who brought a strange alpha and his kid home. Where is this mysterious Pierce brother, by the way?"

Opening my mouth, I snapped it shut, hiding my unease by gulping another mouthful of coffee. This wasn't my story to tell, not even to my bestie. For Shay–and Lucas's sake–even Asher's, I needed to proceed with caution. It wasn't that I didn't trust Seth, because I did. One hundred percent. With my secrets. But these weren't my secrets.

"This was the emergency Carrie called me about Friday night," I finally told him. "Shay, that's his name, passed out in the emergency room lobby. He's pretty sick, and he has his child with him, and Asher is out of town, as you know."

"Weird Asher didn't know they were coming," Seth commented, then shrugged. "But he never really talks about his brother. I mean, he's mentioned having a little brother in passing sometimes. In conversations. Not sure he ever mentioned his name. Definitely don't remember him mentioning a nephew."

"I'm not sure what the story is there." That didn't really give anything away. The Pierce brothers were obviously estranged, but if Asher wanted to share that with Seth, that was his business not mine. "Asher and Gabe are on their way home. I expect them later today. Tristan has an ear infection so it's making the drive longer than it normally would be with two little ones. And I told them to take their time."

"And you what? Just brought them home with you?" Seth was clearly skeptical. He sat up, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. Waving a hand in my general direction, he demanded, "What's going on, Benny? What aren't you telling me? You're all flushed and…glowing. It's fucking weird."

"Nothings going on," my voice rose an octave. "I'm just helping out Asher. Shay didn't need to be admitted to the hospital but really can't take care of himself right now, and there was Lucas to think of."

Seth stared at me hard, his lips pursed together in a tight line, his eyeliner smudged, raccoon looking eyes clearly telling me he thought I was full of shit. "Don't fucking lie to me, Bennett. We've been friends for how long now? Five years? You're acting squirrely as fuck."

I huffed out air between my teeth, glancing over to see Lucas eating his breakfast at the table. He turned to look at me and I smiled and waved. He smiled back, then went back to eating. Seth was my best friend. We shared practically everything. He knew all about my life, my childhood, all my secrets that I didn't readily share with just everyone.

"Okay, if I tell you this, you have to promise to not say a word to anyone." My voice was low. I didn't know if Lucas could hear us or not. The glass was thick on the doors, but Lucas was a shifter like Seth and me. I wasn't sure what kind, some kind of big cat from his scent. I knew Asher was a cheetah, and it was possible that's what Shay and Lucas were. Either way, shifters had incredible hearing. And Lucas did not need to hear this .

"Who am I going to tell?" Seth joked.

"I'm fucking serious, Seth. Not a word to anyone. Especially Asher. Or anyone in your office. Not Jax or Janet. No. One." I loved Seth like the brother I didn't have, but the guy loved his office gossip. His motto was I love the tea, as long as I'm not involved in the tea.

He searched my face for a minute, before nodding and telling me quietly, "I promise, Benny."

"I didn't just bring Shay and Lucas here to help out Asher," scraping my teeth over my bottom lip, I ran a finger around the rim of my coffee mug. "Shay is…Shay and I are…I think we are fated mates."

Seth stared at me in stunned silence, before whispering, "Holy. Fuck. Balls."

"Yeah. That." I agreed. Through the glass, I saw Lucas carry his plate to the sink. I needed to go inside and get him dressed for the day. We really did need to get to the store before it got any later, and busy with people.

"Have you two done the dirty?" Seth questioned, standing up when I did.

"What? No!" Wrinkling my forehead at him, I headed inside. "Did you miss the part where I said the man is ill? Do you ever stop thinking with your dick?"

"Not if I can fucking help it, no," he assured me. "That's what your twenties are for, Benny. Making dumb decisions with your dick. Now, what are you planning to do about–?" He tossed his head in the general direction of my bedrooms, as he slid the door closed once we were both back inside.

"Nothing," I told him, smiling at Lucas. He was attempting to wash his hands at the kitchen sink, and I went over to supervise, then helped him dry them. "Get changed out of your jammies, and we'll head to the store. Call if you need help."

He nodded, then raced to get dressed. He seemed overly excited over a trip to the grocery store, but I had probably been that excited at his age too.

"What do you mean nothing?" Seth demanded, rinsing his cup in the sink and putting it in my dishwasher.

"Just that. Look, Shay has a ton of stuff going on in his life that he needs to work out, and we haven't exactly had a chance to even talk about it. He may not even want–" I didn't finish the sentence.

"If you were about to say he may not even want you, you stop that nonsense right now," Seth ordered. "You're a fucking catch, Bennett, and you know it. He'd be a dumbass to not want you."

"There's just a lot he has to work through first," I said quietly. "Before you ask, it's not my story to tell. I need you to respect that. When and if I can tell you, I will. Just trust me, us being fated mates is about the last thing Shay needs to deal with at the moment."

Seth pulled me into a hug. "Okay, but just so you know, if he hurts you, he has to deal with me."

Hugging him back, I nodded, not saying anything.

Already I knew Shay had the ability to hurt me, without him intending to. Already I could feel myself starting to fall for him, and Lucas, because they were a package deal. Nothing good could come of us being fated. Not in the here and now, present, anyway.

And it was going to hurt like hell when they moved on with their lives. Because they would have to move on, to be able to move forward .

My brain knew this, but my heart? My heart wasn't listening to the rational side of myself at all.

My heart was already falling for the blond alpha asleep in my bed, and his sweet, dark-haired son.

Lucas stared around the big box store with wide eyes. As much as I hated Wal-Mart it was the cheapest option for all the items I needed. Testing the cart, I made sure the wheels were decent. Nothing set my teeth on edge more than listening to the wheels of the cart squeak loudly my entire shopping trip.

Lucas had held my hand walking in from the parking lot, and now his little hand wrapped tightly around the top of the side of the metal cart.

"Ready?" I asked him, showing him my list. "We have a lot of stuff we need."

He nodded solemnly, still gawking as we moved straight to the fruit and produce section. "Like what?"

"Well, we need stuff to make chicken noodle soup." I told him, looking over the celery and then adding carrots to the cart. "I have a crock pot recipe, and nothing is better when you are sick than chicken noodle soup."

"Will it make daddy feel better?"

"I hope so. The medicine is helping." Shay had been sleeping again when I had gone to grab some clothes from my room. He'd had his dose of medicines about an hour before Lucas had woken up. His coughing seemed better, not as violent and less frequent, and his breathing was less wheezy. "And your Uncle Asher should be home later this afternoon."

Lucas walked beside me as I slowly moved down the fresh veggie section, grabbing things here and there. Cucumbers, fresh cilantro. Then some lemons, limes, and oranges.

"Is he nice?" Lucas questioned, his voice hesitant.

"Your uncle?"

He nodded his dark head, his eyes straying over to the banana display. "Do you like bananas? I love them."

He nodded again but didn't ask for them. I picked a bunch that were still green, knowing they would be ripe by morning. "And yes, your Uncle Asher is very nice. So is his mate, Gabe. They live right across the street from me, in that big house. And you have two baby cousins. Oh, and you know what else?"

He shook his head, still looking around the store with eyes full of wonder, taking it all in. The store was starting to get busy, with all the shoppers just getting out of church services. "They have a swimming pool! This will be the first summer they can use it since it got finished. Your Uncle Gabe is a bear shifter, and he likes to play in the water."

That got a small smile from Lucas, and I asked, "Do you like to swim?"

He nodded, "Daddy taught me. We have a pool. "

"Pools seem fun." Fun, but a whole ton of maintenance and upkeep I just didn't have time to deal with. Though Asher and Gabe said I was welcome to come over and swim anytime I wanted this summer. They really had been wonderful neighbors since I had moved into my little rental.

We pushed the cart to the meat section, and I grabbed some fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts. My freezer was pretty stocked, but I hadn't thought to thaw anything last night. "I never had a pool growing up. I'm not a great swimmer, but I like to float in the water. Maybe you can teach me."

He giggled but nodded his head. "Daddy could teach you. He's a good teacher."

"Maybe I'll ask him." The thought of Shay teaching me to swim, with his hands on my wet, naked skin, had my cheeks heating right in the meat section of the store. Better to think of something–anything–else. "Is there anything special you want to eat, Lucas? Some kind of snack?"

"What do they have?" he asked. "I've never been to a store before."

Keeping my eyes fixated on the choices of frozen hamburger in front of me, I did my best to keep my voice steady. "You've never been to a grocery store? How did you get your food?"

"Maria and Albert got it for us," he told me, matter-of-factly, like it wasn't strange that someone his age had never been inside a grocery store before. "Daddy and I were only allowed to go to the library. And my doctor appointments. Sometimes we went to my Granddad's for dinner or a holiday."

Closing my eyes for a second, I took a small, steadying breath, pushing the weird ache in my chest aside.

"Did you go to school? "

He shook his head, moving beside me as we turned down another aisle. "Papa Edward wanted to send me to some school far away, but daddy wouldn't let him. They had a really bad fight about it. They were really loud so I heard them, even in my room. The next day, daddy had a bruise on his face, like now but not as bad. And he said he would be homeschooling me. He taught me to read, and I was learning my numbers and stuff. I told you, he's a really good teacher."

Smiling wanly at him, I whispered around the lump in my throat, "I'm sure he is."

My heart hurt for this sweet little boy and his alpha dad. Shay had protected this child at the cost of so much to himself. I had so many questions about Edward and their life. But Lucas did not need to see how his innocent words affected me. Or just how much he was telling me, without saying hardly anything at all. Blinking my eyes rapidly to stop the tears I could feel there from falling, I changed the subject back to getting our groceries. Making a game of having Lucas gather the items from the shelves and putting them in the cart. It added time to how long it would normally take me, but it was a small price to pay to see the joy on his face from this tiny thing.

Showing him how to put his feet on the front of the bottom of the cart, and to hold on with his hands, I pushed us over to the toy section. Because if anyone deserved a new toy, Lucas did. Seeing all the toys around us, he jumped down when I stopped the cart.

"You've been a great helper today, so as a reward you can pick one toy." Though I knew if his eyes lit up on more than one toy, I would without a doubt, toss it in the cart.

I'd seen the contents of his small backpack when Becks had dropped it off, after retrieving it from the truck Shay had been driving. Lucas had given us a great description of the vehicle, and Shay's keys had been in his personal effects from the hospital.

The truck was sitting in my driveway right now, having been driven over by Brendan Sinclair, Asher's best friend. It had been Brendan, his brother, Jamie, and Becks who had helped get Shay into my car, and then my house.

Asher had called Brendan to help me, and he had brought backup in the form of his brother. Becks, being Jamie's best friend, had gotten roped into helping too, and I would be eternally grateful for that. Though I was sure Becks was also looking for any clues he could find out about Shay and his situation.

Lucas had some clothes, two well-worn books, some coloring books, and his stuffed rabbit. Shay didn't have much more with him.

"What can I get?" Lucas ran a finger over a superhero figurine, then moved onto a dinosaur.

"Whatever you want. There's a couple of aisles to choose from."

We wandered through the rows of toys, and I enjoyed watching Lucas look over everything. He wasn't someone who made snap decisions. He seemed to weigh the pros and cons of each thing that caught his eye, before moving along.

Finally, he halted in front of the play doh display, staring with excited eyes. "Do you like play doh? I always loved it as a kid. There was something about the way it squished in my hands I liked. That and all the different things you can make with it."

"There's so many to choose from," he whispered, reaching out to touch one set then another. "Papa Edward said I couldn't have it, because it's too messy. Though he didn't have to clean, Maria did that, so Daddy said he didn't see what it mattered to him."

Something told me there might have been a fight about play doh that Lucas had heard, by the way his voice sounded, and the way he was softly touching each set, then drawing his fingers back.

"I think if we keep it at the kitchen table it will be fine," I told him, and he turned to look at me with large eyes. "It's pretty easy to clean up. Do you want to try it out?"

He nodded so quickly, I almost laughed. "Pick a set, and we'll get a starter of the dough."

Placing an eighteen pack of different colored tubes of dough in the cart, I waited patiently while he decided on his choice. Finally, he picked an ice cream set that came with all kinds of various tools and different molds.

"This one, please." He handed it to me, and I looked it over.

"This looks like it has lots of things you can make." Putting it in the cart, I nodded for him to climb back on so I could push us to the check out.

"Thank you," he told me, a huge smile on his face. "This was fun."

"You're welcome. Would you like to help make the soup for your dad?"

"Can I? Maria sometimes let me help her do stuff in the kitchen. She always let me dump the chocolate chips in the dough and lick the brownie spoon."

"I think you'd be a big help to me. I'll chop and you can put them in the pot. How does that sound?"

"I can do that."

He seemed to enjoy helping me unload the cart, and the entire check out process fascinated him, his eyes watching sharply as the checker ran each item over the scanner. I winced at the total, but I had bought extra stuff for lunches, since I was going to be home. And if I had thrown in stuff for Lucas I wouldn't normally buy, fruit snacks and some juices, that was my business.

Pulling into my driveway, I popped the trunk, then handed Lucas the bag with his toys inside. Loading my arms down, because I liked to play the how-many-bags-can-I-carry-at-once-game, I managed to get the front door unlocked without losing my grip on any of the bags.

Only to be met by one nearly naked, brawny, angry alpha.

"Where have you been with my son?" he growled.