Where There's a Will (14 page)

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

86

front of him, Tamara moving out of the way. “I don’t understand how I ended up with such a pussy for a son.”

Will grimaced when his dad cupped his chin, gripping hard enough to bruise. “Even your sisters are tougher than you are. Everything we’ve done to try to make a man out of you, and this is what I get.” He shoved Will’s head aside and laughed. “So much for the tough love line of bullshit. Well, whatever. I guess your mother deserved one girly-girl, even if you are born with the wrong parts for it.”

Will bit his lip, his tongue, his cheek, anything to keep the words back. Explaining to his father that being gay didn’t make him feminine, that Will hadn’t a choice in how he was born—none of the truths made a difference, not to his family. As far as they were concerned, Will was a freak and a weakling because of it, and all the ‘tough love’ they’d shown him had been for his best interests and he was the one who had failed by preventing it from working.

Will honestly didn’t know if they believed that or if they were just trying to use it as an excuse for being abusive. Neither would have surprised him. Ignorant people believed ignorant things.

The sad fact was, he never fought back. Maybe his acceptance didn’t help shake the opinion about him being such a pussy, but Will had been conditioned early on to take the abuse, and hitting a woman went against everything in him. The one time he’d hit one of his sisters back, the whipping he’d received from his dad, with a very thick leather belt—Will hadn’t been able to get up out of bed for a couple of days, he’d hurt so bad.

“Anyway, your sister will be taking over here, so get your shit packed.”

Will blinked as fear knotted up in his chest. “W-what?”

Tamara huffed and pulled open a drawer. “Geez, you’re an idiot! Get packed, you’re going to go back with Dad while I do the kind of job the Stratton’s are paying us to do. A
thorough
one.” She tossed a handful of Will’s clothes on the floor, laughing as she held up his purple jock. “Really? Jesus, could you be any more of a freak?”

Will ignored his dad’s cursing and hurried over to snatch the jock away. “I’ll do it myself.”
What the hell
is
wrong with me? I’m fricking twenty-five years old, an adult by all means,
and I’m letting these two jerks boss me around like I always do!

“It’s not like anyone would want to see your bony ass in that thing,” Tamara sniped as Will tucked it in his pocket. Anger flared hot in him. There’d been two men who really loved www.total-e-bound.com

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

87

seeing him in the purple jock! And nothing Tamara or anyone else said could negate it because it was the truth. Will still had plenty of love bites and finger marks to prove it.

And maybe knowing the truth was what made the difference. This time, Will didn’t feel like caving in and going meekly back to the hellish life he’d have if he left. He understood, so totally understood, James not wanting to go back to his family, either. It was one of the reasons Will had stalled, refusing to turn the guy over. Will had been strong enough to stand up for James then, even if the only people who knew it was himself, and eventually, James’

parents.

Why couldn’t he be strong enough to stand up for himself?
Good question, and one I don’t
want to answer, which means I need to. Fuck, what a mess! It’s always been easier to just give in, less
painful—or has it been? What do I know about fighting back?

Not enough, he realised as he stuffed a handful of underwear into his duffle bag. He paused and looked up, not surprised his dad and sister were having some little tête-à-tête in the corner.
Whatever. What would they do if I just told them to get the fuck out of here?
Will almost laughed out loud.
They’d beat the crap out of me, all for my own good. Then they’d take me back
home and beat me some more.
Reality kicked Will in the balls and he gasped softly, slapping a hand to his mouth to stifle the sound.

A quick check on his sister and dad told him they hadn’t heard, but Will hardly cared now if they had. He’d realised something horrible. If he left, he’d probably never see Troy or Carlos again. It wasn’t like he’d known the men long, and for sure they wouldn’t come looking for him. They’d probably just go on without him. Maybe they’d even find some twink to be their man sandwich filling.

The thought galvanised him like no other had before. He’d be damned if he left Carlos and Troy to live happily ever after without him! How dare they even consider it? Will knew he wasn’t being reasonable, but he was scared, excited, and so many other things he wasn’t sure he could describe.

But one thing he wasn’t and wouldn’t be, was gone.
Not happening.
Will zipped the bag and didn’t look at his dad or Tamara as he straightened up. “I’m going to go put this in my car then come back for the rest.” He made it to the door and had it opened when his dad grabbed the straps of the duffle and jerked them from Will’s hand.

“I’ll take this. Wouldn’t want you to sprain anything, princess.”

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WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

88

Something inside Will snapped, dissolving his fear and firing up his anger. He stepped outside, because, even mad, he wasn’t stupid, and there were people outside, or at least close by. Will stopped a few feet into the parking lot and pivoted around, jutting one hip out and slapping a hand on it. It wasn’t an extreme queen pose, nothing he didn’t do regularly—just not around his family.
Well, fuck them!
His dad growled and Will rolled his eyes. “Give me back my bag. I’ve decided I’m not going anywhere with you or Tamara, or any of the rest of you hateful bullies—oh,” he fluttered his lashes and almost felt bad when his dad went purple with anger. Or something. “And I quit!”

For some reason, those two words seemed to stun his dad more than anything else. Will took advantage, darting forward and yanking his bag out of his dad’s lax grasp. Then Will’s bravado wavered as his dad’s expression began to flatten, to morph into the calm, scary one that meant bad things were about to happen.

And Will ran.

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Why it surprised him when his dad and sister actually chased him, Will didn’t know.

He made it to his car and quickly got in, his stomach swirling when his dad veered to his vehicle, clearly prepared to chase Will like that instead of running after him on foot. He supposed he hadn’t thought they’d believe he was worth the effort of being pursued, and in truth, they were probably only coming after him because they were really, really pissed. And afraid, Will couldn’t shake the thought, although he didn’t know why they’d be afraid.

Didn’t much care, either, when he peeled out of the parking lot with his dad’s creepy-ass Hummer right behind him. “Damn it!” Will shouted, not entirely certain his dad wouldn’t just run over him. The Mini Cooper was cool, awesome even, but it sure as shit couldn’t out-run the metal beast behind him.

Will floored the gas pedal, tyres squealing and car rocking as he took a turn too fast. His brain was on automatic pilot, tracing back his most recent path. He wanted to tell himself he was an idiot for running. Seriously, what could his dad do to him if Will stopped? Except Will was absurdly afraid of the answer, and didn’t care to examine why.

He laid on the horn as soon as he turned down Troy’s street. If Troy was asleep or watching TV or whatever, he might not even hear the horn. Will didn’t know what he was going to do if that was the case. The Hummer was still on his ass—had his dad and Tamara slipped into full-blown insane relatives mode? What the hell were they planning? But they wouldn’t do anything stupid, or more stupid than chasing him. Even doing this could land them in deep shit.

“Shit!” Will cut the wheel hard, only realising once he had done so that there was another car in Troy’s driveway. He had to really lay on the brakes and even then he wasn’t going to be able to stop fast enough to avoid a collision unless he was really lucky. He veered to the right, the car skidding and brakes squealing as the Mini Cooper’s tyres screeched over the asphalt of the driveway and into the pretty green lawn.

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WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

90

Will didn’t wait for the car to come to a complete stop before he slammed the gear into park and jumped out, nearly strangling himself with the seatbelt in his rush. He heard his dad and sister’s shouts as he ran for Troy’s door.

“Look, we’re trying to be fair, here. It’s just…it’s hard, okay?” Chase shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable in a way Troy had never seen the blond man look before. Troy knew the feeling—this talking shit through was not something he was enjoying at all. “You have to understand, we just want to keep James safe, but—” Chase sighed and scrubbed at his cheek before continuing. “But we know he’s capable of taking care of himself.”

Xavier snorted and tipped his chair back, rocking on the wooden back legs. “Glenn would kick anyone’s ass who did try to mess with James, if it was necessary. I don’t know how Glenn figured it out as fast as he did, but he sure knew not to coddle James. Maybe we need to follow his lead.”

Chase glared at Xavier. “I don’t coddle James. I purposely
didn’t
do anything like people did to me. I wouldn’t coddle him after nearly being suffocated by everyone’s good intentions when I was hurt, so—”

A racket outside, something that sounded like a horn and squealing tyres had them all startling.

“What the hell?” Troy pushed up from the table at the same time Xavier and Chase did, but Chase, smaller and quicker, beat him to the window.

“There’s a horn and a fucked up mess out there.”

Troy didn’t listen to another word. He saw the Hummer, saw Will’s cute little car. Troy was too busy heading for the door to bother with Chase, visions of the huge Hummer crushing Will sent waves of panic over Troy. He heard brakes, an awful screeching sound, and Troy cursed as he grabbed the doorknob.

He flung the door open and barely had a second to comprehend what he saw—Will, pale faced and panicked, eyes wide and mouth open, panting as he ran full-tilt with two people in pursuit. The terror he saw in Will’s expression infuriated Troy like nothing else ever had. Troy let loose, a mix of roar and shout as he stepped out, arms open to catch Will.

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WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

91

Troy grunted then as Will’s smaller body slammed against his, the impact so hard Troy actually saw black dots dance in his vision.

“Inside inside inside,” Will rasped, pushing with his feet, and Troy, balance already off from catching Will, would have fallen back on his ass had he not been braced by Xavier’s strong hands.

“Careful,” Xavier muttered, guiding him back. Chase snarled something Troy didn’t catch and slid past him to stand on the porch, back to Troy and Will.

Troy wasn’t having any of Chase’s nonsense. He twisted around enough to nudge Will towards a startled-looking Xavier, who nevertheless caught hold of Will and tugged him inside. Troy faced the people starting up the porch steps. He moved to Chase’s side then edged forward a little.

This was his home, after all. Chase could growl all he wanted. Troy ignored the low sound and narrowed his focus onto the tall, middle-aged man and even taller scary looking woman with him. The two stopped on the first step once it became obvious Troy wasn’t moving. The man pointed past Troy. “I want to talk to my son. Now.”

Troy looked the man and woman over closely. Will didn’t resemble either of them. He remembered the remark Will had let slip, and the thin white scratches on Will’s chest and back. “I don’t fucking think so,” Troy snarled, things clicking together in his head—like the fact that Will had run from these people to begin with. What else had they done to Will?

“Doesn’t look like he wants to talk to either of you,” Chase said from beside Troy. “As a matter of fact, it looks like he was being chased, was scared and trying to get away and you were running him down.” Chase clucked softly, and Troy glanced at him to find the man slowly shaking his head, the still, cold look in his eyes scary enough to make Troy shiver. “I always did hate bullies.”

“Chase Murphy,” the woman sneered, and like a cheesy bad guy in an even cheesier movie, she cracked her knuckles. “You think you’re a badass—”

“No,” Chase said coldly, “I know I am, and have no need to prove it to you.”

Troy put a hand on Chase’s shoulder, just in case he decided to prove it after all.

“Leave, and don’t set foot on my property again.”

“Or mine and Xavier’s,” Chase said. “And if I see either of you around James, I won’t hesitate to take you down.”

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WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

92

Even Troy wanted to retreat and hide thanks to the threat lacing Chase’s tone. Will’s father looked taken aback, but he quickly tried to cover it while the woman just looked pissed.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot here,” Will’s father said. He held out his hand.

“I’m Chester Leaks, and this is—”

Troy cut him off with a hand slashing through the air. “I don’t care who you are, who she is, or what the fuck you want. Leave. It’s that simple. You don’t chase my boyfriend, you don’t put a terrified expression on his face, and you don’t”—Troy gave the woman a scathing glance—“bully someone smaller than you and leave scars on them. So. Leave. Now, or I will physically remove you from my property. I don’t know if the two of you are stupid or just so full of yourselves you don’t get it, but you absolutely are not welcome here.”

Chester Leaks sputtered and turned a spectacular shade of purple. “Listen here, I don’t know what bullshit Will’s been telling you but—”