K.C. and I would like to welcome you to the final story of 2020. I’m sure many of us are happy to see the year go, but it has given us this site and you, the readers we both love so much. We’re grateful you’ve come and visited, and even more that you’re enjoying the little snippets of the lives after the books. And with that said, we now invite you to check in for the Christmas party.
“Tim! Can you get me some juice?”
Tim went to the refrigerator in SubSpace, the club that Eli and Jarod had let them have in Secrets. It was a place where all the boys were welcome and Doms were, supposedly, not allowed. It was here where Tim learned that family was what you built in your heart, not what you were born into.
“Orange or apple?” he called out to Ellis.
“Oh, orange, please. Apple runs right through me and makes me have to—”
“No, no, no. Please stop. I don’t need to hear that,” Jarod groaned.
“Makes him have to pee, Jarod. God, it’s not like we don’t all do it,” Rob teased.
“Yes, but some of us are adult enough to not talk about it,” Jarod volleyed back.
“Okay, okay, I get the point. Sheesh.”
Tim handed Ellis his juice, then took a seat in the corner. This was their holiday party. Not the same as the one for the club, where he, Rob, and Ellis had once again been tasked with making gingerbread biscuits—which were a big hit at last year’s party—and it was…nice.
“So, Tim! Tell us what happened with your brothers.”
Tim stilled. When word came down from the coppers that Ellis used to work with, Tim had spiraled into a hell of his own making. He’d been brusque with Masters Sam and Aaron, who pulled him in and told him he was loved, even if he was acting like a spoiled brat. He’d growled at Maggie, who merely stared back at him with arched eyebrows until he realized what an arse he was being. And all the while, he’d hated himself for how he was behaving.
“Five years each,” Tim murmured.
“Harsh,” James said.
“No, they deserved it. Hell, they got off easy, as far as I’m concerned.”
And that was the root of Tim’s problems. He didn’t care his brothers were sentenced to prison, but he felt that he should. They were his family, after all. His blood relations. But somehow, he simply couldn’t work up enough sympathy to care. That was why he’d been angry, because he thought he was a better person than that.
“And how are you doing with it?” Rob asked, sliding a chair over and sitting beside Tim while the voices of the others faded into the background.
Tim shrugged. “Fine.”
“Yeah, see, we don’t think so,” Ellis rumbled as he sat on the other side of Tim. He gave Tim’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You’re hurting, and we want you to know we’re here for you.”
Tim knew they were. Not one of them had ever been anything but supportive. It was, in fact, the first time in his life that Tim had a network of friends he could reach out to, and he would never forget any of them.
“Okay, you lot,” Maggie called out. “The party is starting downstairs and your masters want you all to get your cute little butts down there and show off your assets.”
They all rose as one, then headed for the door. Rob helped Ellis to his feet, before handing Ellis the thick cane that was his constant companion.
“C’mon Tim,” Ellis said, a wide smile on his face.
“Tim will be down shortly,” came the wizened voice of the matriarch of the family they’d built. Maggie stood at the door, smiling as the boys filed out, then stepped into SubSpace and took a seat on the sofa.
“Tim, sit with me.” Tim took a seat beside Maggie. She twined their fingers together. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He shook his head. Where Tim might be able brush everyone else off, he knew Maggie saw right through him and wouldn’t stop until he confessed everything.
“That’s fine,” she cooed, reaching an arm around his shoulder and pulling him close. “So your brothers went to prison, huh?”
Tim sighed. “If you knew, why’d you ask?”
“Because it would be easier if you let it out instead of me having to pull it from you.” She let go and Tim sat up. “It seems to me you’re not upset about that.”
“I’m not. They haven’t been—never were—my family. They were like strangers I was forced to live with, and when Masters Aaron and Sam found me, I finally gained everything I ever thought a family should be. Husbands, as well as a true set of brothers.” He peered at Maggie. “And another grandmother.”
Her cheeks pinked. “You know we all love you.”
“And I love you all.” It was true. Deep to his soul, Tim knew this was everything in life.
“So what’s the problem then?”
He blew out a breath. “I feel like… I dunno. I should be more upset about this.”
She gave him a quizzical glance. “But why?”
He shrugged. “They…I…we….” Tim shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“I do,” Maggie said, her eyes alight. “Because no matter what they did, they never broke the spirit in you. They never made you like them. You were always a good person, and nothing they did could take that core away. That’s why you’re upset now. Your kind and giving nature is at war with the one that simply doesn’t give a fuck.”
Tim leaned back. “Maggie!”
She waved him off. “Oh, please. At my age you call it like you see it. Who’s going to say anything to me?”
“Masters Aaron and Sam keep asking what’s wrong, and I don’t know how to explain it to them. I’m not sure I understand it myself.”
“Let me ask you a question, and I want your honest answer. If your brothers were here now, what would you ask them?”
Tim furrowed his brow. If his brothers were there? There was only one question on his mind. “Why.”
“Care to expand on that?” Maggie asked, rubbing Tim’s shoulder.
“What did I do that made them hate me so much? Why couldn’t they love me? Why—”
The dam burst, and Tim sobbed. He’d held this pain inside of him since he was a child. All he wanted was for someone to love him, to see him for who he was. Why was that so wrong? Maggie pulled him to her, gently rubbing his back.
“Tim?”
The voice behind him startled Tim. He turned and found Master Sam standing there, staring down at him with such affection. Tim scrubbed a hand over his eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” he wheezed. “I didn’t mean to ruin—”
“You’ve ruined nothing,” Master Sam insisted. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“But the party‒”
“Will go on without us. Aaron and I are going to take you home and show you why you’re the most important thing in the world to us.” He knelt beside Tim. “Let me ask you something. Do you want to go visit your brothers?”
Did he? To what end? “I don’t know.”
“Closure, Tim,” Maggie murmured. “That’s what this will give you. The chance to look them in the eye and let them see you’ve moved beyond them. You’ve grown and become your own man, and there’s nothing from them that helped that.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “Take your men with you. Let them stand there giving you strength as you decide if you want to try to get your family back in your life, or if you’re going to let go of the old and clutch the new so tightly, you’re afraid it’ll break.” She smiled. “It won’t, so you know. It’ll grow stronger every day.”
Tim sniffled as he peered at Master Sam. “How’d you know?”
Sam pulled a face. “Really? The first thing Rob did when he got out of the lift was march over to me and say you needed me.” He snorted. “Then he told me SubSpace was a Dom-Free Zone and that I ought not to get used to getting in here.”
“He’s in the corner for talking to you like that, isn’t he?”
Master Sam pulled Tim close. “No, sweetheart. Not this time. Rob and Ellis care about you so very much. It speaks well of you that you have friends like that.”
Why was Tim letting his past impact his present? His parents and his brother had made it known they didn’t want him. Hell, they’d kicked him out of the house after a beating, then locked the doors. Why should he give a damn about them now?
“I don’t want to go see them,” he said, though there was a flutter in his chest he didn’t like.
“I think you do,” Master Aaron said as he entered the room and made his way to the sofa. Maggie stood and sat in the other chair as Master Aaron took a seat, sandwiching Tim between his Masters.
“Why, though? Why should I care what they think? They kicked me out. So why do I care?”
“Because you’re our boy. The kindest, sweetest, most sensitive person we’ve ever met. The boy who knits for the homeless. The boy who volunteers to help in the kitchen to make holiday biscuits for the club. The boy who… we love.”
That was it, right there, the crux of everything. Tim was loved. By his Masters. By Maggie. By his friends. And he was scared to death of losing it. It wasn’t about his brothers. It was about losing the life he’d built.
“I don’t want to see them,” Tim said. “I want….”
“Tell us,” Master Sam insisted, tugging Tim’s ear gently.
Tim glanced from Master Sam to Master Aaron and finally to Maggie. “I want to go downstairs and enjoy the party. With my family.”
Master Sam stood. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go home?”
Tim shook his head. “No, Master Sam. I want to go downstairs and remind myself that I’m loved and I’m worth something to the family I’ve built.” He turned to Master Aaron. “Is that okay?”
Master Aaron laughed. “More than. Let’s go.” He stood and pulled Tim up, then turned to Maggie. “Would you care to accompany us?”
Maggie grinned. “Me with three of the most handsome men in the club?” She fanned herself. “Why, I might swoon.”
Master Sam led the way to the lift, the rest following behind him. The warmth of Master Aaron’s hand around his, the way Maggie kept squeezing his other? That was what the holiday was about, as far as Tim was concerned. A time for family. For love. For peace.
When they got out of the lift at the club level, the doors opened, and Master Sam urged Tim to go out first. As soon as he did, he was swarmed by the other subs in the club, who pulled him into their throng and hugged him one after the other.
“It’s like you were waiting for me, or something,” Tim said with a shy smile.
Rob rolled his eyes. “Duh. Like we were going to join the party without you.”
While Tim wouldn’t ever forget his brothers or parents, he wasn’t going to let them impinge on his future anymore. He was loved, and now he finally accepted that sometimes people would come into your life, teach you a lesson, and then leave. That was what his family did. They taught Tim that he needed to build himself up with no help from them, and become the man—the boy—he was always meant to be.