“You can’t just leave him out there with some crazy person talking about burning him for his sins.”
My father turned to glare at me. “He has his bodyguard to take care of him, I imagine. Besides, he brought this on himself.” Becca gasped, and my father stomped out of the pool house.
“I hope you’re pleased with yourself, Malcolm,” my mother said, turning to follow him.
Chapter 26
Roman
I about had everything wrapped up when I got a call from Trey. Things had gone about as he expected with his family, and he was leaving to come here now. I didn’t like the idea of him out on his own, but he had a full tank of gas and it was only a twenty-minute drive. I relented with conditions, though. He was not to stop for any reason, that he stay on the phone with me for the whole drive, and that he let Fredrick follow him to make sure he made it safely. He agreed and sent Fredrick a text.
It wasn’t until he was on his way here that he told me about the letter and the photograph. If he’d mentioned that first, I probably would’ve insisted on coming after him. He told me all about what happened with his parents and how they reacted to both the letter and his being gay. I’d expected them to react even worse, to be honest. He said his mother was the one who seemed the calmest about everything, although she wasn’t any more accepting. Regardless of how it happened, what mattered was he was on his way home.
I went out on the balcony off our bedroom and watched for the car. The guys and I had brought all his stuff in and put it in one of the spare rooms upstairs so he could unpack at his leisure. We hadn’t talked much about how this was all going to work. However, I figured he would want an office space, and that room had a great view of the street in front of the house and even had a small balcony as well. I liked the basement the way it was, but other than that, I intended to tell him to make the house his. We could decorate it any way he wanted. All that mattered to me was that I had him there with me.
I watched as his car came down the alley and turned into the parking spot behind the garage door. Then I hung up the phone and hopped up, going down to meet him. I pressed the button on the garage door to find him standing there waiting. He held a box in one arm and a duffle bag was hanging over the other. His face lit up when he saw me, and he said, “Honey, I’m home.”
I took the box out of his hand, set it to the side, and pulled him into my arms for a kiss. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too. That mess that just happened back at the house was weird, but regardless of what they think, I’m right where I want to be now.”
“Did you bring the letter?”
“I did. It’s in the glove box.”
“Okay, I have a garage door opener for you in the house. You go on inside. Ash is playing some video game downstairs. Maybe he can teach you to play. I’ll pull your car in the garage and bring in another box while you say hi.
“Sounds good to me.”
I watched until he was safely in the house, and then I pulled the car into the garage. I took the letter out of the glove box and put it in my pocket so I could give it to Felix. The stalker was escalating, and as happy as I was to have Trey here, I was really worried something bad was going to happen. I grabbed one of the boxes out of the car and went inside. Trey had joined Ash in his game, and they were laughing and shoulder bumping each other trying to make each other mess up. I was glad to see him laughing. After how his parents had reacted, I was sure he needed the release. I sat down beside him on the couch and watched for a minute. Odd to think I hadn’t even met him a couple of months ago, and now here he was, living here, and bringing so much joy to my world.
When they finished playing, he flopped back against me and nudged Ash’s knee with his