TAKE ME HOME (30 page)

“What happened?”

“Lorrie…” He set the plates on the counter and turned on the water to fill the sink. He was as familiar with Gloria’s kitchen as his own mom’s. “I told you, nothing happened.”

“I thought—”

“Just forget it.” He went to fetch more plates.

She grabbed his arm before he reached the doorway. “What is the matter with you? Why is Dennis here?”

“Because he knows he has a shot at getting Evan back.” She stared at Kyle, saying nothing.

“Evan doesn’t trust me. I don’t think he ever will.”

She still didn’t move or speak. Then a noise came from outside the kitchen door, and she pulled him into the pantry closet. She tugged the string above their heads for the overhead light and searched his eyes, her mouth hanging open like she couldn’t believe what he’d said. “Are you an idiot?”

“What?”

“Seriously.” She held her hand up in front of her in a let-me-explain gesture. “Okay, not an idiot. Maybe you’re some sort of genius. You know, like people who are really good with numbers and dates but they suck at personal, human interaction. Only you’re really good at casual sex but forget real relationships.”

“I did everything I could to show him he can trust me.” He played with the edge of a label coming loose on a can of mushroom soup. “I would do anything to be with him.”

“You really do love him.”

He gave up on the label before he left Gloria with a can and no idea what to find inside. “I do.”

She squealed and clapped her hands together, the sound shrill in the small closet. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed so tight he couldn’t breathe. In a quick move, she stepped back and smacked his arm. “Then what are you doing washing the dishes? Go out there and fight for him.”

“I’m not sure… I’m not sure that’s the right move.”

“For you?”

“For him.” He stepped out of the pantry before Lorrie asked more questions. He came face-to-face with Dennis, holding two empty glasses. They stared each other down for a moment, and then Dennis crossed the kitchen to where a bottle of whiskey sat on the counter. “Your dad wants another drink.”

“Lorrie,” Kyle said, “give us a minute alone.”

She slipped around him and whispered, “You aren’t going to hit him, are you?” He gave Lorrie a pointed look, and she walked out of the room. The door swinging shut behind her left a repetitious squeak in the silence of her exit.

Take Me Home

159

Dennis faced him. They glared at each other again. Neither said a word until Dennis set the glasses down, leaned back against the counter, and folded his arms over his chest. “You’re an idiot.”

“Seems to be a common conclusion. You’re not my favorite person right now either.”

“I left him because of you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I knew he loved you. I knew that part of him would never let you go. That he’d never love me the way he does you. I learned to be okay with that in the beginning because I wanted him.

But I saw you the night he won the National Screenwriters Competition. You were so damn proud of him. One look at you and I knew you felt the same for him as he does for you.” This was not what Kyle had expected. Far from it.

Dennis reached for the whiskey and poured a shot into each glass, running the flow of whiskey from one glass to the other and spilling another shot in the process. He slammed the bottle down, grabbed a glass, and knocked it back in one try. The glass hit the counter again, his fist clutching it and holding on. “I tried to give him everything he wanted. And he wanted you.

The hardest thing I’ve ever done was walk away from him.” He faced Kyle. “Last week, I made up my mind. Six months and you hadn’t made a move.”

“He was hurting. Some asshole broke his heart.”

“And now?”

What could he say to that? He’d been a coward once, but he’d taken a chance on the train, in the cabin. He wasn’t about to run now.

Dennis focused on the cabinets behind Kyle. “I missed him something fierce. I kept picturing him—how much he loves Christmas. I wanted to be a part of that. If you weren’t going to be with him, then I couldn’t stay away any longer. Hell, now that I’m here, I don’t think I can leave again even if I thought it was best. Which I don’t.” That was more in line with what Kyle had been expecting. “We slept together.” Well, shit.

He hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that.

Dennis fetched a dish towel and swiped at the spilled whiskey on the counter, scrubbing so hard he’d likely sand away some of the countertop with the whiskey. He stopped cleaning as quickly as he’d started, the towel clutched in his large hand. “You’re good at the jealous-boyfriend thing, I’ll give you that.”

Kyle ran a hand through his hair. Well, if he was going to be good at only one aspect of being a boyfriend, it made sense he’d pick the one that made him look like an ass. Evan deserved better from him.

Dennis threw the towel into the empty side of the sink. “I came here because I thought maybe I’d read you wrong. That maybe you didn’t want or couldn’t handle a relationship with him.” He turned back to Kyle again. “But…” He shook his head.

Kyle didn’t want to be even more of an ass, but it was now or never. “I want everything with him.”

“Sure you do,” Dennis said. “For now. I don’t know why I thought walking away was a good idea. I know guys like you.” He gripped the full glass of whiskey in his hand and headed for the kitchen door. He paused beside Kyle. “I’m not walking away again, and if you think I can’t convince him you’re not worth the risk, you are sadly mistaken.” 160

Sloan Parker

“I’m not letting him go.” The words came out easier than any he’d said over the past six days.

“It won’t matter. Someday you’re going to break his heart. I plan to be there for him when you do.”

Dickhead.

Evan leaned back in the chair and let the warmth from the fire wash over him. The chatter filling the room and the laughter from the kids sounded nice. Like family. He sipped more of the eggnog Kyle’s mom had given him. It was as spiked as the stuff she made every year. At this rate, he’d be asleep soon. He rested his head on the back of the chair, closed his eyes, and listened to Dennis’s deep voice as he offered to get another drink for Kyle’s dad. If Evan didn’t think too hard, this reminded him of any other Christmas over the past ten years.

But it wasn’t. No matter how much eggnog he sipped, he couldn’t force away the memories of the last six days. He didn’t want to.

The crackle of the fire sounded louder as he sank into the memories of the cabin. The wind blowing outside, Kyle so warm against him, making love to him on the floor. The shower with Kyle on his knees before him. The intense way it had felt to let go with him.

In the cabin, he had known he could trust Kyle, and that this time he wouldn’t get hurt.

How had he let that feeling slip away?

Because he’d felt the fear even before he’d seen the note in the journal. Before their heated exchange of anger. Before the long ride to their parents’ houses in silence.

Like every other year, they had passed by Liberty Falls High School, and it hurt to see the building, looking so similar to when they’d first met. Back then, he would’ve given anything to spend one night in Kyle’s bed. Which was laughable. After all they’d done over the last several days, he still hadn’t been in Kyle’s bed. Considering the train’s bench where they’d slept, they hadn’t really been in a bed at all.

And maybe he hadn’t really had Kyle.

He wasn’t sure he could handle the heartbreak of having been so close to what he’d always wanted and never really having it.

Although that wasn’t right. He’d had it.

He needed to talk to Kyle, but first he had something to say to Dennis.

The doorbell rang. A moment later, he heard a muffled voice in the hall near the front door.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your holiday, but I’m looking for someone. He has something I need, and it can’t wait.”

“Who are you looking for?” Gloria asked.

“Kyle Bennett.”

Evan sat up with a jolt. He jumped out of the chair and headed into the hall. A man wearing a long wool coat stood in the foyer by the front door.

No, not him.

It couldn’t be him.

Take Me Home

161

Evan rushed down the hall in the other direction and shoved the kitchen door in. He ran into Dennis. Literally. His chest collided with the glass of whiskey Dennis held out in front of him.

The liquor splashed onto Dennis’s dress shirt. “Dammit.” As soon as his gaze connected with Evan, he stepped back and his expression softened.

“I’m sorry.” Evan couldn’t come up with any other words.

“You didn’t mean it,” Dennis said. “Are you okay?”

There was no time to answer. Evan faced Kyle and was momentarily distracted. He’d never seen Kyle looking so…frightened. A panicked longing filled those dark eyes.

Is it me he wants? Or me he’s afraid of?

He couldn’t examine that right then. “There’s someone here you need to see.”

“Who?”

“I think the person who’s been after that book you’d like no one else to get a look at.”

“Here?” Kyle rounded the kitchen counter and headed into the hall. Evan followed. He heard Dennis step in line behind them.

Standing beside Gloria at the end of the hall was Nate, his gaze scanning the room until finally spotting Kyle. He glared at him, his white eyebrows creating lines above the anger in his eyes, looking so different than the man they’d met on the train. This was the first time Evan had seen him without Penny. Maybe she had a calming effect. Or maybe Nate was an actor. He hadn’t given them a clue he’d wanted the journal before now.

Gloria gave a nod to Nate. “It was nice to meet a friend of Kyle’s from California. I’ll leave you alone to talk.” She disappeared around the corner, returning to where the rest of the family was waiting in the living room. Every year they sang carols and opened gifts after dinner.

Kyle’s niece peeked her head around the corner. “Look, Uncle Kyle. It’s Santa Claus.” She giggled and pointed at Nate.

Lorrie called out for her from the other room. “Leave Uncle Kyle and his guest alone.” Without taking his eyes off where the little girl had been, Nate said, “You have a nice family.” He slid a hand inside his coat and then out again. At his side, he held a handheld hook, the kind used to carry bales of hay. He had the wooden handle gripped in his fist and the end with the metal hook made for stabbing the hay pointed at the floor.

“You don’t need that,” Kyle said. “You’re not going to hurt anyone.” Nate still hadn’t looked away from the living room doorway. “When I couldn’t find the journal, I thought I’d try looking for the money myself, but I have been all over that damn farm, and I cannot figure out where it could be. Then I found this hook in with the horse supplies and 162

Sloan Parker

figured it wouldn’t hurt to have some incentive when I came to talk to the one man who has what I need.” He slowly turned his head toward Kyle. “I need to read that journal.”

“So it was you all along,” Evan said. “In our room on the train. In the cabin. You followed us here from California.”

“You have no idea how far I’ll go.”

“Did you pay that guy to break into Kyle’s apartment? Or did the network hire him? Are you working for them?”

Nate focused on Evan. “No one hired me.”

Kyle approached Nate, speaking in a surprisingly calm voice. “Let’s go outside, away from my family, and I’ll talk to you about it.”

“No.” Evan advanced toward them. “You’re not going anywhere with him.” Dennis clasped Evan’s forearm, stopping him. Evan tugged free. He was not going to let Kyle walk outside alone with the person who’d been following them, who looked crazed with anger, holding a weapon.

Kyle spoke to Nate again. “I want to help you if I can, but I don’t want you around my family with that thing.” He gestured to the hook in Nate’s right hand. “And I don’t want them to know about the journal.” He took another step closer to Nate, and so did Evan. They were flanking Nate now. If Evan did this right, he could force the hook away before Kyle got too close.

The music for “Winter Wonderland” started up on the piano, and the families in the next room began singing. They sounded nicer than previous years. Perhaps the family sing-a-long fared better without him and Kyle there. Guess they weren’t going to be trying out for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles as one of their first activities together as a couple.

The idea they had “boyfriend” outings in their future spurred Evan on. He inched closer to Nate.

“Get me the journal,” Nate said, “and I’ll leave you alone. If you don’t…” He raised the hook and gripped it tighter, holding it close to his chest.

Kyle spoke in the gentlest tone he’d used yet. “Nate, you’re not going to hurt anyone.”

“You have no idea what I’ll do to get this done.” Nate moved fast. He nabbed Evan by the arm and yanked him forward, the hook raised in the air, heading for Evan’s throat.

“No!” Kyle charged toward them.

Take Me Home

163

The cheerful, happy singing of “Winter Wonderland” continued in the next room. Kyle didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Evan by the waist and tugged him backward. He wasn’t going to watch someone hurt Evan. Not again. He didn’t believe Nate would go that far, but he wasn’t taking a chance.

Nate still had a grip on Evan’s arm, though. Until Dennis had Nate’s throat clenched in his large fist. Nate dropped the hook and let go of Evan in exchange for clawing at Dennis’s forearm.

Finally, Dickhead had great timing and was using his size for something good.

Kyle took another step away, bringing Evan’s back against his chest. He pressed his lips to Evan’s ear. “Are you okay?”

Evan nodded.

The singing in the other room continued as if they hadn’t heard the commotion.

Dennis had Nate against the wood door, one hand pinning Nate’s right wrist to the door, the other hand wrapped around his throat. It didn’t look like he was going to let up.

“Let go of him.” Kyle had to get Nate out of the house before his family finished their song and came to get them for the next one. Otherwise, he’d have to explain why Dennis had a death grip on their visitor.