Midnight Sun (Arctic Love Book 3) (7 page)

Their dad looked down at her, still smiling widely. "But I wanted to do it. I wanted to see their faces as I told them." He pecked her lips, then looked over at Frey and Varg. Frey was frozen in surprise, while Varg rolled his eyes. "And some faces they make, I must say."

"Frey, baby, are you all right?" His mum stepped up to him.

Frey blinked. Pregnant? She was
pregnant
?

"Aren't you a little too
old
to be pregnant?" Varg asked.

"Hey!" She slapped his shoulder. "Be nice. I'm not
that
old. As a matter of fact, you two have a very young mother. You've been lucky that way."

"New kid won't have that luxury," Varg said drily.

"You little—" She pretended to throw a punch at him.

Frey felt a hand on his shoulder and turned away from the scene. He looked up into Jørgen's questioning eyes and managed a weak smile. He placed his hand over Jørgen's and squeezed it gently before turning back to his mother and father. "Do you know the sex of the baby?"

Their mum directed a blinding smile at him. "Girls."

"Plural?" Varg's eyes practically bounced out of his head. "You're having
twins
?"

"Yes." Their mum threw a contemplative glance at their dad. "I think it must be your father's sperm. It's like super sperm."

"Oh, eww,
mum
! I don't want to hear about dad's— that's just so bloody
eww
!"

Frey couldn't agree more with Varg, even if he did sound like he'd reverted to his teenage years and not like the twenty-three year old he was.

"We've also decided on names," their dad beamed.

"Oh please share." Varg waved his hand as if indicating him to continue, though his voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Female versions of your names." Their mum stepped forward to kiss them both on the cheek. "Freya and Ylva."

"Oh my God, mum, that's too cliché for words."

Once again Frey agreed, but he really should've seen it coming. "I'm happy for you, mum." He hugged her. This time he was aware of her thick stomach, hidden in her loose clothing. "And you dad." He went over to hug his father as well.

Varg rolled his eyes again, but he followed Frey's example. "Guess I'm happy for you too."

As soon as Varg had let go of their mother, Jonathan stepped forward. "Congratulations, Mrs. Vinter." He took her hand in his and leaned down to kiss the top of it. "You must be ecstatic."

"I am." She actually giggled. "You must be Jonathan. The man who captured my wild child's heart." She reached over and grabbed Varg's hand, pulling him back over to her side. "You're so handsome. I can see what he sees in you. And so charming!" She giggled again.

Frey tried to hide his amused smile at Varg's incredulity. When he couldn't quite contain the laughter that slipped out, he turned towards Jørgen, who was gazing down at him with an equally amused smile. Frey suspected Jørgen was amused about Frey though, not Varg, and he blushed.

"And who might this be?" Frey's mum came up on Frey's side, looking at Jørgen with interest.

Jørgen took her hand and shook it. "I'm Jørgen."

"Frey's new boyfriend, apparently," Varg said. "Considering he spent the night at Frey's flat."

Frey looked at Varg, Jørgen and his parents with wide eyes. Jørgen wasn't his boyfriend. Was he? He
had
spent the night and they had done... well, intimate things only a little while ago. Frey liked him
so much
, and Jørgen liked him too. Frey couldn't not believe it, not after what Jørgen had done to him. He'd made Frey feel safe, feel wanted, feel
desired
.

"Another gorgeous man." Their mum smiled, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "How do my boys do it? First Andreas, then Varg, and now Frey. Amazing. I'm Embla Vinter, and this is my husband Dag." She motioned to her husband, who also shook Jørgen's hand.

Frey smiled. Their mum had always considered Andreas
one of her boys
as well. He'd spent so much time over at their place during the years, he was like a third son for her. And Andreas was like a brother to both Varg and Frey.

Frey's eyes slid to the kitchen doorway, where both Andreas and Christian were standing. Andreas was smiling, and it widened as he met Frey's gaze. Frey smiled back at him.

Frey's mum turned, spotted Andreas, and sauntered over to him, hugging him as well. "I'm so happy for you, baby."

"Thank you, Embla." Andreas kissed her cheek.

"Come on, now," Frey's dad urged. "Christian and Andreas have made us all dinner. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starving." He slung an arm around Embla as he walked towards the kitchen.

Jonathan's arm snaked around Varg's shoulders and he leaned in. "And you said I couldn't be nice when I met your parents. I was more than nice, babe—I was
charming
. Scored some major points there, didn't I?"

Varg scowled, and Frey had to suppress another smile and laugh. "Shut up, you." He elbowed Jonathan lightly in the side as they walked into the kitchen.

Frey turned to Jørgen with an uncertain look. "So that was my parents," he said stupidly. "They're... a bit special, I guess, not like conventional parents."

"I noticed." Jørgen grinned down at him, then wrapped his arms around Frey's waist and pulled him close. "I like them. They seem nice."

"You did? That's good." Frey leaned into Jørgen's broad, hard, warm chest. "I'm glad." It passed through his mind that he never would've simply leaned into anyone like that before, but after the trauma of the day before and the morning's activities, it felt good and right. Jørgen's arms felt so right around him.

"Can you believe they actually liked Jonathan?" Jørgen chuckled. "I didn't even know
nice
was a part of his vocabulary."

Frey looked up at Jørgen's face. "You seemed to like him well enough when you two were sleeping together," he dared comment, but his voice was low, barely audible.

Jørgen tilted his head down and what Frey thought was a guilty look passed over his face. "Well, it wasn't so much about liking or disliking, as the fact that he was the only one available for sex." He shrugged. "Although, yeah, I do like Jonathan. He's an okay bloke once you get to know him and get past his arsehole behaviour. It's just that he doesn't make a good first impression."

Frey's stomach fluttered nervously at being so close to Jørgen. His man. That was what Jørgen was now, right? He was Frey's. "Are you ready to go in there? It's going to be a nut-house."

Jørgen chuckled and leaned down to peck Frey's lips. "I think I can handle it."

Chapter Six

"Since this, apparently, is a day to meet the family, how would you feel about meeting mine?" Jørgen looked at Frey enquiringly as he got into the driver's seat of his car.

Frey was sitting buckled up in the passenger seat already, his crutches at his side. He bit his lower lip as a result of Jørgen's words. "Are you sure? That you want me to meet them, I mean."

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't sure." Jørgen smiled, then reached over and squeezed Frey's thigh. "It's okay if you don't want to. Yesterday was a long day and today's been pretty exciting too."

They'd had dinner, then Frey's parents had left to stay with Varg and Jonathan. Jørgen had been absolutely truthful to Frey, because he
had
liked his parents. They'd been unconventional, sure, but they'd been nice and quirky and all-in-all well-rounded people who seemed to love their sons, and Andreas, a heck of a lot.

It made Jørgen miss his own parents, but they'd been gone a long while. They'd been good parents though; even if they hadn't quite been comfortable with his homosexuality, they'd tried their best. It was too bad they'd died so early. Jørgen thought they'd actually like Frey, even if they'd been pretty reserved about the few boyfriends he'd let them meet through his years of dating.

"I do want to," Frey said. "I just worry."

"You have nothing to worry about." Jørgen really wanted Frey to meet his kids and their mothers. They were Jørgen's family now that he didn't have any other relatives left.

Frey's lips inched up into a tiny smile. "Let's go then."

Jørgen grinned and put the car in gear. It didn't take long to drive to Karina and Sara's house. They lived only a minute's drive from Frey's flat, about four from Christian and Andreas' house.

"Jørgen?"

"Yeah?" Jørgen kept his eyes on the road.

"I really enjoyed this morning," Frey whispered.

That did bring Jørgen's attention around to him for a couple of seconds. "I did too. I liked it very much."

Frey started squirming in his seat as Jørgen drove up the stretch towards the little house. "What if they don't like me?"

"It'll be fine," Jørgen assured him. "They'll like you just fine. What's not to like?" Jørgen parked the car and squeezed Frey's hand. "Come on, let's get it over with." He grinned and got out.

He walked around the car to help Frey get out without putting too much weight on his injured leg. When he turned around again, Karina was standing on the front steps.

"Hey, girl." Jørgen greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. "This is Frey."

"I know who he is, Jørgen." But Karina none the less smiled and nodded in greeting to Frey, who looked immensely relieved. "Though it is nice to finally meet you officially."

Frey blushed slightly. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Come on in. Sara and the kids are in the living room." She walked inside first, and Jørgen motioned for Frey to follow her.

He helped Frey take off his boots and snowsuit, then started in on his own. "Ready?" he asked when he was done.

Frey still seemed very nervous. "As ready as I can be."

Jørgen couldn't help it, he stepped forward and pressed a light kiss to Frey's lips. "It'll be fine. Trust me. Karina's the picky one, actually, and she likes you. The bad part's over."

Frey smiled slightly, but it did seem like some of his nervousness dissipated.
That's good
, Jørgen thought, because he meant it. They would like Frey. How could anyone not like Frey? He was too adorable for words.

*~*~*

"Jørgen!"

Jørgen turned around at the sound of his name and found Radimir and Aleksandr, a man he recognised only from a couple of photos Radimir had shown him, striding towards him.

"Hey."

Radimir gave him a strained smile. He looked uncertain. "Look, Jørgen. We had no idea what our mates were up to," he said. "If we'd known, we would've turned them in. Shooting a bear is just despicable. And what they did to you and your man..."

"Don't worry about it," Jørgen assured him, clapping him on the shoulder. "We're both fine. We'll be fine. Besides, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't possibly know if they wanted to keep it from you."

Radimir smiled slightly, seemingly relieved. "Thanks, mate. I was worried, I got to admit."

"Nothing to be worried about."

"Good." Radimir nodded, then reached out and clapped Jørgen's shoulder. "No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings." It was completely sincere. Jørgen didn't blame Radimir for what had happened. Not when Radimir was innocent. The only thing he was guilty of was having his friends over for a visit. He couldn't know they'd commit a felony.

Aleksandr came forward when Radimir stepped back. "Thank you," he murmured, shaking Jørgen's hand, then went back to stand behind Radimir.

"See you around, Jørgen." Radimir threw an arm up in farewell as they started walking away.

"Yeah, see you!" Jørgen closed the trunk of his car then jumped into the driver's seat.

Frey looked at him curiously from where he was sitting in the passenger seat. "He seems really nice, that Russian mate of yours."

"He is." Jørgen smiled. "He's one of the nicest blokes I know." Which was why it kind of sucked that Radimir's love for Aleksandr would always be unrequited. At least Jørgen supposed it would be, considering how many years Radimir had
been in love with his friend. "So," Jørgen started as he drove towards Frey's flat. "Today didn't go so bad, did it?"

Frey shook his head slightly. "No, it didn't. They are very nice. Your kids are so cute."

Jørgen beamed. He couldn't help it. Frey had hit it off with the kids. Emilie and Elias had simply fallen head over heels for him. They'd been shy at first, as all kids were, but they'd warmed up quickly. Sara had been welcoming, and while Karina was always more difficult to read, Jørgen knew her well enough to know that she was happy for him and that she
did
like Frey.

Frey looked at Jørgen shyly once they parked outside his flat. "Do you want to come in?"

Jørgen looked at his lovely face, not about to say no to the invitation. "Yeah. Of course I want to."

*~*~*

"Jørgen."

Frey had stopped looking at Jørgen once he'd sat down on the couch.

"Yeah?" Jørgen sat down tentatively next to him. He hoped Frey hadn't changed his mind. He'd seemed fine all through dinner. Though they hadn't touched once, Jørgen had constantly felt Frey's gaze linger on him.

"About this morning. I want to—" Frey wrung his hands in his lap. "I want to reciprocate. I really do. But first I need to tell you something. Something about me."

"Okay. Whatever it is, I'm here for you. I'm listening."

Frey nodded, but he kept his focus on his lap. "I had this boyfriend. It's a couple of years ago now, but it's all still fresh in my memory. He wasn't a very good bloke, you know, he could be quite violent sometimes. Especially after he'd been drinking. He liked to push me around. It wasn't anything major, you know, just a little shoving. But it, well, it started to escalate after a while." Frey once again wrung his hands together. "He'd hit me, he'd be forceful with me in front of his mates and he'd guilt-trip me into sex. When I finally called up the courage to break it off with him, he went mental.

"He started following me around. Stalking me, I guess. He'd be really crude and threaten me, and one night when I was coming home from the night shift at the hospital..."

Frey closed his eyes. "I'd unlocked my door and he was suddenly there behind me, pushing me inside. He covered my mouth, threatened me if I made a sound. He shoved me into my bedroom. I'm not sure if I'm grateful or not that he left the lights off. But he did... well, he did
me
. I tried to fight him, but I'm so small, I couldn't throw him off. So, yeah... it happened. Afterwards he just left."