Heartbreak hotel

Chapter 14

After picking Thea up, she slipped her headphones on, so Soren decided to look out the window for the drive to the dessert place. With the windows down, he was getting the warm wind blowing on his face, making breathing a little hard. However, the breeze felt nice, so he looked away every few seconds to take a deep breath before returning to his previous position. A lot was going on in his mind.

He still needed to figure out how to be helpful to his fathers, but the more he thought about it, there really wasn’t anything he wanted to look more into, nor was there anything he was particularly good at. Is this how he would spend the remainder of his life? Crashing on his parents’ couch? He was sure they wouldn’t mind, well, Sebastian wouldn’t, but he didn’t want them to regret bringing him home. He had to do something to be useful.

And Scar. Deep down, he felt guilty; he would always feel guilty because Soren was sure that Scar knew he was scared of him. He always tried his hardest to stay away from him, or to not be too close to him, but the look on the man’s face would not chew him up inside. In all his years of knowing him, Scar had never even raised his voice, let alone his hand against Soren, but it didn’t change the fact that whenever the older man was anywhere near him, Soren would feel himself fo into fight or flee, and he had to do something about it, but what was he to do?

When they pulled into the parking lot, Soren was snapped out of his thoughts by Thea, not so roughly shoving him. He groaned but said nothing as he got out of the car and stretched. Once inside, the group found a booth near the back exit and took seats.

While the menus were passed around, Ash not so discreetly brought up a topic he had probably contemplated for a while. “Soren,” he said. His eyes were glued to the menu, which, if Sebastian hadn’t flipped it for him, he would have been reading upside down. “You’ve been avoiding Sccar for months, and I noted the same thing with Luca, Rick, and Romman. Would you care to explain? Did they do something?”

Soren stared at his menu. Thea frowned at him. He swallowed awkwardly; he knew his avoidance would become a topic sooner or later, but he had hoped it would be later rather than sooner. His answer was somewhat embarrassing, and he knew he could have lied, but Ash would have seen right through him, and he would have only imagined the worst or nagged Soren until he finally told him. So, he muttered his repose.

Ash finally put the menu down to stare at his son. “What?” he asked, frowning.

However, the waiter saved them by coming to their table and asking them what they would like. Sebastian requested pumpkin pie. Ash ordered Caramel cookie dough with extra caramel and a milkshake. Soren got the same thing as Ash, while Thea went for a slice of red velvet cake and an iced caramel coffee. Sebastian stared at his family in annoyance. “You both had to get his sweet tooth,” he muttered.

Ash laughed as he kissed his husband’s cheek before facing Soren again. “So,” he said, crossing his hands on the table. “As you were saying?”

“They scare me,” Soren finally mumbled, looking at everyone but his family. He had focused on a woman with some of her friends. She was rather pretty, with long dark hair and brown skin, and she had the most stunning grey eyes he had ever seen.

Ash coughed rather obnoxiously. “Instead of staring at her, answer this. Why? I mean, I get Scar, sort of. The man’s name is Scar, and he has a massive scar on his face, but he’s a teddy bear.”

“One that could kill you if you looked at him wrong,” Thea added, smiling as Soren glared at her.

“Thea,” Sebastian warned. She sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically as she adjusted to her seat.

Not even ten minutes later, when their food arrived and was finally placed in front of them, Sebastian’s phone rang. Ash sighed as he stared at his husband. “Just once,” he muttered. “That’s all I ask. One f*****g time. Can you not answer it?” he whined. Sebastian sighed, leaning over and pecking his husband on the lips before he answered the phone,

Soren began eating his cookie dough drizzled with extra caramel, and it felt like he was in heaven; god, he forgot how much he enjoyed this place’s cookie dough. “We have to go,” Sebastian muttered.

Ash groaned as he hiccupped. When all eyes landed on him, his cookie dough disappeared, and he innocently sipped his milkshake. “How the f**k?” Thea whispered, going as far as to check around the table to ensure the man hadn’t stashed it somewhere.

“I’ve lived with your father for eight years. Not once have we managed to have a date without us having to leave early. I learned to eat fast.”

“I think this is a sign you need to start switching your phone off,” Soren muttered, as he stared at his uneaten cookie dough in heartbreak.

“What’s happening?” Thea asked as they stood up. Sebastian grabbed Ash’s hand as they walked out, their kids before them.

“Not sure,” Sebastian replied. “I was asked to come home, all of us and that I had to hold Ash’s hand and not let him escape when he finds out.”

“What does that even mean?” Soren muttered.

Thea snorted. “We’re about to find out.”

~*~