by Bree Cariad
“Thanks, Reverend Jonathon.” He hugged him and Jonathon hugged him back.
“You’re welcome. And thank you for coming to me today. It gives me a heads up. I’ll call Brecker to make sure he knows.” Not that there was any doubt. He knew probably before Peril saw the report.
After Peril left, Jonathon moved to his chair and sat down heavily. Time to do something he truly didn’t want to do. He needed to call Brecker.
“So much for giving him his space.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
In Washington State, there were four types of rainfall. There was the mist “Geez, this isn’t rain” rainfall where people wore coats but no hats. Then there was the rainfall rainfall where it was best to carry an umbrella. The showers rainfall was the kind where if you didn’t want to get drenched, you did not go outside and if you did, you wore a raincoat with a hood and covered your face as much as you could. And then the thunderstorm rainfall which might include little, regular, or too much rain and always included a thunderbolt or two and enough thunder to shake the house.
Brecker was sure he’d gone from sunny day to thunderstorm in a blink of an eye. And all due to that blasted Todd Crelon.
His office was filled with people working to overcome the news report that went live forty minutes ago. Head of Brecker Securities Outed. Court Brecker is Gay. Was Crelon insane? Brecker was sure that fell somewhere in the libel or slander category. Not that it mattered. News protected its source so Crelon or one of his cronies would never be outed. However Brecker was beginning to think he didn’t care if someone thought he was gay. Jonathon was gay and he was an amazing man. So was Casper. Who knew how many men who didn’t advertise their label but were. So what was the big deal about being labeled gay? Except for homophobic idiots, there seemed to be no reason to debate the issue. He’d never really cared what people thought of him except for in a business sense.
“The thing we need to decide,” Shera Parker, his publicist said loudly above the din, “is whether to tell them what happened or to stay mum. If we stay mum, it might blow over or it might escalate.”
“What if we pull the rug out from under them?” her assistant Jeremy said, obviously ready to do battle with the idiots. He needed a few more years before he realized gung ho wasn’t always the best way to do something.
It was a good thing Brecker had already interviewed Damari Beninger because with this hubbub, he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on it. That reminded him. “Siobhan.”
“Yes?” she called from somewhere in the throng.
“Send Damari an offer of employment. I want him out here as soon as possible, so pay for his move if you need it to get him out here now.”
“Got it.”
Damari was younger than any of the women he’d interviewed and his resume wasn’t as packed with secretarial positions. However he had that glint, the same one Siobhan had the day she interviewed. He was on top of things and Brecker knew in his gut that the guy would be the perfect assistant.
He glanced at his watch and swore under his breath. “Look people,” he said loudly. “I have to leave in one hour to spend time with my son. We need to put everything together in that time. Got it?”
Shera stuck her head up. “Since when did you have a son?”
“I’m just starting the process of adopting him. And for the record. He’s fifteen and currently resides at Jonathon’s shelter.”
The buzz of voices went up a level and he groaned and leaned back in his chair. This wasn’t getting them anywhere. Obviously Rolf hadn’t been able to do whatever he’d planned. Which was a shame. There was a part of him that had looked forward to watching Rolf bring someone down.
“That might be a good way to divert the media,” Shera said.
“We’re not using my son,” he growled. “Non-negotiable. I’ll kiss Crelon on the mouth before I do that.”
A few snickers flickered through the room before they got back to business.
He thought about what Jonathon did. How when he needed help at any time, he raised his face and prayed. Brecker figured, considering the Lord had spoken to him just recently, that it might be his best hope. After turning his chair toward the windows, he closed his eyes and tilted his head up slightly.
Lord, I know I don’t do this often. But I’m asking You to intervene here. Jonathon does not deserve the nasty things Crelon’s gonna pull on him, not to mention the rest of the media. And I want to protect Aiden as much as possible, as well. Please. Help me.
“Someone’s coming, Brecker,” Siobhan called out. That was the only warning he got before a security guard walked in, three policemen behind him. Everyone in the room stared at them dumbfounded.
“Court Brecker?” asked one of the policeman, stepping forward.
“Yes.”
“I’m Officer Stott. I have a warrant to inspect all the data pertaining to Foster Scholls Accounting. They’re housed here are they not?”
Brecker wasn’t sure whether he should burst out laughing or to send up a thank you. Instead, he nodded. “Yes, we’re their security company.”
Stott handed over the warrant. “My partner is serving a warrant for their data on site right now. I’m here to lock down their data to make sure it cannot be deleted.”
“Of course.” That was a procedure he put in place when he started the business. It was documented to every new client and to every employee. After quickly looking up the account number, he picked up the phone, aware that everyone was watching him. He put the line through to the loudspeaker and announced. “We have a Code 745 on account FS-28662. I repeat. We have a Code 745 on account FS-28662.” He hung up and nodded to the policemen. “That will shut down any access to Foster Scholls’s data until you have been able to go through it. Nobody will be able to log in to delete or change said information until you give us the go ahead.”
Stott smiled. “Thank you.”
“Corby,” Brecker said to the security man who was with them. “Take the officer and his men down to one of the stat rooms. Bring in Zara. She’s Foster Scholls’s project manager and can give them secure access. With this warrant, everything is out of our hands, folks. I need to call Todd Crelon and let him know his data has been shut down. If everyone will leave my office, I’ll get that done.”
Once Corby took the three policemen with him, Brecker was amused to note that the people in his office were moving remarkably slowly. He knew it had nothing to do with them hoping to listen in. They knew he wouldn’t call while they were in the room. Which was probably their purpose. Making the time between lockdown and his call to Crelon take as long as they could.
“Come on, people,” he encouraged. “He can’t get in. Now get out.”
Shera laughed. “Such a way with words. All right. Do you want us to do anything with this?”
“No. I think this is going to put Crelon up to his neck with whatever they’re looking for. He’s going to be too busy to focus on me and whether or not I’m gay.”
“Got it.” She grinned and walked out with Siobhan, the two chatting about something while everyone else followed them.
As soon as the door shut, he picked up the phone and dialed. He wasn’t surprised to go directly to voice mail. If the police were on their premises, Crelon was too busy to worry about a phone call that he would assume had to do with his little outing trick.
Not Brecker’s fault. “Hey, Todd,” he said in a calm voice. “I just wanted to let you know that we were just served with a warrant pertaining to all Foster Scholls Accounting data. As such, your data has been frozen until the police give us the green light to open up the gates. If you need access to any of your old data, we can request to use one of the backups to send it over, but as per our contract, there is a seventy-two hour release on any data under warrant. Please advise as to what your timeframe is.”
He put the phone down and shook his head.
Wow, when You answer a prayer, You answer a prayer.
His cell phone buzzed
and he looked down, fully expecting to see Crelon’s phone number. Instead he spotted Jonathon’s. Surprised, he answered. “Hey.”
“Brecker,” Jonathon said, sounding a little out of sorts. “I’m glad I caught you. Have you… uh… there’s a news report out and—”
“Saw it,” Brecker said, stopping him from trying to figure out what to say. “Some people are idiots, Jonathon. The guy thought I would fold under such a stupidly worded news report?” He shook his head and then smiled. “Thanks for calling to tell me.”
“You’re welcome. I was worried you hadn’t seen it, but I then thought someone you knew would probably tell you. But then, what if they didn’t…. Are you okay?” The last three words were in a softer voice, one that held a lot less self-confidence than Jonathon usually carried.
“I’m fine,” he assured him. “I….” He couldn’t explain this over the phone. “I don’t know that I care what Crelon chooses to call me. Besides,” he added, unable not to let the laugh out now. “The Lord really answers prayers, Jonathon.”
“What happened?” His tone turned warm and Brecker leaned back in his chair and turned to look outside.
“A whole room of people trying to figure out how to deal with that news report and I sent up a prayer asking for help and in the very next moment, police burst in here with a warrant.” He started to laugh. “For Todd Crelon’s data.”
“No,” Jonathon said and then laughed. “Wow. That’s karma biting him in the butt.”
“No kidding. Now. For the bad news.” Silence met his statement and he winced. Way to go, Brecker. Scare him to death. “I can’t leave the office until the police are gone. So I won’t be able to come spend time with Aiden this afternoon. I hate that because I don’t want to do this to him.”
“Would you like me to put him on the phone?”
Why hadn’t he thought of that? “That would be perfect. Because unless they call me down, and there’s no reason they should need to, all I need to do is be on premises.”
“All right. Give me a moment.”
Brecker needed to do something to assure Aiden things were good. He did not want to let the kid down.
“Dad?”
His heart warmed at the word. “Hey, kiddo.”
“Hey. Are you on your way?”
“Actually, that’s why I asked Jonathon to get you. There’s a problem at work and I can’t leave.”
“Oh.”
He closed his eyes. That one syllable held so much disappointment. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk. If they call me down, I can call back. What do you say?”
“Really?”
“You bet. How were your classes today?”
“Ugh. I hate science. Math I get. Science sucks.”
Brecker laughed. “Which science class?”
“Biology. It’s gross.”
“Yeah. I had fun with physics and chemistry, but biology wasn’t something I enjoyed either.” They talked for over an hour and Brecker remembered what he wanted to talk to Aiden about. “Hey, guess what?”
“What?”
“With you becoming my son, I’ve been thinking I need a bigger place. Where you can have a nice room and your own bathroom and maybe even a study corner. What do you think?”
“Cool. My own bedroom.” He sounded excited.
“Yep. Now, I want you to think hard on it. I’ve never been a yard kind of guy, but if you’d like a house with a yard I’ll look for one. However if you don’t care, I bought the apartment next to mine and asked a friend to make the two apartments one. So we have one large home. What do you think?”
“Really? Dad, that’s great. I loved your place. How will my room look?”
He smiled. “Well, once Casper, that’s my architect, gets me the drawings, you’ll find out the size. But I want you to think how you want to decorate it. Colors, designs, I want your room to reflect you.”
Aiden couldn’t stop talking after that. He had ideas about color and his bed and after each thing, he invariably asked, “Is that okay?” None of his ideas were over the top. It sounded like he was just thrilled to get a room of his own.
A strange beep came over the line. “Oops. I think Reverend Jonathon’s phone is running out of power.”
“Dang. Look, I’m going to come see you this weekend. We’ll talk more then. Love you, kid.” And he did. He’d never understood the love a father had for his son until Aiden and now he felt it acutely.
There was silence and then Aiden whispered. “I love you too, Dad. See you soon.”
With a smile that was so wide his cheeks hurt, Brecker put his phone down. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, listening to the small noises as people walked up and down the stairs or the whoosh of the espresso machine out in Nirvana.
Brecker thought about Jonathon and Rolf, Casper and his husband, and wondered just how many men he knew who weren’t straight. It wasn’t at all a scary thought. In fact, it warmed him. He’d never strived to be normal. Perhaps he had to grow up a bit to gain the ability to love that deeply. Who knew? All he did know was that he finally had two amazing people in his life and he was not going to let them go.
If people like Crelon freaked, that was their problem. Brecker never felt so alive and so happy as he had over the last few months. And he was not about to let that slip away. He was forty-two. It was about time he had a life instead of just a work life.
There was no way to know where a relationship with Jonathon might lead. But it was almost impossible to guess everything. Sometimes living it was the only way to go. This new future was worth any nerves he had. It was worth opening his heart for.
As he gazed out at the world, he thought Saturday was too far away.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rolf washed and Jonathon and Peril dried. Peril was thrilled with his new opportunity and when Jonathon came into the kitchen after handing Aiden the phone, he found them talking about it. Now that he’d had a little time for it to settle in, Peril was as excited about working there as Aiden was about being adopted.
“Well, since you’ll be working here as well as living,” Rolf said, “do you want to stay in the dorms? Or in the staff rooms?”
Peril looked at the two of them. “What do you mean?”
“The dorm rooms only take half of the second floor,” Jonathon explained. “We turned the other half into staff bedrooms if needed. Rolf’s got one. Each room has its own three quarter bath and a window.” He forced himself not to laugh when Peril’s eyes widened so far it looked like they’d pop out. “If you choose one, we’ll bring in a bed and a dresser as well.”
“You mean it? I could have my own room?”
“Of course,” Jonathon said. “If you’re working here, that’s part of the perk. After we finish, why don’t you let Rolf show you and you can decide.”
While they went upstairs, he wandered around to check on the youth and make sure they were doing okay. Nighttime after dinner and before bed seemed the easiest time for any one of them to fess up if they were feeling bad about something or needed advice. So he made sure to see every one of them and hang around if they wouldn’t meet his eyes. Invariably that individual would slink off. He’d follow and once away from everyone, they’d spill whatever was going on.
That night it was Kyle. He followed the sixteen-year-old into the chapel and sat next to him in the last pew. He loved the peace that invaded the room. It was easy to sit and let it sink into his bones while he waited for Kyle to talk.
“Reverend Jonathon?”
“Yes?”
“How do I ask someone out?” Ah, it was that kind of question. Kyle rushed on. “Since it’s not like I can ask him out to a movie or something like that and it’s raining all the time so we can’t go outside.”
He leaned back and put an arm around Kyle’s shoulder. “Aiden?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think he’d care what you did as long as you did it together. And even in a group environment, there are w
ays to get some alone time.”
Kyle peeked up at him through his bangs. “Yeah?”
“Sure. It might take asking others to stay out of one of the rooms for a couple hours. Perhaps the game room. Or if you wanted to watch a movie, we could figure out a way to keep everyone out of the living room for that long. I’m sure Rolf wouldn’t mind making something special. Buttered popcorn. Maybe he’d bring out some of his licorice.” Rolf kept guard over those and was known to only give them out on special occasions. Jonathon had no doubt a date would meet that expectation.
A smile crossed Kyle’s face. “Cool. Can we do it tomorrow?”
Jonathon considered the timing. “Why don’t you ask him for Sunday night? Both the living and game rooms tend to get filled up on Friday nights. Sunday night might be a better arrangement.”
“Okay. Thanks, Reverend Jonathon.”
They’d just exited the chapel when Aiden walked up. He held up Jonathon’s phone, a sheepish expression on his face. “I think I ran your battery down.”
With a laugh, Jonathon took the phone. “It’s easy enough to recharge it.” Both boys looked at one another and then away and he took a step to the side. Once he was gone, hopefully Kyle would ask. “In fact, I’m going to do that now. See you two later.”
He had barely reached the end of the hallway, when he heard Kyle say, “Aiden, want to, um, go on a date with me?”
Jonathon couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his lips. Rolf looked up when he walked into his office. “Hey. Was looking for the stamps.”
“Left second drawer.”
“Ah, there they are. So what’s put that smile on your face?”
He plugged in his phone and leaned back against the desk. “Kyle just asked Aiden on a date.”
Rolf smiled. “Ah, young love. What are they going to do?”
“I suggested either a movie or a game. I’m sure Kyle will let me know which they want. Then you and I will find a way to keep everyone out of that room for the night. I also told Kyle to ask you for some goodies.”
“I’m on it. Caramel popcorn balls. I’ve been meaning to make them and this would be a good excuse. Oh, and when you ask Peril which room he wants, he’ll probably say whichever one we give him. But the one he wants is the first one to the left of the stairs. Don’t know if it’s the view or the corner shelving unit, but he stayed in that room twice as long as the rest.”