Chapter 12

 

“YEAH?”

Alec squinted at the pair of brown eyes peering at him through the narrowly opened door. “Uh, hi, I’m Alec Sumner. I called the other day about—”

The door slammed in his face, startling and disappointing him until he heard the security chain being removed. The door swung wide, revealing a thin, shirtless, young man securing a pair of freshly pressed black trousers, followed by his belt. His hair was so blond it appeared nearly white and was so short it stood up rigidly in an oddly hip military cut. He also sported a matching neat, blond goatee.

“Come in, mate,” he said, stepping back from the door. “I’m just gettin’ fixed for work.”

Alec stepped in and closed the door behind him. The young man struggled into an undershirt, shouting a muffled, “Mum! Where is it?”

“Comin’, dear.” A short, round woman came rushing from what looked like the kitchen, holding a crisp white dress shirt in front of her. “Here it is. Here it is,” she said handing it to her son. He took it and slipped it on hurriedly as she spotted Alec standing in the entryway. “And who are you, then?” she asked, looking him up and down, wrinkling her nose at his tousled hair, grass-stained T-shirt, shorts, and the pair of black soccer cleats slung over his shoulder. From her scrutiny, Alec was glad he’d stopped outside to knock the grass free of the shoes. “Just come from a match, have you?”

“Uh, yes, ma’am, I’m Alec Sum—”

“He’s here to ask me about Mickey, Mum. Leave him be.”

“You don’t talk to your mother like that, Lincoln,” she snapped as she rushed back out of the room.

“In here,” Lincoln said, pointing to Alec’s left. Alec followed him out of the hall and into another room where they sat down. “Sorry about her. She’s in for the week. She’s afraid I’m lonely here without Mickey.” He lowered his voice. “I’ve nearly got the screamin’ ab-dabs she won’t want to leave,” he said with a smile and a wink. Lincoln grabbed a highly polished black shoe from next to his chair. “Mum, did you pick up the laces I asked for?”

“Yes, yes, here they are.” His mother dashed in, deposited the laces, and dashed back out again. Her son opened the package and began lacing up a shoe.

“So Michael’s gone?” Alec asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah. Sorry. He’s moved back to Liverpool, back in with his parents, sorry to say.” He began looking around his chair for something. Alec discovered another black shoe by his seat and passed it to him. “Oh, cheers.”

“Any idea when he’ll be back?”

Lincoln paused in his lacing and looked at Alec. “He ain’t comin’ back, mate.” His face fell, and he went back to fixing his shoe.

“Can you tell me what happened? Why’d he freak out at the party?”

Lincoln sighed, finished tying his shoe, and then looked around to make sure his mother was still in the kitchen. “At first I thought it was because he’d come back to work too soon after, that all those tossers—no offense—all that noise, and stress of the job had set him off.”

“Too soon after what?”

Lincoln lowered his voice. “After….” He stopped and didn’t seem able to continue.

“Look, I realize something happened, something traumatic, but I came here because I’d like to help if I can.”

Lincoln nodded. “When I got him home, got him all tucked in bed and all… you have to understand, he hadn’t said a word all the way here, not a peep.”

“Then… you got him tucked in and what?”

“He told me he saw him.”

“Who? Saw who?” Alec moved forward onto the edge of his chair.

“The wanker who hurt him.”

“He was bashed? That can do a lot of damage, and not just physically. My boy—”

“No, he wasn’t bashed. He was forced….”

Alec’s eyes went wide. “He was raped?”

“Shush now! Mum’s in there.”

“Sorry.”

“She’s worried about me enough bein’ in London!” he hissed. Lincoln stood and grabbed a container of deodorant from the mantel, rolling it under each arm before buttoning his shirt. “Mum? Tie?”

She ran in again with his tie. “I’ll have your vest done straight away.” She turned to go but stopped and whirled back around. “Would you like some tea or somethin’?” she asked Alec. “I’ve got the kettle on. I’m afraid there’s not much else to offer. The boys don’t know how to shop properly.”

“No, Mum. He’s only here to check on Mickey. He’s the bloke who helped us at the party.”

“Oh, I see. That was a shame. Mickey and my boy grew up together back home and then this one decides he wants to move to the big, flashy city and leaves his mate all alone.”

“Mum….”

“Mickey finally makes it here and less than a year later, he’s been mugged and suffered a breakdown.”

“Mum….”

“Now he’s home where he belongs, but you can’t tell this one nothin’. Big cities are dangerous, but you know that, don’t you? You’re American, yeah?”

Alec nodded.

“I thought so.” She moved to the arm of her son’s chair and sat. “You probably have shootings and such all the time, don’t ya?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“Mum, vest!”

Lincoln’s mother squeaked, smacked her son on the bottom, hopped up, and rushed from the room to check on her ironing.

Alec waited a few seconds and then looked up at Lincoln. “Mugged?”

“He’s not out to the family. He couldn’t very well tell them what really happened, now could he?”

“What really happened?”

Lincoln sat and told Alec that after Michael moved in with him, he had quickly started going out every night, feeling free to be himself for the first time. They went clubbing and partying every weekend when they were off or sometimes right after a job. One might Michael met someone he described as “the most beautiful man he’d ever seen” and disappeared with him.

Lincoln looked at the floor. “I probably should have kept a closer eye on him.” He looked up sharply at Alec. “He didn’t come home all night, and the next mornin’ over breakfast, I saw bruises on his neck and arms. I asked about them, but all he’d say was things got a bit rough.”

“You thought there was more to it?”

“Only after he started havin’ trouble fallin’ asleep, stopped goin’ out, and then started wakin’ up screamin’.”

“Did he see someone, a therapist?”

Lincoln shook his head. “After a while he seemed fine, like his old self. The nightmares stopped, and we even went out a couple of times. I thought he was comin’ out of it—until the party, that is.”

“So you don’t know this guy’s name or what he looks like?” Alec asked, his thoughts racing back to all the unfamiliar faces he’d seen at the party.

Lincoln shook his head. “All he ever said was ‘he was beautiful’. Won’t say no more about him.” He looked at Alec sadly. “Doesn’t exactly narrow things down, does it?”

“Your friend needs to see someone, talk to someone.” Alec stood and fished a business card out of his wallet. It made his blood run cold to think of that kid surrounded by people who didn’t even know who he truly was while he had this horrible, painful secret inside him. “If you’re still in touch with him, try to get through to him. I’ll help if I can, if he’ll let me.”

Lincoln took the card, looked at it, and pocketed it. “Thanks, mate.” He smiled. “I’d like to have him back, it’s true.”

“Vest.” Lincoln’s mother stood by, holding his red vest up for her son to take.

“Thank you, Mum.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll bring a nice dinner home for us, okay? I shouldn’t be too late.”

His mother followed Alec and Lincoln to the door. “Are you some kind of doctor?” she asked Alec. “You know Lincoln has a lovely single sister.”

“Mum!”

Alec chuckled nervously.

“Or if you’re… uh… Lincoln isn’t seeing anyone.”

Alec laughed out loud, and Lincoln, struck dumb, stared at his mother as if she’d suddenly grown antlers.

“I appreciate that, ma’am, but I am seeing someone.”

“Just for that,” Lincoln said, shaking his finger at her, “I’m not bringin’ you puddin’.”

“Then you won’t be gettin’ back in, will ya?”

They laughed, and he kissed her on the cheek again before she closed and locked the door after them. He and Alec walked out. When they reached the sidewalk, there was a car filled with men dressed similarly to Lincoln waiting at the curb. He waved to Alec before climbing in. As they drove away, Alec could swear he heard one of the men shout, “Who’s the lovely?”