Fix It Up (Torus Intercession 3)

“Finish what?” he asked, yawning, stretching before he got comfortable again, this time with his face pressed to the side of my neck.

“You were supposed to be—this is the information that Mavis sent over about the changes to your father’s case,” I reminded him.

“Oh yeah, I know. She told me on the phone. He’s not being charged with child endangerment or neglect of a dependent because the statute of limitations has expired, but instead, the prosecutor is charging him with a hate crime in relation to me.”

“That’s right.”

“The fraud and animal cruelty charges haven’t changed, but Walker’s getting charged with possession of child pornography and extortion, so he’s going to jail for a long time.”

I waited.

His eyes started to get heavy and droop.

“Nick!”

He jolted. “Yes. What. I’m listening.”

“Honey, your father is—are you okay?”

“God,” he replied with a long sigh. “Please call me honey forever.”

I wasn’t going to be with him forever. “Nick, I need to know that you’re okay and––”

“Oh yeah, don’t worry,” he said softly, kissing the side of my neck. “Along with the new charges, Mavis made sure that they put in a provision that no one in the family, or anyone who’s even a casual acquaintance of my father’s, can take control of the horse farm. He can’t be a silent partner; he can’t have anything to do with a farm or any animals. Period. I mean, can he have goldfish? I don’t know, but––”

“Be serious,” I groused at him.

“Listen, when he gets out of prison, whenever that is, he’s banned for life from hurting any other animal, and you read it, but in a nutshell, Mavis told me that it will take all his business, as well as personal assets, to satisfy his creditors. He’ll have nothing when he gets out. He’ll have to start from scratch.”

“Nick,” I rasped, so hurt for him. “How do you feel about––”

“Oh, baby, I’m okay,” he soothed me, taking hold of my hand and stroking his thumb over my knuckles. “I wanted him out of the horse business, and I got that. I wanted to either buy the horses myself or make sure they went to reputable breeders. I got that too.”

I nodded.

“Walker Evans can’t hurt me ever again, and he can’t hurt the men who he filmed along with me. He’s going to jail, he took a plea, and that’s it.”

“I’m sorry the child endangerment was too old for them to––”

“He’s being charged with a hate crime, which it was,” he assured me. “For the boy I was, it’s not fair, but it’s justice for the man I am now.”

He had changed so much, and I was so very proud of him.

“And all of it, because of you, is over.”

“No, not because of––”

“I let all of that, my father and how he felt about me, Walker and what he did, eat me alive,” he told me. “But now it’s over, and I’m about to meet my mother’s side of my family and reconnect with my roots. I’m brand new starting now.”

“Yeah, but there’s still things to––”

“Work on, work through, I know,” he assured me, slipping his hand around the side of my neck. “But I have a really good therapist, and my boyfriend’s mother is awesome, and between him and her, I’m getting all the love I need. The future is all bright and shiny.”

Wait. Love? Who said anything about love?

“I think we need to talk about what you think is––”

“Absolutely,” he murmured, closing his eyes as he eased me close for a kiss. “We will definitely talk, since you love to do that so much.”

The sarcasm was not lost on me, but I couldn’t resist the kiss, or the next one, or the one after that, and when he got up while I was catching my breath, ostensibly to have a quick word with Silas and Meira, I let him go. When I checked on him a moment later and found Silas smiling at him and Meira with her hand in his, I decided to leave him alone instead of insisting that he come back and finish the conversation with me.

And honestly, it felt done. He was at peace with everything, with how it had all played out, and just because I was mad for him, didn’t give me the right to make him feel the same. He’d been so lost for so long and had finally faced down his demons. He would keep seeing his therapist, and they would weed out any residual anger or hurt he was holding on to. Plus, he wasn’t wrong about my mother. Her love could help make anyone whole. Me, on the other hand, what the hell was that about? Love him? The man was confusing our truce with something long-term, and we needed to settle that the minute we got back to California. I would make certain.