Marcus in Retrograde Page 20

  “It’s Nelson.” He smirked. “But yes. I’ll expect you in the meeting next week to get the contracts up. I do apologize for this. Ed Roberts had been coasting on his family name. And I don’t abide people who do that. You can have a famous name, but don’t coast on it. Work for it.” He patted Marcus on the shoulder. “Also, I adored your reading of Too Far the Near Shore.” He leaned in. “And that lovely shorter work, The Man for Me.”

  Nelson fucking Powers shook my hand, turned to our group of friends, tossed them a wink and was out the door.

  “Nelson Powers touched my son…” Dawn whispered.

  I grabbed his hand, the one that Nelson’s hand shook. “Oh, no you don’t. This hand is mine. I have plans.”

  Marcus scratched the spot where the monitor had just been removed. We were signing a ton of papers so he could be free and clear and get the bail back.

  Finally, after about twenty minutes of almost constant signing, they handed me the bond release papers and we were finally able to go.

  There were some low angry voices outside of the office, but I didn’t care. We were going home, so I pushed the door open and separated the two men there—predictably, Vincent and Kyle.

  Dawn was waiting down the hall, in the middle of a gaggle of gay men, and one straight guy. I laughed. She had no idea that she was now officially their mother, and if they ever met Marcus’ dad, he was going to be Gaggle Dad.

  The highest of honors.

  We headed down the hall to the Gaggle, but half way there, I spotted someone on the bench. I thought I was seeing things, but as we got closer, I was sure I wasn’t. Holding up a finger to stop Marcus a moment, I walked over to the haggard looking man in jeans and a green polo, with a pair of Chucks… and a baby on his shoulder.

  “Felix?”

  He jerked his head up and stared at me. “Oh. Hi.”

  Christ, he looked exhausted. “Are you okay?”

  He swallowed. “No.”

  “What’s wrong? What are you doing here?”

  “Family court,” he said, patting the baby on his shoulder. She let out a little puff of gas, then burped quietly.

  “Family court?” I was utterly floored.

  “So, yeah,” he said, and turned the baby so I could see. “This is Laurie Ann Bich… well. Soon to be Germaine.” The sigh he let out was one of a man drained of all physical and emotional strength.

  What he said finally hit me.

  “She’s yours?”

  “She is now.”

  “Felix,” I whispered, and put a hand on his shoulder. The little girl was asleep, her blanket curled in her fist and her dark curls just starting to make an appearance. From the way he looked at her, he was in love with the baby, and broken hearted over her as well. “If you need help…”

  “Why would you help me?”

  “Because we may not be best friends, but that doesn’t mean I hate you. It’s not my business why you have her, but I don’t want you to feel like you can’t ask for help.”

  He swallowed audibly, and I saw tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Chase. That’s kind. I’ll keep it in mind.”

  “Germaine?” The name rang down the hall.

  He coughed and slipped the baby into the carrier next to him. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to sign the papers for my daughter.”

  Stepping out of the way, I watched as he took everything with him and headed down the corridor. What the hell had happened there?

  “Okay?” Marcus asked, slipping in next to me, and putting an arm around my waist.

  “Yeah…I just…” I looked at him and blinked a few times. “Did not expect that.”

  “Life is like that. Unexpected.”

  I kissed his lips, softly, and gave him a smiled as we turned to head back to the Gaggle at the end of the hall. They were all bouncing on their feet, clearly ready for a free meal.

  “I know we have to go feed that lot, but I am so damn ready to go home.” Marcus sighed, lacing his fingers in mine.

  “Hey, um…speaking of…” I rubbed my neck with my free hand. “Why don’t we just make this whole thing official, and um…you know. Kind of…”

  “Mingle our dirty laundry?”

  “We already do that.” I sighed.

  “Then there’s no reason to keep two hampers, is there?”

  I grinned. “Only if we plan on rescuing more wall kittens.”

  MARCUS

  October, one year later…

  “THANK YOU!” I CALLED OUT TO THE couple walking away from the register. The little rabbit between them took her part seriously, and hopped along, much to the chagrin of her parents.

  “Damn she’s cute,” Chase said. “I also cannot believe those two are parents.”

  “I can’t believe how right you were about this Garcia Pumpkin Patch,” I said, opening the register to count out for the day.

  The sun was right on the horizon, and the sky was dusky blue and pink and it all faded out over our heads to the first star in the east.

  “Venus is rising,” Chase teased me.

  “First star,” I said, ignoring him.

  “First planet,” he corrected.

  “Astronomical body.” I lifted an eyebrow.

  “Why thank you.” He laughed.

  Shaking my head, I tried not to laugh and lose my count. Chase puttered around, straightening the scales, shutting up the paints and brushes, locking up the carving knives.

  With just two more days before Halloween, the pumpkin carving contest was in full swing, too. The entries would be welcomed until six on Halloween, and then the art teacher from the local high school would come by and judge them by nine o’clock Then the pumpkin patch would open again until midnight for a little country fair.

  Tomorrow, the patch would be cleared, and all remaining pumpkins moved to a little area in the front for anyone who still wanted to enter the contest or buy a pumpkin. Tomorrow night the fair would be set up—a dunk tank for the high school principal seemed to be the most anticipated.

  We’d taken two weeks off this year to help with the end of the pumpkin patch. Last year it had only been one, and it had been apparent they needed us longer than that.

  Beth, Tony, and Abuelita had managed most of it, with some help with Rachel, when her mother could watch the baby, or it was a good night to bring her. But October was already chilly and she didn’t want the tiny girl out in the cold too much.

  Rider was nowhere to be seen, of course. Not while his brother was around.

  But tonight, we had close to 200 pumpkins sitting on the hay bales that enclosed the patch, and they were all glowing merrily with fake candles inside. The big lights overhead switched off as I locked up the cash box and handed it off to Beth. She winked and patted my arm.

  The only things still glowing as the sun disappeared were the pumpkins and the solar lanterns we had hung around the place for ambiance. It was one of the prettiest sights I’d seen.

  Next to my boyfriend, of course.

  “One more check for lost hats and gloves?” I asked Chase.

  “One more, like we do every night.” He motioned me off to the right, and went off the left on his own.

  I watched his ass as he walked away. I really did love that ass. I loved the whole man attached to it, so actually the ass was just a bonus.

  “Stop staring at my ass,” Chase called.

  Chuckling I started scanning the ground for lost items. There were always things left behind: scarves, shoes, socks, mittens, even a tiny pair of pants last week, which left us laughing and confused.

  I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket and pulled out the little velvet bag. I pinched the circle in my fingers and pulled it out, shoving the bag back in my pocket.

  “Oh, man, I found something,” I called. “You should see this.”

  I heard him groan, turn, and head back to the center.

  He met me there, and there was mischief in his eyes. Mischief I wanted to be a part of forever.

  “Look,
” I said, and held out the ring.

  “Oh, God! That looks expensive! We—”

  I was down on one knee when he looked back to find my eyes.

  “You bastard,” he breathed.

  “Marry me, Chase Garcia.”

  He tried not to let the happy tears fall, but there was no stopping them. “Yes! Yes!”

  Under the darkening sky, in the middle of a pumpkin patch, I slipped an engagement ring on the finger of my everything, my guiding star, the man who brought my life out of retrograde forever.

  THE END

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  DEAR READERS—

  I hope you enjoy Marcus and Chase as much as I did.

  The Aligning Stars series is just getting going—there are a lot of friends who need their happy ending.

  Next will be Uriah and Austin, and soon after we’ll find out more about Felix, Noah, Maddox, Kieran, and Nelson fucking Powers.

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  Thanks for reading.

  S. A. Sommers <3

  S.A. Sommers has ink in her blood. Sucked into the world of MM Romance by another author, she couldn’t resist dipping a toe into the genre and was swept away.

  A New Jersey native, she swears like a sailor, has a terrible love for Rutt’s Hut, used to sneak into Greenwich Village as a kid and wanted nothing more than to write grand adventures of the human spirit. Living outside of Philadelphia, she swears (profusely) that you can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can’t take the Jersey out of the girl.

  Married, Mother of Cats, world traveler, and expert destroyer of dinners, she believes strongly that love is love, and if you have a problem with that, [single finger Jersey salute].

  She also writes BDSM, PNR and RH under the name Katherine Rhodes.

  (No, really. You haven’t lived until

  you have had a Rutt’s Hut ripper.)

  By S.A. Sommers

  Marcus in Retrograde

  Uriah’s Orbit

  Coming 1/20/2020 – Preorder now!

  The Battle of Maddox

  (coming Mar 2020)