Free Gilbert by Bailey Bradford Page B

did he say?”
    Gilbert walked to Jihu and kissed the top of his head as he put an arm around his waist. “He’s very upset. He actually tried to call his father, his mother, his siblings—the ones he knew of before he learned of you of course—and he can’t get hold of anyone. He’s freaking out and he and Isaiah will be here in about three hours. There were some things he absolutely couldn’t leave, some animals that would die without immediate treatment that came in while we were on the phone. Once those are cared for, he and Isaiah are coming home.” Gilbert cupped Jihu’s jaw, careful of the bruise marring his soft skin.
    He waited for Jihu to return his gaze, aware that he was taking a moment to try to settle his nerves. Once Jihu looked at him, Gilbert went on. “Bae is very excited about meeting you and Daniel. That was the one bit of good news that made him happy, even though he’s very concerned about the rest of his family.”
    “The rest of his family,” Jihu repeated quietly. “I’m not—”
    “You are,” Gilbert interrupted, holding Jihu’s chin rather than his jaw when he would have turned away. “Don’t. Look at me, sweetheart.” If someone had told him he’d be using endearments like that a few days ago, he’d have scoffed, but the term fit and flowed easily from his tongue.
    Jihu looked up at him through thick, black lashes. “What?”
    How could one word be filled with so much vulnerability? Gilbert just wanted to hold Jihu forever, and Daniel, too. “Bae will think of you as his brother, there’s no doubt of that. He will be Daniel’s uncle, as will my brother Isaiah, and my other brothers. My sister will be his aunt, and my family, all dozens of them, will be yours and Daniel’s as well. And we’re a good family, Jihu,” he said earnestly. “Loyal, loving, annoying like families can be, but good. You’ll see.”
    Jihu tugged his chin aside and Gilbert let him go. He imagined it was going to be a shock when Jihu met everyone at the annual family reunion. At least he had a few months to get him used to the idea, and to introduce Jihu to his immediate family. And his Grandma Marybeth, because she would skin Gilbert alive if he waited until the reunion.
    “You feel up to us running to the store?” Gilbert checked the time and grunted. “There’s a twenty-four-hour place that will have everything we need for Daniel.”
    “Sure,” Jihu answered, then frowned as he looked at the clock. “It’s after eleven? Should we be taking Daniel out?”
    Gilbert wanted to laugh because Jihu looked so damned cute, his concern causing a slight wrinkle in his brow. “It’s fine. He’s going to be sleeping, and he has to have more formula and water and stuff. A bassinet, or a play pen to sleep in here. I don’t think we should get a crib until we get settled in somewhere we intend to make our home.”
    Jihu cocked his head to the side. “You don’t have a place?”
    Gilbert nodded. “I do, but it’s too small. Just an efficiency, and we’ll need something bigger. I can work from anywhere, so we’ll discuss our options after we get this problem with your lepe, and Bae’s lepe, settled.”
    “What do you do?” Jihu asked. He walked over to the car seat he must have brought in from the spare bedroom and began buckling Daniel up.
    “I’m a computer system administrator,” Gilbert told him. “I maintain systems for a few places, do troubleshooting, too. They’re local, but I pick jobs I don’t have to physically go to once I’ve set everything up. I’m…I don’t know. Uncomfortable around people, sometimes.”
    Jihu gaped at him then snorted. “Right. You seem like you’re not afraid of anything to me.”
    Gilbert was a little offended at Jihu’s dismissal, but he could understand how Jihu would have trouble seeing what he meant. “I’m not afraid of people, I’m just uncomfortable around them, especially humans. I worry I’ll do something to give us shifters