Chapter 22
Chapter twenty-two
Johnny
Johnny sat in the stupid hard plastic chair in the waiting room.
Pilot and his guys sat with him. The waiting and waiting made them all tired and frustrated.
They hoped they could take Gary home—soon.
It’d been twenty-four hours, and Gary, though sleeping a lot, was doing much better.
The doctor needed to come out from the last round of tests and clear him to go.
Johnny leaned against Gavin’s shoulder. He’d been more than a rock.
From the junkyard to feeding him, to giving him sexual release, Gavin had been beyond perfect.
Sitting there in that crappy, cold waiting room with all its linoleum and plastic, Johnny realized something amazing.
He stared at Pilot and smiled while Bryce rubbed his knee, looking up at Pilot like he’d hung the moon.
A few months before—hell, a few weeks before—Johnny would have been jealous.
Not anymore. He wrapped his fingers around Gavin’s strong arm, content to be in love with the controlling, kinky bastard.
It was beyond time to get the rest of his life straightened out along with his crazy heart. “Gavin...” he said with a sigh.
“Yes?” He leaned in and kissed Johnny’s head.
“I, uh. Shit-sakes.” He gathered his courage. “Pilot.”
Pilot looked over. “Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, but I have to tell you something.” His fingers gripped Gavin a little harder. He took a quick breath and jumped. “I don’t want to do the Trident thing.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Pilot stood, still holding Bryce’s hand. “What’re you saying?”
“I don’t want to buy Trident. I don’t want to...not anymore.”
A strange look fell over Pilot’s face. He couldn’t read it, but Tate tugged his shirt, and something silent passed between them, the way couples have of communicating sometimes. “Yeah.” Pilot cleared his throat. “Okay. It’s okay. We can talk about it later. Let’s focus on Gary.”
“Right, later.” Johnny still didn’t know what he did want, but he was confident that it wasn’t Trident, even if it might break what was left of his uncle’s heart.
Pilot ran operations there anyway. Johnny could keep helping them, but the security company wasn’t his thing.
Honestly, it never had been. He could figure the rest out later.
“You okay?” Gavin whispered when Pilot sat back down.
“Mm-hm. I’m better than ever. Ugh! If we could get my uncle and get out of here, that’d be the only way I could possibly be better right now.”
“I know.” Gavin kissed his head again. “I’m gonna work a bit.” He pulled out his tablet and got to work. At least he had something to occupy his time.
Johnny relaxed and put his head on Gavin’s shoulder while Gavin tapped on his tablet. Pilot stood up quickly, grabbing Johnny’s attention. He looked in the direction Pilot glared in and saw his dad standing there.
His dad.
How the hell had the man even found out about Gary being in the hospital?
Who could have told him? His uncle hadn’t spoken to the man in years as far as Johnny knew.
Not since the asshat kicked him out of the house all those years ago.
He hadn’t seen his dad in a long time either.
They lived in the same town, but it was a big town.
If his dad still even lived in the Denver area. Not that it mattered.
“You need to leave.” Johnny stood up and glared at the stranger.
A surreal wave washed over him as he stared at the man who’d been the center of his world—when he was a kid.
When he didn’t know anything. He’d learned too much, too soon once he’d figured out he liked boys, and his father didn’t like that.
The man no longer meant anything to him and vice versa.
He looked down his nose at Johnny, pulling his shoulders back as if he had a right to be there. “You don’t get to tell me to leave.”
Gavin made a threatening noise and stood up next to Johnny.
This could go bad quickly, but it wouldn’t be smart to cause a scene.
Pilot stepped up, and both he and Gavin pulled Johnny over to the side, away from the main doors.
Johnny didn’t miss the looks Pilot, and his so-called father gave each other either.
Pure hostility. It thickened the air with a poisonous atmosphere.
They ignored his father for a while until Johnny cleared his throat. “Where’s Mother?” He would much rather see her than his asshat dad any day.
“I don’t know. We split up. Haven’t seen her in months, I guess.”
Johnny didn’t know if he believed the man. Surely his mother would have tried to find him when they’d split up. Before he could question asshat any further, Pilot slid in beside him. “Want me to find her?”
“Yes. Good idea.”
He blamed his father for all of it, but his mother had never stood up for him, hadn’t protected him.
She’d never denied him, though. She probably loved him, but his asshat father had terrorized her, making her cower, afraid to do what was right.
She’d let him go, knowing he’d be safe with Gary.
Maybe she’d used that as her out. Maybe she’d figured she didn’t have to be strong.
Maybe she’d changed since then—grown. There was only one way to find out.
He turned to Gavin and put his face against his warm chest. It all came down on him at once—too much to handle. How could he have thought things were great only moments ago?
The doctor stepped into the room, calling his name. “Mr. Killebrew.”
When his asshat dad answered, everyone glared at him. The doctor narrowed his eyes. He’d never seen Johnny’s dad there before, and the palatable tension in the room would have anyone cringing. Johnny sympathized with the man. “Yes, Doctor. How is he? Can he go home?”
“Everything looks good. I’m working up his discharge now.
There will need to be changes in his diet and exercise.
I’ll have everything in writing for you.
Take care of him, young man.” He nodded.
“I don’t want to see him back here, but we’ll do a checkup in about a month unless anything goes wrong.
There’ll be a list of what to watch for.
Call if you have any questions. Got it?”
Johnny nodded. The doctor said he’d go over everything with Gary again before he went home but cleared him for visitors. Johnny ignored his father, making a beeline for Gary’s room.