ATLAS
Things had been quiet recently. I’d like to think the stalker had given up completely now that his face was posted around town, but that was me being optimistic.
Clay had run the blurry face through his fancy machines and got a clear image. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a match in the system, which meant this guy hadn’t committed a crime in the past, or he’d just never gotten caught before.
Either way, we now had posters of his face up around town. The guy in the posters looked exactly as I remembered, and just as average too. He wasn’t ugly or anything like that. All his features were just…unassuming.
Rumors of what happened at the fair had spread through town, and now practically everyone knew about my stalker situation. I did feel safer knowing that thepeople around me were keeping a lookout now that they knew what the culprit looked like.
The issue was that nobody seemed to know who he was. We figured that by spreading his face, somebody would come forward and give us information about this dude. But either he was a ghost, or the people who did know him were staying loyal to him. One thing was for sure: this guy didn’t belong in our town.
I spent countless nights awake in Hector’s arms trying to figure out who the hell this guy was. It couldn’t be that he was some random person who saw me on the street and started following me, right? From what I read online, cases like that weren’t the norm. Stalkers usually stalked people they knew. So the question was, how did this one know me?
Each day that passed without an answer lulled me into a false sense of security. There hadn’t been any new notes or updates from Clay, so maybe the stalker really had given up?
The days passed without much fanfare, and I was quickly settling into a domestic routine with Hector. His worries about this mundane life boring me never disappeared, but it wasn’t hard to show him just how much I loved each day that came with him.
I didn’t need constant excitement or fancy things to make me happy. The daily interactions and routine we built together were what really made my heart sing. Starting each morning and ending each night with hiskisses was a kind of contentment that I’d never found anywhere else before.
What I loved the most, though, was seeing him let his walls down and share his insecurities with me.
It was Monday. The diner was closed, and Hector was standing in front of the mirror examining himself. He wasn’t a slob, but he didn’t really care about his looks. I knew it was his nerves talking.
I came to his side and fixed the collar of the polo shirt he was messing with. “Stop fussing. You look devilishly handsome,” I told him and slipped a kiss to his chin.
He grunted a sound and continued to fuss with the bottom of his shirt. I took his hand before he wore the piece of clothing out.
“What if he doesn’t like me?” Hector said, finally looking at me.
I chuckled. “I think it’s usually the other way around. The boyfriend should be the one nervous about meeting the dad.”
“But I’m not really his dad,” Hector muttered, though I doubted that even he believed those words. It was his nerves talking bullshit.
“You are in all the ways that count. And I know Rhett sees it that way too. You’re his family,” I said firmly, and that seemed to calm Hector enough to stop fidgeting.
“Should we head to the store and get some more stuff? Rhett said he wanted to cook for us, but what ifwe don’t have the ingredients he needs? We should probably get more wine too, or maybe soda? I’m not sure what his boyfriend drinks.”
“Hector,” I interrupted him before he could spiral and start panicking again. That wouldn’t do when I’d only just calmed him down. “The kitchen’s stocked with anything he could need, and did you forget we live at the diner? We have nothing but drinks. Everything is perfect, and if it isn’t, I don’t think either of them will care. They’re here to see you. Now stop overthinking.”
“Okay,” he murmured and took a deep breath and sighed. “Thank you. I was being silly, wasn’t I?”
I smiled and gave him a sweet kiss that he quickly deepened. Too bad the kiss didn’t last long when a loud knock from downstairs had us breaking apart. “Looks like they’re here,” I said with a grin.
Hector nodded and looked a little faint. I could understand why he was so nervous about this meeting. He hadn’t seen Rhett since he went off to join the circus a few years back. And this would be the first time he officially met Rhett’s boyfriend too.
Of course, I was sure he was nervous about them meeting me, too, as his boyfriend.
I wasn’t really worried. I’d heard a lot about Rhett from Hector, and he seemed like the type of person who only cared about Hector being happy. And I made him happy, or at least I hoped I did.
I threaded our fingers together and tugged them to get his attention. I wanted him to know he wasn’t doingthis alone. He nodded again, and we climbed down the stairs to open the diner’s front door.
Two men were standing outside the door, holding hands. The first thing I noticed was the sheer size gap between them. Hector had mentioned Rhett being on the shorter side, but I hadn’t expected him to be the shortest grown man I’d met. Not that it mattered. He stood tall and proud, filled with the confidence of someone who knew themselves.
The other man, Rhett’s boyfriend, Coal—like the rock, which was probably his stage name, maybe?—was a couple inches taller than Hector’s six-foot height. He was about a foot taller than Rhett, looming over him, and yet they made a picture-perfect couple standing together.
“Hector!” Rhett happily called when we opened the door for them. He stretched his arms open, but left them hanging in the air awkwardly as if suddenly unsure.
Hector didn’t hesitate and swooped him into a hug that engulfed the tiny man. “It’s so good to see you.”
