Ruben felt like shouting for joy, but he didn’t. Instead, he just squeezed Elijah’s hand and turned his face to press a small kiss against the man’s shoulder.
“So”—Yancy grinned and leaned back in his booth—“Elijah James has finally come out of the closet and claimed himself a family.
Congratulations, my friend. After Thomas died, I never thought I’d see the day.”
“You knew Thomas?” Ruben wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
He hadn’t decided how he felt about the whole Thomas situation at all. There hadn’t been a lot of time to dwell on Elijah’s dead lover.
“Yancy was one of the detectives that investigated Thomas’s murder,” Elijah said. “That’s how we met.”
“Oh.” Ruben frowned. “But I thought you were a private investigator.”
“I am, honey.” Yancy smiled for a moment then grew serious.
That seemed to be something Yancy did a lot. “The whole case with Thomas’s death was fucked up, and not all of it on the killer’s side of things. The police and media royally fucked it all up. When the limelight on the case died down and I was given orders to stop investigating and let it go to a cold case, I quit the force and became a PI.”
Ruben’s jaw slackened. “They actually told you to drop the case?”
“Not in so many words, but yeah. Some evidence got mishandled, and there was a leak inside the department. Things got out to the media that never should have gotten out. The chief of police and mayor wanted the whole thing swept under the rug.” Ruben put two and two together and didn’t like what he came up with. “That’s why the case has never been solved, isn’t it? They don’t want their mistakes to come to light.” Yancy nodded. “That, and the fact that my chief suspect is the son of a man that is one of the wealthiest men in the city and a friend of the mayor’s.”
“Fuck.”
Elijah chuckled and kissed Ruben on the cheek. “No swearing, baby. What would Ma think?”
“Ma would kick my a–a–butt.” Ruben chuckled and shook his head. “I have so got to stop swearing. If Alani starts repeating me, Ma is gonna skin me alive.”
Elijah wrapped an arm around Ruben’s shoulders and gave him a small hug. “Not to worry, baby. I’ll protect you.”
“From Ma? Are you nuts? She’ll skin you, too, just for trying.”
“I’m not sure I want to meet this woman,” Yancy said as he sat back and leaned against the booth seat. “She sounds worse than Janice.”
Ruben nailed Yancy to his seat with narrowed eyes. “I’m going to let you live just because you’ve never met my ma, but don’t ever let me hear you say something bad about her again.” Yancy’s eyes widened. “You’re defending her?”
“I am.”
Yancy’s dark eyebrows drew together in a deep frown. “But you just said—”
“Ma is the sweetest, most loving woman on the face of the earth, but don’t piss her off.” Elijah chuckled lightly. “The quickest way to do that is to fuck with one of her boys or swear in front of her. She can make the strongest man alive quake in his boots, even you, Yancy.”
“Okay.” Yancy rubbed both of his hands down his face then stared across the table at Elijah and Ruben. “Now you all are confusing me. Is she someone I need to be afraid of not?”
“Yes!” Both Elijah and Ruben said at the same time. A few of the people sitting around them snickered and started nodding, which just sent Ruben into peals of laughter.
“Ma loves us,” Ruben said. “She’d do anything for us, even die for us. But that woman scares the crap out of me when she’s pissed off.”
Yancy started to grin.
“You think it’s funny? Wait until her wrath is aimed in your direction and see how you feel. I’ve seen my brother Quaid shake in his boots when she was mad at him, and he’s six foot five.”
“You adore her,” Yancy said. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“Hell, yes, I adore her,” Ruben said. “She’s my ma.”
“Come on, babe,” Elijah said as he slid from the booth and reached back for Ruben. “He’s never going to understand until he meets Ma.”
Ruben chuckled and slid from the booth. Yancy Butler had no idea what he was in for. The man might be built as big as a diesel truck, but Ma Blaecleah, as small as she was, had the ability to bring mortal men to their knees with a single arch of her eyebrow.
Ruben followed Elijah out the door and down the sidewalk with Elijah. Yancy sauntered behind them. And yes, the man sauntered. He looked casual, laid-back, and easygoing. Only Ruben could see the cautious way he scanned the street and sidewalk, scrutinizing every person he saw. It was actually kind of creepy.
Ruben hoped he never lost faith in humanity the way he could see Yancy had. The private investigator seemed to mistrust every person he saw, or maybe he just saw potential danger everywhere.
It was scary to think like that. Ruben knew anything was possible, but he’d rather believe he was safe in Cade Creek, even if he wasn’t.
He didn’t want to spend his life looking for trouble in every little corner. He’d done enough of that in Africa.
“Just follow us, Yancy,” Elijah said as they reached the car. “The Blaecleah ranch is just a few miles outside of town.” Yancy nodded and walked over to a truck just a few vehicles over from Elijah’s. Ruben shook his head and started to climb into the car when an odd feeling came over him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he suddenly knew he was being watched.
Ruben quickly scanned the surrounding area, his eyes coming to land on a man sitting in a dark four-door sedan on the far side of the street and several cars down. He had a camera in his hands and was taking photographs of them. Ruben swallowed hard and continued to look up and down the street as if he was just looking.
“Elijah, don’t look, but there’s a man in a car across the street taking pictures of us.”
“I know, Ruben. I saw him. Just get in the car and don’t look at him. I’ll send Yancy a text as soon as we get on the road.” Ruben nodded and gave Elijah a wobbly smile as he climbed into the car. Elijah slid into the driver’s seat a moment later and turned on the car. Ruben held out his hand. “You drive. I’ll text Yancy.” Elijah handed over his cell phone without comment. Ruben quickly looked through Elijah’s contacts until he found Yancy’s number then sent him a text message with the description of the car and the man with the camera.
Not two minutes later, he received one back from Yancy stating that he had seen the guy and taken down his license plate number. He already had someone looking into it. He was also going to circle around and watch the guy for a little while, see if he followed Ruben and Elijah, or where he went. He’d come out to the ranch later.
Ruben breathed a sigh of relief and snapped the phone closed, handing it back to Elijah. “I’m really scared, Elijah.”
Elijah smiled and patted Ruben’s thigh. “I know, baby. I am, too.
This is starting to get really weird. I’m beginning to think that Janice plans on trying to take Alani from you due to your gay status.”
“She can’t do that!”
“Normally, I would say that is true, but it is not always the case.
You were legally married to her mother, and that right there might save you.”
“But?”
“You’re with me now, and that might change things a bit.”
“How?”
“I just came out of the closet.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Well, after kissing you in full view of everyone on Main Street, it’s pretty obvious that I’ve dragged you over to the dark side. If Janice gets the right judge, she can state that you are raising Alani in an immoral atmosphere, sleeping around with any gay man that will have you.”
“I was a virgin!”
“Can you prove that?”
“Yes, I—” Ruben snapped his mouth closed when he realized there would be no way to prove he had been a virgin before Elijah came along. Ruben suddenly frowned. “You believe me, don’t you?”
“Yes, baby, I do. You would never lie about something like that.
But what I believe cannot be proven in a court of law, and since I’m the gay lover in question, the judge would never take my word for it.” Elijah winked at Ruben. “I’m a little biased.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do to stop her?” The look that Elijah sent Ruben made his knees quake. It was filled with lust and need and a desire so fierce that Ruben felt it settle in his balls and make his cock hard enough to cut glass.
“Marry me.”
Ruben’s eyes bugged. Surely he hadn’t heard right. “What?”
“Marry me and let me adopt Alani. I have better standing to work within the law if we’re legally bound to each other.” Ruben’s heart shuddered with anguish. Elijah only wanted to marry him to keep him and Alani safe. He wouldn’t have asked under normal circumstances. Just a little while ago, Elijah could barely touch him in public, and now he wanted to get married for all of the world to see? Ruben didn’t think so.
No matter how much he loved Elijah and wanted to spend the rest of his life with the man, Ruben gave the only answer he could.
“No.”
Elijah sat on the couch and watched the entire Blaecleah clan making plans to keep Ruben and Alani safe. He felt left out. Sure, they asked him legal questions like what was allowable by law and not. But not a single one of them, not even Ruben, asked him his opinion.
In fact, Ruben hadn’t spoken a single word to him since he had turned down Elijah’s marriage proposal. Elijah was still trying to figure that one out. He knew he wasn’t that fantastic of a catch. He had a lot of baggage to deal with. But he was pretty sure he had something to offer Ruben. He had a good career, money in savings, and a nice cottage they could all live in with Alani. He’d even be agreeable to moving out to the house Ruben was having built if that’s what the man wanted.
He just wanted Ruben and Alani.
Forever.
Elijah didn’t miss the fact that no one paid him any attention when he got up and walked out of the room. It was like he wasn’t even there. He grabbed his jacket and walked right out the front door to the porch.
He couldn’t leave. He knew that. He was drawn to wherever Ruben was like there was an invisible rope tethered between them.
Elijah walked over and sat down in one of the chairs on the porch. He dropped his head down into his hands as he tried to figure out how everything had gone so wrong.
Had he waited too long to claim Ruben as his? Did Ruben regret their time together? Did the man not want him anymore?
Elijah’s head snapped up when he heard someone sit down in the chair beside him. He glanced over to see Da sitting there. The man leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his thighs. He didn’t say a word. After a few minutes, the silence started to get to Elijah.
He felt like he was being scrutinized and found lacking.
“I asked Ruben to marry me.”
“Is that so?”
“He turned me down.” The words stabbed at him, making his heart ache. He gripped his hands together. The need to rant and rave and scream out his pain was riding him hard. He just didn’t understand. “I thought he loved me.”
“I suspect he does, son.”
“Why did he turn me down?” Elijah cried out. “I just want to take care of him and Alani and keep them both safe. I–I want to slay all of Ruben’s dragons for him.”
“You don’t think Ruben can slay his own dragons then?”
“Huh?” Elijah turned to look at Da.
“You believe Ruben is so weak that he needs someone to care for him?”
“No!” Elijah frowned. “What would make you say something like that? Ruben is one of the strongest men I have ever met.” Elijah waved his hand in the air as his agitation grew. “Look at all he has done with Alani.”
“Then why would you want to slay his dragons?” Was Da daft?
“Because I love him. Because he needs someone in his corner.
Because he’s the most amazing man I have ever met.” Elijah swallowed hard at the knowing glint in Da’s eyes. “Because I need him more than I need air.”
“That’s an awful lot of need, Son. Air is pretty important.” Elijah smirked. “So is Ruben.”
“Did you tell him all of this?” Da asked as he sat back, staring at Elijah and waiting for an answer.
“Well…no,” Elijah said as he looked back at Da. Didn’t Ruben already know this? Didn’t Ruben know that Elijah couldn’t live without him?
“Then I think you have something to tell my son,” Da said as he leaned forward once more. “Did you ask him properly?” Properly? What the hell did that mean? He had asked Ruben to marry him, and the man had turned him down. Elijah couldn’t think of any other way to ask than flat out. “I’m not following you.” Da chuckled as he shook his head. “When I asked Ma to marry me, I told her how I felt about her. She knew that the moon and the stars shone just for her. Does Ruben know this?” Elijah blew out a breath as he shook his head, feeling so out of his depth here that he might as well have been drowning. “No.” It was too true of a fact. He had just asked Ruben to marry him, nothing more. He hadn’t told his lover how much he meant or dropped to one knee, nothing. Elijah stood, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stared out over the Blaecleah ranch.
He hadn’t told Ruben a lot of things.
Sure, the guy knew Elijah loved him and was trying his hardest to deal with PDA, as Ruben put it, but he hadn’t really told the man how deeply he loved him or how soul stirring his very presence was to Elijah.
“Go inside,” Da growled.
Elijah heard a car coming down the driveway as he turned to look over his shoulder. He grinned at Da’s protectiveness. Elijah felt pride race through him knowing he was a part of the Blaecleah family from what he was witnessing on Da’s face.
“He’s the PI I hired,” Elijah said as he swallowed at the dark look shadowing Da’s face. The man looked fierce, strong, and downright scary at the moment, until his features relaxed at Elijah’s words.
“Then invite him in,” Da said as he walked back into the house.
Elijah waited on the porch as Yancy’s car approached. He wanted to run inside, drop to one knee before Ruben, and confess just how deeply he felt about him, the man he loved with every fiber in him, but Elijah also wanted to see what Yancy had to say. Protecting Ruben and Alani were pretty high up on his list of priorities.
He began to take walk down the front steps when he heard a gunshot. Before he could duck, or run, or do any damn thing, Elijah was falling to the porch, blood splashing a deep crimson across his chest as he blacked out.