Stall

Chapter 86.

"And if the sky grows heavy
Wrap your arms around me tight
We'll be alright"

***

It was late by the time Jimmy and Steve left our apartment, after we drove back from the coffee shop.

I could wrap Jimmy up in cotton wool and keep him forever, with how sweet and concerned he was when he saw how upset I was, my crying finally getting the better of me as Harry and I had walked to the car from the coffee shop.

When we arrived at our apartment, Jimmy and Steve arrived a few minutes later, Jimmy pulling himself out of the car and striding over to me clutching a happy meal.

"Don't be sad peaches" he had said with a frown, and I looked ridiculous smiling at him through my tears but it only got worse when he pulled a princess toy from the box and put it in my hand.

"Want you to have it, they always cheer me up" he had smiled, and I even saw a brief appreciative smile ghost on Harrys lips as he watched.

"Got you extra chicken nuggets too" he explained holding the box up, but then looks at me sheepishly.

"I ate the fries though, m'sorry"

Jimmy is too precious, such a sweet soft soul wrapped up in such a hard exterior.

When we got inside the apartment, Harry took the lead with explaining everything that had happened to Jimmy and Steve, I was still trying to come to terms with it.

I still don't know what to feel, I want to run back to the coffee shop and scream at Maurine to change her mind, I want to push David into a god damn wood chipper - I want all of this to just go away. I want David to go away.

Part of me knows though, that this isn't just about Harry and I, this is Maurine standing up for herself, fighting her own fight that's been going on for years before she ever knew us but god dammit I wish there was another way she could do it.

I have my own grief about it, but I was also sad for Harry, that something like this wasn't overly shocking for him, that he's experienced a life where these situations don't flip his world upside down like they do mine.

He isn't showing it but I know what's happened with Maurine is affecting him too, I know that she means something to him. He has his own way of processing his hurt, his own frustrations over the situation but I don't want all of the attention just focused on me.

I need to be there for him as well, we need to be there for each other.

There looked like there was something heavy on Jimmys mind when they left, he wasn't expecting what Harry explained about Maurine either and he seemed to relate to the feelings Maurine had towards David, how David had treated her.

Also the mention that she had always thought about him, tried to find him seemed to get a reaction from him I couldn't quite decipher, but it seemed to weigh on him.

As I looked at the three of them, when they were talking I realised its not just Harry I love, I adore all three of these men with my whole heart, and just like I am with Harry, I feel protective over them too.

It seems bizarre, but it's like we're our own little screwed up Brady Bunch, those boys feels more like family than any actual family I have.

I'd do anything for them.

They had vaguely discussed David, that they need to come up with a plan, and I briefly got a glimpse at the information that this situation was bigger than just David.