Out of Nowhere (Balls and Brawn Bodyguard #4)

38. Chapter Thirty-eight Dex

Chapter Thirty-eight: Dex

T hree days before Thanksgiving, Anna went into labor. Bea, Garfield, and Tom took a flight together and barely had time to get there before little Sky was born. As soon as Anna was settled in a room, they video-called Dex. Having reached her thirty-eighth week of pregnancy, she was considered full term, and everyone was relieved the baby weighed in at a healthy seven pounds two ounces.

“Now, I can finally leave,” Anna said, smiling at Dex from his phone screen before abruptly disappearing and being replaced by his mother’s face.

“He looks nothing like Anna,” Bea said in a loud whisper. “Do you think they could have mixed up the babies?”

Anna grabbed the phone back, giving Dex a dizzying arc of blurred images. If they kept passing the phone around like a hot potato, Dex was going to lose his breakfast.

“Don’t listen to her, Dex. I told her Sky looks just like Adam,” Anna said.

“The meth-head,” Dex heard Bea mutter from out of sight.

Tom said something about having Anna’s room ready with a crib, and suddenly all hell broke loose. Anna started shouting about how Bea had promised she and the baby could go stay with her, the baby began to cry, the screen blurred and Dex found himself looking at the fabric of Garfield’s trousers. He knew they were Garfield’s due to the expensive fabric.

“Mom, you promised me!” Anna wailed.

“I know that, but time got away from me. I’m on the holiday committee at St. Lucius, and this time of year is always so busy. There are meals for the homeless, and we lost our Joseph for the live nativity that begins the day after Thanksgiving. Bart Humphries refused to stand out in the cold again this year with his arthritis. Who am I going to find at this late date? He could have told me weeks ago, but he waited until the last damn minute when it’s nearly impossible to find someone. It isn’t as though his arthritis just popped up out of nowhere. And I haven’t been able to prepare a room for you and the baby—“

“You always break your promises!” Anna accused.

When Garfield tried to intervene, Anna must have thrown a pacifier at him because Dex saw one bounce off his leg.

“For fuck’s sake, take her home with you, Mom!” Dex shouted into the phone, and suddenly he was upright again and staring into his mother’s face.

“What did you say?” she asked. “Dex, we’re having a discussion.”

“I said, take Anna and the baby home with you. All that live-in help you have can make up a room for Anna and Sky. Seo-jun and I will fly out as planned, and we’ll have a belated Thanksgiving. You, Tom, and Anna can figure out what to do later. Jesus, everyone’s on edge right now. We don’t need this.”

“I guess that could work,” his mother said. “Although I still have to find a Joseph for the live nativity.”

“I’ll see you all soon,” Dex said, and disconnected.

“That was very forceful,” Seo-jun’s voice came from the doorway.

Dex looked up and made a face. “Too forceful?”

“Not at all. I approve. I was just wondering what’s gotten into you lately.”

Dex didn’t know, but it sure felt good.

“I’m all packed,” Seo-jun said. “We’re still flying to Denver tomorrow?”

Dex stood and crossed the room to Seo-jun, wrapping his arms around him. “Yes. I don’t know if that’s good or bad news.”

Arms tightening around Dex, Seo-jun said, “It’s good news, of course. You want me to meet your family, don’t you? And I know you want to see your nephew.”

Dex hummed into Seo-jun’s shoulder, wishing he could stay there forever. But Seo-jun was right. As much as he didn’t really want to see his family, he really did want to introduce Seo-jun to them and to hold little Sky.

“They’re not easy,” he warned, pulling back and looking into Seo-jun’s dark eyes. “Mom is nuts. And if you heard any of that conversation, all she can talk about is her duties on her various committees. She’ll exhaust you with it if you let her. And Anna—well, you already got a taste of her. Garfield’s a snob and Tom’s okay, but he’ll be all tense from being in Garfield’s house. And I don’t know if Garfield’s family is still coming, but they all have names from the 1800‘s—“

Seo-jun kissed Dex into silence. “Stop worrying,” he said when he pulled away. “I don’t have anything to compare it to other than the Thanksgiving’s we’ve had here. If nobody winds up singing Bruno Mars at the top of their lungs, it will be a step up from some of the holidays we’ve celebrated here.”

Saint was a big Bruno Mars fan and had a habit of singing his songs very loudly when drunk.

“What was that sigh for?”

Dex hadn’t even realized he’d sighed. “I was just thinking about Gary.”

Seo-jun frowned, as though trying to place the name. “You mean the virtual assistant you made?”

“Yeah. I’ve had to completely disable him. I couldn’t figure out what the issue was.” Even as he said the words, his mind was running over possibilities.

“Maybe putting it aside for a while and trying later will give you a new prospective,” Seo-jun said comfortingly. Dex knew it was more that he’d taken on more than he was capable of and the mistakes he’d made weren’t fixable. He would have to start all over, and, as he didn’t have the heart for it, he was glad Jase hadn’t asked him to do that. He probably didn’t want to waste the expense when Dex obviously didn’t know what he was doing.

“Hey,” Seo-jun said. “Look at me.” When Dex did, Seo-jun studied his face, and Dex imagined what he saw—a loser. “Tell me what’s really bothering you. Is it really all about Gary?”

Dex’s cheeks heated because it really was, and how stupid was that? For a moment, he thought about lying. Making up something more plausible—Lord knew he had more serious matters going on with his sister. But staring into the dark depth’s of Seo-jun’s eyes, he couldn’t do it.

“The whole thing was just…embarrassing. I should have been able to make him work. I thought I could, but what I ended up with was a mess that caused a lot of aggravation to my coworkers.” He shook his head like the motion could knock the memory of that out of his brain.

Resting his hands on Dex’s shoulders, Seo-jun said, “Well I, who can barely manage to surf the internet correctly, truly marvel at what you accomplished. You created something that could communicate and follow orders. Just because you ran into problems with the way it followed orders doesn’t make it any less extraordinary, and I’m sure everyone else feels the same way. They all talk about how smart you are. Hell, just the other day Sean was saying that he hoped Salem could do half the things you could because you always solved his issues within minutes.”

Slowly, Dex felt the knot that had formed in his chest melting away under Seo-jun’s kind and logical reassurances. When Seo-jun pulled Dex into a hug, Dex nuzzled his neck before kissing the soft, fragrant skin there. “I guess I have some issues that stem from being abandoned by my father,” he admitted. “Not being good enough, you know? And the thought of seeing my family stresses me out.”

Seo-jun kissed the top of Dex’s head. “We’ll get through it. Anytime you feel overwhelmed, just say the word and we’ll go someplace private and make out.”

Dex couldn’t help laughing as he squeezed Seo-jun tighter. “That would probably work.”

“Of course it would. Nothing feels better than this.” Seo-jun loosened his hold and brought their mouths together, quickly wiping thoughts of anything but Seo-jun from Dex’s mind.