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***Alexei's POV***

"Love, how come I haven't met your parents?" The question has been resting on my tongue for weeks. My concern is starting to grow.

"I told you they were on a trip." Gavin walks over to me, sliding his hands around my waist. His forehead hits my back. I watch as he inches his fingertips towards the waistband of my pants.

"You said that last month when I asked." I remind him. I get the feeling I am being postponed.

"Um, let me check my phone." Gav lets me go. I hear the pitter patter of his feet as they shuffle across the carpet. He goes into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

My suspicion piques instantly.

I wait while he takes his time in the bathroom. I walk to the kitchen to get a drink and check my email. I pull the trash bag, setting it beside the door so I can haul it off when we leave shortly. Then, I put a new bag down in the can. Looking around, Gavin is still nowhere to be seen.

I head back towards the room to find out what is actually going on.

"They're not answering. Must be busy." Gavin shrugs his shoulders. He goes to the closet where he begins to put on his shoes.

Following him, I kneel down to the place where he is sitting. I grab his foot, tying his shoe for him. I do not have to; he obviously knows how to tie his shoes. I do it as a form of affection. My boy loves to be taken care of. I love taking care of him.

"Thank you, Daddy." Gavin kisses my lips when I lift him from the sitting position. I pat his butt as I follow him out of the room.

"I'm going to bring the trash out. Grab the keys and meet me at the car." I instruct.

Gavin dutifully does as I say. I head outside with the bag in hand. When I get to the dumpster, I toss the bag over the side. As I make my way back towards the parking garage, I see that Gavin is rapidly texting on his phone. It doesn't cause me issue. But it is out of the ordinary.

Gavin is a talker. He doesn't prefer texts. He says that texts stifle his personality. I always laugh when I think about Gavin trying to pour himself out over text.

"You ready?" I ask while opening the door. I secure Gavin inside before going to my side of the car to drive us to Grey and Mak's house.

"You never ask to drive." I start a conversation with my love.

"I don't have a license." Gavin shakes his head. He doesn't comment. He acts as if it's normal that a college graduate doesn't have a license.

I guess it never occurred to me that Gavin came to me prepackaged. He sort of had everything worked out when I offered him to move in. He seamlessly slid into my home. I bought what he didn't have or what he requested. He never asked me to go back to his place to pick anything up. I never thought to question it.

Right now, questions are bouncing around in my mind swiftly. I do not have answers. I find that it is unsettling for me.

"Are you avoiding introducing me to your mom and dad?" I ask out of curiosity. I never took Gavin as the type to feel a need to hide. In light of these new questions, I am left wondering if he had intended to keep me at bay for as long as possible.

"No, Daddy. That's not it. I promise." Gavin doesn't look up from his phone. He stares at the screen intently. I am curious to know what has captured his attention more than me. He is usually a very active participant in our conversations.

The drive to Grey's is quiet. I am distracted by everything that I am thinking of. Gavin does not seem to be in a talkative mood. I do not want to push him. That only ends up in a fit where I end up having to talk him through a lesson. I really don't want today to be about lessons.

"We're here." I announce to my distracted angel.

Gavin quickly gets out of the car, heading straight for the elevator. I practically have to run to catch up. As I slide into the elevator beside him, I decide I would like some clarification.

"Love, I feel as though you are disinterested in speaking with me today. Is there a reason for that?" I ask as I press the button to the penthouse.

"I'm not. I am trying to work something out. I'm sorry. I can do better." Gavin slides his phone into his pocket. He crosses his arms and trains his eyes on the floor.

Noticing his behavior, I decide to let it go. Something is obviously bothering him. It can wait until I can find a quiet place in the house to speak with him about it.

"Come in." Mak yells. He always does right before actually opening the door.

"Hey!" Mak smiles brightly, waving his hand at me quickly.

"Gavin, I have something to show you. Come on." Mak whisks my boy away before I can find a good reason to protest.

"That was weird." Kip says what I am thinking.

"Mak has been acting weird all day." Grey ruffs out his concern.

That piques my interest. What are the chances that both of our boys are acting out of character on the same day? In my experience, not likely.

"Any reason for that?" I question cautiously.

"Not that I can see. He has good days and bad days. I try to roll with the punches." Grey hands me a beer, leading me into the living room where we are supposed to be watching a game.

"I thought therapy was helping? What about the medicine?" I ask out of confusion.

"That's a band aid for the real issues. He takes his medicine but, it makes him feel less. Then, he feels like he is broken because he needs it. I can't win for losing." Grey admits.

I feel for the guy. They were handed a shit deck. I pray for an answer to our long-whispered prayers. I know Mak is prone to stress but, he has to find a way to work through it before he lets it control him. Nothin is worth losing yourself over.

Mario picks up the remote. The game pauses. Groans all around the room echo my exact sentiment. We all stare at Mario in frustration.

"Don't look at me like that. Alexei is stressed about something; I am concerned."

All eyes shift to me. I love and hate having such a close-knit group. I was perfectly fine trying to figure this shit out on my own. If they want to help, who am I to turn them down.

"No need in pretending you don't want our help. We are already invested, lay it on us." Grey gives me a knowing look. I nod my head in confirmation.

"I haven't met Gavin's parents yet." I confess.

"What?" Everyone asks at once. That makes me chuckle. They seem to always be thinking the same thing at the same time.

"He's met yours though." Mark confirms.

He knows Gavin has. I told them the whole story. Hell, they helped me say those important words.

"Yes, remember. They taught him Russian." I remind him gently.

I don't want my stress to leak onto my friends.

"Have you asked him about it?" Mario, always the obvious one, asks me.

"I wouldn't be concerned if I hadn't." I groan out.

"And." Sebastian interjects with inflection.

"And its excuse after excuse. They are either out of town, or busy. They have cancelled on us twice." I hold up my fingers to punctuate that. I hate when people cancel plans. It's fucking rude.

"Have you tried looking them up?" Grey asks. His voice is smaller. I know he hates to be distrustful. He wouldn't encourage me to without reason.

"No. I don't want to make Gavin feel like I don't believe him." My intentions are never to discredit my kitten.

"Do you believe him?" Mario asks incredulously.

"Fuck no, I don't. I just don't understand. I don't think he is embarrassed of me. So, why the fuck would he lie." I whisper sorry when I am done. I didn't mean to get loud.

"Would you like me to look them up? Then, you wouldn't be in trouble." Kip requests with kindness.

"If I say no, I won't be able to live with myself. If I say yes, I may not be able to live with what I find." I complain. It is a lose, lose situation.

"What do you think you might find?" Mark questions worriedly.

"I don't know. Maybe they are famous, and he really is embarrassed of me. Or, maybe they are pieces of shit, and he is embarrassed of them. Who knows. They could not even exist for all I know. Let's be real, I took his word for it going out of the gate. There is no telling what you find." I air out all of my worries on my friends. I am drowning in stress at this point.

"Or, you find a perfectly reasonable explanation." Grey offers. I can tell he doesn't believe his own words. How can he expect me to?

"Do you think he told Mak anything? I can ask. We have an open relationship. Mak would tell me, if I ask." Grey throws out. The intent in his words is not what I hear.

I have a better relationship than you. My boy wouldn't lie to me.

"Shit. Fuck. That was not how it was meant. I am sorry, Alexei. I did not mean to imply that your relationship was not built on trust. Forgive me." Grey pops himself in the head. I shake my head quickly. I don't want him to berate himself for accidentally spilling the truth.

"You're fine, Grey. I didn't take offense." I attempt to console him.

"Just look them up. This is ridiculous. It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission." Mark states without conviction.

"Really? Is that how you feel?" Sebastian stares abhorrently at his boyfriend. I release a chuckle. They never fight. But, rest assured, if they do, Mark has put his foot in his mouth.

"No, baby. I meant for him. Not for me. I will always ask for permission. I mean, we will talk things through. You don't need me to ask for permission." Mark fumbles his words causing all of us to laugh at his chagrin.

"Executive decision. I'm gonna call Daddy Parker. He will know what to do." Mark pulls his phone out, immediately calling our patriarch. He really does know the answer to every problem.

Mark leaves the room. I exhale slowly. This is grueling. I don't know why this epiphany slammed into me head on. I just wanted to relax with my friends. Now, I am on a mission to destroy all the trust in my relationship. I don't know this day got so fucked. I want to press restart on the whole thing.

I can't shake the feeling that something isn't right. My gut is screaming at me. I just want to get the explosion over with so we can deal with the aftermath.

"He will be here in five." Mark returns to Seb's side. I nod my head in appreciation. I need all the support I can get.

I pinch the bridge of my nose while pressing my head into the back of my seat. I feel a headache coming on. Being in love is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I wouldn't change it for anything though.

"Nothing is gonna get done sitting around. Asses up. Let's go." I hear him before I see him. I groan while standing up. One thing about the Parker's they face everything head on.

"Mark already gave me the run down. My job is to tell you what were gonna do. So, here I am. Where is my beer?" Daddy Parker sticks his hand out expectantly. Like magic, his beer is placed in his hand within seconds. I wish I had that type of room service.

"Daddy?" Mak's voice echoes down the hall.

"Be right back. Don't start without me." Grey rushes down the hall to get to his husband.

I can't wait until Gavin gets to a place where I can make him my husband. We are not there yet. At this rate, I don't know when or if we ever will be.

"What's taking so damn long? I know Gav's back there. They can't be fucking." Mark whines out.

"You have the patience of a child." Mario teases him.

"My friend is in crisis." Mark defends himself. His defense warms my heart.

"He's all of our friend. We are all trying to help him." Kip argues.

"He was my friend first." Sebastian chirps in.

I stifle a laugh. It feels good to laugh when I feel like my world might crash down around me.

"Sorry. I'm back." Grey breathes heavily with his hands on his knees.

Did they fuck in front of my kitten?

"Grey?" I ask questioningly.

"Before you think the worst. No. We didn't have sex." Grey straightens up, making me breathe a sigh of relief. "But, you need to sit down."

I look at Grey seriously. The concern in his eyes makes me feel like someone pulled a rug out from beneath me. My world may really be about to crash in all around me.