11
CHRIS
Now…
Mickey massaged his chin from the other side of Chris’s desk. “Molested you? Hmm, interesting. And years later, you threatened to expose him if he wouldn’t pay you off and put you in his will?”
“That’s what Benji and I are thinking, yes.”
“Do you have proof of any money transaction between you two?”
“No, but I can likely fake old conversations between us.”
“Well, that’s something, I suppose.”
“I could also get Trevor and Andy to support that story.”
Mickey shook his head. “They want the inheritance, so their testimony won’t come across as sincere.”
“Hopefully my testimony will be enough to leave them out of this.”
“Maybe, but you’re still forgetting one important thing.”
Chris shifted in his seat, bracing himself. “What is it?”
“The will itself. Robert and Kimberly Mitchell were in their fifties when they died, perfectly healthy as far as we know. Why would you blackmail someone about a will that you’d only get to enjoy decades from now? Unless, of course, you planned on killing them.”
Chris shivered. If the judge suspected he had anything to do with their deaths, things would quickly escalate out of his control. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, physically and mentally drained. “You’re right. It doesn’t make sense, and Robert could have told me he changed his will without doing so.”
Mickey nodded sympathetically. “I’m sorry to say, but the only way to dispute this will is by going deeper into the minds of everyone involved. I doubt that even you know the full picture behind Robert’s reasons.”
“Then I have nothing.” The realization was crushing.
“You have protection around the clock, and I have people who are looking into this. If there’s a legal loophole, we’ll find it.”
And if there isn’t? Melissa and the twins would be back home in a few days, back in the midst of danger. He couldn’t let that happen. When Dylan and Nicky were born, Chris swore to never let anything bad happen to them. Every parent must have sworn the same thing, but how many had experienced human cruelty in its ugliest form? If his boys were in danger, Trevor had no idea what bloody storm was heading his way.
Chris pulled his next words from a dark part of his soul. “Do you think that Oscar might know people who can... take care of problems?”
Mickey crossed his arms, a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “I wondered when you’d finally go there. Took you long enough. Oscar is out of town for business, but he should be back in two days. I’ll let him know you’d like to see him.”
Chris rubbed his face, doubts creeping in. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Nothing happened yet. If it does, you’ll do what you must to protect your family. We are all animals at our core, and it’s time for you to become a predator, or you’ll end up the prey.” Mickey watched him closely. “Are you the prey, Roberts?”
“The hell I am.”
*
“I’ll go with you to speak with him,” Jay said as they waited for Ethan and Anthony to join them in the restaurant.
“You sure?”
“You don’t want me there?”
“I do, but it will be harder for you to claim ignorance if things go south.”
Jay shrugged. “In that case, I already know too much, so I might as well be there when you talk with Oscar.”
Chris crossed his arms and leaned forward on the table. “Do you think I’m being too rushed?”
“No. And you’re going to talk to the man, not sign a contract with your blood. We’ll listen, discuss our options, then think about it with clear heads.”
Hearing it laid down like that untangled some of the knots in Chris’s chest. Ever since his meeting with Mickey, he couldn’t think of anything else, let alone concentrate on work.
“You’re right,” Chris said. “Thank you.”
“Thank me with more steaks.”
“And mashed potatoes?”
“Yep, and don’t forget to milk those coconuts.”
Chris laughed and drank from his water. It still felt strange having Jay as his confidant considering their dark history, but hadn’t Chris himself hurt the people he loved and was granted forgiveness?
Ethan and Anthony entered the restaurant and joined them. Chris hadn’t planned on meeting them this evening, but Ethan had offered, and Chris figured it would be better than boiling in dread at home.
“I barely recognized you now that you’re an office guy again,” Jay said after they ordered food and drinks.
Ethan opened the top button of his shirt. “Do I already look gray and boring?”
“Nah, never. Just white-collar. Do you have fancy coffee over there?”
“Of course.”
“And croissants?”
“Muffins, but they make them with strawberries, and I prefer chocolate.”
Jay smacked his hand on the table. “The hell’s wrong with that place? Give the man some chocolate muffins!”
The waitress came with their food, eyeing them suspiciously.
“Sorry about our special friend,” Chris said before she skedaddled away.
“We’re going to stay at Ethan’s parents’ house this weekend,” Anthony said nervously.
“I’m going to tell them about us.” Ethan sounded equally nervous.
Chris already knew about this plan, and he also knew Arthur and Ruth well enough to not have concerns about their reaction.
“Your parents are too liberal to make a fuss,” Jay said, “and you could have done a lot worse than Anthony. Maybe you guys should move in together.”
Both Ethan and Anthony seemed taken aback.
“Don’t pressure them,” Chris said, mixing his salad. “Wait until you two are ready.”
“Well, it’s not such a crazy idea,” Ethan said cautiously. “I mean, we could find a much better place together.”
Anthony nodded. “And we do sleep at each other’s place most nights.”
“Then it’s settled,” Jay said, adding salt to his pasta. “Just make sure to have a good spare room for me. Sleeping at Chris’s this week has gotten me used to the good life.”
Chris’s body tensed. Shit.
Ethan leaned forward. “Wait, you’re sleeping at Chris’s?”
“What? Hmm...”
“Melissa’s out of town with the twins,” Chris hurried to say. “She’s visiting her family in Massachusetts. Jay’s keeping me company.”
“You didn’t mention she was out of town. I could’ve also come over.”
Chris knew Ethan was confused, not jealous. There was no reason for Chris not to have told him about Melissa going away.
“I’ve been feeling a bit down lately, so Chris invited me over to clear my head,” Jay said stiffly. “Don’t read too much into it.”
“Why were you feeling down?” Anthony asked.
“Just... stuff. Career, dating, my brother’s still driving me crazy. The usual.”
“You recently got out of prison,” Ethan said. “Cut yourself some slack.”
Jay snorted. “It’s been over a year, and Stu has a point with his nagging. I was actually thinking…” He shifted in his seat. “I was thinking of maybe opening my own garage to expand the business.”
“Like a chain?” Anthony asked.
“I wouldn’t go that far, but yes.” He shrugged. “It’s stupid really. I don’t have the funding for that.”
“You do,” Chris said. “I would invest.”
Jay shook his head. “I’m not looking for charity.”
Chris put down his fork. “I only do charity for tax reasons. I would like to invest in your business. In return, I expect to receive a modest interest on my investment.” He couldn’t care less about the interest, but Jay would have kept seeing this as charity otherwise.
“I would help set everything up,” Anthony said.
“And I would help with… product management things? I don’t know, but I’ll find something,” Ethan added.
“You guys are really jumping the gun here.” A bit of a blush appeared underneath Jay's beard. “It was just a thought.”
“Then we’ll talk about this when you’re ready,” Chris said, realizing he may have given a promise he wouldn’t be able to keep. For a sweet moment, he’d forgotten about the looming danger, but he couldn’t afford to think of anything else.
“Is it weird not having the twins around?” Anthony asked him.
Weird? It was downright painful. He never expected their short absence to create such a void. “It’s weird, but they’re having a blast with their grandparents.”
He noticed Ethan watching him closely, like he had sensed something hidden behind Chris’s words. They were too damn good at reading each other. Chris hurried to ask Anthony, “Have you hired more workers yet?”
“What? Oh, yes, finally! Two guys just started. They’re good, but I still need to check everything they do. They should be fine on their own in about a month, then I’ll hopefully have more free time.”
Ethan raised his glass. “Here’s to Anthony having more time for me.”
They clinked their glasses, and for one peaceful evening, the world was normal again.
*
“Let’s grab coffee,” Ethan said.
They had finished dinner with Jay and Anthony a few minutes earlier and decided to go for a walk. Jay was on his way to Chris’s house with the spare key.
They stepped into a small coffee shop—both of them disliking coffee from chains like Starbucks—and ordered two cups. When it was time to pay, Chris automatically moved his Apple Watch to the scanner, but Ethan blocked him. “On me.”
“It’s fine. I—”
“You don’t need to keep paying for me. It was sweet when I was struggling, but I’m not anymore.”
Chris could see in Ethan's eyes that this was about more than who would pay; it was about a man who was rebuilding his confidence and sense of worth.
Chris nodded and told the cashier, “I’ll take the bagel as well.”
“Jeez,” Ethan muttered. “I didn’t win the lottery, you know.”
Chris laughed, and the cashier rolled her eyes.
They went to sit in a small park nearby. Surprisingly, homeless people hadn’t laid claim to the benches. In front of them stood a beautiful fountain, but without running water. A few people sat around, reading under the streetlights. Chris loved these small locations that weren’t filled with tourists.
“I didn’t mean to snap at you earlier,” Ethan said and took a sip of coffee. “I don’t want to be sensitive about money, but it seems that I am.”
“It’s fine. I shouldn’t automatically try to pay. And for the record, this bagel sucks.”
Ethan leaned down to take a bite, barely managing to swallow. “It must have been sitting there since morning.”
“Of which day?”
Ethan laughed and leaned with his shoulder against Chris—how they usually tended to sit.
“Is everything okay with you and Melissa?” Ethan asked.
Of course he’d pick up on that. “Everything’s fine. Let’s send her a photo of us—she loves that.” Chris held up his phone and took their selfie, the hot coffees creating a wispy haze effect at the bottom of the frame.
“You seemed extra happy at dinner,” Chris said and slid his phone into his pocket. From the corner of his eye, he tried to pay attention to any suspicious movement. It made no sense for Trevor to try anything out here in the open, but fear trumped logic.
“I am indeed weirdly happy these days, yes.” Ethan’s face darkened. “Then I remember we almost died on Fire Island, and I can’t help but think of how evil people can be.”
With everything that had been happening in Chris’s life, the mess on the island had almost been forgotten. But it made sense that Ethan wouldn’t take it so lightly.
“We survived a bad situation,” Chris said. “You’re allowed to be happy for pulling through.”
“Even if a man died?”
“A horrible man who hurt Anthony. Are you trying to feel remorse because you think that you should?”
“I don’t know. Is that what I’m doing?”
“I think so. Unless it has something to do with what you and I did.”
Ethan tensed, and Chris wished he would have kept his mouth shut about that. It had been a mistake to have Ethan stay while he acted like a slutty toy for Oscar.
“I do still think about it,” Ethan said quietly, almost in apology.
“It makes sense. You saw sides of me that made you uncomfortable, probably disgusted.”
Ethan sharply turned to look at him. “I told you then, and I’m telling you now, you do not disgust me.” He composed himself. “It did, however, make me realize there’s still a lot I don’t know about you. About the life you had before we met.”
Ever since that night at the cabin, where Chris unraveled himself and shone a light on his past, a giant question mark had been floating between them. In truth, Chris had been expecting Ethan to bring it up sooner.
“What if I tell you that my real life started when we met, and what had happened before that no longer exists?”
Ethan shook his head. “You know that’s not true.”
How could Chris explain how lost he’d felt after escaping the Mitchells? He had naively believed that starting college would fix things, but when he got there, it felt there was no one he could trust and get close to.
Until Ethan.
“You know me more than anyone, E. And the parts you don’t know, I want to keep that way.”
“Because you worry I won’t understand?”
Chris shook his head. “Because I worry you would.”