Page 60 of Protecting his Heart

Evan’s mother nodded. “Yes, of course. Thank you.”

“And you will stay in the living room until my mother arrives, because there is no way you are talking to Evan without her being here.”

“We have every right—” his father said.

“That’s fine,” his mother interrupted, and his father glared but said nothing more.

Owen tugged Evan to one side while his parents entered, then he closed the door and faced Evan. “We’re going right past them into the kitchen, okay? No talking to them.”

Evan thought he nodded, but he couldn’t be sure. His brain had gone on holiday, apparently.

****

Chapter 19

Owen

The nerve of those people. Not only knocking on the damn door in the first place, but believing they had the right to. Fuckers would get what was coming to them if Owen had anything to say about it.

He led Evan into the kitchen, pushing him against the counter and pressing his body against him, hoping to give him something tangible to hold on to. While he held him, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled his mother.

“Hey, everything okay? I’m at work,” Sally said.

“I know, and I’m sorry. I need you to come to mine. Evan’s parents just turned up, and I don’t trust myself with them.”

Sally mumbled something just out of earshot, which he assumed wasn’t for his ears, and then she spoke more clearly, “I’m on my way.”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for this. It might be you pullingmeoff them instead of the other way around. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

He ended the call and put his phone on the counter. Cupping Evan’s face, he brought his glazed gaze to his and brushed his thumbs over his cheeks.

“I’m here, sweetheart. I’m here.”

Evan dropped his head forward, dislodging Owen’s hands but snuggling into his neck and wrapping his arms around him.He still said nothing, which was understandable. Shock was too minor a word for what he probably felt right then.

Owen kept his arms around him, running a hand up and down his spine and mumbling nonsense. He really wanted to give them a piece of his mind, but he held back. When he heard the doorbell, he pressed his lips to Evan’s head. “I’ll be right back. Stay here, okay?”

Evan nodded and gripped the counter behind him as if he needed it to keep him upright. Owen headed for the door, stopping halfway through the living room when his mother walked in with Evan’s father behind her.

“Next time, wait for the person who lives here to open the door. You have no right—”

“I knew who it would be.”

“I don’t give a damn. You wouldn’t have let us do that in your home, so don’t do it here,” he bit out.

Evan’s father clenched his jaw but said nothing as he returned to the sofa beside his wife. Sally ushered Owen back into the kitchen and went straight to Evan, who collapsed into her arms when she reached him. Owen could hear them murmuring, but it wasn’t his business. Their relationship had grown in the time Evan had lived with them, and the intervening years had not stopped that. Evan might not consider Sally to be his mother—mainly because he was scared of being too much for her—but Sally was happy to claim Evan as her son.

“Are you ready?” she asked them both.

“Not really,” he said, “but I suppose.”

They entered the living room, one of them on either side of Evan, and settled onto the opposite sofa. It was a squeeze, but Owen was not letting him face it without support.

“What do you want, Bernie?” Sally asked.

Evan’s mother raised her head. “I want to know my son.”

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