night and help Lias when he got sick.”
“He had too much,” Jayden said with a nod of understanding. “Mom threw up and got angry when she drank too much.”
The food Gray had been chewing slid down his throat like a chunk of lead.
Darius didn’t miss a beat, though. “That makes sense. Did that happen a lot before she died?”
“Yeah.” Jayden’s excitement had taken a hike, but he didn’t seem bothered. “I don’t know if she’s dead. She’s just gone.” He shrugged. “Jonas didn’t say much to me about it. I was little.”
“But you remember your dad,” Darius stated.
Gray eyed him, confused. What was he doing? They knew virtually nothing about Jonas and Jayden’s background, so why Darius was throwing out assumptions made no sense.
“I never met him, I think.” Jayden scratched his shoulder and then reached for his soda. “Mom didn’t like him. She called him bad names. And she fought lots with Jonas and her boyfriend.”
“Fighting isn’t fun to see,” Darius agreed. “My mother and father fight sometimes too.”
Jayden nodded. “And they slam doors and leave also?”
Gray took an unsteady breath, hating the shit Jayden had suffered through, and glanced hesitantly at Darius.
Something softened in Darius’s eyes. “No. And that’s kind of what I wanted to point out, kiddo. Everyone fights. My parents fight when Pop forgets something that Ma told him to pick up at the store. They fight when she moves things in the garage and Pop can’t find his tools anymore.” He paused. “But they always make up afterward. They forget shit and accidentally make each other angry—or they disagree on something and fight about it.” He jerked his chin at Gray. “We’re the same, Gray and me. We fight—as you’ve seen. But we don’t fight because we’re mean or we want to piss each other off. We just have disagreements, and they can get heated sometimes.”
Gray didn’t know what fucked with his head more, that Darius was comparing them to his married parents, that he was so good with kids to have managed to broach this topic without upsetting Jayden, or…that Darius’s agenda had been twofold. At the very least. Because explaining to Jayden that it was okay for people to fight hadn’t been his only mission. He’d wanted information too, and he’d gotten it.
Naturally, that made Gray wistful and yearn and all that pathetic shit. He couldn’t merely admire Darius’s tactic and be done with it.
“Darius and I will probably fight more, Jayden.” Gray gave Jayden’s neck a gentle squeeze. “You know we recently went through some rough times, and we’re still healing. But we will try not to expose you to it too much. Just know, when you hear us argue, it doesn’t mean anyone is leaving or that we don’t like each other.” He realized what he said as the words left his mouth. He—and Darius—had a responsibility. Gray couldn’t let his emotions control him any longer. Not to the extent that he took off in the middle of the night or made any other reckless call based on how he felt right in that second. “And I promise, whenever you feel unsure—if you overhear us fighting—you can jump in and ask if everything is okay. You’re never a bother, you’re never in the way, and until you trust us fully, it’s never a bad time to ask anything. Okay?”
Jayden nodded hesitantly and chewed on his bottom lip. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Gray leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to the side of Jayden’s head.
It made the boy quirk a strange grin, and his cheeks turned pink.
Their little problem about the sleeping arrangements was sorted when Gray suggested they push the beds together and wrap up their stay in Texas with a slumber party. Jayden had never had one before—actually, neither had Darius—so Gray took charge. He remade the beds, making it more comfortable for Jayden in the middle, and told Darius to pick a kid-friendly movie. The final touch included chips, candy, and soda.
Jayden showered while Gray prepared everything, and he stepped out of the bathroom dressed in his Iron Man pajamas. With excitement lighting up his eyes, he jumped up on the bed and did a somersault where he landed on his butt right in the middle of the two beds.
Gray laughed.
Darius was the next to shower and get ready for bed, and Gray did his best not to think about it. Not Darius’s out-of-this-world sexy body, not the sex they’d had in the past, and not the nightmares that followed once