Chapter 33
Chapter
Thirty-Three
T he next morning, Leo woke up happy and warm in Torres’ thick arms. The sounds of the man’s quiet snores made him smile. He rolled into the man’s furry chest and looked up to see his lax face in sleep. He really hoped Torres was getting some good sleep because the man needed it. He seemed to think his dark skin hid the dark bruises under his eyes, but it didn’t.
“Morning,” Torres rumbled, not bothering to open his eyes.
Leo chuckled. “Morning, you ready to get up? You know my mom is making breakfast.”
Torres’ stomach growled before he could reply.
Leo chuckled, shoving his face into Torres’ neck, just to enjoy the man’s sleepy smell. He could barely remember getting back to his mother’s house from the plane. He had been worn out. He could vaguely remember Torres carrying him. “Kade said we needed to talk this morning. Do you know what it’s about?”
Torres stretched. “No, he didn’t tell me.” He leaned up on his elbows and blinked. The room was a wreck, their clothes were tossed everywhere. “I guess we had fun.”
Leo snorted. “No, you stumbled in last night and pulled your clothes off and tossed them before you crawled in bed and passed out.”
Torres grunted. “Whoops.”
Leo smacked his thigh. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”
“Fine,” Torres grumbled, throwing off the sheets and yanking on sweatpants as he glared at Leo, who just grinned at him. He pointed at Leo. “You owe me.”
“I’ll let you fuck me after breakfast if you’re a good boy.” Leo told him, pulling on his own sweatpants.
Torres sighed deeply. “Yes, Daddy,” he cocked his head.
Leo laughed. “Let’s go, you dork.” He followed Torres down the steps into the kitchen. “Hey, Momma,” He kissed her cheek as she stood at the stove cooking.
“Hey, baby, hey Vince, y’all ready for breakfast?” Sanem asked, smiling at them.
“Oh yeah,” Torres said, as his stomach growled.
“It’ll be ready in five.” She told them.
“Thank you.” Leo called out as he pulled Torres into the living room. “Hey Dad, Ram, Levi,” Leo waved as he pulled Torres down on the couch with him. “Where are the others?”
“On their way,” Bram said as he continued to watch the TV.
Leo grinned. The TV had always fascinated his dad, both his dad and uncle had grown up Amish and there had been none of the luxuries that he’d been privileged to grow up with so with his first paycheck from his first book, he had bought his dad a projector and had set up the living room as a theater with a sound system so his dad could enjoy the things he’d never gotten as a kid. His dad loved animated movies, Disney, Studio Ghibli. Anything that had a twist of the macabre and romance, he was all over. “Hey, Saint,” He hugged his brother as he joined them.
“Hey guys, where’s Kade?” Saint asked, sitting on one of the beanbags and stretching out his long legs.
Before anyone could answer, Valk came in dragging Kade by his pant leg. He shook his head, making Kade’s leg flop around as he bowed with his butt in the air and wagged his tail.
“Coffee?” Kade muttered from the floor, raising his arm and making grabby hands in the air.
Ram snorted and handed the man his coffee.
Kade hummed as he took a sip of the life-giving brew. “Valk drop,” He patted his baby when Valk grumbled as he dropped his pant leg and laid his massive head down Kade’s shin, and sighed. “I know buddy, I just broke your heart.”
“Valk, wanna go play with Sheriff?” Levi chuckled at the big dog’s massive tail wag. He thanked Ram when he got up and let Valk outside with Sheriff.
“Kade, what did you want to talk to me about?” Leo asked after they all had steaming piled high plates of food.
“Found out who sent you the email.” Kade mumbled, leaning his back against the couch as he set his plate on his lap. He was still on the floor, not having had the energy to get up. He wasn’t really hungry and the thought of food made him nauseous.
Leo sat forward. “Who?”
“According to records I had Cowboy look up, Jacob Shepard got in contact with Daegan’s parents. They paid Jacob to send you that video. He routed it through the Jordanian police, he knew a guy, and orchestrated Yousef being taken.” Kade mumbled.
“Wait, I thought Daegan kidnapped Yousef.” Saint argued.
“He was dead before the kid went missing. Jacob kidnapped the boy and was going to use him as leverage against you, Leo.” Kade had to swallow hard to keep his dinner from coming back up. God, he felt sick.
Leo shook his head. “Daegan was not that good of a fuck. Why does this guy hate me so much?” Leo demanded.
Kade raised a brow at Leo’s outburst. “Jacob was the one that got Daegan addicted to the drugs. He’s the one who got him under the dictator’s thumb. That's why he was so volatile when he came home.”
“He was going through withdrawals.” Leo muttered.
“Yeah, but according to the records, he never cheated on you.” Kade looked in Leo’s direction. “I don’t know if that helps or not.”
Leo sighed. “It does, thank you, Kade.”
“It looks like Daegan was trying to get out of it, and they had him killed for it.” Kade shifted and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. “We found this at his hospital, where he died. It’s addressed to you.” Kade leaned forward to hand it over. When he leaned back, he cleared his throat. “Sanem, I apologize, but I don’t think I can eat anything.” He held up his plate, hoping someone would tell him where a flat surface was that he could set it.
Sanem looked over at Ram and saw he was watching the blind man closely. “That’s ok sweetheart, just let me know if you change your mind.”
“Thank you.” He sighed. “So all in all, it was Jacob Shepard who is the reason Daegan is dead.”
Leo held the envelope tightly as he swallowed around the lump in his throat. “What about Jacob? Is he going to get away with it? And how did his parents have that video?”
Kade leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, let’s just say my men are having a really good time messing his life up. As for Daegan’s parents, Jacob sent them an edited version blaming you for it. I don’t think they were sober enough to understand what was going on, but they will get their dues for their part in this. They won’t get away with this Leo, I promise you that.”
Leo stood and walked over to Kade to pat his shoulder. “Thank you. I just need a minute.” Leo met Torres’ eyes and when he nodded, Leo headed outside to the porch so he could read the letter his husband left him. He swore to god that if it was full of excuses, he was going to find the man’s body and beat it with a stick. He paced the length of the porch a few times before he finally sat on the porch swing. He set the letter beside him and looked out over the expanse of the farm. Acres of green filled his vision and eased some of the pain in his chest. He sighed and grabbed the letter, ripping open the envelope and pulling out the paper to unfold. He had to take several deep breaths before he could even start reading.
Dear Chunky Monkey.
Leo laughed through his tears. Daegan had started calling him that when they were younger and he hadn’t slimmed down yet when he hit puberty. “Fuck.” He sat back and sucked in a deep breath. This was going to kill him.
Dear Chunky Monkey,
I feel our time as husbands is coming to an end. I want you to know I didn’t want to do this. I never wanted to get addicted like my parents did. You were always my conscience, my little Jiminy Cricket, trying to scream common sense into me from afar. I want you to know I didn’t cheat on you. I would never have been able to live with myself. I didn’t know what was happening until it was too late. If I die before I am able to make amends with you, just know I love you, Leo. More than anything on this planet, I have loved you since the day we met. Do you remember that day? I was sitting in math class bored out of my mind, hoping the class would end soon and you walked through the door. You were wearing that god-awful Mickey Mouse shirt that had holes everywhere, and those bright as fuck orange sneakers. I loved you immediately. No matter where you went, you always had that notebook with you. I watched you for days before getting up enough courage to approach you. That notebook was my in. As soon as you started to tell me about your books, you lit up and it made me love you even more. I want you to know Jacob is lying. I know he made you think that I cheated, but I didn’t. I would hope you would know I’d have better taste than to cheat on you with him. He is the one behind all of this, he’s in bed with the dictator, literally, I walked in on them…it was so gross, I don’t know how yet but I’m going to try and find out. I am going to do my best to fix my mistakes Leo, I’ll give you the divorce. I won’t drag it out. I would never do that to you. There’s not much in this world I wouldn’t do for you, even leave you alone if that’s what you want. I just want you to be happy, Leo. So go find you a man that will let you manhandle him in any way you want. I love you, Leo and I hope one day you can forgive me for my mistakes.
Love, Daegan.
The sound of his tears hitting the paper made him look up. “Jesus, Daegan,” He sighed as his chest felt too tight. His husband had been put in an impossible position and didn’t know how to get himself out.
“Hey baby,” Torres said softly as he leaned on the door frame.
“Hey,” Leo patted the space on the swing beside him and laid his forehead on Torres’ shoulder when he sat down.
“You okay?” Torres asked, throwing his arm over Leo’s shoulders.
Leo hummed. “He made a mistake.” He waved the paper and handed it over to Torres for him to read.
Torres read it and snickered. “Find you a man that will let you manhandle him?”
Leo laughed through his tears. “Yeah, Daegan was more of a missionary with no eye contact kind of guy whereas I’m more of a…”
“Bend them over a sink and fuck them type.” Torres finished.
Leo snickered. “I do love that you let me do that to you.” He looked up and met those warm chocolate-brown eyes.
“You make it worth it.” Torres waggled his brows. “What do you say we go back to my place and you let me love on you?”
“Deal.” Leo smacked his thigh as he stood. He walked back into the house and went to tell his mother goodbye. She always got a little hurt if he just left without saying goodbye. “Hey Momma, I’m gonna head back to the house with Torres.”
“Ok, how’s Gabe?” Sanem asked.
Leo snickered. “Probably chained to his bed with his mother hovering. She was so happy to have him back, but then she kicked me and Torres out last night before we came back here.”
Sanem grinned. “I can understand the compulsion.”
“I think we’re supposed to go see him today.” Leo said, grinning.
“Good,” Sanem hugged her son tight. “I love you, baby.”
Leo’s eyes filled with tears, and he tried to blink them away as he relaxed into his mother’s warm embrace. She had always been there to catch him when he fell and he would always adore her. “Love you too, Anne ” He grinned when she hugged him tighter. She loved it when her boys spoke her native tongue to her.
“Now go on.” She shooed him away, smacking him in the butt as he went.
“I’m going, I’m going.” Leo laughed. “How’s Gabe?” Leo asked, poking Torres in the gut.
Torres rolled his eyes. “He’s blowing up my phone, begging me to come rescue him from the crazy lady that looks just like his mother.”
Leo snickered. “She was a little intense last night.”
“You wanna go see him first? He’s with my parents.” Torres asked.
“Yeah, I would like to see him. I don’t really remember much about last night.” Leo said, pursing his lips.
“Aw my little lightweight, that’s the adrenaline crash, baby.” Torres teased.
“We should see other people.” Leo said, deadpanned.
Torres laughed as he pulled Leo close to his chest. “You love me.”
Leo hid his grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Torres chuckled. “Let’s go see my baby.”
The ride was quiet but comfortable as they each got lost in their own thoughts. Leo was almost done with his book and he was so excited. He couldn’t wait to show Torres he had a special copy for the man.
“Hey buddy,” Leo grinned as Gabe threw himself into his arms in the middle of the foyer before they had even cleared the front door.
“Hey Leo,” Gabe shouted as Leo carried him into the den with the others.
“Hey Paul,” Torres greeted his brother as he pulled him into a tight hug.
“Thank you so much for saving him.” Paul whispered.
Torres pulled back and smiled at his brother. “Always. You up for dinner tomorrow with Leo’s family?” He could see his parents watching them with narrowed eyes.
“If they’re still open to having me join.” Paul said as he sat back down.
“Oh yeah, my mom can’t wait. She loves it when we bring home more people for her to mother the hell out of.” Leo said, grinning widely at the man. “She’ll love you.”
Paul smiled back. The man’s smile was just so damn contagious. He was so happy for his brother.
“Can I go?” Gabe asked excitedly.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” Torres’ mother said.
“I agree.” Catherine said immediately.
Torres sighed, harshly.
“He can go with me.” Paul stated, cutting off anything anyone else was going to say. “You’re not going to keep Vince from being a dad.” He made eye contact with his parents as he conveyed his statement.
“My mom will be really happy to see you’re in one piece.” Leo said, digging his fingers into Gabe’s ribs, making him giggle.