I took him by the neck and kissed him swiftly. “I will take care of him.” I released him and turned to Drew. “Take care of him for me. Will you?” Gordon had a gleam in his eyes that I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
Shortly after they left, the doctor appeared to let me know Ollie had been situated with little fuss, and I could see him. I was advised he was heavily medicated, so he might not recognize me for another hour or so. I thanked the doctor and went to do my duty. The kid hated me, but I would hope in this situation he would allow me to be there for him.
I entered his room with caution, planning to sit quietly with him while he slept. I was so sure he would still be out from his medication, but he wasn’t. His head turned in my direction as soon as I attempted to close the door behind me. I didn’t know what to expect, probably for him to ask me to leave. When he didn’t, I entered the room and moved closer to his bedside.
“Hey, I promised your dad I’ll sit with you till he gets back,” I told him. “But if you prefer to be alone, I can sit on the outside.”
He didn’t look at me but up at the ceiling. His color was returning, but he had several stitches and sported a bandage around his head. His nose was in a nasal cast.
“I don’t want to be alone,” he mumbled from his swollen lip. He had stitches there as well.
“Okay. I’ll sit right here. I won’t leave. You can take a nap.”
He didn’t respond, and I thought he was doing that, taking a nap. But then he said, “I can’t sleep. I tried, but each time I close my eyes, the nightmare continues.” He sucked in a painful breath and added so softly I almost didn’t hear. “Except it feels real.”
I tried not to show my surprise that he was talking to me. From my own experience, talking to a stranger about my ordeal had been a better idea than my family.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” I told him. “It shouldn’t have to happen to anyone. Not me. Not you.”
He turned his head then, wincing a bit. “You?”
I nodded and stared at my hands, gripping each other. “Yes. Me. The boyfriend I had before your dad was not as kind and loving.”
“But-but you seem fine.” He sounded bewildered.
“It’s a process to get here,” I answered with a smile. “In the meantime, cry if you want. Get mad at the world if you want. You don’t have to be strong. You can let the people around you who care about you be strong for you. Be broken if you need to be. The ones you love will catch the pieces and help you put them back together.”
No sooner had I spoken the last word than I heard his sob. I didn’t reach out to touch him in a comforting way. The last thing he would need was to be touched, especially by a stranger. I didn’t say anything else, just sat there and waited with him through his pain.
Chapter 39
Gordon
The drive from the hospital seemed to go on forever. I had to listen to Drew briefing me about what to expect and what I could and couldn’t do when I arrived at the police station. I barely heard him. His common sense was the last thing I needed right now. What I wanted was to pummel Eric’s face.
“I want to see him alone,” I said when we finally arrived at the police station.
“Get that idea out your head, Gordon,” he replied getting out of the car. “It’s not going to happen. You shouldn’t even be here right now.”
“That bastard abused my son!” I growled at him. “How am I not supposed to be here to report this?”
“It’s already reported. You being here right now is to make it formal and to have it documented. More than likely they’ll keep you two apart.”
“I know you can arrange it. If you can, please try. I need to confront him, Drew.”
He didn’t respond but sighed as we entered the police station. I had the feeling he regretted bringing me along with him. Everyone in the police station seemed tense as it seemed Eric had arrived just a few minutes before us. The chattering I caught hinted that everyone was shocked at what he had done. The place turned to a hush when Drew entered with me at his heels. I saw only a few familiar faces from the last time I had been here.
“Jacobson will take the report,” he told me and steered me in the direction of a man who was around my age. He wore a wedding band and spectacles.
I was frustrated at being introduced to this man. I didn’t come here to see him, but I had to go through the ropes if I hoped to face Eric any at all.
“Where are you going?” I asked Drew as Jacobson searched for the log book to take my report.
“To find out what’s going on. I’ll be back by the time Jacobson finishes with you.”
I didn’t like it one bit. I was beginning to wonder if it had made sense to come to the police station instead of staying at the hospital with Ollie. I would be disappointed if I didn’t get to see Eric.
“Okay, let’s get started,” Jacobson said, interrupting my thoughts. “Please state your full name.”
He asked a list of questions that I did my best to answer without frustration. It was harder to explain the ones related to Ollie and the condition I had found him in. The more I revealed, the more I was reminded the monster who had hurt my son was somewhere in this building.
“We’ll have a detective assigned to the case who will visit the hospital and speak to your son and doctors,” Jacobson ended. “We’ll keep in touch with you. In the meantime, you can have a seat in the waiting area for Officer Carty.”
I thanked him for his time even though I was feeling far from gracious. I had just entered the waiting area when Drew popped in.
“I need to know what’s happening,” I told him. “Why do I feel like this thing is just another reported case, but nobody is particularly interested in what happened?”
“Hey, I know it may seem that way, but even our department is shaken up at this, okay? They may seem aloof about the matter, but it’s just one way to do what is necessary. It doesn’t reflect what we are feeling.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“He’s being interrogated now,” he answered. “This isn’t usually done, but we’ll allow you in the room next to it, so you can watch. Maybe you’ll get a little bit of closure this way.”
I nodded. “That’ll do for now.”
He led me to a room with what he explained was a one-way mirror, so Eric wouldn’t be able to see us. He was inside the interrogation room with two police officers I didn’t know.
“We’ll not only be able to see but also to hear what he’s saying,” Drew said.
As though he knew we were in the room across from his, Eric stared right at the one-way mirror. I looked at him, sitting on the chair as though he had done nothing wrong. This man who had been my friend far longer than I’d know my son had done this to my family.
“What happened, Eric?” one of the two officers asked him. “Why did you do it?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he replied, sitting back in his chair like he believed every word coming from his mouth. “The kid had what was coming to him. Ain’t no son of mine gonna be gay. I had to straighten him out.”
“By abusing him?”
A dark look crossed Eric’s face, and he frowned but didn’t answer the question. “I want my lawyer,” he said instead. “I know my rights, and I don’t have to say a damn thing until I get one.”
“But you kinda already said enough, asshole,” Drew whispered beside me. “How could none of us see something was seriously wrong with him?”
“I want to speak to him.”
“Gordon. I told you we can’t allow that.”
“Then make them allow it. For God’s sake, Drew. I have to know why?”
“Gordon.”
“Please. Just do this one thing for me, and I’ll leave. I’ll let the law handle it. You saw what I had to endure tonight. He owes me at least an explanation.”
He capitulated. “Fine. Wait here.”
I waited like he instructed and watched Eric who had clammed up, refusing to answ
er any more questions without his lawyer. The door to the room opened and Drew appeared. He beckoned to the police officers who moved to the door. They spoke in hushed tones, so I couldn’t hear what they said. One cop looked as though he was arguing, but in the end, nodded to whatever Drew had asked them.
The one who had been arguing left the room, but the other cop returned to his seat while Drew disappeared once more. Within a minute he was back in the room with me.
“Let’s go,” he said. “It wasn’t easy getting the two detectives on the case to agree, but they’ll allow it for a few minutes.”
“Thank you.”
I proceeded Drew towards the interrogation room, but he opened the door and entered ahead of me. My eyes instantly picked up Eric who straightened in his chair when he saw me. His eyes were full of hatred.
The detective rose to his feet and Drew introduced us.
“Don’t I get an introduction?” Eric asked.
I turned to him and was overwhelmed with anguish. Not hatred, but anguish that this was what had become of our friendship.
“Why did you do this?” I asked, the words coming out as a croak I couldn’t help. Ever since I found Ollie, all I wanted to do was snap his neck. I never anticipated the hurt I felt.
“I’m sure you can figure it out,” Eric said.
“I want you to tell me!” I snapped at him. “I want you to tell me why you’d hurt my son like this.”
“He’s my son!” he shouted at me, slamming his fists down on the table. “You all cheated me out of raising my own son! And then you made him fucking gay! I wasn’t going to stand for it.”
“You forced yourself on him,” I thundered, shrugging off the hand Drew placed on my shoulder. “That's fucking sick of you! How could you do that to a human being, let alone your own child?”
“Because I bet he’ll never want another man doing that to him ever again!” He snapped his fingers at me. “Just like that he’s cured. Too bad we didn’t get to do the same to you and your boyfriend.”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Gordon, we should go now,” Drew said quietly.
“Everything was going fine between us!” Eric spat at me. “For once, I was having things the way I wanted it. I had my son. That bitch Barbara had no right to make him yours. I know I screwed up. I told her to abort the kid instead of marrying her, so she slept with you instead and convinced you that you knocked her up. But I had a change of heart. I tried to get her to divorce you, but she never did. What she didn’t mind was me coming over when you were on the road and fucking her the way you couldn’t.”
“Is that why she killed herself? Because of the guilt?” I asked him because that would finally relieve Ollie of thinking he was responsible for her death.
He laughed and glanced at the two cops who were listening. “What the hell, I might as well spill,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to hit me for the maximum life penalty anyway. So, what if murder is added to it?”
“What?”
“That’s right. I killed that bitch. I forced her to take her own life. It was either that or my gun in her mouth. She took the easier route, and I watched her as she died. She took everything from me and used me all these years. I’d had enough after she turned me down for the last time when I asked her to divorce you.”
I was shocked at his revelation. The magnitude of what he had revealed didn’t only rock me but also the two cops who listened. The more he said, the more I realized he was a monster who wasn’t fit to live.
“You’re crazy,” I told him. “I hope you never see the light of day again.”
He shrugged. “I’ll take one for the team if it means straightening out my son. He got what he deserved. No son of mine will become a fuckboy. I bet I knocked the confusion out of him. Now he’ll remember his dear dad fondly if he thinks to turn crooked again.”
His lack of remorse over what he had done was what got me. Anger surged through me, and before I had even processed what I was going to do, I launched myself over the table at him. I crashed into him and his chair overturned, the table went spinning, and we both ended up on the floor.
“Gordon!” Drew shouted in alarm.
I barely heard him as I planted a fist in Eric’s face. He tried to fight me back, but he was at a disadvantage since I had him pinned beneath me. I punched him again, seeing the bloody face of my son that had been caused by this piece of shit I had once called a friend. He had wrecked our family and broken us, taken away the mother my children loved and hurt both the man I loved and my son.
“Gordon stop! Stop! That’s enough!”
Blind with rage, I didn’t heed Drew’s words as I pressed my hands into Eric’s neck to end the life he had no qualm in taking. Drew latched onto my arm and pulled, but I refused to be deterred. It was as though my rage gave me a super-strength I never knew I possessed. I refused to let go.
“Gordon, if you don’t let go, we’ll have to tase you!” Drew growled at me. “For God’s sake let go. You’re going to kill him.”
As if that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. He didn’t deserve to live.
“You should thank me,” Eric gulped for air, clawing at my hands. “I fixed him for you.”
“He’s fucking fine the way he is!” I shouted at him and raised my hand to punch him in the face again. “You’re going to pay for hurting my son!”
His nose crumpled beneath my fist. I heard his scream before an electric shock ran through my body.
Chapter 40
Beau
Gordon wasn’t back. That was the first thought that popped into my mind when I woke from my nap sitting up in the chair. My neck hurt from the awkward position it had been in. I couldn’t have been sleeping for long because I remembered twice getting up to soothe Ollie after he woke up screaming and thrashing from a nightmare. The last time he had woken that way, the nurse gave him a sedative to help him sleep. The boy was worn out from his ordeal.
I got up from the chair, feeling cramped. I rolled my head from side to side, loosening the tension in my neck. After stretching, I peeked at Ollie. He was still sleeping and looked at peace. Finally. His dreams should be at least peaceful because his wakeful moments would be hell for a while.
Poor kid. The days, weeks, months, and even years ahead weren’t going to be pretty, but I had faith in Gordon and his family to help him move beyond this point in his life. Crucial to him surviving this would be not to let it define who he was, but it was easier said than done.
I used the bathroom to relieve myself before getting myself a cup of watered-down coffee and a croissant from their cafeteria. I returned to the room to eat and keep up vigil. I was surprised to find Drew inside, standing by the bed and staring at Ollie. He brushed a lock of hair from the boy’s forehead.
I closed the door behind me and he stepped back from the bed. I frowned, glancing from Ollie to him, wondering if I had missed something there.
“Hi, I just dropped by to see how he was doing,” he said, his face a crimson shade. He couldn’t quite meet my eyes.
“Hmm. Terrible nightmares. The nurse sedated him. You probably shouldn’t touch him though. He’ll be sensitive for a while to people touching him.”
He slipped his hands into the front of his pockets. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. He just looks so…vulnerable. It hit me really hard that Eric could do this to him.”
I understood that the act would have sickened anyone who knew about it, especially those who saw the condition Ollie had been in. Still, hearing the way Drew talked about the boy was surprising. He seemed a little emotionally involved. He must have seen the way I was observing him with interest because he cleared his throat and walked away from the bed. He couldn’t help himself glancing back at Ollie though.
“I should go since I’m on duty in a few,” he said. “I’ll drop by to check on his progress.”
“You don’t have to do that, you know,” I told him.
“I know. I’ll feel better kn
owing how he’s doing.”
He was almost out the door when I stopped him. “Drew!”
He glanced back at me. “Yes?”
“Where’s Gordon?” I asked him. “He didn’t come back after you left with him. What’s going on?”
“There was an altercation with Eric,” he answered, to my worst fears. “Don’t worry. Both men will be fine, Eric’s the worst for the wear. Gordon should be by shortly. He stopped by his house to let his mother know what happened.”
That made sense. The message was probably best told in person anyway rather than over the phone.
“Okay. Thanks for dropping by.”
“Um, yeah. Sure.” He gave another glance at the bed before he left.
Ollie woke up some minutes after the cop went away and asked for water. I helped him to drink some before he rested back against the pillows. The swelling in his face was receding and didn’t look as bad as when we had found him.
“Where’s my dad?” he asked.
“He dropped by the house, but he’ll be by shortly.”
He looked as though there was something on his mind, but he didn’t know what to say. He stared at me for a good while before shaking his head and looking away.
“Whatever it is, you can ask me,” I told him.
It turned out he wanted to pee but was too embarrassed to ask me.
"Do you want me to get the nurse?" I asked him since he refused to use the bedpan.
"No, can you just help me?"
I helped transport him to the bathroom, wheeling the IV unit beside him. The short trek was painful for him, and he would have done better to use the bedpan, but he had his pride, and I helped him to keep his dignity. After he used the bathroom, I helped him get back into the bed.
“I don’t get it,” he said when I fluffed his pillow.
“You don’t get what?”
“How you can be so nice to me after everything.”
“Hey, we all make mistakes,” I told him. “The good thing about them is that sometimes we get to fix them. You’re Gordon’s son, and you’ve not done anything that’s not forgivable.”
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