Maniac (Necessary Evils, #7)

by Onley James

He’d thought if he denied himself the one thing he wanted more than anything, maybe the universe would just let him have the rest. He could compartmentalize. He could focus on Addy and Arabella, could focus on the work, could focus on his family as long as he didn’t have the one thing—the one person—he wanted above all other things. Aiden.

“I hate you sometimes,” Aiden told him, voice raw. “So much I feel like I’m choking on it.”

Because he didn’t just love Aiden. He was in love with him. Had been for longer than he’d ever admit to another soul, even himself.

Aiden wished he’d been born a psychopath. The peace he could have had if he’d lacked the capacity to love.

But it was Aiden who Thomas called when he was drunk and lonely and desperate for some crumb of affection he couldn’t get from his sons. It was Aiden he called when he was in trouble. It was fucking Aiden he called in the middle of the night just to hear his voice. And Aiden answered. Every. Fucking. Time.

“That man is a hundred red flags made out of silk sheets and you’re too busy worrying about the thread count.”

“Don’t you get it? The only person who haunts my thoughts is you, Aiden. You’re in my head. Every day. A million times a day,” he admitted, taking a step closer. “At any given moment, at any time of day, you’re the ghost standing just out of view.”

When Thomas turned towards the stairs, Aiden said, “I’ll go with you.” “Oh, no, you won’t,” Calliope said, catching him by the ear. What the fuck? Not even his mother had ever done that. Why the fuck did it hurt so bad? “Ow,” Aiden growled. Calliope scoffed. “You will not be distracting him with your pelvic sorcery.”

When Thomas re-entered the room, Aiden’s heart tripped behind his ribcage. Thomas wore white linen pants and a navy sweater, and his hair was dry and styled, his face clean-shaven. That was the man he knew. The man he loved. That was Thomas fucking Mulvaney.

“Careful, August,” Atticus said. “You don’t want to piss off Dad’s favorite.” “Yeah, he might ground you,” Avi crowed. “I hate all of you,” Aiden said. “Our new stepdad’s kind of abusive,” Adam said, then snickered. Aiden looked at Thomas. “Control your children.” August laced his fingers together on the conference room table. “Hey, I don’t know what you’re complaining about. You just moved up the rank from son to husband. I’m the one who’s going to have to explain to my children how Uncle Aiden went to Grandpa Aiden.”

“See, family bonding time. Yay,” Adam said. Noah turned, putting a hand over Adam’s mouth. “Never say that again.” “But it’s true,” Adam said, words muffled behind Noah’s palm. “The family that slays together stays together,” Calliope murmured.

“But listen very carefully. It’s taken me twenty fucking years to get to this point with your father. If you make him feel weird about our relationship, I will put every single fucking one of you through a goddamn woodchipper. Got it?”

“You need to rest,” Aiden prodded gently. She shot him a mutinous glare. “I need to figure out who handed two toddlers a venomous snake. Go. I’m good. I never sleep more than four hours a night as it is.” “What? How are you alive?” “Sheer force of will,” Calliope promised. Aiden snorted. “Don’t you need your beauty sleep?” Calliope put a hand under her chin and fluttered her lashes. “Oh, darling. Petty keeps me pretty.”

“Should I be concerned about you watching me in my sleep?” Aiden continued to hold his chin as he leaned down and pressed their lips together before saying, “I’ve heard it’s considered romantic.” Thomas grinned. “Did you read that in Serial Killer Monthly?” Aiden snorted. “Quarterly, actually. I can’t afford the monthly subscription on a PI’s earnings.”

“I’m not leaving you. And I’m not letting you leave me. I can’t,” Aiden said. “I know myself. And I know if you deny me again, it will literally become my villain origin story. I will go full-on scorched earth, Tommy. I’ll become the monster you feared your sons would be.”

“I’m starting to think the Watch isn’t a real place, like Hogwarts, or Dr. X’s academy for mutants,” Adam said. “Tell the truth, you’re just living in the desert getting high all the time and spinning these elaborate fairy tales about psychopathic Gen Zs.” “Don’t be jealous,” Archer said, blowing him a kiss. “You can come visit whenever you want.” “He’s just sad he didn’t get his owl,” Noah said, patting Adam on the head like a puppy.