CHAPTER TWENTY
Simon
“I can’t believeyou moved out without telling me!”
“I told you I wanted to move out, that I was worried about the danger I was putting you all in.”
“And we discussed it and I thought we agreed that we were all big boys and could make that decision for ourselves. Even if you’d had second thoughts, you should have discussed it with me, Patrick.”
Patrick flopped back onto the couch—Andrew’s couch—with a sigh. “I wanted to, I did, but I knew you’d try to stop me. It was easier to call you once I’d got here.”
Simon tried to rein in his anger, conscious of his pounding heartbeat. He took a deep breath. “Of course I’d try to stop you. Iloveyou. I want us to be together. We need to face this together.Together. I shouldn’t have to come home from training and find you’ve packed a bag and left me.” He sunk onto the couch next to Patrick.
“I didn’t leave you. I only took a few things, not everything, and I have every intention of coming back. It’s only short-term.” Patrick clasped his hands in his lap, fiddling with the torn fingernail that still hadn’t returned to normal, and refusing to meet Simon’s eyes.
They were going around in circles. Talking about how Patrick had left wasn’t getting them anywhere. Yes, Simon was pissed that Patrick had snuck out, but how they were going to move forward was more important than his hurt feelings. He placed a hand over Patrick’s, stilling his fidgeting.
“If you want to move here, if you feel safer here at Andrew’s house, that’s fine. I can move in too, at least temporarily. Now the police are taking things more seriously, this can’t go on much longer, and things will be back to normal in no time.”
Patrick looked at him, eyes shining. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What? Me staying here with you?” Simon couldn’t fathom that Patrick wouldreallywant them to be apart.
“It’s not the letters and the break-in. It’s the hit-and-run—”
“Hey, that was an accident.”
Patrick straightened. He twisted on his seat and looked at Simon properly. “How do you know? You said that one of the witnesses thought it looked intentional. What if it wasn’t an accident? What if it was a deliberate attempt to hurt you? And if it was, then the only person who’d want to do that is the psycho.” Tears filled Patrick’s eyes and his voice rose with each word he spoke.
“Patrick, stop!” Simon grabbed both his hands again and held tight. He could feel Patrick trembling. “We have absolutely no reason to believe that. Duncan hasn’t given any indication it was more than an unfortunate accident. The driver probably just freaked, scared because they’d accidentally hit someone, and that’s why they didn’t stop.”
“But what if it was deliberate? What if it’s part of everything else that’s going on?” Patrick’s tone was desperate, and Simon hated hearing him like that. He wished he could put his hand on his heart and say the incident was entirely unrelated, but he couldn’t do that. He wished he had all the answers and could fix everything. But one thing he did know, this wasn’t going to stop him being with Patrick.
He pulled Patrick close and whispered against his hair. “We can’t live our entire lives hiding in case of what-ifs.”
Patrick drew a shaky breath and pushed back to meet Simon’s gaze. “I can if it means protecting you. If it means you’ll be safe.”
Simon smiled. “I want you to be safe. I want usbothto be safe.”
Patrick sunk against his side. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to start by having a shower. I stink.” He tried to inject some lightness into his tone, and it must have worked because Patrick chuckled.
“You don’t smell so bad to me.”
“You need your nose checked then. I didn’t have a shower at the gym, and didn’t have time when I got home and found you gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.” He kissed Patrick. “So how about I shower here and you can lend me a change of clothes. We can order in a pizza and just relax for a bit.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“I wish I didn’t have to go in to work later tonight.”
“I’m glad you’re here, Simon.”
Simon held him tight.I’m glad I’m here too.
