Chapter Twelve
“Naomi just emailed. She’ll be home this weekend for the holidays,” Dad said as he came into the living room where Micah and Greg were sitting on the couch, both reading.
Greg glanced up and smiled. “Great!”
Micah groaned. “Great. At least three weeks of aggravation.” Not that he meant a word of it. The verbal sparring between them had gotten more interesting since she’d begun college. And the thought of getting through Christmas without her was inconceivable.
Dad chuckled. “You love her and you know it.” He left the room.
Micah put down his book on photorealism. “Quick, while he’s not here… I’ve had an idea.”
Greg lowered his copy of Death In The Clouds and raised his eyebrows. “Did it hurt?” His lips twitched.
Micah rolled his eyes. “I swear, you’ve been taking lessons from Naomi behind my back. That girl could write a textbook on the subject: How to annoy Micah.”
Greg grinned. “Glad to know all my studying is paying off. What’s up?”
“I’ve been thinking. Maybe it’s time to bring a little Christmas back into this house. I’m not talking how it used to be. Hell, Mom put enough lights on this house for it to be seen from outer space. No, I’m thinking about a tree. It would be a start.”
“And you want my help.”
Micah had to admit, Greg was fast on the uptake. “Exactly. All you have to do is follow my lead, and then show some enthusiasm for the idea.”
Greg nodded slowly. “I can do that.”
“You bastard!”
Micah jumped up. “Dad? What’s wrong?” He ran to Dad’s office, to find him shaking a fist at his computer monitor. “Er, Dad?”
“Stupid thing just died on me!” Dad glared at it. “So now I have to go buy a new one.”
“Don’t you have an old monitor that you can use? Or maybe you can—”
“I know you’re trying to help,” Dad interjected, “but it’ll be a hell of a lot quicker in the long run if I just get in the truck and drive to Gillette.” He gave the monitor another glare. When the phone rang, it got a glare too. “Now what?”
Micah left him to it. He returned to the living room, where Greg looked up at him questioningly. “Hardware issues,” Micah explained. He sat down and picked up his book.
A couple of minutes later, Dad came back into the room and walked up to the couch.
“Greg, that was one of the detectives who interviewed you. He was calling to see how you were, and to ask if there was anything else you’d recalled about the… incident. I told him you’d call back if there was anything.”
Greg closed the book and placed it on the arm of the couch. “I told them everything.” His face took on that closed-off expression that Micah already knew so well.
“Sounds to me like they’re no closer to catching anyone,” Micah said quietly. “Not if they’re asking that.”
“I’d have to agree.” Dad sounded almost subdued. “Anyhow, I’d better go to Gillette. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” He left the room again, sighing.
Micah got up from the couch and wandered over to the window. He watched as Dad pulled the truck out of the driveway. “He really cares about you, ya know.” Micah could see why: there was something about Greg that got under your skin.
Under my skin, into my head and then into my heart.
Micah wasn’t an idiot. He was well acquainted with that wonderful, glorious feeling of falling for someone.
Of course, he’d never gotten past that to the stage where a particular someone took up permanent residence in said heart, but he lived in hope.
Then it struck him that Greg had gone very quiet. He turned to face the couch, and his gut clenched.
Greg had picked up his book once more. He was staring across the room at the fireplace, but Micah doubted he saw it. There was a distant look in his eyes, and his knuckles were white where he gripped the book tightly.
“Greg, what’s wrong?” Micah sat beside him on the couch.
Greg blinked, and met his gaze. “I lied to the police.” His voice cracked.
“What do you mean?” Cold spread through Micah.
“Well, I suppose it was more omission than lying, but the result is the same. I didn’t tell them everything.”
“But why on earth not?” Micah sprang to his feet. “Don’t you want the police to catch whoever did this? Greg… you. Nearly. Fucking. Died.” He raked his fingers across his scalp. “They left you in the middle of nowhere. If I hadn’t come along when I did, you—”
“I know! Don’t you think I know that?” Greg’s eyes were anguished. “I couldn’t tell them.”
“Why? Give me one reason why that makes sense.” Micah crouched beside him. “Please, Greg. I don’t understand.” He pried the book gently from Greg’s hands and then took one of them in his. “Tell me what happened?”
Greg’s breathing grew erratic, and all the color drained from his face.
“I don’t even want to think about that night, let alone describe it.
Ever since I came around in that hospital, I’ve tried to forget it, only…
it won’t go away. Those pills may knock me out, but I don’t think I’ve slept a whole night through since I got here.
That night keeps on playing over and over in my dreams. What makes it worse is that now and again, I’m scared that…
” He shuddered out a breath. “What if… I wasn’t the only one they did this to? ”
“Who? What were they like?” Micah squeezed his hand. “Please, Greg.”
“There… there were two of them.”
Micah nodded, his gaze locked on Greg’s face.
“I’d h-hitched a ride as far as Gillette,” Greg stammered out. “The truck driver dropped me at a place called Jake’s Tavern.”
“I know it. On Douglas Highway.” Micah stilled. “You were hitching?”
Greg nodded. “My plan was to find somewhere warm for the night, maybe a motel or a cheap hotel, and then continue on to Wright the next day. Only, I’d just spent four hours in a truck, and I wanted a drink. So… I went to the bar.” He drew in a couple of deep breaths.
Micah tightened his grip on Greg’s hand. “It’s okay. Just let it out, all right?”
Greg took a gulp of air. “All right. So I was sitting at the bar, I’d had a couple of beers and I was feeling nicely…
muzzy. A guy came up to me. Really cute guy, the kind you see photos of, and think, ‘Why do I never see guys like that in real life?’ You know?
Anyway, this guy held up his phone, and there was my photo… my profile photo on Grindr.”
It was Micah’s turn to blink. “You’re on Grindr? Hell, I’m not even on that.” He wasn’t interested in hookups and one-night stands, not that it would matter much if he was. Pickings were slim in Wright, and he wasn’t about to venture further afield.
Greg huffed. “I just thought this was what gay men did. I got as far as uploading my details, then… I got cold feet. I never looked at it once. I was going to delete it, I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”
“So… he’d found you on Grindr.”
Greg nodded. “He bought me a couple of drinks and we talked for a while, not about anything consequential, just innocuous stuff like movies and music. He steered clear of politics, which was fine by me. It’s not one of my favorite topics of conversation.”
“Did he give you a name?”
Greg nodded. “Jake. Not that I think he told me the truth. He asked me what I was doing there, and I told him. Then he said if I wanted a bed for the night, I could stay at his place. He lived in Gillette, and I could choose from the sofa bed or… his.” Greg swallowed.
“You know what they say—it seemed like a good idea at the time. It didn’t occur to me until I was lying in the hospital, that for someone who had Grindr on his phone, who was inviting me back to his place to spend the night…
he made no attempt to kiss me. Or even to touch me. ”
“What happened?” Micah asked softly.
Greg stared at their joined hands. “We got as far as his car. He was parked in the farthest corner of the parking lot. Only, when we got there, there was another guy already sitting on the passenger’s side.
That was when I got scared. I said something about changing my mind, but then the other guy hit me on the back of the head, and I went out like a light. ” He shuddered.
That was enough for Micah. He got up from his crouching position, and sat beside Greg, putting his arm around Greg’s shoulders. “I gotcha.” Greg shivered against him, and Micah pulled him closer.
“When I came to, I was freaking terrified. I was in the trunk of a car, my hands were tied behind my back, my ankles were tied together, and there was something stuffed in my mouth. Then… the car came to a stop, and I thought my heart was going to stop too. They opened the trunk, yanked me from it, and carried me between them. I had no idea where I was. All I could see was snow. There was a faint hum of traffic in the distance, and not a single light to be seen anywhere, only the flashlight they kept shining in my eyes.”
“Why were they doing this? Did they give you any reason? Because it seems like a lot of thought went into this, just to rob someone.”
Greg shook his head. “They weren’t out to rob me. And I don’t believe for one single second that either of them was gay. In fact, I think they used Grindr to… target me.”
Micah froze. “Fuck, no.”
“Micah, every time they landed a punch, every time they got in a kick, it was punctuated with some of the most homophobic slurs I’ve ever heard.
I was under no illusion why they were beating the crap out of me—it was because I was gay.
Not that I ever told them that. I didn’t have to—they had all the proof they needed right there on his phone.
And I’m pretty sure they only took my backpack, wallet and phone to make it look like it was a robbery.
” Greg covered Micah’s hand with his own.
“When you drove me here from the hospital, and you pointed out the spot where you found me… that was when it hit me. They’d dumped me there, in the hope that no one would find me.
” He swallowed hard. “They intended for me to die there. And I would have done, if not for you.”
Micah couldn’t help his response. He kissed Greg’s temple. “But you made it. You didn’t die.”
Greg met his gaze. “When I came to briefly, I knew it wasn’t where they’d beaten me up.
I also knew I was near a road, because now and again I heard a car go by.
Not that anyone could spot me where I was, so I…
crawled through the snow, trying to get closer to the road.
I made it, then passed out again.” He shuddered.
“Micah, what if that detective called because there’s another case similar to mine?
What if they’re hoping I can give them anything to shed light on it?
” He stilled. “What if… those two men have only just gotten started?”
Micah wanted to throw up. “Then you have to tell the police everything.”
“I told them I got jumped on as I was walking along the highway. I didn’t mention Jake’s Tavern, Grindr, what…
what they said to me… because I was just so…
ashamed. Plus, I had no idea what the detectives’ reaction would be.
You hear such horror stories, Micah. There’s still so much hate out there, and lately there seems to be more of it. ”
Micah cupped his chin. “If you want, I will go with you to the police. Dad, too. We will sit beside you while you tell them what really happened, and if we get so much as a sneer out of anyone, or even the vaguest hint of one, then we take it higher.”
“Really?” Greg’s eyes glistened, but he blinked away the tears that threatened to fall.
Micah nodded. “You are not on your own, okay? You have us in your corner now, and good luck trying to get rid of us, because we Trants can be pretty tenacious.” He let go of Greg’s face.
Greg gave a weak smile. “Aren’t I the lucky one?” His breathing evened out, and a little color returned to his face.
“It feels better, now you’ve told someone, doesn’t it?” Not that Micah needed to hear Greg’s reply—he could almost watch the tension seep from Greg’s body. His breathing was slower, and he’d eased his grip on Micah’s hand.
Greg nodded. “I’m not going to tell my mom what happened. I’ll just make out that it was a vicious robbery. She’s going to have enough to deal with, when I tell her I’m gay. I’m not expecting fireworks, by the way—she’s not the sort—but yes, it will definitely be a surprise.”
Micah snickered. “Remind me to tell you one day how I came out to my dad.” He gazed into Greg’s eyes. “Thank you for telling me,” he said quietly.
Greg smiled. “It must be a Trant family trait. You’re all so easy to talk to. You inspire trust.”
“Good to know.” All Micah wanted to do was lean forward and kiss Greg on the mouth, but he held back. Not now, when his emotions are all over the place.
There would be another time, and when it occurred, Micah would not be holding back.