Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
ATLAS
Things had been quiet recently. I’d like to think the stalker had given up completely now that his face was posted around town, but that was me being optimistic.
Clay had run the blurry face through his fancy machines and got a clear image. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a match in the system, which meant this guy hadn’t committed a crime in the past, or he’d just never gotten caught before.
Either way, we now had posters of his face up around town. The guy in the posters looked exactly as I remembered, and just as average too. He wasn’t ugly or anything like that. All his features were just…unassuming.
Rumors of what happened at the fair had spread through town, and now practically everyone knew about my stalker situation. I did feel safer knowing that the people around me were keeping a lookout now that they knew what the culprit looked like.
The issue was that nobody seemed to know who he was.
We figured that by spreading his face, somebody would come forward and give us information about this dude.
But either he was a ghost, or the people who did know him were staying loyal to him.
One thing was for sure: this guy didn’t belong in our town.
I spent countless nights awake in Hector’s arms trying to figure out who the hell this guy was.
It couldn’t be that he was some random person who saw me on the street and started following me, right?
From what I read online, cases like that weren’t the norm.
Stalkers usually stalked people they knew.
So the question was, how did this one know me?
Each day that passed without an answer lulled me into a false sense of security. There hadn’t been any new notes or updates from Clay, so maybe the stalker really had given up?
The days passed without much fanfare, and I was quickly settling into a domestic routine with Hector. His worries about this mundane life boring me never disappeared, but it wasn’t hard to show him just how much I loved each day that came with him.
I didn’t need constant excitement or fancy things to make me happy. The daily interactions and routine we built together were what really made my heart sing. Starting each morning and ending each night with his kisses was a kind of contentment that I’d never found anywhere else before.
What I loved the most, though, was seeing him let his walls down and share his insecurities with me.
It was Monday. The diner was closed, and Hector was standing in front of the mirror examining himself. He wasn’t a slob, but he didn’t really care about his looks. I knew it was his nerves talking.
I came to his side and fixed the collar of the polo shirt he was messing with. “Stop fussing. You look devilishly handsome,” I told him and slipped a kiss to his chin.
He grunted a sound and continued to fuss with the bottom of his shirt. I took his hand before he wore the piece of clothing out.
“What if he doesn’t like me?” Hector said, finally looking at me.
I chuckled. “I think it’s usually the other way around. The boyfriend should be the one nervous about meeting the dad.”
“But I’m not really his dad,” Hector muttered, though I doubted that even he believed those words. It was his nerves talking bullshit.
“You are in all the ways that count. And I know Rhett sees it that way too. You’re his family,” I said firmly, and that seemed to calm Hector enough to stop fidgeting.
“Should we head to the store and get some more stuff? Rhett said he wanted to cook for us, but what if we don’t have the ingredients he needs? We should probably get more wine too, or maybe soda? I’m not sure what his boyfriend drinks.”
“Hector,” I interrupted him before he could spiral and start panicking again.
That wouldn’t do when I’d only just calmed him down.
“The kitchen’s stocked with anything he could need, and did you forget we live at the diner?
We have nothing but drinks. Everything is perfect, and if it isn’t, I don’t think either of them will care.
They’re here to see you. Now stop overthinking. ”
“Okay,” he murmured and took a deep breath and sighed. “Thank you. I was being silly, wasn’t I?”
I smiled and gave him a sweet kiss that he quickly deepened. Too bad the kiss didn’t last long when a loud knock from downstairs had us breaking apart. “Looks like they’re here,” I said with a grin.
Hector nodded and looked a little faint. I could understand why he was so nervous about this meeting. He hadn’t seen Rhett since he went off to join the circus a few years back. And this would be the first time he officially met Rhett’s boyfriend too.
Of course, I was sure he was nervous about them meeting me, too, as his boyfriend.
I wasn’t really worried. I’d heard a lot about Rhett from Hector, and he seemed like the type of person who only cared about Hector being happy. And I made him happy, or at least I hoped I did.
I threaded our fingers together and tugged them to get his attention. I wanted him to know he wasn’t doing this alone. He nodded again, and we climbed down the stairs to open the diner’s front door.
Two men were standing outside the door, holding hands.
The first thing I noticed was the sheer size gap between them.
Hector had mentioned Rhett being on the shorter side, but I hadn’t expected him to be the shortest grown man I’d met.
Not that it mattered. He stood tall and proud, filled with the confidence of someone who knew themselves.
The other man, Rhett’s boyfriend, Coal—like the rock, which was probably his stage name, maybe?—was a couple inches taller than Hector’s six-foot height. He was about a foot taller than Rhett, looming over him, and yet they made a picture-perfect couple standing together.
“Hector!” Rhett happily called when we opened the door for them. He stretched his arms open, but left them hanging in the air awkwardly as if suddenly unsure.
Hector didn’t hesitate and swooped him into a hug that engulfed the tiny man. “It’s so good to see you.”
“I’m so happy to see you too,” Rhett said with a laugh. “It looks like you learned how to bear hug. Someone special must have taught you that.”
I grinned and stepped forward. “I got tired of his awkward, loose, one-armed hugs. Thought his learning the skill of hugging was necessary.”
“He did give the most standard man-hug, didn’t he?” Rhett teased with a twinkle in his eyes. “Glad to finally meet the man who set him straight.”
I grinned back, liking Rhett already. He held out his hand for a handshake, but I pulled him into a hug instead. He laughed and returned the hug with hearty pats on my back. He was strong, and my back was stinging when I straightened.
Coal wore a black hoodie with the hood up, which he removed from his head when he entered the diner. We stared at each other for a second, Coal looking unsure and…nervous?
“Sorry, he’s not big on touch,” Rhett said apologetically.
“No need to apologize for that,” I reassured.
“It’s okay. I have it under control,” Coal murmured quietly to Rhett. A weird choice of words, but he did seem less nervous when he looked back up at us. He offered a hand to Hector, then to me. “It’s great to meet you both.”
His hand was hot—like, almost burning hot—so maybe he was more worried about this meeting than he was letting on. Rhett was beaming at the entire interaction. Pride filled his face as he looked at his boyfriend.
This was obviously significant to them, so Hector and I took a step back so they could have their moment.
Rhett and Coal’s hands found each other.
Their eyes met and were filled with meaning, as if they were conversing silently.
They were lost in their own world, and it wasn’t until a minute later that Rhett seemed to shake out of it, almost suddenly, and turned back to us with an awkward laugh.
“Anyway, thanks for letting us meet here on your day off. We’re not a huge fan of crowds,” Rhett said.
“We’re not a huge fan of crowds either,” I replied. I tried to keep my voice light, but Rhett must have sensed something.
“Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah! Totally,” I said, almost automatically. I didn’t want to ruin the visit by bringing up the stalker. “We’re just being low-key these days.”
“Have the townsfolk said something about your relationship?” Rhett asked sympathetically.
“No, it’s not that. People have been super supportive.”
He gave me a look full of pity that said he didn’t believe my words. Hector quickly interjected. “It’s true. We have a lot of support here. Things have changed since you last visited.”
“It has been a while since I’ve been back. I heard there’s a whole new group of people who moved here because of some famous vlogger?”
“You mean Wren. Yeah, he’s really brought new life into town. I’d say things are better. A lot has changed around here,” Hector said.
“So it has,” Rhett said softly, and I wondered if he was wishing these changes had come while he still lived here.
Hector told me how Rhett hadn’t had the best life growing up here.
Most of the town had given up on him and left him to fend for himself.
Hector always claimed that he wasn’t much, but just the fact that he took Rhett under his wing when nobody else did was testimony that he had the biggest heart in this entire town.
“Should we get to cooking?” Hector suggested.
Rhett beamed. “Yes! It’ll be nice to cook with you again, like old times.”
“Just like old times,” Hector repeated with a smile that had his entire face looking relaxed.
We followed them into the kitchen, and the two of them were quick to get to work.
They washed up, donned aprons and hats, and moved around the kitchen like it was second nature.
I’d always thought Hector looked sexy when working in the kitchen, but today, despite not being the one in charge, he positively glowed.
It was easy to tell he missed cooking with Rhett, and it probably helped that they worked well together. Their words were limited, but they were still in perfect sync with each other in a dance that belonged only to the two of them.
Even though I didn’t know much about cooking, I was mesmerized watching them. When I glanced at Coal, he was in a similar state to me. He looked like a serious man with little expression, much like Hector, but the stoniness washed off his face whenever his eyes landed on Rhett.
Life might not have treated Rhett well in the beginning, but it was clear he’d found a place he belonged, and a person who made it that much better.
The food didn’t take long—or at least it didn’t feel long with how entertaining it was watching them cook—and we soon found ourselves at a table enjoying the shrimp and sausage Creole they made over a bottle of wine.
It was mostly Rhett and Hector chatting and catching up about things they probably already chatted about over the phone, but it didn’t matter to them what they talked about. The important thing was that they were together.
When night fell, and the moon sat high in the sky, we were all a little tipsy from the bottles of wine. Well, all of us, aside from Coal, who didn’t drink. Rhett was telling us about their traveling circus and all the new friends he’d made.
He practically lit up when he told us about their famous circus show and the set Coal does.
He’s their firedancer, and based on Rhett’s description, it was like the fire came alive on stage and danced on Coal’s command.
Hearing his boyfriend sing his praises, Coal was too shy to meet any of our gazes.
I smiled and wondered if Rhett realized he’d found someone very similar to Hector. They say children find partners that remind them of their parents, so if that didn’t prove Hector was every bit family to Rhett, then I didn’t know what would.
“You two have to come see the show,” Rhett said, his words slightly slurred. “You’d love it! And I’d love to show you around.”
Hector looked at me and found my hand. “We’ll visit in the future. Definitely.”
I grinned and nodded. My heart filled with the lightness of his sureness of us going together.
He’d been so uncertain at the start of all this.
A chance at us, which I had no doubt he thought was a temporary thing that would eventually end, but now, he was certain the ending he was so terrified of wasn’t one either of us would choose.
When Rhett jumped from his seat and tried to recreate Coal’s performance with one of the unlit candles we used for the table centerpiece, Coal decided it was time for bed.
They’d parked their trailer just outside of town and insisted on sleeping there instead of staying upstairs. Coal tucked his boyfriend under his arm, probably to keep him safe lest he try to light the candle he still had clutched in his hands.
“We’ll stop by in the morning before we have to head back,” Rhett said to both of us, but his eyes were focused on Hector.
Hector was visibly emotional, probably from the wine getting to him as well. He scooped Rhett from Coal’s side and pulled him into a giant hug that had Rhett’s feet leaving the ground.
They stayed like that for a while. Coal and I met gazes and smiled. I think we both knew our men needed this moment.
When they finally parted, Hector placed Rhett back on his feet. Rhett wobbled back to Coal’s side and tucked himself under his arm.
We followed behind them to the entrance. “Oh, there’s a piece of paper taped on the door!” Rhett’s chipper tone was a stark difference from the chill that went down my spine.
Hector and I shared a look. The other two were oblivious to our mood, and Rhett seemed all too happy to retrieve the folded white sheet for us.
My name was written on the front, and when we opened it, the same curly lettering I could recognize in my sleep printed two ominous words.
Playtime’s over.