Chapter 10
Ronny lay still in the light room, smiling to himself. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since someone said that to me?” he asked a little while later, their passion spent, and yet Arden’s words still rang in his head.
“Since your parents passed away?” Arden asked, and Ronny nodded. “But didn’t your last boyfriend…?”
“Oh, he told me that, but he didn’t mean it.” There was most definitely a difference. Arden meant what he said; the asshole never did. He just tried to use whatever he thought he could say to get what he wanted. At the time, Ronny had fallen for it, but now he saw the difference. And there was a big one.
Arden’s phone chimed, and he stared at it while Ronny waited. “My mother says that my father is coming down to see her.” He lay back, his head rolling on the pillow.
“Does she need you there?” Ronny asked. Sometimes, it seemed like they couldn’t have a few minutes without some sort of drama poking its way in.
“She isn’t asking, which means it’s likely she doesn’t want to intrude. I’m texting my aunt to see what she says.” His fingers made phone clicks and then a whoosh as the message sent. “Aunt Louise says she isn’t sure what is best. She doesn’t want to get my father angry, but she knows that my father is going to try to pressure Mom and downplay what he did.”
“Tell her we’ll be in the garage apartment. Your father can come and talk to your mom, but we’ll be close enough that if they need us, we can be there in a matter of seconds.” He smiled, and Arden sent the message before hugging him.
“You’re the best. You know that?” Arden rested against him, and Ronny held him.
“Don’t we need to go?”
Arden sighed. “Not right away.” In fact, he held him tighter, and they lay together quietly for a while. Then suddenly Arden jerked and turned to the clock. “Okay, I think we better get ready to go.”
“Fine.” Ronny smiled. “You know, I’m going to start calling you the energizer bunny. You go and go, and then after a quick nap, it’s like you get all this energy back.”
“Yeah. It used to drive my mom crazy. She always said there was never any downtime with me.”
Ronny caressed his cheek. “It’s perfectly okay with me. I like that you have energy.” He kissed him and then slowly slipped away. “We should probably shower before we go. Otherwise, we’re going to go to your aunt’s smelling like sex, and that probably wouldn’t help anyone.” He smiled, and Arden climbed out of bed.
“Fine. But you have to be good.”
Ronny widened his eyes in surprise. “Me? You were the one who dragged me up here so you could have your way with me.” He pulled Arden into a hug. “Come on.”
The quiet, warm glow between them lasted until they reached Arden’s little back-alley apartment. Ronny still thought of it as Arden’s place, but he no longer referred to it as Arden’s home in his mind. It didn’t feel like that to him, not that his opinion mattered all that much, but Arden seemed to tense as soon as they went inside and watched the main house through the window.
“I doubt your father had even arrived yet,” Ronny said as he tugged him away from the glass. He put on the light outside the door to let Louise and Adelle know they were there if they were needed. Then he turned on the television. “Just try to relax for a little while. Maybe things between your parents will work out.”
“I don’t want them to work out. Not after how he’s treated Mom all these years. She deserves someone better than that. I know he’s my father, but I’m coming to realize that both of us deserve a better person in our lives than him. He wasn’t a good father, and he isn’t a good husband either. Maybe if he took a hike and got out of our lives, we could both move on from it and begin to heal.” He sighed. “After all, he’s the man who kicked me out and the one who’s been controlling my mother. What kind of relationship is that? I understand deciding on things together, but no one gets to try to control what other folks think.” Instead of sitting down, Arden began pacing the small space.
“Hey, it’s okay. Ultimately, this is your mother’s decision. And she will make up her own mind. Your aunt is there, and we’re out here ready to rush in, like the cavalry, if needed. Adelle knows where we are and that she has support. After that, she’ll make the decision she wants.”
“And I’ll respect that. At least I think I can.” His pacing stopped. “I mean…. what kind of person am I that I want my parents to separate? What does that make me?” He sat down for about two seconds and then jumped back up again, using the sofa cushion like a butt trampoline. “Am I a terrible person for wanting something like that?”
“Hey. You’re not a terrible person. And you and your father must have had some pretty simmering, unresolved issues long before he kicked you out.”
“Yeah… well….” Finally, Arden settled back down on the sofa, and Ronny put an arm around him. “I don’t know if Mom and I can develop a more normal kind of relationship, but I do know that we never will as long as my father is in the picture.” He rested his head against Ronny’s side. “This is so fucked up. Maybe I’m just too messed up to have a healthy relationship.”
“Are you really going to go there?” Ronny asked.
Arden sighed. “No. You’re right. The crap with my parents is what it is, and I need to learn how to let it go. Yes, I want my mother to be happy, and for that matter, my father, too, and maybe that means they go their separate ways. I don’t know.”
“And it’s really none of your business any more than our relationship is theirs.” Ronny held him a little tighter and swallowed the next thing that threatened to come out. He thought it kind of wrong for them to pull Arden into it. Yes, he agreed that they should be here in case things got out of hand and the ladies needed some help, but otherwise, it was up to them. They had to be the ones making the decisions. Ronny wasn’t quite sure Arden was ready to hear that.
Arden checked his phone, but there was no message from anyone. He sent one to his aunt saying where they were and then settled back. “God, I hate this waiting.”
“I know, but we may be waiting for nothing at all.”
A car drew slowly down the alley, traveling near the outside wall of the house. It stopped, the engine idling, and Ronny wondered what was going on. He thought of getting up, but the car continued on. Cars occasionally used the alley, but thankfully it wasn’t heavily traveled. The gate outside with its soft squeak didn’t move, and Ronny eased the tension that had crept into him.
“You’re a good son, you know that?” Ronny whispered.
“I like to think so.” He leaned against him, and Ronny turned his attention to the television because they needed something to do besides waiting. He found a streaming series about a woman whose exes kept dropping dead. He started watching it but thought that maybe this wasn’t the right things at the moment and switched to an old romcom. At least it was funny, and the scene where Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman wandered New York and fell in love always made him warm inside.
Arden seemed engrossed and didn’t seem to notice the cars going by. Each of them slowed and seemed to creep by where they were. Ronny thought of getting up to check on it, but that would mean disturbing Arden, and he liked holding him in his arms. He had finally seemed to calm down, and adding to his anxiety wasn’t what he wanted. The cars passed on anyway, so maybe his imagination was on overdrive.
The movie was nearly done when Arden’s phone dinged. Apparently, his father had arrived and the two of them were talking. “Aunt Louise says that things are civil. I suppose that’s the most we can hope for.” Arden set the phone aside. By the time the movie was over and they started another one, Arden’s phone chimed again. “It’s Mom. She says that my father has left for now, but that the two of them are going to talk more later.” He shrugged. “So, I guess I was all worked up for nothing.”
“You care.” Ronny drew closer and kissed him gently. “That alone says a lot about you.”
Arden returned the kiss. “You know, since they don’t seem to need us, we could just sit here and make out.”
Ronny chuckled softly. “I thought we already were.” He cupped Arden’s cheeks in his hands and moved in for the kiss just as Arden’s phone made the shutdown death music.
Arden groaned. “I forgot my charger at your house.”
“Don’t you have another one?” Ronny had a drawer full at home.
“It’s one of those new format ones. They only gave me one, and I didn’t have the cash to buy a second one yet. They tried to sell me one with the phone, but they want like thirty bucks.” He put the phone aside.
“Where is it?” Ronny asked. “I’ll run home and get it for you.” He slipped away from Arden’s embrace. “You lock the doors behind me and stay here unless your aunt or Mom comes out because they need you. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” He hurried out to his car and drove the mile or so to the house. Ronny found the charger in the outlet next to the bed and grabbed it and the plug to take them with him back to Arden’s place.
The gate to the yard was locked. Arden was taking the “locking up behind him” thing pretty seriously. Ronny was about to rap on the window, but a crash stopped him in his tracks. He kicked at the gate twice before the inside lock gave way, and the gate flew open. He hurried into the yard and inside Arden’s place.
“You little shit. You really thought you could keep me away from my property?” Arden’s uncle growled as he reached the door.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ronny asked as he skidded to a halt in the doorway. Arden’s crazy uncle had a knife pointed at Arden. The sofa separated them, but Ronny knew that with one lunge, Charlie could erase that distance in a second.
“This little piece of crap cost me my wife and my home. I’m living in some shit apartment over a restaurant that smells like ass because of him. And did you really think some stupid piece of paper was going to stop me? All I had to do was figure a way to make the stupid monitoring people think I was somewhere else.” He grinned and leapt over the sofa.
Arden scrambled away, but lost his footing on a rug and fell, disappearing from sight.
Ronny raced over, leaping at Charlie before he could reach Arden. All he could think of was protecting him, keeping Charlie from hurting him. “You leave Arden alone,” he found himself yelling as he landed on top of Charlie, the two of them rolling on the floor, ending up in a heap. Ronny thought for a second about the damned knife, seeing it just out of reach under the small dining table against the wall.
“You son of a bitch,” Charlie growled as he scampered for the knife. Ronny went after him, but Arden got to it first, kicking it across the floor and out of the way. Ronny leapt on top of Charlie to hold him down, getting a punch on the side of the head, which sent his mind reeling for a few seconds. But he still managed to keep Charlie on the floor.
“Call 911,” Ronny said as Charlie struggled. Ronny wondered if Charlie was on something because he didn’t stop struggling, not even well after Ronny had him pinned to the floor and had his hands behind his back.
“You asshole. You think you can take everything away. I never wanted you here,” he snarled at Arden. “I wanted you on the fucking streets where you belonged. But no. Louise insisted, the demented bitch.” This guy was filled with anger and self-entitlement. It was a wonder he didn’t explode in a fit of bile and crap.
“Is that why you hit her?” Arden demanded. “You don’t have a right to do that. No one does. How would you like it if I hit you? Or better, if I kicked you in the ribs right now. Would that be fair?” His hand shook. “It’s what you deserve. But I think this is going to last longer.” Arden quivered with fury. “Ronny, I need your phone. Mine’s dead, remember.”
“It’s in my pocket,” he said, not wanting to take his attention away from Charlie.
Arden’s warm hands slid along his hip and into his pocket. Then his cell phone slipped out and Ronny heard Arden making the call. “This is over now. The police will get here, you’ll be in custody, bail revoked, and we are going to add so many charges that you’ll be lucky to get out in a decade.” He loved watching Charlie pale. “Oh, and I hope they give you a huge cellmate named Bubba.”
Charlie struggled harder, but Ronny kept him on the floor. Sirens approached and grew louder until officers hurried through the damaged back gate and inside.
“The man on the ground came at me with a knife, and Ronny saved me,” Arden said quickly, pointing to where the knife rested. “He’s my uncle, and he’s out on bail for hitting my aunt, among other things. Uncle Charlie is also not supposed to leave his house except for work, so you might want to have someone check your monitoring system, because that isn’t working either.” He backed away, and Ronny got up so the officers could take Charlie into custody.
“These two attacked me,” Charlie said. “This is my home. I own it with my wife.”
“Knock it off, Charlie,” Louise said from just outside the door. “He’s not supposed to be here.” She handed one of the officers a paper, most likely a copy of the restraining order. “He’s a lying sack of shit, and you can take him into custody. Be sure to add that he violated the order as part of the charges.” Her eyes blazed with anger as the officers cuffed Charlie and led him out.
Once he was gone, Arden hurried to him, shaking as Ronny hugged him tightly. “Don’t you ever do that again. You jumped a man who had a knife. Scared me half to death.”
“I couldn’t let him get to you,” Ronny whispered. He closed his eyes, tightening his hold, trying to keep himself under control as he realized just how close Arden came to being hurt—or worse.
“Can you tell me what happened?” one of the officers Ronny didn’t know asked.
Arden went first, and damned if he wasn’t brave as he explained how his uncle broke in and threatened him. “Then Ronny got here, and he jumped my uncle, knocking him down, and the knife went flying. I kicked it away, and then Ronny got him under control while I called the police.” With every word, he spoke faster and more urgently, but he got through it. Ronny added what little he had to say, and the officers spoke to Louise, who was as on edge as Arden.
Finally, the police left, and Arden went inside and locked the door.
“I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
“You had no way of knowing that he was going to show up,” Arden said. “He took me by surprise, and then you came charging in here like a knight on a white horse.” He smiled up at him. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“There’s plenty.”
“But that’s yet another time that you saved me,” Arden told him, curling on the sofa as Ronny held him. “What did I do to deserve you?”
Ronny closed the gap between them. “I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t think people do anything to deserve each other. Sometimes we get lucky and find someone who makes us forget ourselves and want to put them first. I think that’s kind of rare. My folks had it, and I’m sad that you didn’t have that kind of relationship model, but I did. So, I know what it’s like, and I know when I feel it.”
Arden grinned and kissed him. “As long as you’re sure.”
“I am, and I will be for a long time.” He swallowed, smiling right back at him. “I know we got interrupted earlier, but I want to say that when love happens, like right now with us, we have to be smart enough to hold on to it as hard and for as long as necessary. I intend to do just that, hold the man I love for as long as I can.”
“So do I,” Arden whispered as he pressed Ronny down onto the sofa cushions, looking deeply into his eyes. “I definitely do.”