“I think it was Janice.”
Elijah crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the archway. It was the only way he could keep from reaching for Ruben, and after their last conversation, he didn’t think the man would let him.
“Why do you think it was Janice?”
“Who else could it have been?” Ruben asked. “No one else is out to get me.”
“But are you sure they were out to get you? Could you swear to it in a court of law?”
Ruben jumped to his feet, one hand wrapped around Alani, the other pointed toward the front of the house. “Have you seen my car?” he shouted. “They hit me. They tried to drive me off the road.” Elijah held up his hand. “Ruben, I’m only asking because we need to make a police report. It can’t be just your best guess. You have to know for a fact that it was Janice and not a drunk driver or something.”
Ruben looked mutinous for a moment then sighed and dropped his head. “Okay, I see your point. I know it was Janice, but I can’t prove it. At this point, all I can prove is that someone tried to run me off the road. I guess that’s not enough to file a police report.”
“I called the sheriff from the truck,” Rourke said. “He should be here soon to take a report.”
“Good.” Elijah nodded. “There should be a report on file in case it happens again.” Elijah’s eyes slid to Ma when she inhaled sharply and pressed her hand against her chest.
“Do you think it’s going to happen again?” she asked.
“Not if I can help it,” Elijah growled. The moments between the time Ruben had first called him and when he had seen the man sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea were some of the worst in Elijah’s life. They almost rivaled losing Thomas.
Elijah never wanted to go through that again. He knew if he was a smart man, he would help the Blaecleahs file a police report and then go on his merry way. Ruben had given him an out. If he stayed, there was a very likely chance that he could lose everything all over again.
On the other hand, the terror that had filled every inch of his body while he had driven toward Ruben told him how much the man had come to mean to him. Add in the heartache he felt when Ruben told him good-bye, and Elijah knew he had to take a chance that he could keep Ruben safe—even if it meant calling in every favor he had and enlisting the aid of the entire Blaecleah clan.
But first, he had to get Ruben to agree not to kick him to the curb.
Elijah pushed away from the archway and walked around the dining room table to Ruben. He watched Ruben’s eyes widen as he took Alani out of his arms. He pressed a small kiss to the top of Alani’s head then handed her to her grandmother.
Elijah grabbed Ruben’s face between his hands.
Ruben’s jaw dropped. “Elijah, wha—”
“I already lost one man that I loved. I won’t lose you, too.”
“Elijah!” Ruben looked shocked like he never conceived of the idea that Elijah could love him, or admit it in a room full of people.
“I’ll do everything I can, call in every favor owed to me, and beg anyone else to keep you and Alani safe. If that doesn’t work, I’ll bribe them or blackmail them.” Elijah rubbed his thumb along Ruben’s cheek, but he refused to let go of the man. Now that he had his hands on Ruben, he couldn’t let go. “I’m not losing you.”
“But what about”—Ruben’s eyes darted to the others standing in the room—“you know.”
Elijah knew what he needed to do. He wrapped his arm around Ruben’s shoulders and turned to face the man’s family. He took a deep breath. “I’m gay, and I’m in love with Ruben.” There were a few chuckles, a high five between Matty and Billy, and one exchange of money—a bet apparently—but other than that, no one looked at them strange. Elijah suspected they had known all along.
“Well, of course you do, Elijah,” Ma said. “We all know that.”
“Son, I’m pretty sure everyone in town knows,” Da added.
That was news to Elijah, but he would take it if it meant keeping Ruben in his arms. “Well, what you don’t know is that I made a complete ass out of myself earlier today. I was afraid of anyone finding out about Ruben and me, and I hurt him because of it.”
“Elijah, you don’t have to—”
Elijah pressed a finger over Ruben’s lips. “Yeah, baby, I do. They need to know, and so do you. I’m not an asshole without reason. It may not be a very good reason, but I promise there is one.” Ruben swallowed hard. “Okay, I’m listening.” It was far more than Elijah could have hoped for.
“Why don’t you all sit down,” Ma said. “I’ll just go put Alani down and then get us all some tea and pie.”
“I’ll help, Ma,” Billy said as he went into the kitchen.
Elijah allowed Ruben to sit down but grabbed his hand as soon as he did. He needed some sort of contact with the man. He waited until the baby had been laid down and everyone sat down at the table before speaking. Now that the time was here, Elijah realized how hard it was going to be to tell his tale. But he had to start somewhere.
“Several years ago, I met a man named Thomas. He was a lot like Ruben in the fact that they were both very out of the closet. I was not.
I had barely acknowledged to myself that I had a desire for men. And Thomas scared the hell out of me because he decided it was his mission in life to pull me out of the closet, kicking and screaming.” Elijah chuckled softly as he gazed down at where Ruben’s hand wrapped around his own. “He not only pulled me out, he burned the damn closet down. I was out and proud, and I didn’t care who knew. I was in love.”
Elijah was a little surprised when Ruben squeezed his hand and sent him a small smile, especially considering he was talking about being in love with another man. It just went to show Elijah how special Ruben was.
“What happened?” Ma asked.
Elijah licked his lips. “One night we were headed home from the movies. It was summer out, so we decided to walk. The theater was only a few blocks from our condo.”
“You were living together?” Ruben asked.
Elijah nodded. “We had been living together for a few years by then, and we were happy. We had our work, our little group of friends that we hung out with, and our condo that we purchased together. It was a good life.”
“What happened?”
“Apparently we were a little too out of the closet. We were holding hands as we walked home, bumping shoulders and stuff. We had just watched a good movie, had dinner. We were out on a date.
We were happy. It wasn’t like we were having sex on the sidewalk or anything.”
Elijah swallowed hard and watched as he rubbed his thumb across Ruben’s skin. “We were attacked by a group of men that didn’t like the fact that we were holding hands in public. The police called it a gay bashing gone wrong. All I knew was that Thomas got knocked out and he never woke up.”
“Ohhh,” Ma gasped. “Oh, son, I’m so sorry.” Elijah pressed his lips together for a moment, blinking rapidly as sadness welled up inside of him. “They never caught the men that killed Thomas. It’s still an unsolved crime. I have nightmares that those men are still out there, killing other gay men or coming after me.”
Ruben growled. His hand tightened around Elijah’s. “I’d like to see them try.”
Elijah smiled despite the heartache he felt. “It was front-page news for quite awhile, and it kind of felt like being attacked all over again. I received hate mail, threatening phone calls, and people followed me on the streets. I got fired from my job because of the publicity. I wasn’t even allowed to attend Thomas’s funeral because his parents blamed me for his death.”
“You didn’t kill him!” Ruben snapped.
“No, but if we hadn’t been holding hands, then it never would have happened.”
Ruben inhaled sharply. “That’s why—” Elijah started nodding before Ruben even finished. “I have no problem being gay or loving a man in private, but it scares the daylights out of me to do it in public. If someone saw me and decided that they didn’t like what they saw”—Elijah shook his head—“I can’t lose someone else I love.”
Elijah’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head when Ruben let go of his hand and climbed onto his lap, straddling him. He stared up at Ruben in shock when the man grabbed his face. “Ruben.” Everyone was watching them.
“We’ll take it slow,” Ruben said. “We can start with PDAs here at the ranch and work up to the more public stuff.”
“PDAs?”
“Public Displays of Affection.”
“Jeez, there’s an acronym for it?”
Ruben grinned. “Yep.”
Elijah rolled his eyes when everyone around the table laughed. He felt a little self-conscious and exposed with Ruben straddling his lap, especially considering nearly every member of his family sat there watching.
But little by little, Elijah began to notice that no one was looking at them like they were doing anything wrong. In fact, most of them were sitting as close together as they possibly could. Even Ma and Da sat with their shoulders touching, their hands entwined together, resting on the table.
Elijah was still uncomfortable, though. He was surprised when Ruben seemed to realize it. Ruben just smiled, leaned down to give him a light kiss, then climbed off his lap to sit back in his chair. Elijah quickly grabbed his hand and folded it between his. That gesture gained him a smile, and that was good enough for now.
Elijah cleared his throat and looked around the room. It was an impressive group of people sitting at the table. It only lacked Brody and Neason. “We need to make a plan to keep Ruben and Alani safe from whoever is after them. I suspect he is right and that it is Janice, but at the moment, there is no way to prove it.”
“Just what do you have in mind, Son?” Da asked.
“There’s a private investigator that I use from time to time. I’d like him to find out exactly what Janice is doing, who she is seeing or talking to, but mostly where she is at. If she has anything to do with this, I want to know.”
“Well, it’s not like she’s just going to say she’s involved,” Matty said.
“No, but my PI friend can look in places that I can’t.” Matty frowned. “Why can’t you?”
Elijah’s lips twisted a bit. “Because I’m legally bound to uphold the law.”
“Oh.” Matty’s eyes were wide when he looked up at his husband.
“Are you bound by the law, too?”
“Hell, no.” Quaid chuckled. “I’m a rancher, not an attorney. I can string her up by her feet and call it culling a cow.”
“Quaid Blaecleah,” Ma snapped. “Watch your mouth.”
Matty covered his mouth with his hand as he laughed. Quaid just grinned and pulled Matty closer to his side.
“Yes, Ma. Sorry.”
Ma nodded and went back to drinking her tea.
“Why don’t you call your friend, Elijah,” Da said. “The sheriff should be here soon, and we can make a police report. In the meantime, I don’t want Ruben going anywhere without one of us at his side.”
“Aahhh, Da,” Ruben whined.
“It’s not up for debate, son. You have a daughter now. What would happen to her if you were hurt or worse?” Elijah felt Ruben shudder against him. He quickly wrapped an arm around Ruben’s shoulders and pulled him as close as possible without pulling Ruben onto his lap. He leaned over and pressed his face into Ruben’s sweet-smelling hair.
“Your da is right, baby. What would happen to Alani or me if something happened to you? Our number-one priority needs to be keeping the two of you safe while we figure out what’s going on.” Ruben tilted his head back. “I’ll make you a deal.” Elijah didn’t like the wicked gleam in Ruben’s eyes. “What?”
“I promise to keep someone with me at all times if you promise to hold my hand while we’re out in public.”
“Ruben.” Elijah groaned and dropped his head back.
“Ruben, you should know better,” Da said. “That’s emotional blackmail, and it’s not nice. Elijah is worried about you. Don’t use that against him to get what you want.” Ruben’s head dropped down to Elijah’s shoulder. “Sorry,” Elijah heard him whisper into his ear. Elijah sighed. Ruben was bound and determined to drag him out of the closet, just like Thomas had. Elijah just hoped he could keep this lover alive when it happened. And he knew it would eventually happen. Ruben wasn’t going to let there be any other outcome.
“I’ll tell you what,” Elijah said quietly, “I’ll hold your hand in public, but only when Alani isn’t there.”
“What?” Ruben’s head snapped up. Confusion and a little bit of hurt filled his hazel eyes. “Why?”
“Because I need us to be able to defend ourselves if someone causes problems, and we can’t do that when Alani is with us.”
“But—”
“It’s a reasonable request, son,” Da said.
Ruben’s head whipped around. “Yeah, but Alani is almost always with me.”
“Small steps, Ruben,” Da reminded him.
Ruben’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, you have a deal.”
“Thank you, Ruben,” Elijah said quietly. He started to smile, but it quickly turned into a frown when Ruben’s eyes turned wicked and he grinned.
“Does that rule apply to when we’re out here on the ranch?” Elijah chuckled. “No, baby, I’m pretty sure that your family knows exactly how I feel about you, and I suspect as long as I don’t hurt you, they could care less.”
Da snorted. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Elijah almost jumped when he heard a knock at the front door.
Quaid quickly got up. “I think that’s probably the sheriff. I’ll go let him in,” he said as he walked out of the room.
“So how long do you think it will take you to get a hold of your PI friend?” Ruben asked. “I want this to be over with.”
“I can call him right now.” Elijah reached into his pocket for his cell phone just as the sheriff walked into the room and looked around at everyone.
“I hear you all have had a little excitement out here.”
“We don’t have to do this, Elijah.” Ruben could see the tension in every line of Elijah’s body as they sat in his car. If Elijah’s grip on the steering wheel got any tighter, he might snap the damn thing in two.
“No, I have to do this.” Elijah sent Ruben a nervous little smile.
“A deal is a deal, after all.”
“Elijah.” Ruben gulped and stared down at his hands, twisting his fingers together. “I didn’t mean it. Well, I did. I want you to hold my hand, but—”
The rest of Ruben’s words were lost when Elijah grabbed his chin and kissed him. Ruben groaned and pressed closer. He wished they were back home at the ranch instead of sitting in a car on the side of the street in the middle of downtown Cade Creek. He would have crawled all over Elijah.