The Teddy Bear Club

by Sean Michael

  Aiden had never heard that cold, dead note in Dev’s voice before.

  “Devon. Where is my grandson?”

  “You still don’t know his name, do you, Mother?” Dev didn’t step back, his back ramrod straight and blocking Aiden’s view. “And he’s somewhere safe. I don’t really have anything to say to you.”

  “You will….”

  Oh, fuck this. Aiden stepped over where he could see her and his eyes went wide. Dev looked exactly like her, if he were pinched and evil and fifty and a girl. “Just shut the door, honey.”

  Dev looked back at him, clearly surprised to see him there. His fingers tightened on the door.

  “Don’t you dare shut that door in my face!”

  Dev took a deep breath and swung the door closed. It shut loudly, and Dev said, “Oh God.”

  “Good job.” Aiden knew how hard that had to be. “Did it lock?”

  “It locks automatically when you close it.” Still, Dev checked, and as he did, the handle turned, Dev’s mother clearly trying to get it open again.

  Dev took a step back. “Jesus. She must have been waiting around for me to come back.”

  The knock at the door came again. “Devon! You open this door right now!”

  “Man, that mother voice never goes away even if she’s not my mother anymore, eh?”

  “Call Logan, honey. You need to record this. I’ll keep packing.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Good idea.”

  Dev’s mother called out again, voice shrill, and he stared like he was mesmerized by it. Aiden took his arm and pulled him back into the kitchen, guided him to a chair.

  “Make that call.”

  Dev pulled his phone out of his pocket and did as Aiden had suggested, leaving it on speaker.

  The phone rang a few minutes, then Logan answered. “Hello?”

  “Logan. Man. It’s Dev, and I’ve got Aiden here with me. We’re packing my place up.”

  Which, given that Logan was looking after the kids, he totally knew, but Aiden figured Dev could be forgiven for being nervous and a little out of it.

  “My mother showed up demanding the baby. She’s still at the door banging to come in. She doesn’t even know his name!”

  “Okay. Tell her she’s not welcome, and I’ll call the police and have her escorted off. Don’t engage, don’t be nasty, just be firm and polite.”

  “Should I tell her through the closed door?” Dev asked, looking lost.

  Aiden had to think that was what Dev had looked like when he’d first told his folks he was gay and been kicked out. Lost because the people who were supposed to love him no matter what were cutting him off completely.

  “Yeah, don’t give her an in. Through the door is fine.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Logan.”

  “You want me to tell her, honey?” Aiden asked. Because he totally would.

  Dev closed the call and pocketed his phone. “I really do, but I think I need to do it. Would it be super wussy of me if I asked you to hold my hand while I do it?”

  “Not a bit.” He kissed Dev’s temple. “She sounds like a harpy.”

  “She would tell you she’s an angel, spreading God’s word. I think the only thing she’s spreading is the hate her church promotes.” Dev took his hand and they went to the door together.

  His mother was still banging every thirty seconds or so, her voice becoming more shrill each time.

  Dev took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Mother, but I don’t want to see you, and I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  “Open the door this instant, you nasty little miscreant.”

  Wow, five-dollar words. That and a court order might—might—get her a chance to see her grandson.

  “Please, Mother, you’re disturbing the neighbors. I don’t want to talk to you—you have to leave.” Dev sounded cool as a cucumber, but Aiden could feel the way his hand trembled.

  “You’re doing great, honey,” he whispered, squeezing Dev’s fingers. He was so proud because how hard did that have to be?

  “Open up right now! I’m going to call the cops on you for stealing that little boy!”

  Dev shook his head. “They’re already on their way, Mother. Please go before they get here.” Dev turned to him, whispering fiercely. “I did not steal him—Terry left him with me. With me.”

  “Because she knew you would love him and take care of him.”

  The bitch on the other side of the door didn’t deserve anyone.

  Dev nodded. “Okay, we were firm and polite—can we go work in the back bedroom so we can’t hear her anymore, or do we have to stay here and keep asking her to go?”

  “Let’s go back. If the police need us, they’ll knock loud I bet.” He had no idea. He’d never done anything like this before.

  Dev nodded. “Or ring the bell downstairs before coming up like Mom should have done.” They went into the back, and Dev was shaking, breathing fast and quick.

  “You’re okay. Logan’s got Dylan. Logan’s amazing. He’ll fix this.” Aiden had to believe that. He wasn’t losing either Dev or that little boy. They were a family.

  Dev nodded and let go of his hand, wrapping him in a hug instead. Dev held on, face buried in his neck. “He is. We need to find Terry and get her to sign the paperwork for me to adopt him. Then there’s nothing she can do.”

  “Yeah. We’ll hire another PI. I have some in savings.”

  “That’s not fair—you don’t have to do that.” Dev shook his head and straightened. “You shouldn’t have to dig into your savings to find my sister.”

  “We’re a family. We do what we have to.” He knew that. They did what they needed to.

  “Have I told you yet that I love you?” Dev asked.

  As a matter of fact, Dev had not. Of course, he hadn’t said it to Dev yet either. “No, but I’d hoped you felt the same way I do.”

  Dev’s face lit up with his smile. “You do too? I’m so glad.” Dev kissed him, sloppy and a little too eager and exactly what the moment called for.

  He returned the kiss, then backed off. “I do. Love you. Too.”

  Dev beamed and hugged him again. “Okay. Okay. I can totally do this. Let’s get to work so we can get this finished. Maybe we can bring supper home to our family instead of just you and me going out.”

  “I think we’ll both feel better being there with them right now.”

  Dev nodded as he grabbed a box and started shoving stuff in it. “Yeah. I know I would. I kind of really, really want to hug U right now. Just hold him and breathe in his baby smell.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Home in our place.” The hatred in Dev’s mother’s voice made him uncomfortable, made him want to leave.

  They worked hard, only hearing Dev’s mother every now and then as she got exceptionally shrill. Whenever that happened, Dev would pack faster. They were almost finished with the room when there was a louder banging. “It’s the police. Could you come to the door, please?”

  “I can’t believe I’m glad the police are here.” Dev headed back to the front door.

  Aiden was right at Dev’s hip. No way he was letting his lover deal with this alone.

  Dev opened the door, revealing a single officer. Aiden could hear Dev’s mother’s shrill voice from down the hall, but he couldn’t see her.

  “You’re the occupant here?”

  “Yes. I’m Devon Smithson. Thank you for coming. I asked her to leave, but she wouldn’t go.”

  “Yeah, we’ll talk to the neighbors. One of them also called us.”

  Dev winced. “Man, I’m sorry. She’s my mother, but we haven’t really spoken since I was sixteen, when she kicked me out.”

  “She claims that you have a stolen baby.”

  “No, sir. I have my son, who is an infant, but there’s no stolen baby.”

  “Is he in the condo with you?”

  “No, sir. He’s at our home. I’m moving out. Here’s my lawyer’s card. He’s the one to call about custody issues.”

  “Okay, j
ust a couple more questions. Did you throw Mrs. Smithson out of your house? She’s claiming you laid hands on her.”

  Dev gasped, his eyes going wide. “No! I never would.”

  “He didn’t have the door open more than fifteen seconds. She didn’t come in and he didn’t go out.”

  Dev nodded. “After I closed the door, I told her again I didn’t want to see her and that I wanted her to leave. When she didn’t, we went to the other end of the condo so we couldn’t hear as much of what she was saying.”

  “So you’re definitely moving out?” the officer asked, nodding at the boxes in the room.

  “Yeah, I am. Aiden has two girls, and his place is better for raising kids.”

  “We’ll need to take your new information down,” the officer noted.

  “Okay.” Dev straightened and took a deep breath. “As long as you don’t tell my mother. I don’t want her showing up and scaring the kids.”

  “No, sir. Of course not.”

  “I’m going to call Logan, Dev, while you’re doing this.”

  The officer glanced up, a questioning look on his face.

  “That’s my lawyer,” Dev told the man.

  “Oh. Of course.”

  Aiden grabbed his phone and hit Logan’s number. “Answer the phone, man.”

  “Yo, Aiden. Everything okay? The cops get there?”

  “Yes. They got our address, the police. I wanted to tell you. This woman’s insane, man. In. Sane. Off her frigging rocker.”

  “The cops having the address should be fine, as long as they don’t do something stupid like tell her. Do I need to get the paperwork in on a restraining order for her?”

  “God yes. She wants Dylan. You need to find the sister. What can we do?” He was scared—for Dev and Dylan, but for his girls too.

  “Okay, breathe. She doesn’t have your address, and I will get the restraining order processed first thing tomorrow. I’ll start the paperwork online now. I’ve got a private eye looking for Terry. He’s got a couple of promising leads. I’ll get him to step it up. You have to trust everything is going to be okay.” Logan was always so damn calm. It could be infuriating.

  “You didn’t see this woman. She was frightening.”

  “She has to be. She’s a mother who kicked her son out for being gay. But we have the law on our side, Aiden.”

  “I know. I know, but… you’ve got the kids?”

  “I’ve got the kids. They’re eating lunch. Or rather Linds is, the babies had their bottles already and are playing with the Fisher-Price thingies. We are fine. A hundred percent fine.”

  “Okay. Okay, good. We’re finishing the packing part.”

  “I’ll call the guys and send them over, shall I?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dev escorting the officer out the door.

  “Please, yeah. Yeah, we need to get out of here.”

  “So let me hang up already and get them sent to you. Deep breaths, Aiden. It’s going to be fine.”

  Dev closed the door and double-checked the lock.

  “Right. I’ll see you tonight. I’ll bring pizza or something.” He hung up and put his phone away. “You ready to finish this up and get out of here?”

  Dev took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “Yeah. Yeah, there’s only a few things left to pack, and I guess I should take pictures of everything else, get it up on letgo.com or something, eh? Are the guys on their way?”

  “They are, and the kids are safe. The babies are playing and Linds is lunching.”

  “Good. Good.” Dev hugged him tight, vibrating again. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “You’d have had a total mental breakdown from lack of sleep.” That was easy.

  “You’re right, I would. U’d be a ball of anger and upset. It doesn’t bear thinking about.” Dev kissed him. “Okay. Okay. Let’s focus on getting this place emptied.”

  “Yeah. It’s time to get your stuff home and then we’ll integrate.”

  “Two, four, six, eight, we all want to integrate.” Dev repeated the phrase again, moving with a funny walk over to his electronics and beginning to pack it up, even as he repeated the sentence again. Dev stopped long enough to throw him a wide, slightly giddy grin.

  “Love you, dork.” And he did.

  Dev nodded his head enthusiastically. “Love you too, Aiden.”

  “Let’s get our shit together and go home, then.”

  “Yeah. Let’s do it.” Dev blew him a kiss and got to packing the last few boxes, working quickly and efficiently, clearly motivated.

  Thank goodness his lover wasn’t the kind who shorted out and couldn’t function in stress.

  With three kids, stress was the norm.

  Chapter Fourteen

  DEV was exhausted. Emotionally as well as physically. The confrontation with his mother, followed by the cops, and the constant worry that had now settled in the back of his brain left him feeling like he wasn’t going to be able to deal with much more. Then there were the hours of packing and shifting boxes and some of the furniture to the truck, unloading the same. That had left him with aches and pains in places he’d forgotten he had.

  They still had all the unpacking to do. He had to list all the stuff he’d left at the condo that he was selling on letgo.com. He had to hire someone to go in and make the place spotless, because he’d decided it was worth the money not to have to do it. And then he had to get the place listed.

  Thank God Logan hadn’t had any trouble with the kids, so when they’d finally settled after seven with pizza, no one was melting down. Dev had to admit, at this point, he was the most likely candidate to have a tantrum.

  He stared at his pizza, feeling too tired to even pick the damn thing up and bring it to his mouth.

  Warm hands landed on his shoulders, rubbing him, Aiden close and warm and supportive. He put his hand over one of Aiden’s and leaned back against Aiden’s belly.

  “You need to sit and eat,” he pointed out. Then he groaned as Aiden found the perfect spot, thumb digging into the sore muscle.

  “Uh-huh. I will. You’re home. You know how wonderful that is?”

  Dev had to smile at that, had to. “I do, actually.” A lot of the tension he was carrying eased with that, and he tilted his head back to look up into Aiden’s eyes. “Thank you.” Aiden seemed to always know exactly what he needed.

  “Love you.” Aiden kissed his forehead and kept massaging, helping him unwind enough to eat.

  As his shoulders eased, he took a drink of his Coke, and the hit of sugar helped give him more energy. He didn’t feel like himself, but he did feel much better. He put his hand over one of Aiden’s again and squeezed. “Thank you, love.”

  “You’re welcome.” Aiden came to sit next to him, grabbed his drink and sucked it down. “What a day, huh? I was tickled that Linds went down so easy. I was afraid she’d be ramped up.”

  “That’s down to me,” Logan informed them. “I am an excellent child minder.”

  “Are you bucking for a job?” Dev teased, taking his first bite and feeling more human as soon as it hit his stomach.

  “God, no!” Logan shook his head emphatically. “I love what I do. That doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I perform with excellence.”

  “There are things you don’t perform with excellence,” Aiden teased.

  There was a knock on the front door and Dev tensed, but Logan hopped up. “Ah. Reinforcements.”

  Aiden looked at Dev. “Reinforcements?”

  “Maybe he hired bouncers to guard the door.” Dev had to admit, he wouldn’t be upset if Logan had. He was feeling a little vulnerable with regards to his mother, and he wouldn’t complain if there was some big guy standing at the door refusing her entrance. He reminded himself that she didn’t know where Aiden lived.

  Logan came back with Zack, who had a drinks tray with four large coffee cups on it and a dessert box. Bless him, the man was a good friend indeed.

  “Hazelnut lattes and h
azelnut chocolate tortes for the workers. And I brought you one too, Logan.”

  “Hey! I babysat all day! All three of the little hooligans!” Logan plopped down with a dramatic sigh.

  “Uh-huh. Where are Dirk and Bill?”

  “Dirk had to get home to his little one, and Bill had to work. He’s got a second job tending bar.”

  “Ah, to be young and so full of energy.” Which wasn’t fair because Dev had plenty enough energy. When he got enough sleep. When U didn’t spend the entire day or night squawking and unhappy. When he hadn’t spent the entire day packing and moving. He finished his first piece of pie and grabbed a second. “Help yourself to pizza.”

  “Thanks.” Zack grabbed a slice and leaned back.

  “Where are your girls, honey?” Aiden asked.

  “At grandma’s for the rest of the week till the weekend. She was desperate for them, and I thought I could help here and maybe go have a beer one night.”

  “Oh wow, thanks. That’s awesome. And the beer will definitely be on me. I owe everyone.” From legal help to taking him and U in, everyone had been generous and kind.

  “Rock on. Good pizza. Someone not Aiden ordered it, huh?” Zack noted.

  “God yes.” Logan snorted. “No gourmet shit on the pizza.”

  “I picked them up on our last trip back here. But I haven’t found any problems eating pizzas Aiden has bought before.” So far their taste in pizza had matched – crust, tomato sauce, cheese, and meat. It didn’t get better than that.

  “You weren’t around for his escargot-on-pizza phase,” Logan pointed out. “Or sea urchin.”

  “There was the caviar and goat cheese pizza he made,” Zack said.

  Dev tried not to gag. Aiden had never mentioned those atrocities, thank goodness. That was not real pizza. He made a face, and Zack caught it, laughing.

  “So you can see why simple pepperoni pizza is so appreciated.”

  He nodded and shoved more pizza in his face; he was really hungry now that he was sitting and had started eating and he didn’t want to think about ‘gourmet’ pizza.

  “Okay. Okay, I had a few missteps,” Aiden admitted.

  “A few?” Logan stared at Aiden until he started laughing.