A Better Man (The Men of Halfway House) (24 page)

"Well? What is it?" Matt's mother said, obviously irritated.

He looked over to Matt and waited for his
announcement
. Matt had practiced it endlessly since his decision to come clean with his parents. He practiced in bed, looking in the mirror, over dinner, in the car, everywhere, all the time. He looked hesitant, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he looked around the table as he squeezed Julian's hand tighter. Julian followed his line of sight to Matt's brother. Alex looked worried, probably guessing what the announcement would be. Julian knew Matt was replaying all the lines in his head, trying to make sure they came out perfectly.

"We don't have all night, Matthew," Matt's mother said.

Julian looked over and saw Matt visibly deflate. Maybe not noticeably to his family, but Matt's mother's disregard obviously stung.

"Mom, this is my partner Julian. We work together. We live together. Mom, Dad, I love him. I'm gay," Matt said in a spill of words.

Um, so not how he had practiced it.

Matt then sat back and looked straight ahead as if bracing himself for the fallout. Instead, there was a pregnant silence in the room.

A few moments later, Matt's mother said something to discard his announcement with a wave of her hand in the air. He could see her actions in his periphery, but he was more focused on Matt who blindly stared forward.

"It's not a joke, Mom," Matt said and tugged their entwined hands, placing them on top of the table—literally, on one of the empty silver platters for his mother to see on display. Matt instantly looked over to Julian after realization of his action struck. He tried to pull their hands off the table but there was no way Julian would let that plastic lady win this fight. This was Matt's time to do what he needed to do and there was no way Julian was going to be anywhere but right there, by his side.

The plastic lady was pissed. She hid it well but her eyes were shooting daggers across at Matt. "This is no cause for obscene displays—"

"We're holding hands, Mom," Matt said in a defeated tone.

"Evidently prison has caused more problems than we thought. I'll organize a visit to Dr. Schreiber—"

"I don't need to see a freaking psychiatrist—"

When the hell was Matt seeing a shrink?

"Matthew!" his dad said forcefully.

Both Matt and Julian immediately looked over to Matt's father who had been silent the entire time. He shook his head but Julian didn't know him well enough to know if that was code for
quit while you're ahead
or
show some respect
. Either way, the message was clear—just stop.

She called over to the butler who swooshed into the room from out of nowhere, took his orders, then magically appeared standing next to Julian. Seriously, he'd have to put a bell around the man's neck to be able to follow his ghost movements. A brief second later, Julian felt a hand on his shoulder. Matt's mother wanted Julian out of the house.

Julian felt the anger boiling inside. It took every ounce of effort to sit still and appear as if he were unfazed. He wanted to take that boney man's hand and rip it off for having the nerve to attempt to touch him to extract him from the table.

"J isn't going anywhere," Matt said instantly as he bolted up from his seat trying to stare down the butler. Julian remained seated, stewing in his anger as that boney hand remained gently placed on his shoulder.

"Did you meet him in prison?" she inquired with this sickly sweet tone, like a Venus flytrap faking it until some sorry ass future meal was stupid enough to fall for it. Then she glanced in Julian's direction, surveying him, her vision lingering on their still entwined hands.

She sneered.

When she made eye contact with Julian, there was pure disdain in her gaze. "He looks the type."

Eh, whatever. I've heard worse.

"Looks the type?" Matt was obviously stunned. "He's a good man. A better man than me and he's helping me to build a new life—"

"As a criminal?" she said, obviously baiting him.

Matt's brother tried to interfere with the train wreck but his fiancée stopped him. Matt continued to defend Julian and their relationship. There was no way this selfish shell of a woman would possibly accept anything outside of her judgmental pretentious bubble, especially if it was out of her control or potentially affected her social status. Yet, Matt continued.

"A few sessions with the doctor and you'll see he's using you for your money—"

"What the hell?" Julian said before he had a chance to control himself. She may be a gold digger selfish bitch but he sure as hell wasn't.

Julian took a deep breath trying to control the rage inside. His heart slammed against his chest and it became increasingly difficult to just idly sit and not do or say anything to help Matt. It was obviously pointless to continue. Matt looked over to him, his eyes pleading. Julian didn't know what to say or do in response to the sadness in those blue eyes.

"Dad," Matt said to his father at the end of the table, still sitting quietly in his dark suit, looking down at his plate.

The pained look on Matt's face was the final straw.

Julian stood, still holding Matt's hand with a death grip, and shrugged off the butler's hold as he spoke the words he thought best fit the situation. "Thank you for a lovely meal, ma'am. Sir, Alex, Lindy," he said through gritted teeth. He began to walk away and tugged Matt's hand, hoping he'd follow him out of the dining room.

"You do realize Matthew's money, his inheritance, is tied to the company," he heard Matt's mother say behind him.

Julian turned and sharply inhaled to try and cool the anger that threatened to spill. "Are you talking to me?" he managed to ask past gritted teeth. Matt tried to tug Julian, but there was no way he was letting this woman walk all over him.

"If you hope to get a single penny, then you are sadly mistaken. Matthew has nothing of his own. Neither of my sons do," she added the latter, giving Lindy a sideways look.

"He doesn't want my money, Mom," Matt immediately responded in his defense. "When we met he didn't even know my real name. I was using Aunt Eleanor's name."

"I don't want or need anything but Matt," Julian added clearly and confidently.
Him, I only need him.

Matt's mother disregarded Julian and his claim, as expected, then decided to turn into a drama queen and feigned some sort of bullshit excuse of an illness once she saw Matt wouldn't let up. He was proud as hell of Matt for not giving in, but it was, in fact, a pointless fight. She even went as far as signing the cross on her chest.

Isn't the devil supposed to burn up or something by doing that? Why is she still sitting there?

"You leave this house tonight and you will not be allowed to return. Your father will see to that."

Julian looked over. Matt's father still sat in the same position. He should hold a mirror under his nose just to make sure the guy was still breathing. Julian then looked over to Matt and felt as if he'd been kicked in the gut by the sadness that bore him down. He was literally folding into himself, standing there, pain etched across his expression.

"Aunt Eleanor was right. She said you'd do this. Do you know I told her that I hoped you would be different? But you're not. You're every awful stereotype rolled into one. You wonder why I never told you."

"Your Aunt Eleanor didn't have a son with unusual sexual proclivities. She didn't have a son who has been in prison and who felt it appropriate to bring an uncouth thug to the dinner table. Eleanor was an eccentric woman surrounded by cats. She may well have been your father's sister but really, she was a nobody."

"She was everything to me," Matt yelled back with a surge of energy he didn't look as if he could spare. "Every time you weren't there, she was the mother you should have been. She knew me. She saw me for who I was. She even left me her money to make things right in this world. And damn it, I will make her proud."

"Money?" His mom's hand fluttered to her chest. "Her money went to some cat protection sanctuary. She wouldn't give it to you." She looked over to her husband. "Mitchell, tell me I'm wrong here."

Matt seemed to have let one of Aunt Eleanor's cats out of the bag. It was obvious something else was going on and Matt's aunt hadn't planned on informing his parents about any sort of inheritance.

Needless to say, the plastic lady was pissed.

She looked at Julian. "Leave. Or do I need to call security?"

"You have security?" Julian asked under his breath. Not entirely surprised she threw that one in there.

Julian looked over to Matt and saw him sway before he began to rapidly blink. He slightly gasped for air, then his complexion immediately paled.

"J…" was all Matt managed to say as his body wilted.

Julian instinctively reached out and caught Matt seconds before he hit the floor, the full weight of Matt landing solidly against him. He repositioned Matt, one arm under his bent legs and the other cradling his upper body against his chest, and headed out of the dining room, determined to get out of this hell they dared call a house. He shifted Matt, lifting him higher, pressing his face against his cheek. He calmed when he felt Matt's soft puffs of breath against his face.

Matt's mother stood from the dinner table and followed Julian out of the dining room into the living room. "You leave him here, this is his home."

Julian rounded, still holding Matt securely in his arms, fury pumped through every muscle in his body fiercer than any adrenaline rush he'd ever experienced. "This is
not
his home," he thundered, tired of holding back his anger against the hatred that thrived between these walls.

"You leave my son here!" She raised her voice. "Or I will—"

"Or you'll what?" Julian challenged, raising his voice to match her tone and stood toe-to-toe with the much smaller woman. He pulled Matt closer to him protectively, hoping to shield Matt from further exposure to the woman's toxicity.

"Go ahead, do whatever you want to do, but if you think I'm going to back down like everybody else, you're in for a surprise. Go ahead and call that security team of yours because you're going to need it," he said without hesitation. He could see Matt's father now standing, watching the exchange. Alex and Lindy exited the dining room and began walking toward him.

He shifted Matt slightly in his arms and his head moved to rest on Julian's shoulder. Matt's arm instinctively raised and wrapped around Julian's neck. With renewed vigor, Julian gave Matt's mother one final
dare me
look before turning and walking out of the house, ignoring the plastic lady's yells echoing behind him, demanding his return.

Alex and Lindy raced to his side. Julian held Matt closely as Alex fished Julian's truck keys out of his pocket then opened the door to let Julian gently place Matt on the seat.

"Matt, you're going to be fine," Lindy told Matt as she stroked the hair away from Matt's face.

"J…J…" Matt said, weakly moving his head from side-to-side with his eyes still closed, almost as if he were dreaming.

Julian pushed Lindy aside as politely as he could muster. "I'm here," he whispered in Matt's ear.

"Sorry…I—"

"I hate that word." He placed a tender kiss on Matt's lips. "Nothing that happened in there was your fault. Don't apologize," he said, then secured Matt in the seat before closing the door.

Alex walked around the truck with obvious concern in his voice. He quickly withdrew a pen from his jacket and scribbled on the back of a business card before handing it over. "Julian, if you need anything—"

Julian snatched the card and shoved it in his back pocket. "We're going home, he'll be fine," Julian said before closing his driver's side door, jamming his keys in the ignition, and bringing his truck to raging life. He immediately threw the truck in gear and sped out to the security gate. He cursed when he had to re-enter the code to open the gate. His hands shook from the rage thrumming though his body. Julian took a deep breath and waited for the gates to open enough to slam on the accelerator and escape like a bat out of hell.

He drove faster than normal, a dire need to get as far away as fast as possible from Matt's parents' home. It wasn't a mausoleum, it was a toxic purgatory. He reached over and ran his fingers through Matt's hair as he slept on the bench seat. After seeing firsthand the torture Matt was subjected to, he no longer doubted Matt was, in fact, tougher than Julian thought he was. There was no way someone could tolerate those types of jabs to your soul on a constant basis. With the plastic lady, no one was spared—Matt, Alex, even Matt's father was a convenient target. It was no wonder the man refused to speak. Fighting back just sunk you deeper into the pits of hell.

Julian finally pulled up to the back of the house and parked his truck. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, thankful to have made it home in one piece after driving like a maniac. He looked over, and Matt slept along the bench seat, undisturbed. He ran his fingers through Matt's hair. He needed to calm the pounding in his chest. He finally exited the driver side and ran up to the back porch and unlocked the door. He returned to his truck, opened the passenger side door, and carefully lifted Matt out of the seat. He kissed Matt's forehead and held him closely as they entered the house. He made his way to their room, cautiously guiding his precious cargo onto the bed and undressing him.

Finally in bed, he pulled Matt into his arms and held him protectively. "We're home. I won't let them hurt you," Julian whispered, not sure how much he could protect Matt from this type of pain, but he would try everything in his power to prevent it from happening again. He was growing concerned at Matt's exhaustion. He knew Matt had quietly tortured himself for days in lieu of sleep, replaying scenarios of how the night's events would occur, but his limp body scared him.

Matt unexpectedly stirred and cuddled even closer to Julian, burying his nose at the side of Julian's neck. Julian sighed with relief and wrapped his arms tighter around Matt. He'd try to find a way to keep that pain away from Matt. He had to. He couldn't stand idly by and see Matt go through so much heartbreak.