Chapter 9
Vince
This weekend was everything that I hoped for.
He stayed until late Sunday night before going home, and he messaged us in a group chat all day Monday when he wasn’t busy at work.
Leland opened up little by little throughout our time together, as much as he could anyway.
He told us about his parents, but I don’t think that’s the root of all his problems. I also feel like he’ll feel comfortable enough soon to talk about it.
At least I did until Tuesday afternoon rolled around and he stopped answering messages.
It’s Wednesday evening now, and I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin.
I know he’s okay because he answered one message from Oliver, but it makes me think that maybe we pushed him too far.
He had his first paddling session, public sex and sucked his best friend’s dick all in the same weekend.
“What are we going to do?” I ask Zac from our place cuddled on the couch. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t know,” Zac answers, sitting up.
“Did we push him too far?” That’s been plaguing me, but I haven’t voiced it out loud until now.
Zac grabs my hand and kisses my knuckles. “I don’t think we did. You saw him, Vince. He was free all weekend. Open and honest. But he gets in his head.”
“That’s what worries me. Maybe we shouldn’t have let him go home.”
“No matter how much we want to, we can’t lock him up here. He needs his freedom to figure this out on his own with a helping hand from us.”
“Fuck.” I lay my head back on the couch to stare at the ceiling. “I thought we had a huge breakthrough this weekend. Now it feels like we’re back at square one.”
“I’m not ready to give up.”
“Neither am I,” I agree. “But this silence feels like my heart is being ripped from my chest.”
Zac clears his throat. “Do you love him?”
I chuckle without humor. “I think I fell in love with him the first night we met him.”
“Me too. This weekend just sealed the deal for me. I can’t live without him, Vince.”
I look at Zac and pull him into my side. “Same here. Maybe we should go check on him.”
“You should go. I don’t want to overwhelm him and if it’s what I think it might be, he needs you.”
“He needs you too.”
Zac smiles and pecks my lips. “Not for that. That’s all you, baby.”
I kiss Zac one last time before standing and going to the door to put my shoes on.
I second guess myself the entire drive to Leland’s, and even more when I slide the key that I kept into the lock.
The apartment is completely dark when I walk in, but clean so that’s a good sign.
I walk quietly to Leland’s bedroom and he’s piled under a bunch of blankets.
I run my fingers through his hair and his forehead is on fire.
“Leland?” I say softly, and he pokes the rest of his head out. His eyes are puffy and his nose is red. “Oh, baby doll. How long have you been sick?” I finally take stock of the room and see the tissue boxes laying everywhere.
“Tuesday,” Leland says hoarsely. “What are you doing here?”
“You stopped answering us.” I sit down on the side of the bed, and massage his scalp. “Do you need anything?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t answer, but all I’ve done is sleep. You should go so you don’t get sick.”
“Not a chance in hell. When was the last time you ate something?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t felt like moving. I hurt everywhere.”
“It sounds like you have the flu. You get some sleep and I’ll make my mom’s famous chicken noodle soup.”
“I don’t have the ingredients for that here.” Leland says with so much sadness that I can’t resist kissing his hot forehead.
“It’s a good thing you have two boyfriends then. I’ll call Zac and he can run to the store for groceries and medicine.”
“Thank you, Daddy.” Leland chokes the words out and I can’t tell if it’s from sickness or emotion. Looking at his glassy eyes, I think it’s a little of both. When’s the last time someone took care of him? Besides Oliver?
“You’re welcome, baby doll. Rest and I’ll call Zac.”
With a nod, Leland is out again within seconds. I cover him back up to his chin before stepping into the living room to call Zac.
“Is he okay?” he asks when he answers the phone.
“He has the flu. I need you to go get the stuff for mom’s chicken noodle soup and some meds.”
“On my way out the door now. Take care of our boy, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Will do. Love you and drive safe.”
“Love you too.”
Zac disconnects the call and I go back to Leland’s room.
I kick my shoes off and slide to lay against the headboard.
Even in his sleep he curls closer, laying his head on my thigh.
I run my fingers through his hair, hoping to relax him as much as I can.
I don’t know how long we sit there until Leland starts mumbling in his sleep.
“Stop. I don’t want this.” I frown and reach to wake him up when he starts talking again. “No. That hurts.” Leland whimpers in his sleep and it rips my heart out. “You were supposed to protect me.” What the actual fuck?
“Leland?”
“Don’t touch me. You said I could trust you.”
I look down to make sure his eyes are still closed to assure myself he’s not talking to me. “Leland, baby doll, I need you to wake up.”
“You didn’t care about me. You raped me.”
My blood runs cold, and Leland sits up with a gasp. His eyes lock with mine and he tries to slide from the bed. “Leland,” I say, putting a little force into my voice. “Don’t run from me.”
“I can’t…I don’t…”
“Shhhh,” I soothe. “We don’t have to talk about that right now, but don’t run.”
“How much did you hear?” Leland whispers and I see the shame written all over his face.
“Enough to know that there is someone out there that broke your trust and hurt you. Enough that I want to crush whoever it was with my bare goddamn hands.”
“I…” Leland shakes his head. “Can you just hold me?”
“You never have to ask that.”
Leland climbs to lay on top of me, wrapping his arms and legs around me tight.
He’s back asleep because of the fever minutes later.
Leaving me with a shit load of information but not enough answers.
Who the fuck touched him without his permission?
It was someone he trusted, and they threw it back in his goddamn face.
I’ve never felt like killing someone, but right now I’m feeling murderous. Someone hurt my boy.
I won’t stop until I hunt them down, either.
* * *
I let Leland sleep for two hours after his fever induced confession and then finally wake him up for soup.
When he gets to the kitchen, I know he doesn’t remember a damn thing that he said.
I didn’t even tell Zac because I didn’t know how to say the words.
Zac knows something is up, he can read me as well as I can read him.
“This is so good,” Leland comments. “Did you say this was your mom’s recipe?”
“Yeah. She used to make it for me when I was a kid when I was sick.”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you I was sick.”
“You need to tell us this stuff so we can take care of you,” Zac says, squeezing Leland’s thigh under the table. He’s completely swamped in a massive hoodie and sweatpants, but he still looks beautiful to me.
“I’m not the best at asking for help, but thank you for showing up.” Leland finishes off his bowl with a yawn. “I’m still so sleepy.”
“You need to rest. Zac brought you some medicine to help with the symptoms.”
Leland yawns again and slowly gets to his feet. I help him with the meds before leading him back to his room, getting him tucked into bed.
“Sleep good.”
“Will you stay?”
“We aren’t leaving. We’re going to work from home tomorrow.”
“That’s perfect. Thank you, Daddy.”
I choke back tears, thinking about what he said earlier. “You’re welcome. We’ll see you in the morning.”
Leland starts to doze off, so I go back to the living room. “What’s going on with you?” Zac asks when I sit down.
“Someone hurt him,” I say gruffly. “He was having a nightmare. Someone raped him, Zac.” So much starts adding up. His bouts with depression, his struggle with his sexuality, his inability to ask for help, the degradation and his suicidal thoughts.
“What?” Zac whispers, and his face reddens with anger. “Who?”
“I don’t know. It was someone close to him. He has never told anyone. Not even Oliver.”
“He’s lived with this all alone?”
Tears finally escape my eyes. “Yeah.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Fuck if I know. He doesn’t even remember that he said it.”
I pull my phone from my pocket and call Kristian, or Detective Montgomery to everyone else.
“What’s up, Vince?”
“I need you to do something for me, but you can’t ask a lot of questions.”
“Okay,” Kris says slowly. “What do you need?”
“I need you to look into Leland Monroe. All past and present associates, family, et cetera.”
“Wait…”
“No questions, Kris. I need everything.”
Kristian is quiet for a bit before sighing. “Fine. Give me a day.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You owe me some explanations.”
“I know and you’ll get them. Just not yet.”
I disconnect the call and hope like hell I’m doing the right thing.
And this isn’t about to blow up in my face.