“Do you know that I’m so tempted to go over to Felix’s and wait to see if the shit has the balls to come back? I’d take him down for what he did. He’d never know what hit his nasty ass.” Her sorrow flew away, leaving anger in its place.
“I wish we could find the bastard too.” Leo had no idea what he would do to Axe if they found him, but he was fairly sure it wouldn’t be pretty. “It’s not fair that he’s out there doing to guys what he did to Felix. What do you want to bet that Felix isn’t the first one to end up abused by this monster?”
“Oh, I’m sure. These guys don’t just start raping people with no forethought. I wish Felix remembered more. I wish I could get my hands on his cock.”
Leo blinked at her in the dim light of the backyard, half a block away from the nearest streetlight. “His cock?”
“Yeah. I’d cut that thing off, then shove it so far up his ass that when he tried to tell someone where it was, it would fall out of his mouth.” She glared. “I wonder if he’s military.”
“What?” From her suggestions, Leo could tell her mind was racing, trying to put some kind of understanding to it.
“Military,” she repeated. “Don’t you keep up with the news? A lot of these military guys are coming back from war and can’t handle things. They’re abusing their spouses and everyone around them ’cause they’ve been through so much shit they can’t cope. It’s sad but true. We’ve got so many military guys around here that it’s a distinct possibility. Not to mention a lot of those jarhead types are really mad about how long it’s taken for the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy to be cleared from the books. They’ve had to hide what they are and—”
Leo held up a hand. “Hold up. You’re jumping to conclusions. I know we want this all to be a bad dream. I’d give anything for it to have never happened to Felix. But we don’t help him by coming up with wild ideas.”
She deflated in her chair. “I know. I’m just trying to understand what kind of man could attack our Felix.”
“I know.” Leo got out of his chair and hugged her. Since Felix wasn’t allowing any touching, and Aud wasn’t there, it felt good to hold someone.
Julie sniffled as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I want to fix this. It’s not fair Felix got hurt.”
As his throat tightened and the tears he’d been holding back since Felix had cried in the car flowed freely, Leo fought to control his own voice. “I know.”
When her tears dried several minutes later, Julie sniffled again. “I’m sorry. We’re supposed to be strong for Felix.”
Leo hugged her tight before kissing her check. “It’s okay. Felix is in the house asleep. We can be as weak as we want to be when he’s not here.”
“Okay.” She wiped her nose with her hands. “We’ll be there for each other, then?”
“And for Felix.” Leo wished he had a couple of tissues for both their noses.
“Always for Felix.”
They settled back into their chairs. Silence covered them again before talk turned to small, unimportant things, like upcoming meals, movies to watch, and how they both had to do laundry sometime soon. Finally the chill of the night grew to the point they were both shivering. Julie took the opportunity to leave, promising to swing by the next morning.
Leo retrieved her purse off the back of the couch, noticing the bedroom door was ajar. When he came back in from seeing Julie off, Felix was sitting on the couch with Sofi in his lap.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he muttered as Leo closed the door. “Thanks for not leaving me alone.”
“Not a problem. I’m here for you. So’s Julie.” Leo pulled off his jacket and hung it from the proper hook.
“I know. I can’t believe I was silly enough to try to hide this. You guys know me better than anyone else.”
“Exactly. Next time, keep us in the loop.” Resisting the urge to start pacing in the small apartment, Leo went over to his recliner and sat.
“I’ll try. Not that I ever want there to be a next time.”
“I’m with you there. No more. We only want peace and quiet.”
“So the problem with Aud’s stalker has been taken care of?”
“No.” Leo dropped his gaze to the dark Berber carpet under his feet. “At least, not that Aud told me when I called him earlier. It was while the doctor was in the room with you. I’m not family, so I wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“But you’re family to me.” Felix continued petting Sofi. “You know, I’ve heard about some guys who don’t ever plan on getting married having civil union paperwork on file so if one of them ends up in the hospital, or worse, the other has rights.”
“Let’s wait a few years,” Leo replied. This is hitting him really hard. He’s never had thoughts like this before. Besides, we’re too young to give up on finding love.
“Yeah. If we do something like that, folks really will think we’re a couple.” A sad smile crossed his face. “I love you, Leo, but it didn’t work out in the bedroom. Not that it’s ever going to work out in the bedroom for me ever again.”