The Muse's Undoing

I lift my hand to sift through his hair, and his gaze turns slightly hazy. I glance down at his mouth and get aroused. Unwilling to pop a boner at a kid’s birthday party, I turn to the main attraction.

Vaughn opens a Lord of the Rings Lego set, and my eyes widen. “I need that,” I say.

“Maybe I’ll talk him into keeping it at the Eastmoor.”

“I love Legos,” I say.

“How do you feel about puzzles?” Fischer asks.

“Not as strongly as I do about that,” I tell him, nodding in Vaughn’s direction.

Vaughn opens some clothes and a new pair of expensive shoes that all the boys are irrationally excited about. I got him a Panda onesie, because he told me he wanted one, and Fischer got him a Rubik’s cube, which I told him was sadistic.

“Watch. He’s gonna train himself to solve it in under a minute.”

“It’s a cheap gift,” I say.

“Well, I can’t buy him a car.”

“You could’ve gotten him a good set of Legos.”

“I got him some clothes, too. Nice ones. And a coat.”

“Kids don’t wear coats.”

He chuckles. “I’ll put you in charge next year.”

“I’ll be honest. I’m better at critiquing gifts than selecting them.”

For that, he leans in and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Did you really think I was Superman?”

I hold his head in place and kiss his mouth softly now that the boys’ eyes are all trained on the next gift. “Aren’t you?”

Nicole, from behind the couch, flicks Fischer in the ear, and he flinches. He glances up at her, cheeks darkening. “Sorry.”

He doesn’t let go of my leg, but he does lean away slightly. I mentally tell my dick to chill. There’s still pizza and cake to get through. When Fischer gets up to go the bathroom, however, I stare after him longingly. “Still going strong, I see,” Maggie says.

I wince, and she’s quick to add. “I don’t mean anything shitty by it.”

“This forever implication that you think we’re not gonna last is getting old, and it hurts more than you think,” I tell her, the words coming out right for once.

She looks stung. “I never meant to imply that.”

“Then why say something like that? It’s not supportive. It’s a dig.”

“It wasn’t, Matty. I promise. I do support you.”

“Then why am I hiding? Why am I playing by society rules when I’m not even part of it?”

“Listen.” Stuart swoops in, taking a seat on the coffee table in front of me, ambushing me. “If you want to blame someone, you can take this out on me. They’re my parents. I know what you mean when you say society, and Maggie’s not part of that.”

“She is now.”

Stuart gives me a look I can’t fully decipher. Part protective and part conspiratorial. “Look,” he says. “We’re pregnant.”

Maggie startles. “Stuart!”

He glances at my sister after the bomb drops. “Nothing is more important to my parents than legacy. This is going to be a big deal for them, and I hate to use a kid like this, but I was raised a certain way, and the truth is—it’s leverage.”