Sanctuary Found (Pelican Bay 2)

From the sounds of it, so had Isaac.

Which meant Isaac was gay or at least bi.

The realization did something funny to my stomach, but I forced the uncomfortable sensation away.

“I shouldn’t have taken it, but Trey was pretty convincing, and he paid me a lot to get it back for him. When I realized it was a scam, I thought about going to the cops, but I… I just couldn’t.” Isaac’s eyes went to Newt for a second and I knew why.

And it reinforced my belief that it was just the two of them against the world.

I resisted the urge to interrupt and ask Isaac if that were true–if it was just him and the little boy. I had to remind myself that this kid was trouble. He’d already admitted to being a thief and fucking around with men who were involved with other people… he didn’t deserve my pity or concern.

Dallas typed something into his phone and handed it to Isaac. It was hard to watch my brother communicate through the little device. When I’d left town so many years ago, Dallas’s mutism had been so new that I hadn’t really had a chance to adapt to it. When I’d seen him again a couple of years later, I hadn’t been interested in anything he had to say, so it hadn’t mattered. I’d only been back a few weeks and had just assumed my brother had eventually gotten his voice back, but I’d been shocked to find that the only way he could communicate with the outside world was through the written word.

And it had gutted me.

Lots of things had gutted me, but that had been one of the hardest things.

Because it was a reminder that my brother hadn’t walked away unscathed from the car accident that had taken our mother’s life and put our father in a wheelchair for the final years of his life.

“Um, yeah, I sent those recordings to the cops. I started taping Trey when I realized he’d lied to me. I didn’t want to go down for that shi–stuff, you know?” Isaac explained.

Before Nolan or Dallas could respond to Isaac, two cars made their way up to the parking lot from the driveway.

The sight of the sheriff didn’t particularly bother me, but when my eyes landed on the truck behind it that read Animal Control on the door, I stiffened and glanced at my brother. I was momentarily distracted when Isaac suddenly reached down and grabbed a very quiet Newt and picked him up. To my surprise, Isaac stepped toward me. Newt was wrapped around him like a vine.

I heard Isaac whisper something to Newt that sounded suspiciously like, “Don’t worry, buddy, I won’t let them take you,” but I couldn’t be sure. The little boy nodded his head and then tucked his face against Isaac’s neck. I did hear what he whispered to Isaac.

I love you, Isaac.

I recognized the sheriff as he made his way toward us. His name was Curtis Tulley and he’d been the sheriff of Pelican Bay for years. We’d actually been on good terms with him when we’d been kids because he’d been our father’s best friend.

But that had all changed after the accident.

I could practically feel the hatred seeping off Sheriff Tulley as he approached Dallas and Nolan.

“Mr. Grainger, Mr. Kent,” he said, nodding his head slightly. The contempt was dripping from his voice and I knew why.

He blamed Dallas for our father’s death.

We all had.

But the conversation I’d been having with Dallas and Nolan right before Isaac’s arrival had planted a seed in my mind that was sprouting and growing like the most invasive of plants. My father had been the one to break it to me that Dallas had been drinking the night of the accident that had killed our mother. He’d said both he and our mother had begged Dallas to hand over the keys. When he wouldn’t, they’d gotten in the car with him so they could try and stop him. It had ended in disaster.

Dallas’s betrayal had ripped a hole in me so wide I hadn’t been able to breathe after I’d been given that piece of information. As kids, my brother and I had made a pact that we’d never so much as even touch a drop of alcohol if there was even a remote chance we’d be driving. After spending so many years trying to keep our alcoholic parents from killing themselves or others by driving drunk, it had made sense to vow that it was a trap we’d never fall into.

So to learn Dallas had broken that pact had felt like the ultimate betrayal and I’d punished him gravely for it.

Only now I was starting to fear that I’d gotten it wrong.

Really, really wrong.

The sheriff spied me, and I could tell he was surprised to see me. “Didn’t know you were back in town, son.”