Dane opened his mouth, wanting to argue, or better yet—rush outside and find Jag somehow—but ended up sliding back into the chair and encircling the hot, damp cup with both hands. “He left me no choice.”
Frank made himself coffee and shook his head, adjusting his black braid so it hung down the backrest. “He has his own ways. To be honest, I’m surprised he adapted to his new situation at all. But now that we don’t have your parents here, I need to know what he told you and what’s really been happening behind my back. It’s been weeks since Rob brought you here,” he added as he pinned Dane with his brown gaze.
Dane stiffened. “Um… well… he held me at his den. That’s all there really is to it.” Lies. Lies. Lies. But he was too embarrassed to reveal that the long conversations, walks, and delicious, delicious sex had any meaning to him at all. Because what would it have said about him, if he’d enjoyed himself while being a captive?
Frank rubbed his face and took a deep breath. He stayed like that for a while before speaking up. “Did he rape you?”
Dane sucked in air, stung by so much shame he couldn’t fathom ever meeting this man’s gaze again. Many would have confirmed and distanced themselves from Jag as fast as they could, but the truth was that Dane had been a willing participant in every single act, even the one at the end of their game, when Jag had been so very rough and would have fucked Dane dry without a reminder not to.
But despite hiding from him that time, Dane had wanted the sex, because Jag’s lust had never been the reason for his flight. Jag cared for him, and despite being pushy, had waited for Dane to make the first move in one way or another, and since he couldn’t stand Frank and Shane thinking that what happened had been the result of violence, Dane shook his head.
“No. He imprisoned me, but it wasn’t… like that.”
The thick sigh of relief emerging from Frank’s chest revealed how much he feared Dane’s answer. “He’s not a bad guy. Just odd. He was half feral when I first found him. I had to shave his head because his hair was impossible to untangle. He must have been in shock as well, because he remained mute for so long I worried he might not be able to speak at all.”
Dane looked up, his heart throbbing when he imagined Jag hurt and too scared to communicate. “He said it’s been four winters since then. What happened?”
“He later told me he’d spent months traveling on his own and avoiding people. He’s from this strange little community of… preppers would be a way to describe it, because they wanted to remain completely off grid and self-sustainable. He didn’t know a world beyond it. Bit by bit, I worked out that he ran away because he was gay, and that was that. I knew I had to let him stay.” Frank chuckled and leaned back until the chair creaked under him in warning. He could’ve given The Rock a run for his money when it came to size.
“He’s a bit like a son to you, isn’t he?” Dane found himself asking when a soft smile stretched Frank’s severe features.
“He is. A feral, pain-in-the-ass grown-up son. At first, he tried to romance me, brought me flowers, pretty rocks and buttons, and all sorts of critters he hunted down. But I don’t see him that way, and he understood I couldn’t be the partner he needed. If you haven’t picked that up, Shane and my nephew are gay too. I had to fend for myself from a young age, so I have a soft spot for outcasts.”
Was he trying to say there would be room for Dane here too?
“I have a family,” Dane said quickly. “They missed me, and… thought that something bad happened to me… which it did,” he said with a huff, shaking when the pain of Rob’s punches came back to him in a short yet all-too-realistic flashback.
“I know looks can deceive, but you don’t seem like a shady guy. How did you get involved with Rob? We have an arrangement with the biker club, but they only bring us collateral damage, never civilians.”
Anger simmered inside Dane, but it wouldn’t have been smart to confront Frank about the moral dubiousness of his business, when he was obviously trying to be accommodating and help Dane out of a difficult situation. So he exhaled and took a sip of the tea, which was still so hot it scalded the tip of his tongue.
“I’m just an IT guy,” he muttered, before sucking in air to cool the burned flesh. “Me and Rob were hooking up. And then he asked me for a favor. He said he’d get in trouble because of some silly thing, so I hacked the club’s system and deleted a couple of files, mostly from surveillance cameras. I think… I just wasn’t safe to keep around after that.”