“Yeah. Sure.” Gio happily handed off the towels and sat on the edge of the porch, wrapping one arm around Calder’s shoulders. He pulled the man in as tightly as he could. When the shooting had started and he’d realized Calder was trapped alone on the other side of the porch, something inside of him had panicked. It demanded that Calder be brought close and wrapped in the same safe arms that held him.
“You okay? No holes that weren’t in you already at the start of the day?”
Calder huffed a soft laugh. “I’m okay. Merely tired. Feel like I pulled every muscle in my body.”
Gio turned his head to brush a kiss to the top of Calder’s head. Yeah, professionalism was out the window. There was fucking magic happening. That beat out professionalism.
“After saving everyone’s life, I think you deserve a nice hot bubble bath, a massage, and chocolate cake.”
“Mmm…chocolate cake,” Calder hummed against his chest.
Gio turned his attention to the three men helping the Girl Scouts in their wet uniforms. Gio could only guess that Calder had lost control of the water at some point and it had fallen on the girls. The ground was soaked along with them.
The only strange thing was that the girls seemed to be in a trance. They barely moved and didn’t speak. Just stared straight ahead, reacting only when someone spoke to them.
“Are they okay?”
“Yeah,” Calder replied softly. “Grey is in their minds. He’s removing the evil spell and making sure they don’t remember any of it. He and Cort will make sure they get home safely.”
“That’s good,” Gio sighed, refusing to let his brain think about anything he was actually hearing.
Calder pushed away from Gio so he could look him in the face. His own expression was twisted up with worry. “Um…Gio, you seem to be taking all of this really well.”
“What? The gun-toting Girl Scouts? Or do you mean your ability to control water and Grey getting into the minds of little girls?”
“Don’t say it like that!” Grey snapped. “You make it sound all pervy, and it’s not.”
“I wouldn’t pick on Grey. He’ll convince you that you’re a chicken,” Lucien warned with a smile.
“Fantastic.”
“But yeah, to all of that,” Calder murmured. He reached out and very carefully touched Gio’s cheek, which made him want to sink into his touch regardless of the magic and the guns. He definitely wasn’t right in the head. “Why aren’t you surprised?”
“Oh, I’m surprised. Really fucking surprised. But right now, I’m worried about you. Once I know you’re okay, I’ll demand answers as to what the hell is going on.”
“Don’t worry,” Grey called out. “I’ll get to you. You won’t remember any of this.”
Gio’s heart stopped, and he suddenly couldn’t breathe. Wouldn’t remember any of it? How much? The fight? Or did Grey intend to make it so that he couldn’t remember Lucien and Calder? Fuck that. He couldn’t lose his memories of them.
But before he could even tighten his grip on Calder, the man was awkwardly springing to his feet. “No! You can’t!”
Surprisingly, Lucien had shouted roughly the same thing at the same time, and it might have made him a tad giddy on the inside to know that both men didn’t want Grey messing with his memories.
Grey turned to face him and Calder on the porch, his eyes narrowing as if he were reading something inside of Gio’s head. He couldn’t stop himself from flinching while trying to imagine walls of steel going up in his brain. It probably didn’t work that way, but he didn’t want Grey stealing his memories. Not yet. Not like this.
“Fine,” Grey announced, tossing his arms up in the air.
“Seriously?” Cort asked, and Gio had to admit he was shocked as well.
Grey wrapped an arm around his husband and leaned against him. “I’ve got ten children who need to have their memories cleaned and to be taken home. I’m tired at just the thought of it. If they want to put off getting Gio’s memories erased, fine. So be it.” Grey looked over at Lucien and then Calder. “But he stays here until Clay and the others get back. Then we can decide as a group what happens to him.”
“Why does it sound bad when he says it like that?” Calder grumbled.
“Because it probably is bad.” Lucien sighed.
Gio reached out, caught Calder’s hand, and pulled the man down to sit on the top step. He wrapped his arms around his shoulders, pulling him tight. “Yeah, but it means that Lucien and I get to make sure you are properly recovered from today’s activities.”
“Okay, that sounds much better,” Calder agreed, snuggling in close.
Gio rested his head on top of Calder’s while glancing over at Lucien, who was looking more than a little worried. Even if Grey wiped his memories and he never did get to find out what the hell was happening in this weird house, at least he’d get to hold both of them one more time. He might not remember it, but he wanted to believe his soul would.