Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Darcy ate a couple of pieces of bacon and had a slice of toast with homemade raspberry jam on it, along with a big glass of milk. Despite Mom’s best efforts, he couldn’t face eating anything else. Frankly, he just wanted to go home and crawl into bed with Charma and stay there indefinitely.
“Can we go home now?” he asked Charma. “Please?”
“Yeah, we totally can.”
“Home? No, no. I’ve put clean sheets on Charma’s bed upstairs. You boys can stay there for the time being.”
Darcy would have shaken his head, but it was throbbing too hard at this point to endure that. “That’s very kind, but I just want to go home.”
“I want to be able to keep an eye on you,” she insisted.
Darcy looked at Charma. He didn’t have the energy right now to argue about this. He just wanted to go.
“Mom. It’s Darcy’s decision where he wants to be, and besides, that’s what I want too. We want to be home and together and to keep the whole world out right now.”
That made Darcy smile because that was exactly how he’d felt, and Charma had known. Had known how to say it too.
Mom’s lips pursed, but whatever she was about to say was forestalled by the doorbell going off. “I’ll get rid of them. I told everyone to stay away until you guys had a chance to rest.”
She headed for the front door and Darcy looked at Charma again.
“I know. I know. I’ll order us an Uber and we’ll just go.” Charma made running motions with two fingers.
“Thank you. I can’t deal with anything right now. I just want to go home.”
“You got it.”
Only he didn’t, because Mom walked in with a uniformed police officer.
“Hello again, Charma. And you must be Darcy. I’m Officer Turlington, and I’m glad you’re back safely.”
Charma groaned. “I totally forgot I’d called the cops when they took you.”
“I’ve just got a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“We kind of do,” Charma started, but Darcy put a hand on his knee under the table.
“Let’s just get this taken care of and then we can go home.”
“Sure.” Charma took his hand and held on.
Officer Turlington pulled out one of the chairs and sat, then opened his notebook. “Do you know who kidnapped you?”
“Yeah. Well, not exactly. I don’t know who the three guys who did it were, but they were doing it for my folks. They talked about their pastor and the conversion camp that my parents have tried to send me to in the past.”
Turlington looked up from his notebook. “Your folks had you kidnapped?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they did.”
“And the guys they hired did that to your face?”
“Yep.”
Turlington shook his head. “Just when I forget what assholes people are, they go ahead and remind me.” He wrote something down, then asked, “What’s the location of this camp they were taking you to?”
“Idaho.”
“So not only out of the city—and therefore out of my jurisdiction—but across state lines. If you want to prosecute them for what they’ve done to you, it’s going to be a little convoluted, but it can happen.”
“I’m not sure I want to deal with convoluted,” Darcy admitted. He just wanted this in his rearview.
“Well, I’m going to suggest that you come into the station at some point in the next few days and make a formal statement for us to add to the file on your kidnapping. That way, if anything further happens or if you decide you do want to pursue it, we have all our ducks in a row paperwork-wise.”
“That sounds fair.” Especially the part about being able to wait a few days to deal with it.
“All right.” Turlington pulled a card out of his pocket. “Give me a call when you’re ready to come down to the station and we’ll arrange a time that works for both of us.”
“Thanks.” Darcy handed the card to Charma because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find it again if he took it.
Turlington stood and held out his hand. Darcy stood too and shook it.
“I’m really glad things turned out the way they did.”
“Us, too.” Charma nodded vigorously.
“Take care of yourself. See you soon.”
“I’ll show you out,” Mom suggested, going with him.
Darcy closed his eyes. “I’m not sure how much more I can take.”
“Then let’s go home so you don’t have to take anything else.”
That was the best thing he’d heard in a long time. Darcy took Charma’s hand and squeezed it.
Charma kept hold of Darcy’s hand the entire way home. He could feel how on edge Darcy was. It was time for them to just let everything go and hold onto each other.
They pulled up in front of their building and Darcy got out, Charma shifting along the seat to follow him.
“I can come up,” Nik suggested. “Make sure everything is safe. Stick around a bit even if you want.”
“We don’t want. No offense, Nik, but I know Mom put you up to this and we just need to be on our own now. Tell her I’m turning off my phone and I’ll call when we’re ready to face the world again.”
Nik didn’t look the least bit put out, which only confirmed his suspicion that the offer had been prompted by Mom. He gave Charma a little half salute and had pulled back into traffic by the time they reached the door.
He closed the door to the street firmly and they made their way up the stairs and then in. Charma locked the door with deliberation, and added the chain, helping to isolate them from the world.
“Shower or bed?” Charma asked, knowing he wanted both of those thing and he hadn’t been the one kidnapped.
Darcy answered without hesitation. “Bed.”
“You got it.” Charma double checked that the door was locked, then led Darcy to the bedroom. He closed that door, too, and then pulled the blinds. They didn’t cut the light out completely, but it still made it feel cozy, and like they were shutting out the world.
Darcy just stood by the bed, looking frozen. Charma would bet that now he was safe and home, his coping skills were about worn to the bone. He stripped Darcy and helped him into bed before pulling off his own clothes and joining his lover.
Darcy immediately rolled into his arms and Charma held on. “I’ve got you,” he said firmly.
Darcy gave a soft sob and buried his face in Charma’s neck, shaking.
Pulling the covers up, Charma then held Darcy closer, slowly stroking his back.
“I’m sorry,” Darcy said after a few minutes, shaking unabated. “I can’t stop.”
Charma nodded. “You’re safe and you know it. Your brain knows it and your body knows it. And it’s just doing all that freaking out you didn’t do while you were kidnapped.”
“I don’t know, I think maybe there was more than a little freaking out on my part.”
“No way. You were brave and amazing. You escaped! That’s not freaking out. That’s being proactive and helping yourself. I am so proud of you.”
“Well, once I heard Paster Peter and Camp Good Hope, I knew I had to get out of there before it was too late.” Darcy shuddered. “I just don’t know why they suddenly tried to get me there again. It’s been years. I didn’t even think they knew where I was.”
Darcy’s words reminded him that it had been his parents who’d had him kidnapped. Charma hated them. Like truly.
“Yeah, it’s weird. You said you’d tried to call them a couple times after you’d left?”
“And they wanted nothing to do with me. Unless I was willing to ‘renounce my ungodly ways’ and that wasn’t happening.” Darcy was still shaking, and Charma just kept holding on. He figured eventually Darcy would stop when he’d let off enough tension and upset.
“Who knows, maybe that Pastor Peter guy got up in their business and encouraged them. It’s all about the numbers with churches, right?”
“Pastor Peter was always up in their business. He was up in everyone’s business. I guess I’ll never know unless I ask them and I don’t want to talk to them. Not ever again.”
“I am totally behind that sentiment, lover.”
“So this didn’t scare you off me?” Darcy asked.
“Nope. You’re stuck with me, no matter who tries to take you away from me.”
“Good.”
“Uh-huh.” Charma kissed the top of Darcy’s head and kept patting him.
Eventually the shaking subsided and Charma was pretty sure Darcy was asleep, his breathing even, his body heavy.
It was only then that Charma let himself drift off, too.
Banging woke Charma up and he frowned. It had clearly woken Darcy too, because he sat up straight like a shot.
“What the hell is that?” Darcy asked, looking around a little wildly, eyes huge.
“I don’t know.” Charma shook himself more awake, trying not to growl at Darcy because it wasn’t his fault he’d been woken up.
He didn’t feel like he’d gotten nearly enough sleep, although there wasn’t much light coming in from around the blinds and the little clock on the bedside table said it was just after 7 pm.
The banging started again, and Darcy frowned. “I think it’s the front door.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Charma growled and got up, throwing on a T-shirt and the jeans he’d been wearing earlier.
Darcy gave him a look. And yeah, that had been a strong reaction, but he was pretty sure he knew who was at the front door.
“It’s going to be someone my mom sent even though I told her I was turning off my phone.”
“Wait. I’m coming with you.”
“You don’t have to.”
Still, he waited as Darcy grabbed some fresh sweatpants and a sweatshirt from his drawer, then grabbed the baseball bat that lived propped up next to the dresser.
“What’s that for?” Charma asked.
“In case it isn’t someone we know.”
“Ooooh. Good idea.”
They went out together, and Charma checked the peephole before unlocking the door. He rolled his eyes. “You can put the bat down, it’s Mom.”
He flung the door open. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. If she wanted him in a good mood, she should have waited until she’d been invited.
“I was worried sick about the two of you!”
“Didn’t Nik tell you I was turning my phone off?”
“Which you never should have done! What if they’d come back and tried again? What if they’d decided to kill you both instead of just kidnapping Darcy this time? What if—”
Charma cut off her list of potential what-ifs. “Mom. Stop it. Clearly we are both fine, aside from the part where we were woken up by a crazy lady banging on our door!”