Chapter Seventeen
Parker
Parker loaded the last of the grocery bags in the back of the truck. He had sorted out all of the stuff that needed to be kept cold or frozen in the cooler that Brady had been smart enough to suggest they bring. Brady had been subdued since that morning and Parker didn't like seeing him that way.
He liked it when Brady smiled or when he nibbled his bottom lip while he was thinking about something. He liked how Brady was always pushing up his glasses, sometimes when they weren't even on his face. Parker didn't like how the corners of his lips were turned down now or how his eyes were so flat and sad.
Glenn didn't enjoy this emotion on Brady either. His concerned stare flitted over to Parker for long enough for them to both come to a silent conclusion. The groceries would have to wait.
Parker started the truck and pulled out of the grocery parking lot. He spotted a business ahead and turned sharply spitting up gravel as he did. The truck tilted ever so much to one side and Brady looked up franticly. "What is it? What happened?"
Glenn shot Parker a dirty look, most likely for almost killing them and for frightening Brady. "We're taking a break," he said.
"At the tavern?" Brady asked peering up at the sign above the building. "Isn't it a little early?"
"It's five o'clock somewhere," Parker said, shrugging. He slipped out of the car and joined Brady's side. The three of them walked in to the bar which was about as busy as someone would expect a small-town tavern to be in the middle of a weekday. There was a lone bartender putting away dishes likely from the night before. She evaluated the three men as they entered, but seemed to be more curious than anything else.
Parker went to the bar and ordered them three beers, and Glenn helped Brady to a table. When Parker came back, Glenn excused himself and headed toward the pay phone. Despite his earlier objections, Brady accepted the drink. "He said he wanted to call his pack while he was thinking about it," Brady explained.
Parker understood. He had a lot to discuss with his pack. And yet, when they were at the clinic, anything that wasn't Glenn or Brady seemed unimportant and pushed to the back. Now that they were out in the world, forced to take a break, he remembered how important it was to let the coyotes know that no one was going to harm Brady or his clinic. Or Glenn, for that matter. Parker was going to have a few choice words to say to Clyde that he planned on speaking with his fists. Booby traps were childish and weren't going to help the pack heal. If he had spent half the time setting animal traps for food as he had setting that place up, the pack would have had a feast.
He didn't want to go back to his pack empty handed though. He would offer them Robert Foster's place. The guy had a lot of land and didn't deserve to live in the same town as Brady. He'd get a lot less than Parker wanted to give to him if he peacefully agreed to leave and hand the land over.
Parker smiled, he would be able to help his pack heal and keep his mates by his side. More and more, Parker was learning what it meant to have a mate. At first, he only understood the sexual desire with a light smattering of protectiveness. He knew now, he would die for either Glenn or Brady.
"Why don't you want a baby?" Parker asked.
Brady sputtered and coughed so loud Glenn raised his eyebrow at them from across the room. "I assume you mean, why don't I want to be pregnant? I have nothing against children."
Parker tried to think about it from Brady's perspective but he was unable to do that without also conjuring up the image of a pregnant Brady, sitting at the table they ate at every day, reading his paper and rubbing his swollen belly. Would he get sick in the morning? Parker's aunt had gotten sick with every pregnancy. Parker had learned how to make an extremely beneficial ginger juice drink that had helped her. And damn it, but he wanted to make that drink for Brady.
"It isn't possible in my world," Brady said, properly reading Parker's thoughts from his expression. "I didn't grow up thinking it was ever anything I could do. It seems...I don't know, too different. Too weird."
Parker tried not to be offended. What was weird about finding a mate and starting a family? Male pregnancies were even more revered in coyote culture, and Parker thought all shifter culture, because only mated males could get pregnant. Two male shifters could have sex all they wanted, but if they weren't mated, then no one would get pregnant. A pregnant male was a for sure happy man, because it meant he was with the love of his life. Or, in this case, loves.
It was Parker's turn to choke on his drink. He had just thrown the L-word around in his mind like it was nothing. Scarier yet, he wanted to say it out loud, over and over.
Glenn looked over at them again but this time he hung up and sauntered back to the table. "What is going on here?" he asked looking at his beer suspiciously.
"We were just talking about Brady's aversion to pregnancy," Parker replied.
Glenn cocked his head to the side. "We bought condoms."
Brady checked out the rest of the bar, despite the fact that they were the only three customers in there and that the bartender had gone back into the kitchen to make out with the cook, if Parker's ears weren't deceiving him.
"I know," Brady said in a hushed tone. "It's just, until I saw Caleb, something like that had never even crossed my mind. But, I felt something when I saw him. I was...I don't know, jealous or something. Not of the man he was with," Brady said quickly in response to two thunderous expressions. "I was jealous of how happy he looked. Complete and content. Sure of himself. How could I not also want that?"
Glenn nodded. "That makes sense. Hey, speaking of Caleb, I spoke with Asher. Didn't have the heart to tell him I hadn't quite started on the homestead but he did tell me that there is some exciting news back home. My pack masters, Conner and Felix are joining with Luke and some of the other nearby packs and are planning one large shifter party. It is supposed to bring us all together, and make us all stronger. That way, when we go after the coyotes, they have no hope."
Parker's heart felt like it would stop. Glenn hadn't mentioned a solid plan of when they would attack his family, but he looked so happy and confident when he'd spoken about it.
"Parker?" Glenn said his name curiously. "Are you okay? Is it too weird, with you being a coyote as well?"
Parker offered him a small, wooden smile. "Yeah, kind of."
"Well, we don't have to talk about it. But I would like to discuss the party. It would be great to be able to introduce you two to the pack, officially."
He didn't have to say officially as what. As mates. Parker was terrified and flattered.
He reached for his glass to take another long drink and was shocked that it was empty. Brady's was empty as well, so much for not being a day drinker. "One more?" he asked Glenn and Brady.
Glenn shook his head. "I'll just have the one. One of us has to be able to drive us all home. You two have more though. I'll take care of you."
Despite what Glenn had just said about attacking his family, Parker believed him. He ordered two more beers and Brady was only half way through his second when he set it down and asked Parker for some quarters. Parker fished some out of his pocket and handed them over, watching Brady's sweet behind as he sashayed away from the table to a jukebox on the opposite wall. A few minutes later, an old country song started playing in the speakers. It was a love song, about finding the person you were meant to be with, but with a nice beat that made it not so depressing.
Brady shyly walked back to the table and held out his hand in the space between Glenn and Parker. "Dance?" he asked.
Parker realized that by putting his hand where he was, Brady was inviting one or both of them to dance. Either it didn't take much for his liquid courage to kick in, or he was coming to terms with his own misgivings. Parker looked at Glenn who nodded, giving him the permission to take the man's hand. He let Brady lead him to the dance floor and waited for the other man to show him just how he wanted to dance. Brady stepped in close, filling Parker's senses with his smell.
"I'm sorry about earlier. And about not being sure about pregnancy. I just need time, if you can give it to me."
Parker wound his arms around Brady. "Of course, I can. We both can. I never expected this, Brady. Even when I met you, I didn't realize what it was that I was feeling towards you, but I know what it is now. You are my mates. I can wait for you forever because I can't imagine a future that doesn't involve both of you."
Brady sighed and leaned into him. They danced like that for the rest of the song, not really moving, but holding each other and telling each other with their body's that everything was going to be okay. When the next song started, Parker watched Glenn approach them from the jukebox and stood in place behind Brady. They had him sandwiched between their bodies, right where he belonged. The next song was more blues than country and had a bass line that screamed sex. Parker let go, writhing against his mate while he grabbed whatever part of Glenn he could reach.
When the song ended and another came on, the three of them looked up, blinking through the sexual haze. Parker spotted the young bartender, smiling sheepishly from behind the bar. "I picked this song," she admitted. "You guys are the hottest thing I have ever seen and I didn't want you to stop."
Parker smiled along with Glenn and they kept dancing.