Bridezilla - Part 2 (As requested) (Patreon)

This has only been loosely edited by me. This one made me very emotional.NoahNoah was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming in the way most people did. The ominous sense of dread in a realistic situation. The way the laws of physics no longer seemed to apply to the world around him. That didn’t stop the dream from being anymore horrifying. It was the same dream, over and over again, but it never made it easier. If anything, it made it worse because he knew what came next.Wayne Holt, standing in a tux, holding his hand out to Noah like he was waiting to walk him down the aisle. On Adam’s side of the church, the pews were overflowing, his brothers and their significant others stood behind him in front.But on Noah’s side there were no friends, no family. Only the endless supply of men who’d abused him. Some he knew, some were faceless shadows wearing clothing his brain had somehow salvaged and pieced together from the scraps of his memories. He wanted to vomit. He wanted to wake up. He wanted to run but just like always, he held out his hand because it was better than the alternative.“Dexter!”Noah’s eyes flew open, bolting upright, head on a swivel, half expecting to find Holt somewhere in his room. But there was nobody. Well, not nobody. Dexter—formerly named Lightning—was curled against his back on top of the sheet, snoring loud enough to shake Noah with each inhalation.When Dexter didn’t respond to Adam’s yell from downstairs, he tried again, “Come on, you gassy fuck. Let’s go.” Still, the dog didn’t move. Finally, Adam yelled, “Walk?”Dexter snorted himself awake, then stretched. A vile stench soon followed. “Uh, what is wrong with you?”Noah loved Dexter. He loved him almost as much as he loved Adam, but they called him Dexter because he looked benign, but his gas was lethal. He had a digestion problem that not even the world’s most expensive vets could fix. Noah watched as Dexter waddled to the ramp and waddled his chunky butt to the floor, belching like a frat boy after a keg stand.Noah grimaced. “You’re so gross, bro.”“That’s rude,” Felix said, cresting the stairs to their bedroom, Zane hot on his heels. Noah was equal parts relieved and unhappy to see them. Felix was in sweatpants and a tank top, which meant Adam had called in reinforcements. Felix never left the house in sweatpants—even if they were Gucci sweatpants— unless there was an emergency. Which explained Adam’s impromptu dog walking excursion. He was running away.Coward.Felix had shopping bags in each hand, which sent Dexter into a sniffing frenzy. Felix made a face, doing his best to avoid the dog. “Yes, you’re very cute, but really stinky and this is couture,” he told the dog, skirting around him.Zane clearly didn’t care about his jeans and t-shirt. He dropped to his knees to give Dexter all the butt scratches, before Adam shouted for Dexter once more and Zane was forced to abandon the dog as he lumbered slowly down the stairs.“How do you smell worse literally every single day?” Noah heard Adam ask the dog, tone conversational, before calling out, “We’ll be back…later. Love you.”“Love you, too,” Noah shouted back.Then the door opened and shut, leaving him alone with Felix and Zane.He attempted to sit up, but only made it to rising up on one elbow. “Let me guess, Adam called you?”“Duh,” Felix said with an eye roll, dropping the bags beside the bed before crawling in and flopping down behind him.“I’m naked,” Noah warned, burrowing deeper beneath the sheet that covered him.“We know. Adam told us all about his therapeutic dick down,” Felix said.Noah wasn’t even facing him and he could hear his eye roll, which made Noah feel slightly better. Felix curled around him, sliding an arm around his chest. Noah tangled their fingers together with a sigh.Zane laid down, rolling to face Noah, booping him on the nose, before saying, “Moms are the worst. Nobody knows that better than me.”Noah’s heart squeezed as everything came clawing back to the surface. He did his best to tamp it back down. “It’s not her fault.”“It’s one thousand percent her fault,” Felix said venomously.“Do you blame her though?” Noah asked, choking on his words. “Who wants to constantly be reminded of the worst thing that ever happened to them.”Zane audibly gasped at Noah’s words like he’d slapped him. “Don’t say that.”“Zane’s right. You are not the worst thing that ever happened to her. Maybe losing you was, but that’s hardly your fault,” Zane said, clearly furious on Noah’s behalf. “Nothing that happened to you was your fault.”And just like that, Adam’s eyes filled with tears, not from sadness, but from the overwhelming support the two gave him without question.Felix had been Noah’s friend since Jericho and Atticus found each other, but Zane was new to the family. He was most definitely family, and Noah adored him. But he didn’t owe Noah any loyalty. He hadn’t earned it yet.But Zane was like that with all the Mulvaneys. Maybe because, like Noah, he had a family who treated him like an inconvenience, who seemed hellbent on making his life miserable for no discernable reason. It was hard to say. But Noah was grateful he’d shown up anyway.Noah swallowed the lump in his throat. “In my head, I know that. I just feel stupid for putting off the biggest day of my life for someone who I knew, deep down, had no intention of showing up for me.”It was true. Every time he’d spoken to his mother and she’d made yet another excuse, his feeling of foreboding had increased until any communication had filled him with this sick feeling deep down inside. Sometimes, he’d avoided her calls altogether just so he could listen to her excuses and cry without her hearing him.“Was she really the only reason you were holding off on setting the date, babe?” Felix asked, squeezing his hand.Noah opened his mouth to say yes, but couldn’t. He couldn’t lie to them. But the truth was too pitiful, too pathetic. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but Zane was studying him like he often did and Noah knew deep down neither of them would let this go.“What’s the real reason?” Zane asked, not waiting for Noah to deny it.“I don’t want… I keep having this dream…”“What dream?” Zane said, scooting closer like Noah was about to tell a spooky story.He supposed he was. “It’s not just one dream, but the same…premise, I guess.”“Which is?” Zane prompted.Noah steeled himself, doing that thing he did whenever he had to confront the demons of his past, detaching himself from the memory. “In one of the dreams, Holt is trying to walk me down the aisle and the only people who show up for me…are the men who…hurt me when I was little.”“Jesus,” Zane whispered.Noah nodded, hot tears making his eyes sting. “My therapist says it's my trauma. Like, duh. I know that. It doesn’t make it any less scary. But that’s not even the one—like that’s not the reason…or the only reason, I keep putting it off.”“Then tell us, babe,” Felix said, resting his head on Noah’s. “Tell us so we can fix it.”They couldn’t fix it. There was no way to fix this problem. “I just can’t handle that…”“That what?” Zane pushed.“That nobody will be there for me,” he mumbled, tears once more spilling onto his cheeks before gravity dragged them to his pillow case.“Like Adam will be up there with his brothers and his side of the church will be filled with hundreds of people and mine will just be…empty. No family. No friends. Nobody who gives a fuck about me and like, I start to panic and I just don’t want to do it.”“You don’t want to get married?” Felix said softly.No sobbed harder. “No, of course, I do. I just don’t want to get married with a bunch of people staring at me like I’m some orphaned gold-digger who landed a Mulvaney.”“Okay, that’s not who you are at all,” Felix said. “But second of all, who gives even half a fuck what the rest of the world thinks? Do you think they don’t think that about literally all of us?”“But you had friends and family show up for you at your weddings. Or at least friends. I don’t have any of those either.”The more he thought about it, the more emotional it made him and the harder he cried.“Noah, sweetie, I say this with love,” Felix said. “You’re being fucking crazy.”“I’m not.”“You are a little bit. It’s okay. It happens to all of us. Sometimes we just need a good emotional purge or whatever, but none of this is true.”Noah sniffled, shaking his head. They just didn’t get it. “Tell that to my wedding planners. Every time they ask who my groomsmen are or who my best man is or where the guest list is for my side, I don’t have anything to put down, and I see the look on their faces.”“Is that why you keep firing them?” Zane asked, a soft smile forming.“I don’t need their fucking judgey looks,” Noah sobbed.“Well, one: you wouldn’t have gotten them if you’d just asked me and Cricket to plan the wedding. Two: we need to have a coming to Beyonce moment here, because you, my love, are spiraling. Like, I get it. Planning my wedding was a nightmare-”“You were a nightmare,” Zane clarified.Felix sat up, pointing a perfectly manicured nail in his direction. “Don’t be mean.” He pulled Noah up until he was sitting. “Anyway,” he emphasized, giving Zane ‘the look’. “Your side of the aisle will not be empty. You will not be up there alone. We’re your groomsman, dummy. Me, Zane, Jericho, Lucas. Just like you were for us. As for friends, we have the same friend group. Dimitri, Arlo, Cree, Seven, Arsen, Lake, Nico, Levi…all the other lost boys that follow my brother around like he’s fucking Peter Pan. They love you. We love you. They’ll be in the pews for you. I know that’s not a lot, but let's be real, that’s more than Adam will have.”“He’s right,” Zane confirmed, dragging himself to a sitting position. “It's going to be the same thing that happened at all our weddings. The church will be filled with dad’s friends and business contacts. And they’ll be sitting on both sides of the aisle. Trust me. Those entitled assholes sit wherever they want.”Noah laughed through his tears. “That’s true.”Felix used the sheet to dab at Noah’s face. “No more crying over shitty family or imaginary wedding tragedies. Okay?”Zane squeezed Noah’s hand. “Yeah, weddings are supposed to be happy. You’re marrying the love of your life.”“Even if the love of your life is somehow Adam,” Felix teased, making Noah laugh and cry at the same time. “Okay?”Noah nodded. “What’s in the bags?”“Chocolate and liquor,” Felix said, leaning over to grab the bag, then upending it.Noah grabbed for a chocolate bar, tearing it open with his teeth. Downstairs, Noah listened as the door opened, then closed again. He frowned. That was a short walk. Not that Dexter actually walked anywhere. He was a ten year old asthmatic gas bag who was genetically bred to be perpetually short of breath. They carried him outside and let him do his thing, and then put him in the doggy stroller.Well, Noah put him in the stroller. Adam liked to strap Dexter into a baby harness strapped to his chest. He claimed the stroller drew too much attention from people thinking there might be a baby inside, whereas carrying an overweight, gassy dog was kind of like walking around with a weapon. People tended to steer clear.A sense of unease filled him as Felix and Zane seemed to slide to the edge of the bed as if they were anticipating having to leave. The sound of shoes hitting the stair risers, had Noah darting his gaze at the others accusingly. “He didn’t!”Before they could answer, Thomas appeared. He wore expensive dark wash jeans and a snowy white zip front cardigan. Thomas Mulvaney, his future father-in-law, was standing in his bedroom. And Noah was naked. Covered by a sheet. But still, very much naked.To his horror, Noah burst into tears, burying his face in his hands. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe he called you too.”Thomas heaved a heavy sigh, noting Noah’s state of undress. He looked at Zane and Felix. “Can you boys give us a few minutes before you continue your…party?”“Yeah, sure,” Zane said.They both hurried quickly down the stairs, then the door to their tiny balcony opened and closed. He looked at Thomas, miserable. “I’m so sorry he called you. I’m fine. Everything is fine. I was just having a bad day. I’ve already taken care of everything that needed to be done today because I’ve been up since I’ve been up all ni—”“Noah, stop.” Noah stopped, but refused to look at his future father-in-law, who was also his current boss. Sort of. Ugh. Why had Adam done this to him?Thomas gave him a patient smile. “Why don’t you throw some clothes on and meet me downstairs. Okay?”Noah closed his eyes, but nodded. He didn’t open them again until the sound of Thomas’s steps receded. When it was safe, he bolted from the bed, shoving his legs into the closest thing he could find, which were Adam’s basketball shorts which had been on the floor for at least two days, then yanked open a drawer, grabbing the first t-shirt he could, pulling it over his head as he made his way down the stairs.Thomas sat on their sofa, his elbows propped on his knees. When he saw Noah, he patted the spot beside him. “Come. Sit.”Noah’s stomach churned, but he did as Thomas asked, though his pace implied he was wading through molasses. His only solace on his way to the sofa was contemplating all the ways he was going to murder Adam when he returned home.At least then the wedding would no longer be an issue.Noah finally took a seat beside him, hunching in on himself and staring at his hands which he now clenched in his lap.“Please look at me.”Noah would rather gouge out his own eyes with a rusty spoon, still he dragged his gaze to Thomas only to find the man looking at him with so much sorrow, Noah wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor.“Sorry,” Noah muttered.“For what?” Thomas asked, frowning. “I should be the one apologizing.”Noah scoffed. “You, why?”Thomas tilted his head, studying him. “Because I’ve somehow led you to believe that you could embarrass me, or this family, when that is very much not the case.”Noah’s skin was on fire. “Adam told you that?”Thomas gave him a grim smile. “My son loves you. When you’re upset, he tends to panic and send out the SOS. It’s really rather miraculous the effect you’ve had on him.”Noah tried to smile, but didn’t quite make it. His emotions were at the tipping point, ready to spill over again at any moment. “Still, he didn’t need to call you about this. I’m just…It’s just been a really bad day.”Thomas nodded. “He told me what your mother did. I’m sorry.” Noah opened his mouth to defend her, but Thomas raised a hand before he could. “For both of you. It’s an impossible situation.”Noah nodded, relieved he didn’t have to defend the woman when he really didn’t want to.Thomas met his gaze once more. “But she still made the wrong choice. When we have children, you’re saying that you agree to take any burden, any pain you can, to bear the weight of any decision so they don’t have to. She didn’t do that for you.”Noah blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the tears forming. “Yeah.”“That being said—Hey, I need you to hear me when I say this.” Noah forced his gaze to Thomas, tears spilling once again. “We’re your family, Noah. You’re a Mulvaney. Whether you take that next step and marry my son or not. You’re one of us. And I know I’m not your actual father, but I very much consider you one of my children. I need to know you believe that.”Noah nodded rapidly, certain his chest would burst from the pressure. He was too raw. This was too real. This was all so fucking much. And part of him, the worst parts of him whispered that Thomas didn’t mean a word of it.As if Thomas knew what Noah was thinking, he said, “You have far more people in your corner than you know. And you’re more important to this family than you could ever imagine. And I’m not just saying that.”Noah whimpered, gritting his teeth until his jaw ached. He wasn’t sure he could make it through this conversation.Thomas put a hand on his back. “Do you know why I chose you to take over for me one day?”“No,” Noah managed, choking on his tears.Thomas gave another there-and-gone smile. “On the surface, Lucas seems like a no-brainer. He’s a psychic and an FBI profiler. But even he is too clinical. Too analytical. Do you understand what I’m saying?”Noah nodded, but then frowned, shaking his head. “Not really, no.”Thomas sighed. “You are the heart of this family, Noah. You show up for everybody else. Every time. You look at every case, every file from the perspective of the victim. You put yourself in their shoes and you make the right call, every time.”Noah didn’t know what to say to any of that. He wasn’t sure that was true. But it didn’t matter anyway, because Thomas wasn’t done.“You have a way of talking to my sons, that makes them listen. I’ve never seen a single one of them question your orders, not in any real way. And getting six psychopaths to listen without question is damn near…well, like I said, miraculous.”Noah couldn’t stop the sob that escaped, but jammed his palm into his mouth to quiet himself.Thomas was kind enough not to acknowledge Noah’s hundredth breakdown of the day, continuing to list off Noah’s perceived attributes. “You helped August woo Lucas and because of that, I have two perfect grandbabies and a daughter-in-law of sorts. You helped Atticus get over himself enough to let Jericho in and now my fussy son who had a wall around his heart, has a cat and a husband who adores him.” Noah laughed through his tears. “And I don’t know for sure, but I’m willing to bet, you had a hand in Asa and Avi’s love lives too.”“Maybe,” Noah mumbled.Thomas laughed. “There’s something so incredibly special about you, Noah and we’re all very much lucky to have you in our lives. So even if your mother has decided she no longer wants to be your parent, please know that I very much do.”Noah lost every bit of composure then, throwing himself into Thomas’s arms and sobbing into his perfect snowy white sweater, which was most definitely cashmere that Noah was most definitely ruining with his snot and tears. But he couldn’t stop crying and Thomas kept hugging him which only made him cry more.Finally, Noah pulled away, wiping at his face until Thomas pulled an actual fucking handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to him, laughing when Noah loudly blew his nose into it.“This is so embarrassing,” he managed.“Don’t be embarrassed,” Thomas said. “But there is one more thing I think we need to talk about.”Noah’s face fell. “Oh, God. What now?”“It never occurred to me that you might worry about the public’s perception of you. But it should have. So, I think Monday, you should come into the office with me and we will find you a position that will allow you to do your real job for the family, while also giving you a day job to the rest of the world. I know it's not the same as getting a job outside of the family but it’s the best I-”Noah threw himself into his arms once again and hugged him, before pulling back and dragging his knees to his chest, to maintain some sense of composure. “No. That’s more than enough. It’s too much even. But I’ll take it.”The door opened and Felix peeked his head through the door. “Is everything better now?” he asked sheepishly, looking behind him. “This balcony is more of a decorative situation rather than a sitting one and people are starting to stare at us.”Thomas chuckled, looking at Noah. “Are we good?”Noah nodded. His eyes were stinging and his nose was raw and his face felt swollen and puffy, but, in his soul, he felt better. Much better. “Yes.”Thomas stood. “I’ll leave you to your little party, for now. But tonight, we’re doing family dinner at the house. All of us. Got it?”He looked at each of them in turn, waiting for their nod. When he was satisfied, he said, “Good. I’ll see you boys tonight.”Once the door shut behind him, Noah collapsed onto the couch, grabbing a pillow and holding it to his face. “I’m going to kill Adam,” he screamed, voice muffled.“In his defense—” Felix halted. “Oh, God. Did I just say that? Ew. Anyway, he was just trying to make you feel better. He gets all panicky when you’re upset. It’s kind of sweet really.”“Adam really only cares about you and that smelly dog,” Zane agreed.Noah pulled the pillow from his face and sighed. “I could sleep for a year.”“We could take a nap with you? Puppy pile style,” Felix offered, looking down at his outfit and grimacing. “God knows I’m dressed for it.”“Is that weird?” Noah asked.Felix scoffed. “The four of us do it at the house all the time. Sometimes you just need to be squished by people who love you, right, Zane?”Zane nodded. “Yup.”Noah chewed on his bottom lip. The thought of being squished did sound nice, if not a little hot. Still, he said, “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Puppy pile, it is.”Noah had never been sandwiched between two people before. At first it was kind of uncomfortable, too many limbs to organize. But once everybody was situated, the steady sound of two people’s breathing seemed to like…reset him inside somehow. It became easy to match the rise and fall of his chest to theirs and before he knew it, he was out.He didn’t hear either of them leave, but when the bed dipped and a heavy weight descended onto his back, he knew Adam was home. He gave a happy sigh when Adam buried his face into his neck. “Did they fix you?”Noah burrowed deeper into his pillow. “Yeah, I think so.”“Good,” he said, then bit the back of Noah’s neck, rubbing his dick against his ass.“Whacha doin’?” Noah asked, arching his back to give Adam better access.Adam started to pretend to chew on Noah’s neck until he started to giggle, then Adam’s hand closed around Noah’s throat. “I came home to find you in bed with two other men,” he snarled against his ear. “What do you think I’m doing?”Noah moaned, his dick hardening instantly. “Punishing me, I hope.”“I don’t know if you’ll be saying that when I’m done with you,” Adam taunted. “I haven’t spanked you in a long time. I think you’re forgetting who you belong to.”“You should totally remind me,” he said around a stretch, still rocking back into Adam, whose hand was already working its way into the waistband of Noah’s shorts.Suddenly, Adam stopped short. “Are you sure you’re really okay, now?” he asked, his tone uncertain.Noah’s heart felt like it was being wrung out like a wet dishrag. This whole day had worn him out. He wanted less feelings and more dirty sex. That was all he could take for now.Still, he never wanted to make Adam feel bad for displaying any emotions. “Yeah, baby. I’m fine. I promise. They fixed me. You did a good job.”“Good, cause I really want to hurt you a little right now.”Noah whimpered. “Yes, please.” But then suddenly that wasn’t all he wanted. “Do you still maybe love me?” he asked, partially teasing him, but a little desperate to hear him say it at the same time.Yes, Adam said he loved Noah all the time, but this was something different, something for just the two of them.Adam kissed his cheek, then captured his mouth in a kiss that should have been awkward given their position, but wasn’t. “I definitely maybe still love you.”Butterflies took flight in Noah’s belly.“Good,” Noah whispered. “Cause I definitely maybe still love you too.”