Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Craig

If I could be honest with anyone, it was with Jamie.

Still, even knowing that, it took me several minutes to force the secrets that I'd kept bottled up inside me to spill. They leaked out in a small dribble at first, both of us seated on the swings of the redwood play fort in the backyard.

"I'm sorry," I said for the twelfth time in forty seconds. My thoughts were a jumbled word gumbo, and I felt like a toddler trying to pick out the letters to spell garbage from his bowl of alphabet soup. Because if any descriptor of things right now in my life fit it was garbage. Maybe terror. "I just…" I blew out a breath, rubbed my face with my palms, and then locked my legs to stop the swing from moving. "My sister had a phone call from my ex."

I peeked to the side to see Jamie trying to connect the dots and failing. "Why would he call your sister?"

And here it was. The place where all the refuse tumbled out onto the street for the world to step over, or kick into the sea.

"She has Bruno."

Jamie also stopped swinging. "Is Bruno your son?" His voice was shaky now.

"No, no, Bruno is my dog."

His exhalation was legendary. "Okay, well, that's a completely different scenario. I didn't know you owned a dog. So, tell me about Bruno and why Leon the Horror is calling your sister about your dog."

I swallowed down the worry. "Leon gave me Bruno as a gift for our first anniversary. He was the cutest little puppy. He has to wear little sweaters because he's a Chinese Crested. He's the hairless variety and gets cold easily. He's a smart dog but excitable and gets anxious when he senses upset in his people. Leon said he was a sound investment and would give me something to talk about when we were among his colleagues. Guess I was too stupid to talk about anything other than a dog."

"I loathe your ex increasingly with every passing hour," Jamie mumbled while maneuvering to the right to rub my bowed back. "It sounds like you love Bruno a lot."

"I do, and he got me through some really terrible times. When I left I took Bruno with me. He was mine, and I honestly didn't trust Leon alone with the dog. I was scared he would take out his anger on him. One kick would probably kill him, he's just a little dog." A shudder ran through me just thinking of it. "When I left, I went home to Michigan and stayed with Claudia in her small apartment. Bruno was a wreck, nerved up, scared of this new house and this woman he barely knew. Leon found us right off, began calling all the time, both Claudia and me, begging at first, imploring me to come home to him. We'd work things out, he said. When I said no he started texting me instead of calling. I changed my number several times. Claudia moved to a new house with a yard that I helped her finance. Leon never stopped texting me, somehow he always found my number and where I lived no matter how often I moved."

Jamie pulled me into his side, the chains on the swings creaking under our weight. "God what a controlling bastard he is. We both really did shit the bed on our previous choices, didn't we?"

"Yeah, you could say that. Every month, at least twice, he texts me asking me to reconsider. Telling me that if I'd only stop being so hysterical, I'd see we were destined to be together. I used to reply to the texts, but that only brought more lies, so I just ignore them now. I keep them on my phone, though. Is that weird?"

"No—"

"I'm scared, and that's stupid, right?"

Someone cleared their throat, and we both whirled to find Jackson at the back door. "Sorry, I wasn't listening in, but uhm… I'm tuned into these conversations, and I was in the kitchen, and I could hear you and, jeez…" He dipped his head in embarrassment. "Why are you scared of your ex?"

I lifted my chin. He wouldn't be the first person who said I was a grown man and shouldn't fear Leon. Hell, I thought the same thing myself.

"He has every right to be scared," Jamie defended me.

Jackson raised his hands in defense. "Of course he does. Look, I'm sorry for overhearing your conversation but, do you want me to sit in on this talk? If you don't want me here that's fine, Craig, but from a cop's perspective what I heard made me nervous."

I glanced at Jamie. He knew Jackson much better than I did. Jamie nodded softly. "He's an annoying asshole but a good cop." He sounded begrudging, but I could see they were friends, and he was probably teasing.

Jackson fake-swooned. "Jamie just called me a good cop."

It lightened the mood a little, and yeah, there was something in Jackson I thought I could trust. I didn't want to involve the cops, but he was the friend of a friend, and maybe he could give me kind of legal advice.

"Sure, you can sit in, I guess." I sighed. "But Leon hasn't done anything illegal."

"I'm not sure that's true," Jackson said, sitting on the end of the slide, shoulders slouched, elbows on knees, and giving me a kind smile. "Can you start at the beginning again?"

This talk suddenly felt very different. Did I want to discuss this with a cop? Leon had never threatened me with physical harm. Never hit me. What did Jackson think he could add to this nightmare? Jamie hugged me a little tighter. The tale of Craig and Leon began again. From our meeting at a legal fund benefit for the homeless of LA to our whirlwind romance to my moving in with him a mere three months after we'd met. Leon was charming, rich, so damn smart, stylish. Everything I felt I wasn't. I wanted to absorb his confidence by osmosis or something, I guess. To this day I can't put my finger on why I'd allowed myself to be so easily manipulated.

I touched on how things at home, once he had me in his space, began to shift from Leon being the kind man to being the critical lover over the course of several months. It had been a slow progression. I'd barely noticed it, but the longer I was with him, the lower my self-confidence sank. Claudia saw it, though, and she made it known that she didn't like Leon or his treatment of her brother to anyone who would listen. And several dozen who didn't want to listen but had been forced to.

"And maybe that is on me? Maybe because I think of myself as less, I allowed him to make me feel that way."

"No!" Jamie defended, "That's bullshit."

Jackson said little as the flow of memories increased from a trickling stream to a torrential dousing that could sweep a small town off the side of a mountain. All the nitpicking, the slights, the public humiliations all gushed out of me. Two years of being belittled had finally worn me down.

"Then one night, it all came to a head. He was late for dinner with one of his clients. I had a hockey game. He came unglued, called me a moron for putting a stupid game before his needs, and stormed out after taking a swing at Bruno napping on our bed."

"He hit your dog?"

"He missed, but that one backhanded attempt was it for me, because if he could pick on something as helpless as a tiny dog…"

I leaned into Jamie, who tightened his hold as he muttered several choice curses.

I continued, "I'd been called a moron or retarded or a dimwit my whole life but that night… I don't know. He'd called me far worse over our time together, but him lifting a hand to a tiny dog who loved us both unconditionally… that I wasn't going to stand for. I packed up Bruno and my clothes, and I left Leon. My coach at the time was unhappy with me calling up and saying I had a family crisis, but he gave me a few days off to get things organized. When I got back to Michigan, my folks were surprised to see me, I'd never told them about the shit with Leon or what he'd done to Bruno. I was too ashamed. I bunked with my sister, who knew the reality of things, and when I returned to New York, I left Bruno with Claudia. I assumed after she moved, Leon had lost track of her. I prayed he had, but he's obviously found her."

Jackson sighed hard, muttering something about the internet. "It's not hard to track someone down if you're diligent. He's a lawyer, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then his firm probably has a private investigator on staff. Easy enough to follow you when you went home for the summer. He might have had that info months ago and sat on it until he needed it," Jackson said, his brow furrowed as he spoke. "You said you kept all the texts he's sent you?"

"Yeah, I have them in a folder. It's stupid…"

"No, not at all. They're evidence."

"Look, I know I don't have all the facts here, but to me, this sounds like a case of cyberstalking."

"But he's not following me around or anything," I argued.

"He doesn't have to. Cyberstalking is a pattern of behavior unwanted by the victim, that leaves the person being stalked feeling afraid or in danger. The messages and the texts don't have to be direct threats to you or your loved ones, or your dog, but if any of it makes you feel scared in any manner, then it's a case of cyberstalking. For a man who seems to think he's so damn smart, it seems he should know better. Sometimes, the smartest folks are the dumbest when it comes to common sense. No slight intended, Jamie."

"None taken," Jamie said. "I wholly agree. Some of the most intelligent people I know are thick as shit when it comes to common sense."

I sat there dumbfounded.

"Thing is… he is clever, and a lawyer, and he's said that he would take me to court for Bruno. That he has the ownership papers and that no judge would rule in my favor. I can't let him have Bruno. He's not a dog person. Hell, he's not a people person! He only wants the dog as a bargaining chip and to drive a stake into my heart, as if all the slights and name-callings over our relationship hadn't hurt me bad enough."

"We will not let him get his hands on Bruno. Surely there must be some legal recourse," Jamie stated, his arms tight around me.

"Are the papers really in his name?" Jackson asked.

I nodded.

His frown didn't lift my spirits.

"Okay, well, that's something to battle out with lawyers, sadly, but if we can gather enough evidence of cyberstalking, we could possibly hold that over his head if he does want to take things that far. I have some buddies in the cybercrimes department. If you want to talk with them to see if the texts can be used to possibly build a case against Leon then I'd be happy to sit in with you on your meeting. Also, if you can list the gifts with approximate dates and what they meant to you, that would help."

"Okay." I sounded so unsure.

"It's totally up to you. Your call. I'm not going to push you to do anything. But remember that most stalkers don't relent until law enforcement is involved. And even then, many are so obsessed they still can't stop. This man seems to be quite smart. Perhaps a long talk with the cops or the Feds, who take any cybercrime quite seriously, will get him to back off. Whatever you decide, you can come to me anytime to discuss this situation. I'm always happy to pay a visit to a bully. People respond well to my little chats with them. It's my stunning personality."

Jamie snorted.

I had to smile.

"Thanks, I… I don't know what to do. Claudia recorded Leon's threat. Maybe I should call Leon and tell him not to speak to my sister ever again?" Jamie threaded his fingers into my hair, a soft touch that worked wonders. "Would that help?"

Jackson shook his head. "I'd advise not to reply to him in any form." He pushed up from the slide onto his bare feet. "If he knows that he's rattled you, then he'll just do it again. Did your sister tell him never to contact her again?"

"She said she told him to take a long walk off a very short fucking pier," I replied. Both men chuckled. A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. "Claudia is tiny but mighty. Kind of like Bruno. Do you think he can take my dog back?" Neither of them said anything, meaning they secretly felt I didn't have a leg to stand on. "Shit, shit, shit."

"Let's not panic," Jamie said, and Jackson gave me a meager smile before heading back inside. The screen door closed softly, and a moth battered itself against the muted yellow light on the back porch.

"I'm trying not to."

"I'm sure this will all be sorted one step at a time. I think you need to decide if you're willing to take this to the police or not."

"If I don't do something, it's just going to keep happening, or he will move on his threat to take me to court over Bruno, which will also bring our personal lives into the public light. What if all of this is public and it hits social media and my career… what if…"

"Don't dwell on the what-ifs."

"Ugh, I wish he would just leave me the hell alone!"

"He will. We'll end this one way or another. Just know that if you do have to go public, I will be right at your side. Fuck Leon and his manipulations. What a massive wanker. What kind of bellend threatens to take a dog away from its happy home?"

"I love it when you get all riled up and your Brit flows free."

" Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves ," Jamie sang with a mock flag wave. I snuggled into his side, my swing seat digging painfully into my hockey player's ass. Even with my ass being pinched by hard wood, there was nowhere else I would rather be than in this backyard with the warm California winds moving over us, my head on my lover's shoulder.

Seemed I had some major decisions to make before the morning light hit the Pacific Ocean.

I spent that night with Jamie in his bed, wrapped around him, wide awake as he slept. The house was quiet, the Santa Ana winds blowing the sheers on the open window. The sound of the man I loved sleeping soundly helped me focus. Hours passed, me in the dark, Jamie out like a light, as I went over every small detail of my relationship with Leon Schmied. I watched the sunrise on Jamie's bare back, the pinks of another glorious day in paradise tinting his ivory skin the color of a peony. Pressing a kiss to his shoulder, I eased out of bed, pulled on the same clothes I'd worn last night, and made my way into the kitchen.

Jackson was sitting at the counter, hair mussed, dressed in a wrinkled blue shirt, dark blue slacks, and a tie with tiny pink dots on it. He cradled a cup of coffee as the pot dripped steadily into a Minnie Mouse thermos.

"You look like shit," he said casually, between slurps of dark roast.

"Right back at you," I tossed out, then leaned against the fridge. "Would you be free today to talk to your friends in the cybercrimes department?"

He stared at me for a long minute over his cup of coffee. "I have court this morning, but maybe after lunch?" I nodded. "I'll give Joanne and Mike a call. They're good people. Joanne is a wild child, you'll like her. She has little dogs, too. Carries them to parties in a purse. I asked her once if she was substituting dogs for dicks. She laughed so hard she peed herself but did, in fact, substantiate that she would much rather spend time with a poodle than ninety percent of the men she'd ever met."

"Guess we're the lucky ones. We've found some great guys."

"Yeah, we did, but we had to kiss a shit ton of frogs first, eh?"

Boy, that was the most truthful statement I had ever heard. I still had warts on my soul from kissing Leon…