Page 38 of Rainbows Over Cedarwood

A thought occurred to him. If he left town, he’d be leaving a good job with the tenure he’d earned. He’d leave friends and the places he loved. His mother lived in Cedarwood. They’d finally fixed the relationship a little and he wanted to run away? He didn’t want to hide from his troubles or Colt, but he wasn’t sure he could handle seeing Colt with someone else.

“Dad, this is the room.” Wyatt yanked Ashley’s arm. “Here.” He led Ashley into the hospital room. “Hiya, Colt.”

“Hi,” Colt said. He struggled to sit up. “The day just got a whole lot better. How are you?”

“Better than you, it would appear.” Brenda draped her arm around Wyatt’s shoulders. “Looks like you’re going to make it.”

“I hope so.” Colt blew out a ragged breath. “They got me good.”

“But you’re going to live?” Wyatt asked.

“Yeah.” Colt smiled, albeit weakly. “Give me a couple days and I’ll be back at the diner and ready to make you whatever you want.” He reached for Ashley. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. I’m okay, really. A couple bumps, some bruises and two cracked ribs, but I’ll make it.”

“Why don’t you and I go get a soda from the machine?” Brenda steered Wyatt to the door. “We’ll come back to Daddy in a moment. Okay?”

“You’re going to be here when we get back, right?” Wyatt asked.

“We will.” Colt smiled again. “Your daddy and I aren’t going anywhere.”

“Cool.” Wyatt allowed his grandmother to lead him back out of the room.

Ashley waited for the door to close before he said anything. He wanted to measure his words. If he let his heart run free, he’d say something foolish. If he gave himself a moment, he could use his head and be more rational.

“What’s wrong, Ash? Are you okay?” Colt reached for him again. “Come here. I need to touch you.”

Ashley didn’t move. “You’re pretty cool for a guy who just got the hell beat out of him.”

“My favorite guy showed up and sped my healing along.” Colt plunked his hand onto his lap. “But now he doesn’t look so thrilled.”

“He just left, didn’t he?” Ashley collapsed onto the armchair. “Your favorite guy?”

“Huh?” Colt frowned and his forehead wrinkled. “What are you talking about? I meant you.”

“Jay was here. When I asked the woman at the counter to let us back here, she said we had to wait for Jay Damon to leave.” Ashley’s voice cracked. “I know we’re new at this relationship and never actually said we were exclusive, but for me, we were. Are you seeing him? According to the desk worker, he’s your husband.”

The color drained from Colt’s face. “My what?”

“Look, if he is, then fine. I understand.” Not really, but he’d put on a brave face. “I’ve got Wyatt to think about. He adores you.” The muscle in his jaw tensed. “If you’re with Jay, then we’ll just call this a happy fling and stay out of your life other than to be your friend.”

“You’ve got this all wrong.” Colt struggled to sit up again. “I promise you do.”

“There’s been a lot of promising lately.” Ashley stood. He needed to move. “I want you to be honest with me.” His emotions had gotten the better of him. He couldn’t think. Instead, he wanted to scream.

“Ash, wait.” Colt grasped Ashley’s hand as he walked past. “Stop.”

Ashley wanted to fight him, but the fight had left him.

“I’m not married. Never have been.” He caressed the back of Ashley’s hand with his thumb. “Jay came to the room, yes. He showed up long enough to see if I was still around. He asked if I wanted to rekindle the flame. I suspect he thought he’d get in on the fame he saw coming. I’ve been interviewed over the phone by the local paper and the Cleveland news channels. He wanted in on that.”

“Why are they interested?” Ashley inched closer to the bed. “It wasn’t just a robbery?”

“Jordan can explain better, but the people who did this wanted to send me a message. They were part of the coalition—maybe a splinter cell, but they were associated with them. They wanted me to die because I’m gay. If I died, then I’d get the rest of the LGBTQ community out of Cedarwood. It’s stupid, but that’s what they wanted.” Colt grasped his ribcage with his free hand. “I’m not leaving this town. Fuck ’em. If they want to cleanse a town, then they’ll have to find a different town.”

Ashley closed his eyes. Cleanse the town. What was wrong with people? Then again, that made sense. Beat up a member of the LGBTQ community, get the news involved and press for the problem. Once the Cleveland area and the rest of the state took notice, then God only knew what would happen.

“I crawled across that damn lawn because I wanted to see you again.” A tear slipped down Colt’s cheek. “I wanted to see Wyatt again. Jay didn’t factor into the equation. I know it seems messed up. It is. I’m committed to this new thing we’ve started, to not jerking Wyatt around, to keeping my diner and showing the community that we’re all the same on the inside.” He snorted. “Wow, that came out sounding like a fucked-up rally cry.”

“It did a little.” Ashley perched on the edge of the bed.

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