Texas Fall (5 page)

Riley settled Connor in
his crib and pulled the blanket up and over him. The twins were five months now
and both doing well. They were healthy and strong, just like Jack. Every so often
Riley could swear he’d see Connor look up at him with Jack’s intense gaze, and each
time it happened, he melted from the heart outward. Connor was the easy one,
the baby who ate, slept, and smiled. Lexie, on the other hand, was curled in
Jack’s hold and fussing at a bottle.

“She’s really not happy,”
Jack said. He shifted position a little, and Riley crossed to feel Lexie’s
forehead. She didn’t feel warm, so it was probably that she was just being as
temperamental as she could tonight. She let out a cry and batted away the
bottle, and as she cried, Riley spotted the problem, a new tooth cutting the
gum.

“Aww, sweetie has a new
tooth,” he said softly and handed her the cooling gel ring that Carol swore by.
When she gripped it, bit down on it, and stopped crying, Riley smiled. Jack
held her close and patted her back as he examined the bottle. It was nearly
empty anyway, and she was snuffling into Jack’s chest like she wanted to stay
there all night. Riley knew the feeling.

“I’d make you coffee, but…”
Jack indicated with his free hand, and Riley shook his head.

“Lame excuse. Lame.” He
went to the kitchen to make coffee and found Max sitting with Hayley and Carol.
“Lexie has a new tooth,” he announced with pride. He never failed to be proud
of every single thing his kids did.

“I thought she might,”
Carol said. “She was fussy today.”

Max leaned into her, and
she glanced down at him. “Sorry, Maxy.” She resumed the book she was reading
out loud. “Drip drip went the kitchen tap…” Max followed every word, staring at
the book intently and smiling softly. He had this way of holding himself like his
every molecule was utterly absorbed, and as usual, Thomas wasn’t far away, just
to one side. Riley sat next to Hayley and glanced at her homework. Math this
time. He could do math.

“You want any help?” he
asked, and she passed him the worksheet she was working on, listing a whole lot
of percentage calculations. He pointed out a couple of errors she’d made, but
they were small, and she raced through the sheet. Clearly their daughter was a
genius. The coffee dripped through, and he took it in to Jack but stopped dead
at the sight of his husband asleep in the chair with Lexie, tiny Lexie,
sprawled on his chest. Jack held her, and Riley was loath to wake either of
them up, but he knew Jack would thank him for it later. Carefully he peeled
Jack’s hand from Lexie and managed to move Lexie to her crib without her opening
her eyes. Jack, on the other hand, slowly woke and blinked before yawning
widely behind his hand.

They left the room and
pulled the door shut, then waited until Carol had finished the story before Riley
hoisted Max into his arms and half danced out of the kitchen. Max liked that.
He giggled, and he held on tight. It was Jack’s job to gather up any random
Thomas toys and Max’s blankie.

Together they encouraged
Max to brush his teeth, which had definitely been a work in progress up until
last week. Riley had lost count of the number of times he and Jack had brushed
their teeth alongside their son so he could see how easy it was. Riley’s
inspiration that perhaps Max didn’t like the taste or texture had them trying
out all kinds of brushes and pastes.

Jack was the king of toothbrush-land,
though, when he bought a Thomas toothbrush. Problem solved in an instant.

Max climbed into bed, and
Riley read him the tickle book, coupled with some physical tickling and
laughter, and then Jack and Riley left the room. Max didn’t sleep in the dark.
He had to have light, and Riley had long since bought special lights that cast
stars on the ceiling. The odd thing was with Max sleeping right in the quilt,
no one was quite sure why he needed the light on. But not a single person
argued.

Finally it was Hayley’s
turn. She didn’t need a bedtime story, but she did need to be told to stop
reading and turn out her light. She devoured books as quickly as Jack ate
bacon.

“Dad, Pappa? Can I ask you
a question?”

Riley sat on the edge of
her bed. He always felt so big in her room against all the little things she
had like small cuddly kittens and tiny this and that.

Jack leaned against the
doorjamb, since there was no room on the bed for two grown men and all those
stuffed toys.

“Mary-Ann is having a
party for her birthday, and there will be boys. Can I go?” She was looking at
Riley because she knew as much as her other father did that Riley was the
pushover. She even did that whole melty-eyed look, and Riley was ready to do
anything she wanted. Thank God Jack was in the room as well.

“How old are the boys?”

“The same grade as us.”
She was so earnest. “From St. Edwards.”

Riley frowned. St. Edwards
was the all-boys school that sat directly opposite the girls’ school Hayley
attended. They were kept separate for a reason; after all, he knew exactly what
teenage boys wanted because he’d been one. He’d been thwarted, though, in his
attempts to date at that age by having to have a series of tutors in a
homeschool environment. The Hayes Oil company had pissed off one too many
players and there had been an attempt on Jeff’s life, hence the tutors. Jack
interrupted Riley’s thoughts.

“And the parents are
staying?” Jack asked.

“Uh-huh,” she said. She
very deliberately placed her Kindle on her bedside table, which was something
she usually entered into great negotiations about, and lay down. “I’ll let you
both think about it.”

Jack came over and pressed
a kiss to her forehead before leaving the room with a flurry of
I love yous
and
good nights
. Then it was Riley’s turn. He kissed her and ruffled her
hair, wondering if it was getting too long and whether they should be getting
it cut, then considered that Eden would be the one who would tell them if they
were fucking up something as simple as haircuts.

“Love you, Daddy,” she
whispered in the dark once he turned off the light.

And there it was, the
biggest weapon in her arsenal, the simple addition of –
dy
to Dad.

“Love you, pumpkin.” He
pulled the door shut and walked into Jack, who hadn’t gone far.

“She used the eyes and the
daddy word,” Jack whispered.

“She knows how to
manipulate us both.”

“I’ll call Mary-Ann’s dad,
make sure it’s all sorted out on their end.”

“You have his number? You
friends with him now?” Mary-Ann’s dad was a Hollywood A-lister, and people
would probably kill for his number.

“Remember? We shared the
hell of Bring Your Daddy to School day. We’re like blood brothers or something.”

Riley made coffee, rooted
out the latest cookie supply, and took everything into the good room. He
stopped at the threshold and looked in on the one room in the house they tried
to keep tidy and pretty much kid-free. The TV was tiny compared to what it
could be, but they never really watched TV; there was no flashy sound system,
no cinema screen, no expensive leather sofas, no chrome or black. This was
their sitting room, their kids were asleep upstairs, and he loved Jack.

Jack came to a halt behind
him. “What’s wrong?” he asked. He sounded curious more than worried. Riley
didn’t really have an answer for him. How did he sum up that his life was
perfect, that he loved where he was and who he was, and that he’d never been
happier in just a few words?

“I love you,” Riley said. He
couldn’t help how serious he sounded when he said it. There was just so much
information he wanted to convey in the three little words.

Jack took the coffee from
Riley, levered the box of cookies from under his arm, and pulled him into a
close hug. Riley inhaled the scent of his husband and buried his face in Jack’s
neck. The gentle scrape of stubble against Riley’s skin was directly hardwired
to his libido.

“And you know I love you,”
Jack whispered. “You’ll always know, because I’ll show you every day.”

* * * * *

Liam was in the backseat
of the Land Rover with Marcus. They’d held hands all the way from the ranch,
and the touch of his boyfriend was reassuring. With the other hand, he stroked
the leather of the interior and contemplated just how new this SUV was. He desperately
wanted to talk about everything, but at the same time, how could he? Especially
in the car with Jack driving and Robbie sitting next to him.

How could they possibly
understand why he felt so negative about the whole thing when they were being
so supportive of him? They wanted justice for Liam—a guilty verdict against
Hank Castille for what he had done not only to Liam but also to at least three
other boys—and possibly financial reward for what he had been through. That was
the point of this whole journey, the point of the whole legal system. Hank had
money; he would use it to buy his way out of this and be forced to give some of
his money to Liam and the others. Like shifting a balance sheet would somehow
make this all okay.

Liam would feel like
justice had been served then.

Right?

Liam looked out the window
and watched the world pass by. I-35 was long and straight and boring, and
heading in this direction was making him more and more anxious with each mile
marker they passed. He’d vowed to never go back, but leaving had neither solved
the issue nor healed the festering sore that was inside his head.

“Stopping for coffee and
something to eat,” Jack announced as he signaled, then pulled off into the
parking lot of a random McDonald’s in the middle of nowhere.

Robbie muttered his
approval, and Marcus squeezed Liam’s hand; then, before he could even think
about saying he wanted to stay in the car, Marcus was tugging him out. He
followed, and Marcus held his hand again. Not even self-preservation made Liam pull
away. After all, they were with Jack and Robbie who looked all kind of in
charge and in control. No one would fuck with Liam and Marcus for holding
hands.

Sitting at the table
closest to the window, they devoured the burgers and fries. Or rather, Jack and
Robbie did. Marcus seemed hungry, but he was openly checking on Liam every so
often, which slowed him down, and Liam wasn’t hungry at all. In fact, he felt nauseous.

Finally Marcus spoke. “Everything
will be okay.”

So many people had said
that to him. Riley had said it with a swift hug and bone-breaking pats on the
back. Carol had said it with a kiss to the top of his head as he sat at the
table last night. Even Hayley had sought him out to tell him the same damn
thing, slipping a tiny teddy into his pocket and saying it would give him luck.
Add in Jack and Robbie and their whole
right is right
crusade, and Liam was
convinced that fate would deal him exactly the opposite.

Talk about glass half-empty,
you idiot,
he berated himself.

“So you said,” Liam found
himself saying. He bit his lip. Why did he say that? He should have just agreed
with everything anyone said to him. Once the floodgates were opened, Liam
couldn’t stop himself. “Everyone says that to me, but what if I get there and
I’m sitting on that witness stand and I just lose it?”

“You won’t—”

“How do you know?” Liam
stood abruptly and knocked the table, which sent Jack’s coffee cup spilling
onto Marcus’s fries. Frustrated, Liam pointed at the spreading liquid. “See?
I’m a mess.” Then before anyone could give him platitudes, he left the air-conditioned
restaurant and stumbled out into the Texas heat. Liam sensed someone following
him, so Marcus wasn’t far behind. Liam stopped at the car and turned to face
Marcus, only it wasn’t his boyfriend who had tracked out into the parking lot.

Jack had on his patented
understanding look, the one that said,
you can fuck up, but we’ll always be
here to catch you
.

“I said Marcus should give
you some space,” Jack said. His tone was gentle and matched his supportive
expression. “He’s worried about you.”

“I’m not a kid,” Liam
defended. “You don’t need to tell me he’s worried.”

“He loves you.”

“I know that,” Liam
blurted out.

“And we’re all here for
you.”

“What did I do to deserve
this? How come you and Riley are so nice, how come Robbie is here? I’m just a
kid who fucks things up, and you can’t want to get involved in that.”

“You need to stop saying
that. You’re not a kid, Liam, you’re a man who had a childhood stolen from him
by adults, and you’re strong.”

Liam slumped against the
car. “Everyone keeps saying that to me, like if they say it enough I’ll believe
it’s actually true.”

Jack joined him in leaning
on the car. He’d parked it in what little shade there was, but it was still
heated metal against their jeans.

“What is worrying you at
this very moment?”

“That I spilled coffee in
the fries,” Liam admitted.