“You’re, um, it sounds like you’re busy so I should let you….”
“It’s fine, Tim. Really it is. Just ignore my husband,” he said as he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a pen and notepad, “Tell me when the last time was that you spoke to Jaden.”
Brent knew that his Uncle wasn’t exactly comfortable with the fact that he was gay, they had, after all, completely ignored the signs from their own son, up until the night that Westley was killed in a tragic car accident. But he also knew Tim must’ve been truly worried to have called Brent for help. The man had, after all, already lost one son.
Brent was going to do his damndest to make sure he hadn’t lost another.
“Uh, a week ago Saturday. He called and said he was on some dumb ass road trip by himself. He called from the parking lot of some bar in Kansas somewhere and I’m worried that, shit, Brent, there are some rednecks that would eat him alive.”
“Here’s what I need you to do, Tim. Email me with everything you know about him: his cell number, what cell carrier he’s with, email accounts, social media accounts, everything that you know about, okay?”
JD sat down on the bed next to Brent and rubbed his back.
As Brent listened to Tim, JD’s phone began vibrating on the dresser. Brent watched JD as he quickly crossed the room to answer it.
“Hey Morgan, what’s up?” he said.
Brent tried to listen to JD’s conversation with one ear while keeping Tim in his other. If Morgan Doyle was calling, it was more than likely a work thing or a call for help. Morgan was now an old friend of theirs who ran a highly-respected security firm out in Denver and they sometimes loaned team members out to him when he needed extras and Morgan had helped them out on a case or two as well.
“Who? Oh yeah, Colby. I remember you talking about him. He recently split from his wife or something, yeah? What’s up?” JD said and then he frowned. “Who did you say he was with?” JD whispered as he glanced back at Brent.
Brent got hit with a sinking feeling, “Hey, Tim? I think I’ve got enough to get started. I’ll call you back in a day or two to give you an update, okay?”
Tim thanked him profusely and then they hung up.
“What?” Brent said when JD ended his call.
“Morgan’s guy, Colby? He called Morgan asking for his advice. Said he was with someone named Jaden.”
Brent pinched the bridge of his nose, “Something tells me I’m not going to like what this Colby has to say.”
He looked down at his phone, scrolled through his contacts and hit dial when he got to Jaden’s name. He put the phone on speaker so JD could hear too.
The damn kid answered on the first ring, “Hey cousin. I had a feeling you’d be calling.”
“I take it you’ve been ignoring your dad’s calls?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m still working out how I’m going to tell him.”
“Tell him what?”
“That the man I’m falling in love with was the teenage boy who killed my brother.”
Brent’s eyes squeezed shut as the memories assaulted him: sobbing behind closed doors, drab and dreary funeral home walls, an open coffin, Westley’s make-up caked, plastic looking body.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
“It was an accident, Brent,” Jaden whispered.
“Is that what he told you? And you bought it because he has a big dick?” he snapped.
“Fuck you, Brent. You’re just as judgmental as they are,” Jaden snapped and then he hung up.
He hung up.
On Brent.
Jaden used to worship the ground that Brent walked on.
JD’s hand began rubbing Brent’s back again, “Every story has two sides, babe. You know that better than anyone.”
“I know but…..fuck. This is bad, JD. Really bad.”
“And who better to try to fix it than the funny, fun-loving Brent Whitman?”
Brent sighed again, “My humor can’t fix this, not this time.”
“I know. But your loving, kind heart can. Listen to him. Hear him out. And then act as a buffer between him and his parents.”
“Buffer? More like punching bag, probably,” he said as he pressed the talk button to call Jaden back.
“What?” he snapped when he answered.
“I’m sorry, Jaden. You just caught me off guard,” he sighed again, “Look, where are you?”
“Why? So, you can tell my dad?”
“No. So I can come talk to you….and him. I need to see his eyes when he explains how it was an accident. He did time for it, you do know that, right?”
Now it was Jaden’s turn to sigh, “Yeah, I know. He paid a price that he shouldn’t have had to pay. But he did it because he felt so guilty for what happened. He felt he deserved that punishment and the hell that happened to him when he was in there. But he didn’t, Brent. He didn’t deserve prison, he didn’t deserve our hatred, he didn’t deserve any of it.”
“And now he’s got you on his side. Kind of convenient, wouldn’t you say?”
“Do not piss me off, Brent. I will cut ties with you. I will cut ties with everyone because he’s worth that.”
Brent’s eyes found JD’s because he knew what a love like that felt like. There wasn’t one second that went by that Brent didn’t know without a doubt that he would do anything and everything for the man sitting beside him, including cutting himself off from the entire world if JD needed that.
“I’ll hear you out, Jaden. I’ll hear you both out. But I’m bringing JD with me. It’s safer for both of you if I do.”
“You don’t need to bring him. We’re coming to you.”
“How long?”
“A day? Maybe two?”
“Alright. I promise not to shoot when you pull in the driveway.”
Jaden snorted a laugh, “That’s very…..decent…of you.”
“You have no idea, kid. I’ll see you in a few days,” he said then he ended the call.
He leaned his head on JD’s shoulder, “Sometimes I hate being a grown up.”
JD turned his head and kissed Brent’s forehead, “I know, babe, I know.”
Nineteen
“You’re sure about this?” Colby said from the passenger seat of Jaden’s Mustang. They had rented a trailer and were pulling Colby’s Harley behind them. They hadn’t really discussed the future beyond talking to Jaden’s cousin Brent. How could they? They weren’t even sure if they had a future. Colby knew Jaden’s relationship with his parents was strained at best but he still would never make the man choose between his family and him. That would be the kiss of death of any future they might have together.
“Brent’s a good guy, smart too. And strong. He was special Ops in the service, a CIA operative and now he co-runs some secret Black Ops team that helps take down corrupt government and military officials or something like that. He’ll know what to say to my folks.”
“That’s pretty much what Morgan said. Said Brent and his husband JD were the voices of reason when there was a stalker going after one of their men, a stalker who had worked for Morgan in the past and was now trying to pin what he was doing on Morgan. Morgan went there to warn the guy but Brent’s team all thought he was there to hurt him. Everyone except for Brent that is. When the shit went down, Brent was the one who convinced everyone to listen to Morgan and hear his explanation. They caught the guy, after a shootout and now Morgan and the guys on Brent’s team are all great friends.”
Jaden smiled as he looked down the road, “That sounds like Brent.”
Jaden’s phone rang from the center console.
“Answer that and put it on speaker, please?” he said.
As soon as Colby did, Jaden said, “Hey Brent, we’re here. What’s up?”
“JD and I need to head down to Atlanta on a case for a few days. I want you to go to the house…”
“But, we can get a hotel, Brent, it’s not a problem.”
“No, Jaden. Listen to me, okay? This….,” he paused as if he were searching for the right words to say, “thing…it’s distracting me. Being distracted while on a case is not good. I need to be focused on this case. The only way I can do that is if I know that you and this guy will be there when I get home so I can deal with this. There’s an RV parked on the side of the house. It’s plugged in, has water, the sewer tanks have been emptied. Cooper and Riley moved out months ago. Drake and Hunter are expecting you. Take it. Stay there. Drake has the keys, he and Hunter live in the main house. Just….be there, okay?”
Jaden looked over at Colby, “Yeah, okay, we’ll be there. Thanks, Brent.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You’ll probably fucking hate me when this is all over.”
Jaden snorted a laugh, “I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to hate you, Brent.”
Jaden could hear the smile in Brent’s voice as he said, “I am a lovable fucker, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, you are.”
“I’ll text you the address. And I’ll see you when I get home. Hopefully it won’t be more than a few days.”
“Okay, see you,” Jaden said and then Colby ended the call. A few seconds later, Jaden’s phone pinged with a text. Colby plugged in Brent’s address as their new destination.
Nervous energy flowed through both of them as their eyes met for a moment. Jaden threaded their fingers together, “It’ll be fine, I know it will.”
Colby blew out a breath as he turned to look out the side window, “I hope so, babe. I really hope so.”
Jaden squeezed Colby’s hand, “Tell me more about my brother.”
Colby’s head whipped around, “Really?”
“Yeah. He was so much older than me that we weren’t exactly close. Obviously, since you were in his life and I don’t even remember you.”
“We kind of kept our friendship away from your parent’s eyes. That was his decision.”
“Why? I mean, if you two were just friends first, why keep it a secret?”
“I wasn’t exactly the kind of kid that your parents approved of. The few times I met them they made it very clear, even without words, that they didn’t think I was good enough to hang out with their son.”
Jaden frowned as he glanced over, “Why?”
“My parents were, are, hippy bikers. They dress in black leather, they have tattoos, they never went to church, they don’t conform to corporate norms and…….”
“And what?”
“They had a reputation for being swingers. It was known all around town that they had, um, parties, swinger parties.”
Jaden’s eyebrow lifted as he smirked over at Colby, “Seriously?”
Colby blushed as he looked down at his lap, “Yeah. It was embarrassing to say the least.”
“Where were you when all this was going on?”
“Um, I had my own guest house. Their compound had six or seven small single room shacks on them. I lived in one.”
“You lived in one? But weren’t you just a kid?”
Colby lifted a shoulder, “My folks believed in individuality, free living, all that hippy shit. They had me move out there on my tenth birthday so I could, quote, have my own creative space to explore my life, my goals and my body, end quote. I did do a lot of exploring of my body, that’s for damn sure,” he said with a snort, “I think they also wanted me out there so they could fuck freely and loudly in their own space.”
“Damn, that’s just….”
“Weird, yeah I know. It meant I was alone a lot. Living there wasn’t very conducive to having friends. Until I met Westley. He loved coming over to my place. He said he felt stifled at home. He loved to draw, did you know that?”
Jaden shook his head.
“Yeah. The shit he created was fucking amazing. I’m positive he would’ve become a graphic artist or some shit if he, if he…..” Colby’s voice trailed off as he looked out the window.
“If he’d lived,” Jaden whispered.
Colby nodded his head, “Yeah.”
They were both silent for a few miles.
“He was going to move in with me, did you know that?” Colby whispered.
Jaden’s heart clenched. What would’ve happened to him if Westley hadn’t died? Where would he be now?
“Yeah?” he finally whispered.
Colby nodded, a tear slipping down his cheek, “That was the plan, at least I thought it was. It’s one of the things that we argued about that night. He was supposed to tell your folks the following Monday. He was going to tell them everything, that he was gay, that we were in love, that he was moving in with me to pursue his dream of graphic design. But he kept hemming and hawing and that night he asked me for more time, said he wanted to build up to it gradually with them. When I asked him how much time, I saw the truth in his eyes. He was terrified to tell them and might never do it. My parents adored him, they welcomed the idea of the two of us living together. I told him to forget his family because he had mine. That was the wrong thing to say and I know that now. I never should’ve tried to make him choose. I was such a fucking idiot. I’m the reason he got so drunk that night, Jade. I’m the reason he’s dead. I can’t make you choose too. I won’t,” he whispered, the tears flowing freely now.
Jaden reached over again and squeezed Colby’s hand, “I know you won’t, babe. But you also have to let me make that choice if that’s what I want to do.”
“But…”
“No, Colby. I love my parents but I also know that they’re cold and detached. They have been since before Westley died. It got much worse after he was gone and even more so after I came out to them when I was sixteen. I sat them down and told them, mainly because I had asked Tommy Morton to be my date for the prom and I knew they would hear about that through the grapevine. They were, um, uncomfortable, to put it mildly. They of course questioned me, suggested that maybe I was going through a phase. I laughed at them and said, only if that phase has been going on since I was six and tried to kiss Bobby North. I think that got their attention. But they again questioned me, said I should make sure. They actually asked if I wanted to watch some porn, some straight porn, to see if I had any reaction to it.”
“With them?”
“Ew, no. Apparently, they had tapes, video tapes of it.”
“Ugh, what did you say?”
Jaden smirked and lifted a shoulder, “Eh, I was sixteen and horny. I took the movies to my room and jerked off while staring at the dude’s junk.”
Colby snorted a laugh, “And?”
“And then I reported to them what happened. I think they believed me after that.”
“So, even back then you were a cocky little shit.”
Jaden smiled, “A cocky little shit who knew he loved cock.”
“How do you think your parents would’ve been if Wes had come out to them? He was so afraid, Jade. Your dad was always pushing him to work at the shop with him. Not only did he hate working on cars but an auto repair shop is usually not exactly rainbow friendly.”
Jaden frowned, “I know. Wes was dad’s first born. It got pushed on him a lot harder than me that what good sons did was follow in their father’s footsteps.”
Now it was Colby’s turn to frown, “We were young but I loved him so much. If I hadn’t pushed him so hard, if I had just backed off and given him space…….”
“He’d probably be married now, to a woman, with a couple of kids, working at the shop, drinking too much and hating his life. You did nothing wrong, Colby. You were kids. Both of you.”
“I know but….”
Jaden squeezed his hand again, “Colby, you have to learn how to let go of the past. What happened was tragic and devastating but it was an accident, a horrible, mistake-filled accident. Even if you two hadn’t had that fight that night, Wes still could’ve gotten trashed. Maybe he got drunk because he felt like it, not because you two fought. You have to stop with the what ifs because you’ll never be able to move on if you don’t, you’ll never be able t
o give your heart to me, Colby. And I want it, babe, I want your heart. I’ll keep it safe next to mine, I promise.”
Colby looked over at him with a sad smile, “You already have it, Jaden. You’ve had it for a long time.”
Jaden shook his head, “No, I don’t. I have part of it. I want all of it. I want the good. I want the happy. I want the sad. I want the angry. I even want the part that still loves Wes. Because I love him too, Colby, and I want to share that part of me with you.”
“Jesus…..why, Jade? Why would you want to do this for me? You barely know me.”
“I know you have a beautiful heart, Colby. We’ve got time to learn other things about each other but for now your heart is enough for me.”
Twenty
King’s heart was pumping triple-time in his chest as he watched Row on the monitors in the surveillance van. They’d gone over their plan at least a dozen times in the hotel room but that didn’t mean that nothing would go wrong.
King watched Row’s ass in those skin-tight jeans he was wearing and for a moment he had a hard time concentrating, literally. He reached down to discreetly adjust himself but from the snort that came from Brent, he hadn’t been discreet enough.
“His ass is smoking in those jeans,” Brent said.
King’s chest puffed up, “What?”
“Relax, loverboy. I love my husband but I’m still fucking human, I can admire a nice ass when I see one.”
King forced himself to relax. This was the first time he and Row would be able to live openly as a couple. It was going to take some getting used to.
He looked back at the monitor just as Row disappeared through the door, “It looks nice but that’s nothing compared to how it feels.”
“I’ll bet,” Brent said as he sat forward on his seat and pressed a button to activate the tiny cameras in the fake diamond stud earrings in his ears. Those earrings were new for King, with Row having pierced his ears a few months after their falling out. Row said it was his way of thumbing his nose at the military that had turned their back on him.
Thunderstorms on the Horizon Page 9
