It's both comforting to know that they really will love me no matter what and a little disconcerting, because they should be at least a little concerned for their own safety being around me, shouldn't they?
“Didn't North's bond specifically tell you that none of us can hurt each other? Listen, I'm upset for you. That your parents died that way… it sounds horrific for you and them, and it’s such a heavy thing for you to have been carrying for so long. But if you think that I'm thinking of myself in this moment and not you, then clearly I have done something wrong so far in our relationship, Sweetness,” Atlas says to me as though I'm being incredibly dense.
Gabe is more quiet about it, but he still wraps me up in his arms tightly. When I move to pull away from him, he murmurs, “Don't run away from me again. You promised.”
I have to swallow harshly against the lump in my throat, but I nod to him, turning away to swipe a hand over my eyes to banish any errant tears that might think about working their way out.
I still feel as though there should be more to this than just ‘you’re our Bonded and we love you’， but they both get up and get dressed to start our day, even if it is hours after we normally do.
“Am I getting dressed to work on houses or go back to the training center?” I mumble around my toothbrush as Gabe showers and Atlas brushes his teeth alongside me.
Gabe ducks his head under the water to rinse out the shampoo as he calls out, “Neither. We have a new wave of families joining the Sanctuary today. I was planning on going down to meet with them to help figure out where we're putting them all. My uncle is coming along with them and his Bonded Group. A few of my cousins too. All of them are builders, so we might finally make some extra headway on the next batch of houses.”
My eyebrows slowly creep up my forehead as I finish up with my toothbrush. “You have family here and you weren't planning on telling me? What is it with you guys and springing relatives on me?”
Gabe cuts the water as he chuckles, grabbing a towel and turning his back on us to wrap it around himself. I get a small peek at his gloriously tanned abs as he moves. Atlas scoffs at me, nudging me gently with his shoulder as though he's teasing me for my reactions. At this point, I think they're pretty standard.
They all know I find them hot.
“North and Gryphon have been behind in vetting people, so they’ve only just gotten the approval to come through. I didn't realize my uncle's family would be in this batch until North told me last night. You were at the dinner table when he told me, but I guess you were preoccupied.”
Preoccupied.
Freaking the hell out about what had North so on edge is what I was, but I guess that's a pretty good way of saying it.
“Do you like this uncle, or do we have another General situation on our hands? Because I have to admit, there is only so much sassy Oli I can throw around before my bond comes out and deals with people itself.”
Gabe chuckles and walks over to me, dropping a kiss on the top of my head as he grabs his own toothbrush. “My uncle is great. He has a lot of opinions about my mom though, so you should probably prepare yourself to pick a side in that argument.”
I start brushing out my hair, watching Atlas pull on his boots as we finish up getting ready. His ass is also very biteable, and I enjoy all of the bending over that’s happening around here right now. It’s getting hard to focus on the conversation I’m supposed to be having.
“What's the argument?”
Atlas glances up to me, smirking like a smug asshole at my wandering eyes as I take in the strong lines of his flexing arms. I wiggle my eyebrows back at him, not at all upset to be caught ogling him as well.
Maybe we could sneak in a super quick threesome before we leave. Is there any such thing as a ‘quick threesome’？ We should try it out.
For science.
“He’s an uncle on my dad's side of the family, so he believes that my mother is nothing but a useless wife who should be exiled from the community for practically abandoning me after my father died.”
My heart squeezes in my chest, all the fun flirting melting away from me as I focus back on Gabe. He says it all very matter of factly, as though it doesn't really bother him to speak of his mother like that, but the tense lines of his shoulders say exactly how he truly feels. We've spoken little about his mother, only that she's still alive, but Gabe has no interest in the two of us meeting.
I pushed it with him once, more out of my own insecurity because I thought he was trying to hide me. It was then that he admitted that his mother struggled to grasp what day of the week it was. The two of us meeting would only be distressing for him, rather than bring any sort of joy.
I'm not in the habit of traumatizing my Bonds any more than they already have been.
Not when I can help it at least.
I'm careful with how I word my question, my words coming out slow. “Where exactly in the argument do you stand? Because I'm pretty sure I'll be at your side, no matter what.”
He shoots a grateful smile over his shoulder, though it's a tired one, as though simply starting this conversation about his mother drains the life right out of him. “I’m at the place where I agree with my uncle that my mother made a lot of bad decisions about how she would cope with my father's death… but I'm also her son and responsible for her, so I'm not just going to abandon my responsibilities to her because of something as small as my own feelings on the matter.”
I don't feel like his feelings are a small thing at all. But he continues as he pulls a shirt on over his head. “I wasn't alone, either. I had the rest of my Bonded Group. Gryphon and the Draven brothers didn't just welcome me with open arms… they filled in any gaps in my life that my mother might have left behind for me. When I graduated high school, all three of them came. North signed all the paperwork for my college acceptance with me. Gryphon took me car shopping and did his best to talk me out of the motorcycle because he thought he was supposed to be steering me towards a safer option, even though he test drove it with me and bought one for himself as well. When I started struggling with my classes after Gryphon found you and brought you back, Nox stayed up with me and got me back to where I needed to be to stay on the football team. I just… I stopped going home for dinner and just went to the Draven mansion for years, because they were my family now. It could have been a lot worse, and I need to extend that goodwill to my mother. She had just lost her chances of ever having a family in the same way that mine was being built in those moments. I can hate my experience as much as I want, but I'm not going to let that dictate how I respond.”
I duck forward to wrap my arms around Gabe’s waist, pressing my face into his back between his shoulder blades and inhaling the clean smell of him. My lungs fill up with the scent of my own shampoo mixed with his, the mishmash that they all now share thanks to the one bathroom situation we’re all still holding on to despite other options.
“You're a good man, Gabe. Better than I deserve.”
“Definitely better than the rest of us,” Atlas gripes, and Gabe scoffs at him, shoving him with his free arm as the other comes to lay against my own as he holds me there against his back.
“That's not hard, Bassinger.”