Breathe

“That’s too much of a gesture,” Ezra replied softly.

“It wasn’t a gesture,” Chace returned just as softly. “What it was, if this makes it easier to accept, is me and Faye buyin’ our way into those kids’ lives. You’re leavin’ but this doesn’t end, not for them, not for us. We wanna know they’re growin’ and doin’ it strong but we also wanna know how. If you give that to us over the years then we’re even.”

Ezra stared up at him, his throat moving as he swallowed and Faye leaned into his side.

Then Ezra whispered, “We can do that.”

“Good,” Chace muttered and moved to shake the man’s hand, this necessitating Faye letting his go.

After he shook his hand, Faye moved in for a hug and more hugs commenced, farewells, heartfelt keep in touches, forced smiles that were sad but nevertheless happy.

Finally, Chace watched Faye whisper something in Becky’s ear while hugging her that made Becky giggle. It was a small one but it was a genuine one.

Then he watched her hold it together by a thread, her eyes bright, her lips quivering as she gave Miah a tight hug that lasted a very long time and was unusual in the sense that an eleven year old kid was just as reluctant to let go.

Watching it, Chace’s throat got tight.

He touched Becky’s hair in his farewell and she moved to her grandparents as Faye made a low noise in the back of her throat and let Miah go.

She straightened and ran her fingers through his hair before she whispered, “Call me. I want to know what you’re reading.”

Miah, his eyes also wet and getting red, nodded.

Faye bit her lip and stepped away.

Miah turned to him.

Chace began to lift his hand to give him a shake but stopped when Miah moved right into his space and curled his arms around Chace’s middle.

At his touch, his less thin body pressed to Chace’s, his arms, neither of them in casts or bandages, around him, Chace’s throat completely closed. He felt the wet in his own eyes and wrapped his arms around his boy, holding tight, bending his neck and closing his eyes.

“Sleepin’ bag was warm,” Miah muttered to his gut, his voice trembling.

Fuck. The kid was killing him.

“Good,” Chace muttered back, his voice thick.

Miah held on. Chace did too.

Then Miah whispered, “Your hair.”

Chace opened his eyes. “What buddy?”

Miah leaned back but didn’t let go, looked up at Chace with his red eyes and kept whispering, “Your hair. Lion’s hair.”

Chace didn’t get it but forced his own smile and replied quietly, “Okay.”

Miah let him go, Chace’s arms dropped away, Miah’s chin quivered but his eyes didn’t waver from Chace’s when he whispered, “You’re my Aslan.”

Aslan.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Holy f**k.

The words like a sock in the gut, Chace’s chest got tight and he crouched in front of Miah saying the only word he could think to say, “Buddy.”

“I’m gonna be Peter.” Miah was still whispering.

“Good choice,” Chace whispered back, forcing it through the sting in his throat.

They held each other’s gazes, Chace having no f**king clue what to say or do.

Then Miah whispered, “’Bye, Aslan.”

Holy f**k. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“’Bye, Peter,” Chace whispered back.

Chace watched him pull in breath, look up at Faye then he turned and walked to his grandparents.

Chace moved to straighten and barely got his feet when Faye was in his space, her front pressed to his side, her arms wrapped tight around his middle. He slid an arm around her shoulders, Silas and Sondra moved close and they watched Miah, Becky and their family get into their cars.

They called good-byes, they waved and they stood in Silas and Sondra’s front drive and watched as they drove off and they kept watching until there was nothing to watch anymore.

Faye moved first and when she did it was to get up on her toes and find his ear.

“Told you that you were a hero,” she whispered and Chace closed his eyes but she wasn’t done. “I’m not the only one who thinks so, Aslan.”

He turned into her, pulling her fully into his arms and burying his face in her neck.

He held tight.

She returned the favor.

They felt Silas and Sondra silently move away.

As he held her, feeling her body rock quietly with her tears, her wet hitting his neck, he held strong but he knew she could feel his own wet against the skin of hers.

And he didn’t give a f**k.

Chapter Twenty

Breathe

I barreled up the steps and didn’t bother inserting the key because I knew Chace was inside my apartment already.

I threw the door open, saw him in my kitchen, head tipped back taking a long draw from a bottle of beer and, as his eyes slid to me around the bottle, his chin dipping down, I shouted, “It’s a girl!”

He dropped the bottle and asked, “What?”

I slammed the door, raced to him and threw myself in is arms with such force, he rocked back on a foot.

“It’s a girl. A girl! Lexie and Ty had a little girl. Her name’s Ella Alexi!” I cried, jumping up and down, taking him with me since my arms were around him and one of his was around me.

He grinned down at me, muttering, “Good news, darlin’.”

“The best!” I exclaimed as I stopped jumping. “Ten fingers. Ten toes. Krys says she’s got black fuzz on her head, already full of curls. I bet she’s adorable.”

“I bet.” Chace kept muttering through his grin.

I shook him in my arms and shared, “I can’t wait to meet her.”

Chace was still grinning and muttering when he replied, “I bet that too.”

“Krys says half-price tequila shots in celebration,” I informed him.

“Only Krystal would celebrate the birth of a child with half-price tequila shots,” Chace noted and I smiled into his face because this was crazy, hilarious and true.

“Can we go?” I asked.

“Drink tequila?” Chace asked back.

“Yeah.”

“You drink tequila?”

“No.”

“Ever?”

“Um… maybe twice in college but, since then, no,” I told him.

“Then… yeah. Absolutely.”

I felt my brows draw together at his weird, firm answer. “Absolutely?”

“Baby, you happy and drunk, your place a couple of blocks from Bubba’s and your bed ten feet from the front door, the answer to that is yeah… absolutely.”