Chapter Twenty-One

“If this is a client…” Finn huffed, reaching over the edge of his couch to grapple for his ringing phone.

“You’ll say ‘that’s great, mate, see you then’ and complain afterward,” Aiden said, his legs outstretched over his lap. After Finn finished editing the anniversary video and sent it off to Adie via email, well into the night, they’d delayed sleep for very good reasons that Aiden couldn’t bring himself to regret. Even if they spent most of the next day sleeping, with no intent of moving.

Finn sneered at him while he answered the phone, rubbing his eye with his fist. “Y’ello?”

Adie’s voice was just as loud as either of theirs, even through the hissing speaker of Finn’s banged-up mobile.

“There’s our dashing director,” Adie said. “Fantastic job on the video. Dylan loves it so much.”

“Glad to hear it.” Finn chuckled, rubbing his chin with a barely suppressed yawn. “Worth the effort?”

“You know it. Anyway, it’s officially our anniversary, and Dylan’s going to a sleepover,” said Adie. “So you’re coming out with us tonight. As a thank-you.”

“Isn’t the point of a wedding anniversary to spend it together?” Finn said, running his hand absently up and down Aiden’s thigh in a way that was way too casual to be anything but intentional.

“We did that earlier.”

“With Dylan.”

“Yes, with our baby, who is an integral part of our marriage,” Adie said with a clear “duh” to her voice. “Stop thinking of excuses and come with us. It’ll be fun.”

“I’m busy.”

Their only plan was to make dinner and watch reruns of that reality show Finn had gotten him into.

“Is Aiden there? Obviously the invitation includes him. Especially after all his help yesterday, he deserves to celebrate.”

Rolling over, Finn put the phone on speaker.

“Hi, Adie,” Aiden said, running his tongue over his bottom lip as Finn’s hand trailed higher up his thigh.

“Don’t let him talk you out of experiencing Australian nightlife,” Adie was quick to say before Finn could intercept. “It’s been ages since Finn’s come out with us.”

“Ryan normally takes on that burden,” Finn said.

“And Finn covers the recovery breakfast the next morning, but things have to change now that Ryan’s abandoned us.”

“He’ll be back in a few weeks.”

“I’m not waiting that long to celebrate.” Adie took a breath, switching up her approach. “Please say you’re in? Pretty please.”

“I can’t think of a reason not to,” said Aiden.

Finn narrowed his eyes, covering the speaker with his palm as he seethed, “Traitor.” Then, back to the phone: “I’ll pick you two up at nine.”

“You know, for someone who said they didn’t have any club clothes, you don’t look half bad.”

It was impossible to miss Finn’s appraising look, accompanied by bold words for a man in jeans and a T-shirt.

“I can’t take much credit.” Smoothing down the black fabric of his button-up, Aiden studied himself in the bedroom mirror. After some last-minute ironing to work out the wrinkles, he scrubbed up well. “My friend packed my things.”

“Remind me to thank them.”

Closing that short distance between them, Finn rested his chin atop Aiden’s shoulder, strong arms coming around his waist.

“Y’know,” he murmured, breath warm against Aiden’s ear. “We could bail. Say I got sick or something.”

“They’ll know you’re just making excuses.”

Groaning, Finn slumped his forehead down, holding Aiden impossibly closer. “Early exit, then.”

“And make your friends pay for a taxi on their wedding anniversary?” Aiden said, unimpressed.

Finn didn’t fool him—not anymore. At first glance, he undoubtedly came across as this rugged hard-ass with a “my way or the highway” mentality, with a scar that backed up Aiden’s theory that he could take one hell of a punch to boot. But if someone spent any time with him at all, that rough exterior gave way to a quiet, warm soul that would do anything for the ones he loved.

Even if Dan and Kat’s affair had escaped his attention, Aiden’s awareness wasn’t completely shit. They were just first-class liars. That realization didn’t shock him. Kat had been able to lie to him since day one, but in a way all older siblings did. Convincing him of a monster that lived in the treat cabinet for literal years. Just so she had unrestricted access to the crisps and Kit Kats—from which she was nicknamed. And Dan always had a hell of a poker face. He’d successfully pulled off Aiden’s surprise twenty-first birthday party without a single slipup.

If anyone was going to get away with an affair for so long, it would be the two people who knew Aiden like the backs of their hands.

But even as that crossed his mind, the upset that had swirled in the very ether of his core didn’t make itself known. Only a satisfaction that he saw Finn for what he was: just a guy trying his best by the people around him.

“You could just say you want to go,” Finn said, lifting his head. “I’d put up with it.”

“I do, kind of.” Aiden shrugged, debating undoing another shirt button. “Haven’t been to a club in years, and I used to like them. I’m curious to see if that’s changed now.”

Finn took a breath, lips pressed tightly together. “Fair enough.”

There was something Finn wasn’t saying, and as much as Aiden wanted to pry, he was also well aware that they needed to get going.

“It’ll be fun.” Turning around in Finn’s arms, Aiden straightened Finn’s T-shirt with a light tug. “You might even like it.”

Finn didn’t like it.

Neither did Aiden, for that matter.

Tam and Adie had been vibrating out of their skin in excitement as Finn drove them into the city, eager to get dancing for the first time in a while. They explained that they went on a few nights out over the year, normally to mark special occasions such as this. Ryan would attend with them, with the innate ability to get them into the venues free and score all of the best drinks, while Finn babysat the kids at home.

The fact that Finn was in attendance this year seemingly made them even more exhilarated. They talked animatedly about all the wild things he’d missed over the years. Stories that were undoubtedly old to Finn’s ears, but Aiden was gripped. And by the time they pulled up outside the club, he was keen to get inside and experience it all firsthand.

Adie pulled him in by the arm, and very soon Aiden understood this was no longer his thing. Shit, maybe he was getting old.

The floor was sticky, the air smelled like sweat, and Aiden didn’t know a single song that was being played.

On top of that, he couldn’t flag down the bartender’s attention for the life of him.

Tam and Adie had disappeared to the dance floor the moment they arrived, leaving Aiden and Finn standing there, stiff and unsure what to do next.

Aiden wasn’t sure when he’d lost Finn. One moment, he was there; the next, he wasn’t. But he didn’t panic—things like that happened on nights out. His phone was charged (notifications muted, admittedly, just in case there were any more unwanted calls) and he had Finn’s number. It would be fine.

Until someone shoved into him and Aiden lost his balance, knocking back against a man who’d just managed to balance five drinks (impressively) in hand. Five drinks that were soon all over him, Aiden, and the floor.

“Shit.” Aiden scrambled to get back up. “I’m sorry. My bad.”

“Damn right your bad,” the man replied, cheeks flushed and words slurred, clearly not on his first drink of the night. “You’ll be paying for that.”

“There you are.” A firm grip curled around Aiden’s wrist, and he found himself pulled back into Finn’s chest. The wash of relief was undeniable, no matter how much Aiden didn’t want to pay attention to it.

“I’m not the one who disappeared.”

“What?” Finn squinted, as though that would help him hear Aiden better.

“You owe me a drink,” the man yelled, unwilling to be forgotten.

“Yeah, yeah.” Aiden shoved his hand into his (too tight) pocket and rummaged about for a few notes, offering them to the stranger, who looked surprised that he’d actually done so.

“Cheers.” When the man accepted the offering, the bullish expression soon turned to a grin reserved for close friends. Then, to the bartender: “Seven more, two for my new friends!”

“I leave you alone for five minutes,” Finn tutted with a disbelieving shake of his head.

“Where did you go?”

“Bathroom. Do not recommend it.”

Interrupting before Aidan could ask why—and maybe he was better off for it—the man pushed two drinks into their hands before turning around to try and balance his replacement pints.

“I didn’t do too bad unsupervised anyway,” Aiden said, nodding in thanks to his new friend, who moved through the crowd with far too little care for someone balancing that many drinks. “We got drinks out of it.”

“Drinks you paid for,” Finn said, about to take a sip.

And just because Finn was right and Aiden didn’t appreciate that, he swiped the cup right from his hand. “You’re driving.”

“I can have one.”

“Better not risk it.”

Finn sighed, muted entirely by the music but clearly shown by the dramatic heave of his shoulders. Aiden hid his smug smirk behind his drink and then asked, “Do you want to dance?”

As Finn opened his mouth to undoubtedly say something like “I don’t dance,” Aiden moved through the crowd without a doubt in his mind that Finn would follow close behind. Less to take care of Aiden, more because he likely felt as uneasy here as Aiden did.

Through gyrating bodies uncaring about who was around or how much space they took up, it was nothing short of a miracle that they found Tam and Adie. Or maybe it was just incredibly probable, considering their waving arms and unrestrained dance moves.

Adie yelled something Aiden couldn’t hear but he nodded to anyway, handing them the drinks.

“Happy anniversary!”

Downing it impressively, Tam took Aiden by the arm and shouted into his ear, “Dance with us.”

Unable to find an excuse that would warrant Tam letting go of his arm, he nodded and beckoned Finn to his side. If he was going to dance, then so was Finn.

And maybe Aiden had this internal montage of them dancing and getting lost in the music together. The masses would melt away around them, leaving only Finn, Aiden, and the music. Hips rolling, lips barely touching, it would be measures of both passionate and erotic.

The reality was very different.

Finn, Aiden found out very quickly, couldn’t dance beyond pumping his fists in the air and stepping side to side. And anything potentially sexy that Aiden might have done made a swift exit, instead replaced by wanton laughter. Especially as Adie, the embodiment of rhythm and grace herself, started to dance alongside him, trying to encourage Finn to move like her.

Finn was not built for hip rolling, as it turned out.

“Can we go?” Finn asked a few minutes later. Aiden thought he’d figured out the hip thing himself, but his lower back had started to twinge.

He looked around again. At the pulsating lights, the speakers blaring music that painfully invaded his ears, the fog of sweat and tequila.

Aiden’s response wasn’t immediate, but it was a close thing.

“I think I saw a chipper on the way in.”

“So,” Finn said through a mouthful of hot chips, taking one long stride for every two of Aiden’s. “Was that everything you were expecting?”

“Needs more vinegar,” replied Aiden with a critical look into the bag of chips.

Finn raised a brow.

“The club.” Aiden nodded, twirling on his heel with a flourish. “I was expecting a bit more from you.”

Finn rushed to swallow. “From me?”

Aiden hummed around a chip.

“C’mon. What about me?”

“I thought you’d have some secret moves or something.” Aiden was teasing him, and he was at least semi-confident that Finn picked up on that.

“I have moves.”

“Ah, yeah.” Aiden stopped in his tracks, pumping his fists in the air almost robotically, not caring about the odd look awarded to him from a group of people taking a late-night stroll. “Right out of the dad handbook.”

“I’ll have you know that it takes skill to dance like a dad,” Finn said haughtily. “Not everyone can do it.”

“I think I just did.”

“Nah, nah.” Shaking his head, he passed the chips into Aiden’s hand and smacked his palms together. “You had way too much coordination. It’s all about the lack.”

“Should I be taking notes?”

A few steps back from the path, Aiden perched against a low wall to enjoy whatever the hell was about to happen.

“Absolutely.” Balling his hands into fists, Finn tucked his elbows in by his sides. “You see this? Nice and rigid. A touch…”

“Constipated?” Aiden offered when Finn came up short.

Finn winked, and Aiden didn’t swoon. Mostly.

Certainly not over someone giving him a step-by-step tutorial of dad dancing.

“You’ve gotta move just off beat enough for it to be annoying.” With that instruction, Finn started to sway—not dissimilar to his approach in the club. “If you wanna be a little fancy with it, you can throw in some knee action.”

“That’s a little advanced for me.”

“We can rewind a bit,” Finn allowed, dropping his arms from their rigid position to beckon Aiden from the wall. “You made me dance in there. It’s your turn now.”

“I don’t think I could make you do anything,” replied Aiden, trusting the wall with their midnight snack and joining Finn’s side.

“You’d be surprised.”

Aiden shook out his arms, limbering up and moving swiftly on.

“So do I—”

“You’re in the middle of a bike path,” someone yelled, whizzing past and narrowly missing the two of them.

“What kind of galah cycles at midnight,” Finn bellowed back, flipping the rider off.

“Galah,” Aiden mouthed, committing the undoubtable insult to his growing list of Aussie slang. Then, “My hero,” he said, noting the hand around his waist, ready to push him out of the way if needed. Push into what, Aiden wasn’t sure. Right over the wall, probably, knowing Finn’s strength. Aiden probably should be at least a little grateful for the cyclist’s swerving ability.

“We’ll revisit this later,” Finn said, not removing his hand. “It’s too important of a life lesson.”

“In case I become a dad?”

“Do you want to be a dad?”

For a question with so much weight, it was said with a casualness that suited the conversation beforehand. Shrugging, Aiden rummaged around in the bag for the crispiest (best) chip.

“I think so,” he said quietly, continuing their stroll, notably away from the cycling lane. “I always thought I’d be.”

“Why does that sound defeatist? There’s still time.”

“It’s not a time thing.”

This wasn’t a topic that Aiden thought he’d be discussing after a night out. His dwindling dream of parenthood had steadily been chipped away each time Dan brushed off the conversation.

And despite the promise of not discussing anything to do with home, Aiden was the one to break it. “When Dan and I first got together, we always talked about having kids. What that would look like, how many we’d have, what their names would be.”

Even talking about it now, the words were delivered with a note of exhaustion.

“And when we were able to seriously talk about it, Dan said we were too young, that we weren’t ready. And I thought ‘okay, give him time. He still wants this.’”

“But he didn’t,” Finn said softly.

Aiden took a breath, reaching out to grasp Finn’s hand just because he knew he wouldn’t pull away or question it. “Eight years down the drain. It feels like that dream went with him.”

Finn rubbed his thumb over the back of Aiden’s hand, tight-lipped, expression soft.

“You’ll be a great dad,” Finn told him, voice firm. “If and when it happens.”

“Thanks.” Raising Finn’s fist, he pressed a kiss to his chip-greased fingers. “I just need to separate Dan from my future.”

“It’ll take time, but it’ll happen. Trust me.” Finn flashed him a toothy smile. “I’m somewhat of an expert.”

“Can I ask…?”

“What happened with Imogen and me?”

Finn didn’t drop his hand, which was a good sign at least. That still didn’t stop Aiden from worrying he’d overstepped somehow. Chatting about past relationships with the guy he was hooking up with was a gray area anyway; sticking his nose into the man’s divorce seemed a leap beyond that.

“We weren’t together when Imogen found out she was pregnant,” Finn said, swinging their hands together. “But we decided to give it a go. For Millie. Kinda old-fashioned, but y’know. We were young.”

Stepping aside in caution as another cyclist zoomed past, Finn shook his head, incredulous.

“We split when Millie was three, on pretty good terms.” Pulling a face, Finn wobbled his free hand unsteadily. “Mostly. Incredible woman, pain in my ass, and she thinks I’m a dick.”

Aiden’s reaction was instant. A mischievous look, mouth open, ready to speak. But Finn cut him off. “Whatever you’re about to say, don’t do it. I’m your lift home.”

“Very good point,” Aiden said through a poorly concealed snigger. Really, Aiden didn’t think Finn was a dick. But that didn’t stop him from enjoying teasing him.

“How much longer do you think they’ll be?” asked Finn.

“As long as they want to be.” There was no other time frame. Tam and Adie’s only plan was to “have fun together,” and as much as Aiden wanted to return to Finn’s and snuggle down beneath the sheets, he couldn’t begrudge them that.

“Imogen is taking Millie to her dentist appointment after school, so there’s time to sleep.”

“Small mercies.” Then, with a soft nudge to Finn’s side: “Old dad needs his rest.”

“Brat.”

…

Tam and Adie really weren’t fucking about when they said they partied hard. It was drawing close to sunrise by the time Finn got a call, and it took a further half an hour to find them. Adie’s giggly instructions of “by the tree” really didn’t help things.

Dropping them off, Finn disappearing inside to make sure the two of them fell into bed without injury, Aiden was close enough to dozing off himself in the car.

“You should carry me,” Aiden mumbled as they drew up to Finn’s house.

“Give me a good reason to,” said Finn with an air of challenge.

“Because you’ll be carrying me.”

“That is a very compelling point,” Finn allowed, exiting the jeep and quickly rounding to the passenger side to bundle Aiden into his arms.

Held securely to Finn’s chest, Aiden sighed contentedly. “I could get used to this.”

Finn’s response was simple, direct and to the point like the man himself often was. And if Aiden wasn’t already on the cusp of sleep, then maybe he would have paid more attention to the words—to the possible inflection behind them. But right now, they sounded like a playful reassurance that carried him off to sleep the moment Finn gently deposited him on the bed.

“Then do.”