Wayward Son (2 page)

She pulled a sheet of paper from the folder and held it out to him, and after a long moment, Mikey untangled his hands and reached to take it between shaking fingers. He had no clue what to say or what to do. Valerie pointed toward the paper.

“I suggest you take this home, read it, and perhaps speak to a lawyer,” she said. “I can’t provide you any further information at this time, but you may be able to find out more through the court system.”

Mikey glanced at the paper. The words “civil lawsuit” and “Florida” jumped out at him, but he couldn’t focus well enough to read more.

“Mr. O’Malley?”

Mikey looked up.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you leave the premises now.”

Mikey jerked his head up and down. He pushed to his feet, the sheet of paper still gripped in his hand, and left the office. On autopilot he walked across the park to the employee lot. It wasn’t until he was in his car, cut off from the outside world, that what had just happened started to sink in.

Oh my God
, he thought.
What the fuck is going on?

He had his phone in his hand and Riley’s name up on the screen before he realized it, but he paused before he hit Send. His best friend and roommate would be the logical person to call, but slowly, as if led by an unseen hand, he clicked back to the contacts screen and chose a different name.

COCO LAMÉ, the screen read.

He hit Send.

A
KNOCK
at the window drew Mikey from the fugue of his thoughts. He looked out to see a familiar face bent over to look in at him. Cory Lassiter—a.k.a. Coco Lamé when he was in his drag persona—stirred up many different feelings in Mikey, but at that moment, the one he craved more than any other was comfort.

Feeling as if he were moving through a fog, Mikey untangled his arms from where he’d tucked them into the opposite sleeves of his hoodie and reached over to open the door. As soon as he did, Cory moved into the doorway and crouched down next to him. “Are you all right, honey?”

Mikey pulled his hoodie tighter around him. “I dunno.”

Cory laid a big hand on the side of his cheek. “You’re freezing, babe. How can you be freezing when it’s, like, a hundred and six out here?”

Mikey shrugged one shoulder. It wasn’t that hot, thanks in part to the forest that surrounded the open expanse of the parking lot, but even so he didn’t feel the heat. He felt like he had a solid core of ice inside him and he’d never be warm again. But he couldn’t force out words to explain it. Not when he didn’t even know why he was reacting like this.

Cory slid his hand to the back of Mikey’s neck, pushing the hood off his head. “Let’s get you home. Marianne offered to come with me, so she can drive your car. Okay?”

Mikey nodded. The warmth of Cory’s hand took the edge off the chill. He wished he could wrap Cory around him like his hoodie.

“C’mon.”

With Cory’s help Mikey climbed out of his car and moved the few feet to the passenger side of Cory’s car. Cory said something to a woman who stood nearby, and she answered softly, but Mikey didn’t pay much attention. He knew Marianne worked in Cory’s office, but he hadn’t met her. He just followed Cory’s lead until he was settled into Cory’s car with Cory in the driver’s seat.

“You just relax,” Cory said as he cranked the engine. “We’ll get you home and then worry about figuring all this out.”

Mikey nodded, tucked his hands back into his hoodie sleeves, and tilted his head back against the headrest, staring unseeing out the windshield.

“W
HAT
THE
fuck, honey?”

Jimmy Black’s voice rang out through the speaker of Cory’s phone, which sat on the dining room table between them. Cory had gotten Mikey out of the car and into the house and sat him down with a mug of lemon tea before calling Jimmy, his longtime boyfriend and the third leg of the unconventional relationship Mikey had found himself drawn in to. Even in the middle of the day on a Friday, the busiest time at Jimmy’s resort an hour outside Atlanta, Jimmy had picked up Cory’s call on the first ring.

“I’m just tellin’ you what the paper says,” Cory replied. He’d pulled his chair right up next to Mikey’s, and his body heat, more than the hot tea, was finally starting to thaw Mikey out. “Somebody in Florida filed a lawsuit against Mikey, and whatever’s in it made his bosses think he wouldn’t be safe around kids. Like anyone would believe that kinda shit. But you’re the expert on this stuff, not me.”

Jimmy blew out a breath, the sound echoing through the room. “Okay. Let me get some shit taken care of, and I’ll come in.”

Mikey spoke up at that. “You don’t need to leave—”

Jimmy cut him off. “Yeah, I do. Shaun’s doing good, and that kid he recommended for the part-time stuff is working out fine. Our weekend guests are almost all checked in, and if there’s an emergency, I can get back here in an hour.” His voice turned teasing. “I can, in fact, leave for a day or two without the place falling apart.”

Mikey hadn’t spent as much time with Jimmy as he had with Cory, but if he knew one thing, it was that Jimmy wouldn’t be dissuaded once he’d made up his mind. He was much like Cory in that way, though the personalities of the two men complemented each other rather than conflicted. Where to Mikey Cory represented comfort, fun, and sensuality, Jimmy’s style tended more toward confidence and raw sexuality.

In this case, though, having Jimmy on the way was just as soothing as having Cory by his side. Mikey let the rest of Jimmy and Cory’s conversation wash over him, willing the hot liquid to thaw him out inside. He knew it wouldn’t work, but maybe if he wished hard enough….

“Mikey?”

Mikey lifted his head to find Cory leaning in close. “Jimmy’ll be here in a couple of hours. Let’s get you into bed. You had a pretty big shock. You need to rest.”

Mikey nodded again and let Cory pull him up out of his seat and lead him down the hallway to the master bedroom. Mikey’d spent the night here a time or two, Cory wrapped around him like a second blanket after a long make-out session, but he’d never slept all that well. He’d barely gotten adjusted to sleeping in Riley’s guest room after he’d turned his entire life upside down less than a month earlier.

And now, just as he’d started to get into a groove, everything was getting flipped on end again. Maybe that was why he’d shut down so completely. He could only process so much at a time, and losing his job had driven him into overload.

Cory stopped next to the bed and pulled back the covers, which had been pulled up haphazardly but not straightened. “Off with your shoes and in you go,” he said, and Mikey followed orders, toeing off his sneakers and then climbing onto the mattress. He settled against a stack of fluffy white pillows that smelled of Cory’s shampoo, and he sighed, eyelids falling shut as Cory pulled the sheet up over him.

Cory’s lips touched his temple. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit.”

Mikey nodded, but he was already half-asleep.

M
IKEY
COULDN
’
T
take his eyes off Jimmy.

When Mikey woke after a brief nap, Jimmy was there, smiling and giving him a soft kiss before he took charge. He read the paper Mikey had gotten from work, and Mikey could hardly keep up with the expressions that crossed his face: curiosity, anger, frustration, and finally determination.

Now, phone to his ear, Jimmy paced the back patio outside the sliding-glass door from one end to the other with strides that seemed too long for his height. His face would appear carved of stone as he listened to the person on the other end, but then when he spoke, his expression would turn animated, alternately angry, conciliatory, and determined.

He was magnificent.

Mikey’s body took notice despite everything, and he looked away. Cory had set him up at the dining room table with some toast and tea, which he’d been nibbling and sipping at, and Mikey had pulled out his art history book to try to get some reading done. He’d been staring at the page for an hour, but every time he finished a paragraph, he had no idea what it had said.

Maybe he should just slam his forehead against the page. He might absorb the information by osmosis.

He sat there staring at his book without really reading it until the sliding-glass door opened. Mikey jerked his head up and met Jimmy’s gaze.

He didn’t like what he saw there.

“I’ve got good news and bad news,” Jimmy said. “Lemme get Cory in here so I can tell you both.” He raised his voice. “Hey, hot stuff! Get that fine ass in here!”

In seconds Cory appeared in the doorway. “What’d ya find out?”

Jimmy pulled out the chair closest to Mikey, then shoved it even closer, sat, and took one of Mikey’s hands in his. “Here’s the deal,” he started, looking Mikey in the eyes. “Somebody in Orange County, Florida, filed a lawsuit against you yesterday that had some pretty nasty allegations in it. I don’t know who it is yet, because I can’t get all the paperwork online, which is annoying because a lot of cases have that. I’m working on getting a copy, but it might take a while because it’s Fourth of July weekend.”

Mikey had no idea what to say, but Jimmy wasn’t done yet.

“Anyway, at some point you’re gonna get served.” Jimmy leaned in closer. “What that means is someone’s gonna show up where you are at and ask if you’re you. When that happens, wherever you are, just confirm your name and then take the papers they’re gonna give you. Don’t say anything else. Then you call me before you talk to anyone. You understand?”

Mikey’s head whirled. He’d seen people get served with court papers on TV, but he’d never seen it in person, much less had it happen to him. He blinked and managed to nod to acknowledge what Jimmy had said.

“But… what are they saying I did?”

Jimmy blew out a breath. “All I could get was a summary, not the specifics, but it’s something that’s supposed to have happened where you worked about seven or eight years ago. Do you remember?”

Mikey frowned. “I’ve only worked two places before now. I worked at a local place called Sliding Waters for a couple of summers while I was still in high school, then after I graduated, I got a job at Disney. I worked different jobs there, but those are the only places I worked until I moved up here. And I never had any kind of trouble except, like, being late to work a few times.”

Jimmy squeezed his hand. “Well, they’re apparently saying you touched a little girl inappropriately.”

Mikey jerked, but Jimmy held his hand fast. “What?” Mikey choked out. “I would never, ever do something like that!”

“I know,” Jimmy soothed. “But we’ll have to see it to know how to fight it. I’m gonna call around some more and see if I can get a copy of the lawsuit so we don’t have to wait until next week or for a process server to show up. If we were in Orlando, we could go down to the courthouse and get it in person. Or if they’d put the damn thing online,” he grumbled.

Cory broke in. “Hey. How about I call Evan and see if maybe his dad will do it? It’s not his usual kind of case, but to get the papers faster, at least?”

Jimmy shot him a quick smile. Cory had been close friends with Evan Day for years, and Evan had recently reconciled with his attorney father. “Great idea. Anything we can do to get the papers sooner is good. We need to know what we’re up against.”

“What
I’m
up against.”

Jimmy and Cory both turned to look at Mikey. He trembled all over, but he pulled his hand back from Jimmy’s grasp. “It’s me who’s up against this, not us. I’m the one who has to fight it.”

Cory reached out a hand. “Honey—”

“Don’t call me that.” Mikey felt as if he were watching himself from outside his body. “I’m twenty-five years old. I’m not a little kid who can’t do anything for himself. I can handle this.”

The cold seeped in again, but Mikey resisted the urge to wrap his arms around himself.

Silence hung in the air for long moments before Jimmy let out a soft breath. “No one thinks you’re a kid,” he said in a low voice that flowed over Mikey like a warm breeze. “You’re a man, and a strong one. You had to be to leave almost everything you knew behind to start over here.

“But this is a legal battle, Michael.” Mikey’s head popped up at that. “A legal battle means that you need a lawyer. Even people who are lawyers hire someone in a case like this.”

Mikey nodded slowly, his tense muscles unknotting one by one. “Okay. So I’ll call Evan and get his father’s phone number, and then
I’ll
call him.”

Jimmy smiled then. “Yeah, you do that. But just so you know, you do have access to another lawyer.”

Mikey stared at him. “You mean….”

“Juris Doctorate, University of Georgia, class of waaaaaay too many years ago.” Jimmy raised an eyebrow, which highlighted the gray hairs mixed in with the brown, reminding Mikey that Jimmy was fourteen years older. He knew that—and that Cory was halfway between them—but he usually didn’t think that much about it.

Mikey swallowed. “Why’d you quit?”

Jimmy shrugged a shoulder. “Didn’t like the grind. Quit after five years, did porn to pay the bills while I got a massage certification, bought a resort, and here I am. I haven’t had an active license in years, which is why I’m callin’ in favors now, but I’ve kept my fingers in the pie a little.” His smile dropped away, and he leaned in close. “Letting someone who knows the system help you isn’t being a kid,” he murmured. “The opposite, really. It’s just plain smart to use all the resources at your disposal.”

Mikey searched Jimmy’s face, seeing only concern and care, nothing that spoke of pity or condescension. Jimmy leaned in to press a quick kiss against his lips, and the touch sent shockwaves through Mikey’s body, far out of proportion to the lightness of the touch. Jimmy had kissed him only a handful of times so far, just enough to leave Mikey longing for more, and Mikey didn’t want to stop now.

But he had other matters to deal with first.