Rex’s brow furrowed. “I have a few more things to discuss with those people. Actually, if you want to take off, I can have Katerina pull the car around.”
He did—god he wanted out, but he could hear the ache in his brother’s voice. “If you need me, I can stay.”
“I don’t.” Rex smiled softly and pushed up from his seat, motioning for Archer to follow. Neither of them said a word until they reached the hallway, then Rex laid a hand on Archer’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’m glad you’re home. I missed you. This has been…it’s an adventure and it wasn’t what I expected.”
“Good or bad?”
“Neither. Both.” Rex shrugged. “I refuse to ask you to compromise your life just because I’m feeling off kilter, though.”
“I’m not doing that. I’m doing what you’d do for me if I needed you,” he promised, then tugged his brother into a hug and held tight. “Please tell me I get to see you soon, without all this press circus bullshit.”
“I promise. I’m going to call you tonight or tomorrow. Katerina’s going to ride with me so you can enjoy the silence alone.” He pressed his palm to Archer’s cheek and looked every single second of his forty-eight years right then. “If you’re miserable…”
“I’m not.” Only a small lie. “I would tell you if I couldn’t handle it.” And that was the truth.
Rex sighed then gave his cheek a pat before stepping away. “I’ll call you.”
Archer waited until Rex disappeared around the corner, then he pretended like he wasn’t being followed out as he made his way through the side hall and out the back door where the car was waiting. It was the most bizarre life, and circumstances he could have never imagined when he was holed away in his Paris lab, but here he was, and he’d be damned if he didn’t at least try to make the best of it.
Chapter 4
Archer was half asleep by the time Shen arrived, arms full of pizza and a plastic bag holding a six pack of some local brewery cans with a fish on the side. Shen looked good as he always had—lithe and short, eye-catching in a silky soft button up and trousers that hugged his small curves. His hair was rich black and styled like he was ready for the runway, his face smooth with perfectly contoured make-up, eyes shadowed. Archer had crushed on him once, way back in middle school when he was trying to figure out who he was and what he wanted. Shen had always straddled the line between masculine and feminine and it had thrown Archer for a sexuality crisis loop—but he was grateful for it now.
He leaned in, bussing a kiss against Shen’s cheek as he took the food from him and shut the door behind them. “Thanks for this. I had like three bites of a nasty salad and I’m starving.”
Shen pat his cheek, then led the way to the living room where he kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the couch, waiting for Archer to join him. They nestled in close, Archer reaching for pizza and stuffing his mouth just shy of too full.
“Doesn’t Daddy Rex feed you these days?” he asked, scowling at Archer’s bad manners.
“Do not call him that,” he said, words muffled by his food, and he ignored Shen’s quiet laughter. He swallowed it all down with his first drink of beer and swiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m fucking serious. Do you know how mortifying it is to see your brother trend on Twitter like that?”
Shen rolled his eyes and went for his own drink. “He can’t help it if he’s Daddy, babe. He always has been, he’s just embracing it now. He retweeted a bunch of Daddy memes last June for Pride.”
“I hate everything and everyone, including you,” Archer said, taking another bite. “Putain. I can’t believe this is my life now.”
Shen stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. “You sound French. You even have a little bit of an accent. I think you speak more French than I speak Mandarin now.”
Archer rolled his eyes. “That’s because I’ve spoken like no English for the last eight years. I don’t know what you expected.” He knew it was subtle, that his words had gone from the back of his throat to the tip of his tongue. His French was also still accented with his south eastern American lilt, and it felt like he was