Finding Forgiveness(24)

His moment of clarity had also allowed him to finally hear the pounding on the bathroom door but before he could even respond, it was crashing open and all the relief he’d felt shattered and his world imploded as he realized his most shameful secret had been found out…and by the one man he would have done anything to keep it from.

Hunter could already feel the anxiety building again. He couldn’t deal with this. Not now…not ever. But he could go back to the way things were. Get good grades, pretend he liked girls, do what he was told. He’d been doing it long before Roman came into his life and he could easily go back to it. After all, he’d had a lifetime to practice. He just needed to get away…that simple.

Hunter put his shoes on and climbed to his feet. Between the pain in his arm and his face, he felt off balance so he took his time heading towards the bedroom door. He had no clue how the hell he was going to get past Roman or his friends but he’d figure something out. Something that didn’t involve ever having to hear that mix of pity and disgust in Roman’s voice ever again.



***

Roman was glad when Gray and Luke didn’t say anything as he piled the few items he’d taken from the bathroom in the guest room on the kitchen table. He suspected he was overreacting by removing the two bottles of cleaning supplies, razor and bottle of aspirin but he wasn’t taking any chances. He knew from experience what happened when you underestimated the pain someone was in.

“Sit,” his brother said as he pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and placed a cup of coffee on the table.

Since his body felt shaky and weak, Roman did as he was told and settled into the chair. Gray sat next to him and Luke took the third chair across from him. He didn’t miss the way Gray’s hand immediately sought out Luke’s. The affectionate gesture had something breaking apart in Roman and he dropped his eyes to study the coffee.

The dog appeared and pushed her nose against his leg. “What’s her name again?” he asked as he settled his hand on the big dog’s head.

“Ripley,” Gray answered.

Roman smiled. “I love those movies,” he said softly. His eyes shifted to Luke. “Since Gray was never big on movies, I can only assume you gave her the name?”

Luke chuckled and nodded.

Roman felt Gray’s hand settle briefly on his shoulder. “What happened, Roman? Who is he?”

Incredibly, Roman felt more tears threatening to fall. He forced them back and said, “His name is Hunter. His father is the realtor handling the sale of some property I was looking at. Hunter’s been showing me the land for the past couple days.”

Roman was glad when Gray didn’t jump on the fact that he’d come to town without telling Gray.

“He was showing me around town and we ran into these two guys. I guess Hunter knew one of them. The other guy went crazy and started calling Hunter names and then he fucking hit him. Asked him if he had any idea what he’d done. Another cop showed up-”

“Wait, the guy who hit Hunter was a cop?” Luke interjected.

“Yeah…he was wearing a uniform. The second cop called him Rhys I think. The younger man’s name was Finn.”

Luke and Gray looked at each other.

“What?” Roman asked. “Do you know them?”

It was Gray who answered. “Rhys is Luke’s foster brother. They grew up together in Chicago. He’s the reason Luke came to Montana a few months ago.”

Roman didn’t know all the details of Luke’s past other than the few he’d gained from news stories. At some point Luke had been framed for murder by one of his Commanding Officers in the army and after several attempts on his life, Luke had arrived in Montana where he’d ended up meeting Gray by pure chance.

“So wait, do you know what Rhys was talking about?”

Luke and Gray shared another look and he could tell by the expression on their faces that neither wanted to be the bearer of bad news. Like it could get any fucking worse at this point.

“Rhys told me the story of how he and Finn and Callan met,” Luke finally said.

“Callan?”

“Callan Bale. He’s the owner of the CB Bar Ranch. Finn has worked for him for years but they didn’t get together until Rhys arrived in town earlier this summer.”

“So what, they’re together? The three of them?”

Luke nodded. “Callan was in the closet but Finn was out.”

“What does any of that have to do with Hunter?”

“Hunter outed him, Roman,” Gray said softly.

Roman couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He began shaking his head but couldn’t find any words.

“Hunter and Finn were in school together. Apparently there was some kind of party at Hunter’s house on the day they graduated. He and Finn were caught making out by Hunter’s father.”