Chapter Twenty-Two
Callum
As Alec started for the door of the cabin, Callum walked out to meet him. Tom followed; Callum saw him quickening his stride to put himself between them. With a gentle hand, Callum held him back. This was something he had to do himself.
His brother’s face transformed when he saw him. Affection warred with worry, but when he wrapped his arms around Callum, there was nothing in his tight hug but warmth. “Callum. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.” Despite what Alec’s presence here might mean, Callum couldn’t stop happiness from welling up in his chest at the sight of him.
Alec stepped back. Studying Callum, he slowly shook his head. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
“How did you find me?” asked Callum.
“Easy. I know you, Callum. I knew that if you were in trouble, this was the first place you would come.”
“But I always hated it here as a kid.”
Alec grinned. “You said you hated it. But you were always more relaxed here than you ever were in the city. Here, you could spend hours with your nose in a book, and the most you would ever hear from Dad was a few grumbles, because otherwise Mom would start in on her lecture about letting the kids have fun. I was bored out of my skull out here in the middle of nowhere, but you felt safe here—I know you did. And I knew that if you needed a place to feel safe again, you would come here.”
Sometimes his brother barely seemed to know him at all. But then there were times like these, when Alec knew him better than he knew himself.
But this wasn’t the time or place to start getting sentimental. Reluctantly, Callum took a step back. “Why are you here, Alec?”
The grin faded from Alec’s face. “Tell me the truth, Callum. Do you have the girl with you?”
Callum’s heart sped up at the question. “What girl?”
“Come on, Callum. Don’t lie to me. You know what girl—the one you were supposed to guard. The one who escaped.”
Callum shook his head. “I don’t have her.” He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder at Tom.
Alec sighed. “You’ve never been any good at lying. It’s that thing you do with your eyebrows. I don’t know why Dad never noticed.”
Callum had never been more aware of his eyebrows in his life. He tried to hold them absolutely still as he spoke. “I came here after you let me go. I needed someplace to lie low, and I was hoping he had forgotten about this place.”
“If you came here alone, then who is that?” Alec jerked a thumb toward Tom. Callum turned to see him still standing by the door, where Callum had left him. He had that same disquieting expression on his face again, the one Callum had seen when they had been talking about plans. Tom narrowed his eyes at Alec, and a memory flashed into Callum’s mind of Tom’s fist hitting flesh over and over.
Callum turned back to Alec. “That’s Tom,” he admitted reluctantly. “But I can explain.”
“So explain.” Alec folded his arms across his chest. “Who is he?”
Wait. Had his brother’s question been genuine? Did he really not know that Tom was Leila’s father? Maybe he still had a chance to pull this off.
“He’s… my boyfriend,” said Callum, because it was the first thing that came into his head, and because it was the truth. Or at least he thought it was. He felt the absurd urge to look over his shoulder to see if Tom objected to the term. Because obviously that was what was important here. “He’s my boyfriend,” he repeated, more confidently this time. “I’m gay.” He hadn’t been able to imagine himself saying those two words, but now that the moment was here, they fell from his mouth eagerly, as if he had been waiting a lifetime to speak them.
His brother went still. For a long moment, he didn’t speak.
Slowly, he turned to face Tom. When he spoke, Callum pictured a wolf, baring its teeth as it growled low in its throat. “What have you done to my brother?”
Callum hadn’t expected that reaction. He looked up at Alec, confused. “What? He didn’t do anything.” Unless Alec was talking about what they had done in bed, and that was information he wasn’t going to be sharing anytime soon, no matter how close he and Alec were.
Alec continued as if Callum hadn’t spoken. “If you’ve laid a single hand on him…” He took a step forward, toward the door.
Tom took a matching step. He moved with fluid grace, like a leopard or a mountain lion. “Whatever you’re thinking right now, you’ll want to reconsider. I don’t have any patience left for your family.” His voice held a rough note that Callum had never heard before.
Callum stepped between the two before this could get out of hand. “Stop. Both of you. Please.”
They kept moving in closer.
“I kissed him first!” Callum shouted.
They both froze.
“My brother is not… that,” Alec said to Tom, but now there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
“Come on,” said Callum, the way his brother had a moment ago. “You’ve always known it. You must have.”
Finally, Alec looked away from Tom to meet Callum’s eyes again. He looked at Callum as if he were a stranger. “No,” he said, as if he were trying to convince himself as much as Callum. “I know the things people called you, but those are just names.”
Callum shook his head. “No. It’s who I am.”
Something in his voice made Alec pause. “You’re different than when you left.”
“I’m the same person I’ve always been,” Callum answered. “I’m just finally learning to be okay with that.”
“If he’s forcing you into anything, you can tell me.” His eyes begged Callum to say yes, to lay all the blame on Tom and return to being the little brother he remembered.
But if Alec knew Callum as well as he thought, then he should know that this had always been the truth—he just hadn’t wanted to see it. “He’s not. I promise. I wasn’t lying—I did kiss him first.”
Alec studied him with a furrowed brow. “You really do sound different. You look different, too. You look… taller.” He held out a hand to measure Callum’s head against himself. Callum’s head came up barely to his chin, just like always. A smile flickered across Alec’s face—Callum’s height, or lack thereof, had always been a joke between them. “Or maybe just happier.”
“I am.” And the funny thing was that despite all the stress, and the danger, and the fact that they had two dollars to their name and his father had sent a hitman after him… he was happier than he had ever been in his life.
“I guess I can’t say I’m sorry to see that.” It was probably the closest to an apology, or an outright statement of acceptance, that Alec would ever come. He shifted awkwardly on his feet. “So that’s all this is? Some kind of romantic getaway?”
“And a place to hide,” Callum reminded him. “I was supposed to be in London by now, remember? I’m sure Dad knows by now that something went wrong.”
“I told him you got away from me, just like we talked about,” Alec confirmed.
“How bad was it?” asked Callum, feeling a twinge of guilt about the reaction his brother might have endured from their father.
“He was angry, but it passed quickly. Mostly he blamed you, like I told you he would.”
Callum wished he could be surprised by that. At least it meant Alec hadn’t suffered too much for his kindness. “How many people does he have looking for me? Is that why you’re here?”
Alec shook his head. “I came on my own. I was afraid you had gotten involved in this thing with the girl, although I’m not sure why I suspected you—it’s not your style. He…” Alec paused. “He isn’t looking.”
“What do you mean, he isn’t looking?”
“He said… Are you sure you want to hear this?”
Callum nodded.
Alec’s face was apologetic. “He said if you want to throw away this chance to learn how to be a man, then that’s it—he’s done. He said it was time he accepted that having a son like you was worse than having no son at all.”
“So… that’s it? He’s done with me, just like that?” What had happened to the consequences he had feared for so long? He had imagined his father pursuing him across the country, across the world.
“That’s it.” Alec patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Callum shook his head. “No. It’s good. It means… it means I can do what I want from now on, I guess.” He told himself he didn’t feel a twinge deep in his belly at his father’s words. His father’s opinion of him didn’t matter anymore.
Alec did his awkward shift again. “So… you’re happy?”
That, at least, was something Callum could answer without reservation. “I’m happy.”
“And you don’t know where the girl is.”
“The last time I saw her was the night she escaped.” His eyebrows felt like they filled up half of his face. What was the thing he did with them that let Alec know he was lying? Was he doing it now?
“Then I guess I should get out of here.” Alec cast a dark glance toward Tom. “If you’re sure you want me to leave you here with him.”
Callum wished he could invite Alec to stay longer. These few minutes hadn’t been enough. He wanted to hear about Alec’s life—what was going on with that new girl he had been dating, and what crazy new bands he had discovered in the underground clubs. He wanted to tell Alec everything that had happened since they had spoken last. But of course, there was nothing he could tell Alec without giving himself away. And even if he kept his own mouth shut, inviting him in was out of the question, with Leila around. Not to mention the thought of watching him and Tom trade glares over the dinner table.
So all Callum said was, “I’m sure.” And then, after a pause, “I miss you.”
“I miss you too, little brother.” His brother pulled him into a rough hug. “I’m sorry I doubted you. I don’t know why I thought you, of all people, would ever—”
Alec abruptly stopped speaking. The color drained from his face.
Callum followed his gaze. He was staring at the window. The window that showed the all-too-clear image of Leila’s face pressed up against the glass.
Leila’s eyes widened, and she drew back, disappearing behind the curtains. But the damage had been done. “That’s her, isn’t it,” said Alec, his voice resigned. It wasn’t a question.
“That’s Tom’s daughter,” said Callum, holding on to the faint hope that he could get his brother to believe the lie, even though one look at Alec’s face had told him even before he spoke that it was pointless.
“Who you two just happened to bring with you to your romantic hideaway.” Alec shook his head. “You’re better at lying than I thought, I’ll give you that. But you can stop now.” He let out a long sigh. “Why did you do this, little brother?”
His brother was right. There was no point in trying to lie anymore. “Because she’s just a kid,” said Callum, “and she doesn’t deserver any of this.”
Callum could think of countless times when his brother had effortlessly done something that seemed impossible to Callum, or when the two of them had talked past each other in mutual misunderstanding. But he had never felt as much of a gulf between them as he did right now, as he watched a look of incomprehension spread across his brother’s face.
“You know you can’t keep this up,” said Alec. “What are you planning to do, stay here forever?”
“We’ll think of something.”
Another sigh from Alec. “You know I have to tell him.”
And just like that, they could lose everything. “You didn’t make me get on that plane,” Callum said desperately. “You can let me go again.”
“No, Callum. I can’t. Not this time. That was family, and you had the right to make your own choices. This is our father’s business, and it’s not your place to interfere.”
“Please.” It was all he could say.
His brother looked him over. He shook his head ruefully. “You know I can’t turn my back on you, little brother. I’ll give you until tomorrow. That’s the best I can do.” With a glance toward Tom, he lowered his voice. “But if you stay involved in this, they will come after you, and they’re going to find you sooner or later. And when that happens, I won’t be able to protect you anymore. Take my advice—walk away from all of this. Leave him and his daughter alone, and go live a nice peaceful life somewhere. Please. I don’t want to wake up one morning and find out that you’re…” He squeezed Callum’s shoulder hard, almost painfully. “Just do it, okay? For me.”
But Callum wasn’t going to make a promise he didn’t plan to keep. “You should go.”
Alec’s hand lingered on his shoulder. “You know you’ll always be my little brother, right? No matter what happens.”
“You should go,” Callum repeated, tears stinging his eyes. He blinked hard, but couldn’t quite hold them back, as Alec slowly turned and walked away.