Hell and Back

by Dirk Greyson

  “What are you going to do about your family?” Forge asked.

  “I don’t know.” Here he was giving Forge advice about happiness when a piece of his own potential happiness had been chipped away by those documents. “But whatever happens, I’m not the one to blame.” Still, when something happened that was good in his life, something else went to hell.

  Chapter 5

  FORGE WONDERED why in the hell he’d opened up like that. For eight months he’d stewed and wondered what he’d done wrong.

  “My mother abandoned me,” Forge said out of the blue. His mouth seemed to have developed a case of verbal diarrhea, and he couldn’t control the path between his brain and mouth.

  Gage grew sad. “I know that. You and I spent all that time alone, talking to each other. Your mother had a lot of nervous issues and had difficulties coping, so your dad raised you. I know that your favorite color is green and that you blamed yourself for her going away, just like you blame yourself for Granger’s cheating. I know that you love strawberry ice cream but don’t eat it because you didn’t want the guys to see you eating pink food. I bet you still look at it longingly in the store and pass it by.” Gage pulled him closer, and the vulnerability that had engulfed him lessened.

  “There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” Forge challenged. A hell of a lot had changed in the seventeen years they’d been apart. “And I bought strawberry ice cream… once.” He held Gage a little tighter. “Granger hated it and asked why I bought the pink shit.”

  Gage shook his head. “You can get any kind of ice cream you want.” He tilted Forge’s head up until his gaze bored into him. “When you were with me for that night, you slept on the right side of the bed, but I noticed that your things were on the left upstairs. I’m willing to bet that was what Granger preferred and you went along with it.”

  “Damn.” Forge needed to remember that old eagle eyes here saw everything.

  “I know you’re the kindest, most un-self-serving man I’ve ever met, and Granger made you think you needed him, when I bet he was the one who needed you.” Gage leaned closer to touch his lips to Forge’s. “What makes me angry is that Granger took the man I loved, the one I fell in love with all those years ago, and made him doubt himself. And the bastard did that to cover up his own doubts and fears. I’m guessing he had to be the best at whatever he did, and that meant you had to come in second… all the damn time.”

  As much as Forge wanted to argue with Gage, he couldn’t. He and Granger had been happy, but Gage was right. They’d been happy as long as Forge was willing to support Granger’s career and aspirations. Once Forge’s career took off and he had a larger clientele, Granger had become needy and desperate for as much attention as possible. “How do you know all this?”

  “I watch you and I see you for who you are. I bet Granger never did.”

  Forge closed his eyes, considering if what Gage had said was true. Sure, he’d loved Granger, and they had spent many years together, but now he wondered if maybe he’d only been convenient. Granger had said that he’d only cheated the one time, but what if that wasn’t true? “Granger was the master of his own reality. I think that’s what made him a good lawyer.”

  Gage hummed his agreement. “What did you fall in love with? What was it about Granger that attracted you in the first place?”

  Forge stilled for a few seconds. “Back then, Granger was driven and ready to take on the world.” He lifted his gaze, tilting his head to the side. “You should have seen him. I think in some ways, at least then, he was a lot like you. He made his career by taking on one of the huge automobile companies because they didn’t want to take financial responsibility for faulty door latches. They kept trying to pass it off on the supplier even though they knew the latches they were receiving were bad. They installed them anyway. Granger worked night and day for months, not even knowing if he was ever going to see a dime out of it. But he said it was the right thing to do.” Forge groaned slightly when he heard the admiration that crept into his voice. For a second he hoped Gage didn’t, but he had admired and been blown away by Granger, at least the Granger he’d been then.

  “I think I remember that case. It was all over the news at the time. I thought it was impressive.” Gage squeezed him a little nearer. “What happened to that Granger?”

  Forge huffed. “I don’t really know. I was just wondering that myself. That was the man I fell in love with. The one who put himself and everything he was on the line to help someone else. His clients had nothing at all. There was no way they could pay him up front, but when the latch failed, they lost their daughter because of it. After that….” He shrugged. “I don’t know…. He seemed to chase the money, I guess. He was well-known and a lot of people clamored for him, and I thought things were good…. Maybe I was completely oblivious to how he had changed….”

  “I don’t think so. It’s more likely Granger changed gradually.” Gage really seemed to understand.

  “And now I know he was keeping a lot of things from me.” He and Granger had been fighting for months, but now that he really thought about it, their relationship had been over a long time before the actual breakup. “Granger used to talk to me about his cases. Not details or anything, but we used to talk and laugh about things. I used to tell him some of the weird requests I’d get from people. Like the high-profile doctor who’d seen a piece in a museum and decided he liked it so much, I was to try to find a desk just like it. The thing was, the desk was a museum piece, one of a kind, and he didn’t want a reproduction. I had to explain to him that they weren’t available. There was only one.” Forge smiled as he shook his head. “Or the guy who wanted a Chihuly light fixture, but didn’t want to pay the many thousands of dollars, so I was supposed to find someone who would make one for him. Granger and I used to laugh together over things like that.” He paused as his thoughts wandered. “I think I loved the man I could laugh with and play silly word games and make up bad puns with. But I hadn’t seen that man in years.”

  A knock on the door caused Forge to jump. Gage stood and went to open it, looking back before stepping out of the room. Forge sat back, his mind racing over what he’d said and how amazingly comfortable he felt with Gage, like the years that had separated them had suddenly disappeared. What a waste all that time had been.

  “Forge,” Gage said softly. “We have company.” He motioned to him, and Forge went over to a bank of monitors at Margie’s desk. Gage pointed to one. A dark car approached the building, circled it, and then pulled to a stop.

  “I’d say you picked up some sort of electronic tail,” Margie said.

  Gage groaned. “I should have figured that out a while ago.”

  A phone rang, and Margie answered it before handing the receiver to Gage. He listened and smiled, then handed it back.

  “The car outside your house is gone.”

  “What did Harv do?” Forge asked.

  “He didn’t say specifically. But the men inside were surprised when they discovered four flat tires and a wrecker showing up to tow them away. The beauty of it is that they never saw Harv at all.” Gage turned to Margie, who was already back at work.

  “What do you want to do about our guests?” Margie asked.

  Gage turned to him, and Forge stared for a few moments.

  Forge wrung his hands nervously. “Gage, can you find the tracking device?”

  “I’ll see. What do you have in mind?”

  “You have a back door, right? And is there a way to shield the signal?”

  “Yes.” The edges of Gage’s lips curled upward. “I like the way you think. Let me see if I can find our unwanted passenger.”

  “Then sneak out the back and throw it in the bed of a passing truck or something. Let’s lead the bastards on a wild goose chase.”

  Margie slid the other desk chair over to him. “You sit here with me while he does his thing.” She smiled, and Forge thanked her, chuckling, as Gage left the office area. “Okay,” she said, never ta
king her gaze from the monitors. “What’s going on with you two?”

  “Is this an inquisition?” Forge teased.

  “You better believe it.” She wasn’t threatening, but very serious. “Is this some client-protector thing for you?”

  “Not for me. I knew him when we were in the service, and we reconnected a few days ago.” He most certainly wasn’t going to tell her how he was feeling when he wasn’t totally sure himself, and if he was going to make some grand emotional declaration, Gage deserved to be the first to hear it.

  “I see, and now your husband is dead and you’re looking to replace him.”

  Forge wasn’t sure how to take that, then figured what the hell. “Please. I already had one of those, and he turned out to be a lying, cheating, secret-keeping pain in the ass. So if I was looking to replace him, I’d put an ad in Manhunt. I figure I could get a clone of Granger in about three minutes.”

  She turned to him, her mouth a thin line for two seconds, and then she smiled. “Damn, I like you. He needs someone with a quick wit who’ll challenge him and not put up with any of his crap.”

  “I’ve put up with enough shit the last eight months, I think I’m a fucking expert at shoveling the stuff. I think I can handle him.” Actually, he was looking forward to it.

  “Gage is a good man. Better than the first one I married. Hell, if he were older and I were younger… and he liked girls, I’d snap up that boy in a heartbeat. He’s one amazing man, despite everything his family put him through.” She pointed to one of the monitors, and sure enough Gage closed the door to the back of the building and ran for the shrubbery that lined the property. Margie pulled on a set of headphones. “Our visitors are still out front, probably still scratching their asses… wait, they seem to realize the sensor is on the move and are pulling around the side of the building. Now they’re turning around and heading out the alley toward the road… perfect. They’ve stopped.”

  Gage emerged from the trees as a truck approached. He made a beautiful throw, and Forge wished he were close enough to have seen the actual arc, but Margie directed his attention to another monitor as the car drew to the end of the drive and made the turn to follow the old red pickup truck.

  It was a thing of beauty.

  “Yes, I agree. They’ll probably be back when they catch up to the truck and realize they’ve been had,” Margie said as Gage jogged to the back door and disappeared from the monitor. Forge turned as Gage joined them once again. Margie took off the headphones and set them on the desk. “What do you want me to do?”

  “We’re going to go to a hotel,” he told her. “Go on home and work remotely. It isn’t safe to be here right now. If anything happens, call the police, and they’ll take off fast. The police are the last people they want to speak with.” Gage turned to him, the heat in his eyes intensifying, tempered with worry. “Bring the box. We’ll leave the papers here as insurance.”

  “I’ll arrange to get your car repaired,” Margie said as Forge hurried off to retrieve the box and pack it into the bag once more.

  When he returned, Gage was waiting for him. Margie had already left, and Gage was watching the monitors. “All right. Let’s go.” He guided Forge toward the back of the building, where another car waited. This one, a Mustang, fast and powerful, sat in a gleaming garage. “Before I was trying to be inconspicuous, but now we need raw power.” Gage opened the door, and Forge hurried to the passenger side. He buckled in and held the box in his arms. Gage raised the door and took off, closing it behind and using a back drive to exit the property.

  “Where do you think we should go?”

  “I was thinking Chicago. It’s a bigger city and a lot easier to hide out. Also, since my family is somehow involved in this mess, I might need to get a message to them to back off.” He turned onto Brown Deer, traveling toward the freeway. They didn’t talk much, and Forge sank into his thoughts. It wasn’t until they crossed the state line that Forge felt like speaking.

  “Your mom and dad….”

  “Yeah. They’ve caused a great deal of trouble.” Gage’s tone suggested that was something they did quite often.

  “What happened between you? I remember their letters. Your mom always wrote so caringly, wishing she could have been there with you. And the letters you sent in return were so loving as well. It was part of what I fell in love with. You were such a big guy, and even still in a bed, you exuded strength. So to be so loving to her….”

  Gage sighed. “What came between us was you. I told my parents all about the hospital and how you helped me and looked after me. Maybe I talked to them too much at first, I don’t know. Of course, when I didn’t hear from you, I talked about you less and less.”

  “Way to pile on the guilt.” Forge meant the comment sarcastically, but it probably didn’t come out as clearly as he wanted.

  Gage grimaced. “Except now we both know that you did write and my mom probably intercepted your letters. One was open, so I bet she read it, realized what was going on, and took matters into her own hands to try to put an end to it because it didn’t meet her idea of how her son should behave.”

  “Things went bad because they found out you were gay?” Forge asked. That was so typical of people sometimes.

  “Maybe that’s how it started. But after I got out of the hospital, was medically discharged, and came home, Mom and Dad wanted me to go into the family trucking business. I had no interest. Can you imagine working for them all the damn time? I needed to be on my own and have my own life, and they couldn’t understand that at all.” Gage gripped the steering wheel hard as he continued driving. “I started my protection services company in Chicago originally, but quickly relocated it to Milwaukee because I needed to be independent.”

  Forge turned so he could see Gage better. “None of that sounds bad. Your parents should have been proud of you for wanting to be your own person.”

  “You’d think so. My parents hated that I enlisted in the Army. They thought I should have driven a truck for a while and learned the family business. Dad started it when he was in his twenties, borrowing money to buy his first truck. After that, he bought another and hired his best friend as a driver. In five years he had twelve drivers, and after another five years, he was well on his way. Now the company is national and you see his trucks everywhere. I know he wanted me to be part of that, but I wasn’t interested. He pushed, but I pushed back. Then he gave me an ultimatum that I either joined him in working for the company or he’d cut me off. And I went out on my own. That was what my dad couldn’t forgive.”

  Forge blinked and tried to get his head around what Gage was telling him. “I don’t understand why that’s a bad thing.”

  “Because I’d rather do without anything from my parents than work for my dad. I was willing to be broke and alone rather than work for him. My dad can forgive many things, but being disrespected like that, at least in his mind, was too much. After a while, when I started to make a success of the business, things thawed between us, but when I told my mother I was dating… a guy… the walls went right back up. Now we rarely talk, and when we do, it’s like she and my dad are talking to one of the members of their country club that they tolerate but don’t really like.”

  “That’s so stupid. What kind of parents are they? Families are supposed to help their kids be independent, not make them stay under their thumb for the rest of their lives.” Forge turned, watching out the window. There had to be more to it than that.

  “My dad told me that he’d built the company so we could have a better life. He’d hoped that I’d take over and run it after he retired. I think when I turned down the job, he equated it to turning my back on him. That wasn’t what I meant at all, but I think it’s how he took it.” Gage slowed down as they encountered a pocket of heavier traffic. “It took me a long time to figure things out, but I think it comes down to this. My dad built his business and is very successful. He made his dream come true. But the problem is that his dream also included the fact
that I would take over for him. And—” Gage screwed his face up slightly as if he were trying to choose the right words. “—while it’s okay to dream for yourself, it isn’t okay to foist your dream off on someone else. My dad can dream all he wants for himself, but he doesn’t get to decide what my dreams are. He doesn’t get that, and I don’t think he ever will. He’s used to getting what he wants.” Gage seemed relieved to get the words out. He sat straighter in the seat, and his lips and the wrinkles around his eyes smoothed away.

  “Do you regret your decision?” Forge asked.

  “I think sometimes I do, but most of the time, no. I think I realized a long time ago that if they weren’t going to accept something as basic as me wanting to be myself and make my own way, life with them was never going to make me happy.” Gage reached over, took Forge’s hand, and squeezed it gently. “Things were messed up for a while, but I have good people in my life now, like Harv and Margie, as well as the rest of the men and women who work for me. Most of them I was in the service with. They acted like my family… until you came barreling back into my life.”

  Forge wondered how he should take that. He hoped that was a good thing. When Gage turned and smiled, outshining the sun that poured in through the windows, Forge’s doubt evaporated in an instant. It wasn’t just a good thing. Maybe it was the best thing.

  “So where are we going now?”

  “We’ll find a hotel downtown and hole up there for a few days.”

  Forge groaned. “I can’t keep my life on hold like this. I have a job. Up till now I’ve….” What the hell was he going to do? “I suppose I can say I need a few days’ vacation time.”

  “Call them and arrange it. We’re going to have to figure all this out pretty quickly.” Gage patted the bag that contained the box. “I think the only way you can possibly be safe is to put an end to whatever is going on. If Granger was involved in something criminal, then bringing the whole thing down is what we need to do.”