What started with a random number (BXB) (GAY)

Marriage

Walking over to Red's car, he opened the door of the backseat and put Adeline down. "Do you need a, uh, car seat?" He asked, getting in next to her and closing the door behind him.

She shook her head slowly. "When I was with Mommy, I had one, but Daddy says I don't need it." 

Emory glanced outside the window across the parking lot, eyes trained on two figures--one, Red, dragging the other, Adeline's father, across the pavement by his hair. 

Turning back to Adeline, he looked her over. "How old are you?" He asked. To him, she seemed relatively young. She was small, couldn't be over 4 feet tall. 

"I think I'm seven," She answered, holding up seven fingers, even though it took her a minute to count them out. 

Emory nodded in response. A seven-year-old girl being hit by a grown man. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the girl looking around the car, curious, and Emory waiting for Red to finish whatever he was doing to the man. Eventually, Emory turned back to Adeline, looking to make more conversation. "What happened to your mom?" He asked. 

The girl took a few seconds, then looked up at Emory. "Daddy says she's on vacation."

Emory nodded, and before he could say anything else, the front left door of the car opened, and in stepped Red. 

He adjusted his tie, breathing a little heavy as he started the car. His hair wasn't perfectly neat either. Red looked the most untidy Emory had ever seen him. 

Adeline spoke up first, shifting slightly as Emory put her seatbelt on for her. "Where's my Daddy?" 

Red looked at her in the rearview mirror before responding, "Oh, he's just taking a nap back in that alleyway." His eyes diverted to Emory, who was also sitting in the backseat alongside Adeline. Red then rolled his eyes and began driving. 

Obviously, Emory wanted to know what Red did to the father, but he couldn't ask such a question in front of Adeline. Even though her father was abusive, that's still her dad. 

He thought the drive was going to be quiet, but the girl had a lot to say. Questions like, "How old are you?" and "What's your favorite color?" and "Do you have a dog?" and "Are you two married?" Pause. 

Before Emory could answer the last question with an obvious no, Red answered instead. "Yes, we're married, how could you tell?" 

Emory ran a hand over his face and slouched down in his seat, his face turning slightly red. "We're not--" 

"Really? How long have you been married?" The girl interrupted, a bright smile forming on her face as she seemed awfully intrigued by this topic. 

Red grinned slightly as he glanced in the rearview mirror once more, eyes directly focused on Emory. "Around a month or so." 

Adeline's eyes drifted to Emory's hands and then looked over to the steering wheel at one of Red's. "Where's the ring?" She asked, brows furrowing slightly as he searched for the piece of jewelry. 

Laughing slightly, Red took a second to answer. "How about we go get one right now? You can pick one out for him, and I'll buy it," 

Adeline nodded eagerly as Emory pulled his hand away from his face and immediately leaned forward and smacked Red in the arm. Red glanced behind him, "What?" 

"You know what," Emory responded, visibly getting more and more irritated as Red continued to pretend that he and Emory were in a relationship. To Emory, Red was nothing more than a bank. He could buy what he wanted, but Red would never be anything more than his wallet.