Cole shifted. He'd brought a pillow to sit on while he ate breakfast in the kitchen, but even that pressure was really something against his bruised ass. After a few days, his skin had calmed down and was no longer inflamed and sensitive, but the bruises still ached. It was almost like Gideon had taken a paddle or a crop to him. The day after their extended play, he'd wondered if maybe his husband had.

There were stretches of that day where he didn't remember specifics, just pain or pleasure or calm or frustration. Cole usually would notice the switch from a palm to a crop, the different kinds of pain difficult to deal with in their own ways, but he'd been so high on his own brain chemicals for so long that he might not have. Gideon said it had been just his plain old palm all day long, though, and he trusted him.

Cole shivered at the memory, face growing warm.

"Crepes," Andre announced, setting the plate in front of him, "for the fourth day in a row. Nutella today. What the hell is Mr. Barta trying to get you to forgive him for?"

A smile flitted across Cole's lips at the misunderstanding, one which he wasn't about to correct. These weren't apology crepes any more than the bouquets of roses on the counter were apology roses. They were Gideon's extended form of aftercare, more for him than for Cole. It didn't bother Cole in the slightest that he bent over and let Gideon hit his ass. He didn't spiral about it. But Gideon sometimes spiraled about wanting to bend Cole over and hit his ass.

So, Cole graciously accepted all of Gideon's pampering every time they had that kind of play and made sure to drop lots of little comments about how much he loved him, appreciated him, and wanted to be touched by him.

In a half-truth, he told Andre, "We had an argument a few days ago. But we already made up, he's just going over the top. Not that I'm complaining."

He picked up his fork and cut off one end of the crepe. His mouth watered at the smell of chocolatey hazelnut and browned butter, and fresh whipped cream. Not the stuff out of a freezer tub. No, Andre literally whipped up some heavy cream with sugar and whatever else—probably magic—to make it this morning.

Yeah, Cole wasn't mad about the aftercare crepes, nor the aftercare roses, nor the aftercare monstera plant that arrived about an hour later. It was some kind of collectable variety that cost somewhere in the upper hundreds. Chris drooled over it while Cole sipped his second latte of the morning and mechanically checked the soil of some of the other plants in the greenhouse.

"You seem tired," Chris said.

"Huh?" Cole glanced up from the spot on the concrete floor that he'd been spacing out at.

Chris nodded toward his hand.

He was trying to water one of the plants, but the spout of the watering can had migrated away from the pot as he spaced out, and the water pooled directly on the table.

"Oh," he set down the watering can and wrapped both hands around his coffee. "I guess I am."

"I'll take care of watering," Chris offered. "Why don't you just go back to bed?"

"No, I think I need to do something."

He'd been lazing around the past couple of days, alternating between floating in the pool and standing in front of the painting he was working on. Neither required him to sit. He didn't spiral the way Gideon did after their play sometimes, but occasionally he sunk into a bit of a funk. He loved the swimming pool and helping Chris around the yard, and working on his painting, but he should probably go out.

"I should go out."

Chris shrugged.

He didn't have a tennis lesson until tomorrow, but that didn't mean he couldn't go to the club and play by himself against one of the backboards. After putting on a pair of loose shorts and a t-shirt, he'd already lost the motivation to go be sweaty. He forced himself to continue tying on his shoes, knowing it would be best to get out of the house.

Sitting in the driver's seat, though, he didn't feel much like driving anywhere.

This charmed life was spoiling him bad.

He used to work hundred plus hours a week while taking the bus, doing his own grocery shopping and cooking, going to the laundromat, putting up with clients and Logan and everything else. Now he couldn't bring himself to turn the key in the ignition of his fancy Audi to drive to the country club for the sake of just getting out of the house. With a chuckle, he took his phone out, trying to decide if he wanted to text Gideon to see if they could have lunch together. The promise of being able to see his husband while he was out would be good motivation to get going.

Before he could unlock it, a call came through from Alexis.

That was actually...perfect.

If anyone could get him out of a funk, it would be her.

"It's done," she said before he could get out a hello.

"Oh god, what did you do?" Cole bemoaned dramatically.

"Shut up." There was a rhythmic squeak in the background of the call. Cole could imagine exactly how she was sitting on the patio chair next to the glass table with an ash tray and aloe plant on it, just outside the door to her and Elijah's place. He'd only been over a handful of times, most of which had been in the last couple months, but every time Alexis smoked, she kicked back on two chair legs and rocked, making that exact squeak.

"Logan's dead."

Cole forgot all about the squeak. The Audi's comfortable luxury seating fell out from beneath him. The hand holding his phone to his ear spasmed, nearly dropping it.

He'd dreamed of hearing those words for years and years. Always hoping a bus would hit Logan while he was crossing the street or that he'd finally cross the wrong person with that attitude of his and get what was coming to him. Now that the words were out there, they...they just felt like words. He didn't really think it could be true after wanting it for so long, even though he knew Gideon had planned for Logan to be dispatched before the end of the week.

After all their arguments, Gideon had taken a day to think about what Cole had said. He came home from work and sat Cole down before dinner to tell him that the judge was going to deny Logan bail. And then somebody Gideon had inside the detention center would make sure he didn't live long enough to request a bail review. The kid who'd been with Logan the night of his arrest spilled everything and they had a strong case even without all of Gideon's machinations.

With a great deal of effort, the discomfort clear on his face, Gideon said that the hearing had already passed, and Logan had already been denied bail, but did Cole want to visit him one last time at the detention center first? It would be difficult to let Cole be involved in the actual murder, since it was going to happen inside the prison, but if he needed to be involved in the process somehow...

Cole had put a hand over Gideon's to stop him and said it was fine, he'd seen Logan in the back of the cop car and that had been enough. He got to say his piece and see the asshole's expression. Spending the day at the spa instead of at Logan's arraignment had been preferable anyway. And just knowing what was going to happen and when it was going to happen was enough at this point.

Really, he'd only flipped out about wanting to be at the scene of the arrest that night because it caught him off guard. He'd assumed that since he knew a lot of what was going on with Elijah and Alexis at the club preparing for the take-down, Gideon would keep him in the loop about everything. And when he hadn't, that was what pissed Cole off most of all.

Gideon just telling him what was happening to Logan was good enough.

He didn't actually want to be the one sticking a shiv into him, or else he'd have done it years ago.

"How'd it happen?" he heard himself ask.

"Well, as you can imagine, he wasn't the most popular with the rest of the inmates," Alexis drawled. "He was a pedophile for one and had that...attitude of his for another. Not surprising that someone knocked him off pretty quick. We weren't told any details. You might want to talk to hubby about that."

"Well, that's...a relief," he said.

"Sure is," Alexis agreed. "Elijah is meeting with Logan's lawyer and a lawyer Gideon put him in contact with at the club later. They are going over the will and stuff. Was wondering if you wanted to come down and get lunch. There's this food truck that's been setting up in the park next to the auto body shop that sells a mean taco."

"Say less," Cole told her, "I'm already in the car."

Which was the truth. His surroundings filtered back in. His fingers only trembled a little as he turned the key in the ignition.

He was exiting the highway, about five minutes from the aforementioned park, when a call came in from Gideon. He jabbed the button on the steering wheel to pick up as he came to a stop at a red light.

"Hey, baby," Gideon said in a distracted kind of way, but almost like he was trying to sound casual, not like he was actually doing something while calling Cole. "Things are going pretty smoothly at the office and I'll be able to take a longer lunch. Do you want to come down and eat with me?"

Cole clicked his tongue, "Sorry, I can't. Alexis beat you to it. I'm meeting her in about ten minutes for tacos."

There was a beat of silence. "Oh. Well..." Then a sigh. "Listen, before you meet up with her, I've got to tell you something. It's not something I wanted to tell you over the phone, but..."

"Logan's dead," Cole interrupted.

More silence.

"Alexis told me. Over the phone. We're having lunch about it."

"I see."

The light turned green and Cole turned left, only to come to a stop at another red a block later. Sometimes he thought that driving through the city wasn't worth the hassle. Not that he missed the days of riding the bus or anything. Now he could call a driver if he really didn't feel like dealing with the traffic himself.

"I was in a meeting when I heard. I called you as soon as I got out," Gideon told him, not defensively, just in explanation. He'd probably rearranged his schedule to be able to fit lunch with Cole into it. The part about his day going smoothly had just been a line.

"It's fine," Cole said with a physical smile, trying to imbue as much genuine warmth into his voice as he could. "I knew you would tell me."

He also knew that Gideon, who was a tactile, hands-on, in-person kind of guy, would want to tell him in person. And, while he wasn't as performative as the rest of his family, he certainly appreciated the right time and place for things—usually circumstances he himself had carefully crafted.

Alexis just wanted to get the news to Cole asap so they could gossip about it as quickly as possible. If it'd been her in a meeting, she'd have probably texted. That was why she'd beat Gideon, even though the news probably reached her later.

"I'm not upset," Cole assured his husband. "I know you probably wanted to break the news over candles and wine or something. How about dinner instead of lunch?"

"Done," Gideon agreed, "Pick me up from the office at 5?"

"Okay, good luck with the rest of your day. Love you."

"Love you too," Gideon replied in the same, rumbling, serious tone he always used for those particular words. It sent a shiver up Cole's spine still, and he wasn't sure he would ever get used to it.