Chapter 31

 

Brian had Sam by the arm as he dragged him into the alley behind Ted's Tool Repair Shop. Stumbling alongside him, Sam flashed back to the last time Brian beat him bloody in the alley behind the restaurant where he worked. Remembering the blows, Sam started to gulp air.

The sounds of the festival snapped his mind back to the present. Despite the way Brian shoved him to the end of the alley, he willed himself to keep breathing and stay on his feet.

Blinking, he forced another breath. Then he noticed how Brian was blocking his way, making sure he couldn't go back to the street.

"What the hell do you want? Why did you come here?" Sam asked. He knew the answer. Brian just wanted to hurt him, to ruin everything for him.

With pure contempt, he sneered at Sam, leaning in to get right in his face. "You thought you could run from me, you little bitch, after everything I did for you."

"Did for me?" Sam breathed. Brian always did want gratitude. Even right after a beating, he expected Sam to be thanking him.

"You were a fucking charity case. If I didn't take you in, you would have been selling your ass on the street. I was too good to you, you fucking, ungrateful slut. I should have kicked you out on your ass." Getting right in his face, Brian snarled in that way that used to signal to Sam it was time to shut his mouth or get hit. Not this time.

"You got everything you're going to get from me. Just leave me alone," Sam told him.

Brian always had the upper hand with him, always. But that was when Sam was alone and afraid. He wasn't that way any more.

He set out on his own and the darkness didn't swallow him up. He was stronger. He didn't have to put up with this abusive asshole.

"You think you have it made with that new daddy to take care of you. He doesn't know about you. You got him fooled, don't you?" Brian said.

"You shut up about him," Sam warned him, but he had nothing to back that up. That's when he heard Wyatt's voice behind him.

"What the hell is going on here?" His voice boomed and Sam jumped. He watched Wyatt stalk over and come to stand between him and Brian. From his attitude, he must have figured out who Brian was.

"You're the boy's new mark. Did he play the sweet, young, helpless thing with you?" Brian asked while looking Wyatt up and down like he was getting ready to make a move on him.

It made Sam sick, but he didn't know what to do. "Shut up!" he screamed at him, but Brian just kept talking like he was the wronged party.

"I cherished that boy, took care of him and now he doesn't even want to know me," Brian said doing a bad impression of being hurt. "The whole time I was giving him a roof over his head, he was fucking around on me."

Sam was shaking. He didn't want Wyatt to hear this. He wanted to disappear.

 

***

 

"I treasured that boy," Sam's ex claimed. "I took care of his every need."

Wyatt hated to think what his warped idea of treasured might be. He couldn't stand to hear any more. Wyatt wasn't usually one to settle things with violence, but just this once he really wanted to stop his lies with a fist. But then he felt Sam grab his arm.

Turning to him, he watched Sam's gaze drop to his clenched fists. Maybe that was another thing Sam was afraid of --Wyatt putting his fist through Brian's face.

Pushing down his own anger, Wyatt focused on what Sam needed from him, and it wasn't to lose control. But while he had taken his eyes off him, Brian moved closer, taunting him after seeing how Sam stopped him.

"You let the boy yank your leash. I guess you aren't the big dog here," Brian said.

"Rot in hell, Brian, and stay the fuck away from me!" Sam snapped. His fist went flying and Wyatt watched his ex stagger back as it connected with his jaw. He recovered and now he was pissed.

"You bitch," Brian yelled and started to move in Sam's direction.

Wyatt wasn't going to let that man get near him, but then a voice behind them made them all turn.

"Break it up over here!"

They all froze as a sheriff's deputy came over. Did he see Sam punch his ex?

"Move along," the deputy said. "This isn't a meeting place."

He wasn't making a move to arrest Sam so he couldn't have seen. That was a relief, but Wyatt was afraid Brian might speak up. Wyatt was prepared to lie for Sam, do anything to keep him out of jail, but Brian just gave them a hateful look and left after spitting on the ground.

"You two should know better," the deputy lectured Wyatt and Sam. He scowled at them disapprovingly, and Wyatt wondered if he was homophobic. "You two are new here, but let me tell you how it is. We don't like it when visitors get harassed. Around here, tourists are how lots of people make money. There better not be another incident like this one."

He walked away while Wyatt fumed. From what he said, Wyatt could tell that he wouldn't take their side if Sam's ex decided to make trouble again.

 

Once he was out of sight, Wyatt practically lunged at Sam. There was a relieved, breathless kiss then a pause as Wyatt stared into his eyes to make sure he was OK. He then clutched Sam to him like he would never release him, never let him out of his sight again.

Holding Sam clasped tightly against him, he could feel every breath he took and how fast his heart was beating.

"You OK?" Wyatt asked while letting his hand stroke over his hair and down his back.

"Yeah. I think so," Sam gasped against his shoulder. He then straightened and looked around him blindly.

"He's gone," Wyatt assured him.

"I never dared to do that before. Sometimes it was like all I felt was fear, like it was the only thing inside me. It felt good to get angry and hit him. Too good maybe," Sam said and gave Wyatt a questioning look.

"You were owed. I'm glad you got to strike back," Wyatt told him.

"Now I just have to wait for that deputy to come back and arrest me," Sam said with a deep frown.

"Over my dead body," Wyatt told him and wrapped him in his arms again.

Now Sam really looked alarmed. "Hey, no. You're not allowed to do anything crazy. You have two kids to think of."

"OK. Brian walked away. Is there any chance he'll change his mind and go to the sheriff?" Wyatt wanted to know.

"I don't think he wants to get mixed up with cops. He's likely to have a half smoked joint or a bottle of pills that doesn't have his name on it rolling around somewhere under his car seats, if not actually on him," Sam said. Maybe that's why his ex was so quick to walk away from this.

"That's good. Let's hope you're right," Wyatt said.

"We should get back to the kids," Sam said and they started heading for the alley entrance.

"How did he find you here?" Wyatt asked.

"I don't know. I must have slipped up, but I don't know how," Sam said. "Only my great-grandmother would know about this place and she was gone before I came here."

Sam was deep in thought, then he stopped right at the alley entrance. "There is someone. My great-grandmother's boyfriend, Don. He was there when she told me about this place, and I said I'd like to go there one day. I wouldn't think he would remember something like that."

"But he might have," Wyatt said.

"If Don did remember then all Brian would have to do is slip him a couple of bucks, and he would tell him whatever he wanted to know," Sam said.

"I'm never going to let him hurt you again."

"Don't do anything crazy. Remember DJ and Riley are counting on you," Sam cautioned him.

"You can count on me too. Why the hell did you go off with him, anyway?" Wyatt asked.

"To get him away from you and the boys," Sam said like it was a perfectly reasonable thing for him to do.

"You were alone with him. That was dangerous." Wyatt pointed back at the alley where anything might have happened to him.

"I couldn't have it out with him in the middle of the street. The last thing I want is to expose the boys to someone like him," Sam said firmly.

Wyatt could see how much he wanted to protect the boys, but that didn't mean he could let him off the hook for putting himself in danger like that. "You're so busy protecting others, you forget to take care of yourself."

"If anything happened to you guys..." Sam started to say.

Wyatt cut him off. "Nothing is going to happen to us, and I won't let anything happen to you either, for your sake and mine and also because of the boys. They adore you." After he laid it all out for him, Wyatt kissed him.

 

When they rejoined the others, the kids were doing battle with Popsicle sticks, and Lara and Raquel were talking about jam.

"Might as well call it the peach jam festival. Jam jars everywhere you turn," Lara was saying.

Raquel agreed. "I know. I have to get some spiced peaches too. I'll have to clear some space in the trunk of my car," she said and looked ready to buy up the lot until she saw Sam and Wyatt. "Hi, guys. Everything OK?"

"Everything is fine," Wyatt told her. "Thanks for watching the boys."

The boys were happy to see them. "We had peach popsicles," Riley said and showed him the evidence.

"I have to go to work now, but I'll see you guys at Mrs. Del Rio's party, right?" Sam said.

"I forgot you were going back to work," Wyatt said to him. He wanted Sam where he could guard him and keep him safe.

"I'll be fine," Sam assured him.

"We'll walk you and maybe get something to eat," Wyatt said, but he hated that he wouldn't be able to be by his side. He walked with his arm around Sam the whole way.

 

At least Wyatt could look forward to seeing Sam at Mrs. Del Rio's party. When she invited Wyatt she told him, "You're invited to my annual blossom shindig in my own back yard. Bring the dogs, bring the kids. And if you don't want your peach punch spiked, bring your own."

It sure sounded like a guaranteed good time. The whole time before the party, Wyatt once again found himself texting Sam every few minutes to make sure everything was all right.

 

That evening he brought Raquel and the kids to the party but decided to leave the dogs at home. Mrs. Del Rio's house was an old two story mansion with a big back yard that now held a ton of guests.

The back yard was a riot of flowers and colored lights with a gazebo in the middle of it all. The way the place was decked out, it was like she was trying to outdo the whole town.

"I guess the real festival is over here," Wyatt said when they went over to greet her.

She was delighted to hear it. "A party is no time to hold back."

But one colorful decoration in particular caught Wyatt's eye. "I know those berries. A wreath that says welcome, made out of poisonous berries," Wyatt said and Mrs. Del Rio laughed.

"Well I just love the heck out of it," she said. Then she grew serious and leaned in to whisper to Wyatt. "You know Sam told me he was like those berries. I think he was calling himself pretty poison or some such thing."

"He's too shy to call himself pretty," Wyatt said, but now he frowned too. It reminded him of how Sam drew his ex away from him and the boys in order to protect them. Wyatt just hoped that he had talked him out of doing that sort of thing again.

Raquel and the boys spotted Lara and Gloria and went off to greet them. That left Wyatt with Mrs. Del Rio who was regarding him with a searching look.

"Something on your mind?" Wyatt asked.

"Just one little thing. Don't get me wrong, you seem like a fine young man and you're doing right by your nephews, but I gotta ask you, what do you want from my Sam?"

Wyatt thought about how to answer her very motherly question then he gave her the must honest answer he could. "Everything."

At that she laughed that big, hearty laugh of hers and clapped him on the back. "You're quite a man, Wyatt Hayes," she told him. "I don't have a thing to worry about."

Right now Mrs. Del Rio with her big heart and big hair was the closest thing Sam had to family. That made Wyatt wonder about her. "How come you settled down here? You were a showgirl in Las Vegas. It must have been quite a change."

"I was born and bred here, grew up in this very house. I swore on my life once I left, I would never come back here, and now here I am," she said and motioned all around.

The place was certainly lively and it suited her, but it obviously wasn't always that way. "I guess you didn't like growing up here," Wyatt said.

"Not one bit. All the uptight people... But most of the people who used to make my life miserable either died off or moved away, so now it's not so bad. And with young blood, sweet looking boys like you and Sam, moving here, old Peach Tree is getting better every day," she said.

Wyatt was certainly liking it more every day with Sam and the boys here and other people he was growing fond of. Sam's ex was just a glitch. He had no reason to stick around.

As Wyatt was telling himself that, he saw that Sam had arrived. He was making his way through the crowd toward him and Mrs. Del Rio, and Wyatt started to doubt himself.

Would his ex really give up and leave? Gazing at Sam, Wyatt couldn't imagine that anyone would ever be able to let him go.