by C J Baty
“He kept everything that was important in that car. Everything.” She slumped onto the floor, and her sobs started up again. Moses left her where she was and never looked back.
Once inside his cruiser, he replayed what little conversation he had with Celia. Something was nagging at him. Something that he just couldn’t seem to put his finger on. As the road from Marta’s Place was left behind and the streets of Beaufort came into view, Moses stopped at an intersection and waited for the light to turn from red to green. A car parked to his left caught his eye. It was a red mustang with a black top, a convertible. Some far away memory tried to break through his busy mind, but a car behind him laid on
its horn and the thought was gone. He faintly remembered words written on a page that he had read during a raging storm, and he smiled.
11
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MARCUS WAS CONFUSED . It had been two days since he and Justin had spent the night wrapped in each other’s arms. He couldn’t help but think the only reason Justin had turned to him that night was the pain of reading those damned journals. Their findings over the last forty-eight hours and Justin’s distance weighed heavy on his mind as he passed by the parlor on his way to get something for breakfast.
All the journals were stacked neatly in piles in the parlor along with the time line Marcus had developed. They’d logged events and dates. Eventually, they’d discovered that several journals were missing. There was a definite lack of information around the time of Bradley and Maggie’s wedding. Peter noticed that Celia Lee’s name suddenly disappeared from the journals all together around the same time. Marcus thought that the entries became stoic after Peter and Justin’s grandfather’s death. Bradley had added more information about Beaufort’s citizenship around that time as well.
One of Bradley’s journals mentioned a plan he’d devised with Albert for the adoption of Richard and Daisy Lee’s baby, as well as wedding plans for Justin and Caroline. The next book they could correctly time line skipped to where Caroline’s pregnancy failed and she had been sent to the sanatorium.
The book with specific details on the adoption was missing.
The fact that Bradley had written about Caroline and the baby was very hard on Justin. However, it was Bradley’s details about his conversation with Justin that had pushed Justin over the edge. The man had no remorse in forcing Justin to bend to his will and marry Caroline when he fully understood that Justin was gay. The hurt on Justin’s face broke Marcus’s heart.
Marcus entered the kitchen to find Peter and Justin already sitting at the table, and he thought about Justin’s actions toward him lately. It wasn’t that Justin had gone back to being distant or cold. On the contrary, he was friendly and even warm when they spoke. And yet, the man had made no move to kiss Marcus or even be alone with him since their night together.
He just didn’t know what Justin was expecting of him, and getting the man alone to talk was becoming necessary for Marcus’s peace of mind.
Peter and Justin were discussing plans for some event that was going to take place at the hotel very soon. They didn’t stop when Marcus pulled a chair out to take a seat. Sitting at the table gave Marcus time to study Justin as he drank his coffee and nibbled on a piece of toast.
Justin was a very handsome man, especially when he was relaxed. At the moment a lazy smile graced his face as he continued to listen to Peter go on about changed dinner menus. Justin laughed at something Peter said, and Marcus felt a warm glow spread inside his chest. It was Justin’s laughter
that had caught and held Marcus’s heart in a tight grip from the very beginning. He laughed so seldom that when he did his entire being seemed to radiate joy.
It was at that moment that Justin looked away from Peter and stared straight into Marcus’s eyes. Peter kept right on talking and writing down notes on a pad of paper. Justin answered him in one word responses and silent nods of his head.
“So we go with the last menu change and inform the wedding planner that we cannot make any more changes at this late date.” Peter scribbled on the pad of paper in front of him.
“Yes.”
“Do you think they’ll go along with that?”
“Sure.” Justin picked up his coffee cup but didn’t take a drink.
“I’ll let them know that the Floral Shoppe has ordered the white lilies they requested and will arrive in time as well.”
“Okay.”
He never took his eyes away from Marcus. His lips slowly curled into a wide smile. His cheeks flushed. Justin looked down and then back up at Marcus.
Heat deepened in his eyes.
Suddenly, the room faded into the background. It was only the two of them.
They were connecting on some level that they had never gone to before. It called to Marcus, almost as if he were literally being tugged across the table toward Justin. The blood began to heat in Marcus’s veins and it rushed through his body. A drop of sweat trickled down his temple. Justin’s eyes widened and hunger filled their stormy depths. Then, Peter broke the spell.
“You know, I don’t think Winnie would appreciate it much if the two of you started going at it, right here in the kitchen.” He laughed nervously then added. “I wouldn’t care much for it either.”
The bubble that had surrounded Marcus and Justin for those few precious moments burst. Marcus took in a great gulp of air and cleared his mind from the fog he had been trapped in. Desire faded from Justin’s face. It was replaced by a look of panic.
“I’m going to make a call to Melissa and check on the delivery of the lobsters for the wedding dinner.” Justin stood and hurried to leave the kitchen.
Marcus sighed deeply. This was never going to work, he thought to himself.
Peter grabbed the coffee pot and refilled each of their cups. He moved to the seat next to Marcus and added several spoonfuls of sugar to his coffee.
“So,” he started after taking a sip from his cup.
“So? What?” Marcus pretended he had no idea what Peter was talking about.
“Oh come on, Marcus. I saw your naked ass run across the hallway.
Remember?” Peter prodded.
“So did the two of you . . . you know?” Peter’s embarrassment lightened the mood and helped Marcus relax.
“It was one night. He was hurting, and I was here.” Saying the words out loud brought the fear Marcus had been trying to squelch for the last forty-eight hours. Their night together probably didn’t mean to Justin what it had meant to him.
“I agree reading that shit was hard, but you don’t honestly believe that Justin would do something like that, do you?” Peter asked. “Justin isn’t our father. He doesn’t use people. It’s probably more like he’s . . . afraid.”
Marcus stared at Peter, astounded by his words.
“Afraid of what?”
“If I know my brother, he’s afraid he’ll screw it up again.” Peter shrugged his shoulders. “You weren’t here. You didn’t see him. He was even worse than when Caroline lost the baby. He didn’t drink this time, and that was one relief, but he was in a dark place. It was weeks before he surfaced from wherever it was he went to inside his mind.”
“You mentioned that when you called me about the problems at the hotel.
But Peter, I didn’t just leave here.” Marcus stood and paced the kitchen floor. “He made it pretty clear he didn’t want me around.”
“Ever since I was a kid, Justin has tried to fix things for the people he cared about. When I’d get out of line at school, he came to my defense. When Sally’s dad deserted their family, he gave Beulah a promotion and a pay raise so that she could cover her mounting bills. Even with Caroline, he wanted to make things right for her, but he just didn’t know how.” Peter was quiet until Marcus took his seat again. “Then last summer, when everything exploded, I believe he thought he was doing the right thing by pushing you away.”
Marcus considered his friends words. Could Justin really care for him after all?
Rising from his seat, he took his cup to the sink and dumped the now cold coffee down the drain. As the dark liquid swirled itself away, Marcus made up his mind.
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“D AMIEN, IT’S going to be okay.” Justin’s voice carried into the hall as Marcus approached the front parlor. It was a voice laced with concern.
“Why the hell did they . . .? All right, just calm down.”
Justin was silent as he listened to the man on the other end of the line.
Marcus assumed it was Damien Fitzgerald, but whoever it was, he was clearly agitated. His voice, though garbled, was loud enough that a few words were coming through the phone clearly, enough for Justin to move the phone several inches away from his ear.
“Get another restraining order. Don’t go back to your place.” Justin waited for the other man to speak, then continued, “Here! Come here to the Warfield. He would have no reason to look for you here.”
Justin grew quiet again as he looked out the parlor window, his back to the room. Finally his body began to relax as he continued the conversation. He no longer looked poised for an attack. Peter joined Marcus where he stood in the doorway; both listening to Justin convincing Damien that coming to Beaufort was the smart thing to do. When Justin ended the call he shoved his phone in his pants pocket, and then rubbed the palms of his hands roughly across his face.
“Justin, what’s wrong?” Peter stepped around Marcus and into the room.
“They let Carter Preston out of prison.” Justin dropped his hands from his face, becoming fists at his side as he continued, “On goddamned good behavior!” His face became flushed and filled with anger.
“No fucking way. The man was supposed to serve five to ten years in prison.”
Peter’s voice was as angry as his brother’s.
“Evidently the great state of Georgia has overcrowded jails. So they decided that raping, burning, and nearly beating to death your fag boyfriend didn’t justify serving the complete sentence. However, the state did graciously notify Damien of the situation and appraised him of Carter’s scheduled release date.”
Justin slumped onto the couch, dropping his head into his hands. He pulled on his hair and rubbed his temples as if he had a headache.
“He is coming here, right?” Peter asked as he joined Justin on the couch.
“Yes, thank God.”
“I don’t want to intrude but who the hell is Carter Preston and did he really do those things to Damien? Damien Fitzgerald?” Marcus joined the brothers and sat in the chair across from them.
“About a year before I met Damien at the Gentleman’s Club, he was in a relationship with a man named Carter Preston. Carter started out all hearts and flowers. Couldn’t do enough for Damien. Treated him like a prince.
About the time Damien’s career at the newspaper really started to take off things changed. Carter changed. He was more possessive. Damien had to report every move he made and every man he had a conversation with to Carter. There was a lot of verbal abuse at first, then the physical stuff started. Damien would show up at the club with a bruise on his wrist or
around his neck. It got completely out of hand,” Justin stated. Peter’s face was contorted with rage by the time his brother finished talking.
“Damien wasn’t interested in rough play. The BDSM world was something he wasn’t cut out for, and Carter was no dom. What he proved to be was a sadistic son of a bitch who enjoyed inflicting pain and seeing how many scars he could leave on Damien’s body.” Justin lifted his eyes to look at Marcus; his voice full of pain.
“Damien told me he was planning to break it off the last time the two of them were together. Carter would have none of it. He nearly killed Damien that night. He used a flogger he had adapted. There were bits of glass and metal on the tips. Damien has scars across his back and buttocks. Some of the wounds were deep enough to require stitches, and he also used a lit cigar to leave burns across his thighs.” Justin shivered where he sat.
“He managed to somehow get away from the house where Carter had left him unconscious. Damien was bleeding and hardly able to walk. An officer in a passing patrol car saw him collapsed and lying half in the street. He was in the hospital for nearly a month recovering from the trauma of what happened to him. We didn’t find out until later, at Carter’s trial, that there had been other victims.”
Marcus had sat quietly listening to what Justin and Peter told him. He’d known Damien for a while and would never have believed that he’d been through something like this. He appeared to be a strong, self-assured man who was usually even-tempered and easy going. It did explain why he spent so much time traveling the world and telling stories from the victim’s point of view. He always seemed to have such empathy for those he was writing about. Now Marcus understood. Damien was able to bring their suffering alive with the words he wrote because he had felt them as well.
“My God, I never knew. As many times as we’ve shared a drink or talked about a case, he’s never . . .”
“For obvious reasons, it’s not something he talks about, not even to people he cares about,” Justin replied. “If he hadn’t suffered from an occasional nightmare while we were together, he would probably never have told me about it either.”
Marcus didn’t know what else to say, and they all sat quietly, absorbed in their own thoughts for several minutes before Justin seemed to pull himself together.
“So back to work on the journals?” Justin queried, pointing toward the stacks on the floor.
Peter shook his head. “Actually, you two will have to do it. I’m leaving for Knoxville later today. Robert is taking over for me at the hotel.”
“Why?” Marcus asked.
“Sally called him this morning,” Justin offered. “Seems Beulah is going to be in the hospital a while longer. The prognosis wasn’t good. Sally needs him.”
“I’m sorry, Peter.” Marcus grabbed his friend by the hand.
“Is there anything we can do here?”
“No. Sally just needs a break. She didn’t ask me to come, but I could tell from the sound of her voice that she wasn’t getting any rest. Maybe if I go and sit with her mom, she’ll go to the hotel and rest a little.” Peter shrugged his shoulders. “I just want to help. Besides, you’re going to have your hands full with Richard and Daisy, and now Damien.”
“I’m sure she’ll be glad to see you, Peter.” Justin hugged his brother. “Give her our love. We can handle the situations here.”
“And you two, behave yourselves. No flashing Winnie or Michaels. Do you understand me, Marcus?” Peter laughed and pointed his finger at his friend as he started for the front door. “For the record, before Damien called, it was good to see you both relaxed and smiling again. I like it. I’ll be back before the wedding planner shows up on Tuesday.”
It was the first time they’d been alone since their night together. It had been two days of scouring journals, taking notes, and trying to decide what he wanted to do about their situation. Marcus had made up his mind after talking with Peter.
He walked across the floor between the stacks of journals toward Justin. He wanted this man, and he needed to know if Justin felt the same way. No more tiptoeing around each other. No more denying the need that ran strong between them. It was time to come out with it.
“I think it’s about time we talked,” Marcus said, coming to a stop a step or two away from Justin. “The other night . . . was amazing, and I don’t want to let something special slip away from us this time.”
Justin moved a step closer to Marcus. “Does it ever seem to you that the world is conspiring to keep us apart?” he asked.
“No,” Marcus reassured him. “It seems like there is a lot to work out, but we can get through it.”
Marcus slipped his hands around Justin’s waist and closed the distance between them. Justin’s eyes closed in anticipation of being kissed, and Marcus was only too happy to grant Justin’s desire. Kissing Justin was exactly what Marcus wanted,
so that’s what he did.
Pouring as much tenderness into the kiss as he could, Marcus wanted Justin to know that he was there for him. He wasn’t going anywhere. Desire and lust could wait; they had time for that. Justin’s body relaxed, and he softened in Marcus’s arms. A deep sigh issued from his chest as he wrapped himself tighter in Marcus’s embrace.
“Thank you,” Justin whispered against Marcus’s neck.
“Anytime.”
“Sometimes it feels like everything is piling up on us.” Justin pulled back far enough to look into Marcus’s eyes.
Marcus couldn’t help but smile at Justin. He cupped Justin’s cheek in his palm and rubbed it gently with his thumb. Looking at Justin, he realized this wasn’t a crush anymore. What he felt went so much deeper. He wanted to share everything with the man in his arms. It didn’t matter that life was complicated at the moment. Secrets had a way of not staying hidden. They’d figure all of this out in time.
“How about we go for a walk on the beach?” Marcus suggested.
Justin’s eyes brightened.
“Maybe visit that boat shed where we first kissed?” A teasing smile curled at the corners of Justin’s lips. The fine lines around his eyes crinkled making him even more handsome.
Marcus laughed. “You remember?”
“I’ll never forget.” Justin barely breathed the words then covered Marcus’s lips with his own.
This kiss was more. Deeper, sweeter and full of promises. For the first time, Marcus felt sure they were in this together.
Justin pulled Marcus tighter, brought their bodies in line. The kiss deepened.
Tongues moving together in an urgent tango. Marcus felt his blood heat, and he pressed his growing erection into Justin’s hip. Regrettably, Marcus pulled away to see Justin’s face begin to fall.
“Just . . .” Marcus lifted Justin’s face so he could look in his eyes, “Peter was right. I wouldn’t want to offend or embarrass Michaels or Winnie. So stripping you right here and bending you over the arm of that chair,” he nodded across the room, “and fucking you senseless is not a good idea right now.”
