Page 10 of How to Trust a Hellhound
“Yeah,” he murmured sleepily, not even opening his eyes. “Barb—she’s in my phone. I have lots of time off. Passcode is 273511.”
“Ok. You just rest. I’ll take care of everything.” I started softly humming, and it wasn’t long before Josh drifted back into sleep.
I wanted to stay and watch over him, but I had promised to take care of things. I walked into the living area and grabbed the bags I’d brought from the car. Most of it was clothes, which I quietly put in the bedroom. I didn’t want to unpack that now. There was a bag of toiletries, which I placed in the bathroom. I eventually found his phone in amongst what looked like work stuff, and I set most of that in the second bedroom. It would be easy enough to get a desk delivered for Josh to work from when he was up to it.
I entered his passcode and went into the text messages, sending off a message to Barb, who was in his contacts, and sayingthat I was a friend of Josh’s and he wasn’t feeling well at all and would be out for a couple days. Despite how late it was, she responded right away, instructing me to take care of him and give him plenty of chicken soup. I wasn’t sure what chicken soup would do, but I sent back a quick reply.
The most texted person in his phone was someone named Rick, and I figured this was probably the boyfriend. I opened up the texts and saw that the last one was from this afternoon.
Rick:I’m having a shitty day. Fucking assholes at work who won’t shut up. Hopefully you didn’t make plans again to ditch me for your friends, because I’m not in the mood to deal with them.
Josh had replied nicely, assuring Rick that he’d be home and asking if there was anything he could do. Rick hadn’t answered.
I scrolled back through the messages, reading them. Josh was sweet, helpful, and reassuring. He stroked Rick’s ego, offered to help all the time, and obviously changed plans when Rick asked him to. I saw an eager-to-please man trying his hardest to make his boyfriend happy.
Rick was a piece of work, though. He wasn’t always an asshole. Sometimes there were general texts about what was for dinner or where they were going, and there was a lot of complaining from Rick about his job. He seemed like he hated everyone he worked with and everything about his job.
There were also hidden barbs throughout—subtle, yet clearly meant to undermine Josh’s confidence. Rick would make backhanded comments if Josh complained, saying things like “pot meet kettle” or “you always have an issue with something,” even though Rick seemed to be the one who always had an issue. Rick made comments about Josh being awkward, boring, and unsupportive, although it was always phrased in a manner like he was just helping Josh be a better person. He complained about Josh’s friends, putting them down, and if Josh tried to defend them, then Rick got mean.
I got more angry and frustrated the more I read, and eventually I put the phone down. Rick was obviously physically and emotionally abusive, and I was glad that Josh had called Aiden. I knew that the scars he would have from this relationship would be far deeper than just the physical ones, and he would need time and support to build up his confidence.
That was ok—I had all the time in the world, and I would make sure Josh was taken care of in every way he needed. It was time for him to find out what it meant to have someone actually support him and care for him.
With that thought, I headed off to find Liam. It was time to find out more about this ex-boyfriend of Josh’s and what exactly we could do about him. Killing him was off the table if he wasn’t hellbound, but I knew he was at least somewhat rotten, and surely we could scare him a bit. Maybe some mild torture. Nothing permanent, of course. I could control myself.
Hopefully.
Chapter 5
Josh
Iwoke up groggy and sore, but I knew where I was.
Unfortunately, I remembered everything from last night in vivid detail, and I was mortified. I was the boring one, as Rick always reminded me. I was put together and organized. I was not an emotional mess who couldn’t stop crying. I guessed a slap and a break-up were enough to make anyone a mess, but I still felt embarrassed.
Then there was the fact that I had literally cried and drooled and who knew what else all over Wilder. I barely knew the man, and I had fallen asleep on him and gotten tucked in.
Sure, I kind of knew him from Toby’s party, but not really. We hadn’t talked, which was fine. I was plain old Josh, and he was anything but plain. I had noticed that at Toby’s, even though I felt guilty at thinking how sexy the guy was. Plus, he was like Toby’s father-in-law, so I shouldn’t be drooling over him. Although he didn’t look that much older than the guys. I wondered if he’d been super young when he’d adopted them.
I sighed again. My interest in Wilder was probably just another one of the many signs that things between Rick and I had been overfor awhile now. I’d been noticing other guys a lot lately, and it wasn’t even in the he’s-so-hot way. I noticed how nice other guys were, and how they treated others, and I thought about how they would treat me in a relationship.
It was probably kind of pathetic when your fantasies weren’t about getting bent over the nearest table and were instead about having someone make you dinner and smile at you.
Which brought me back to Rick. I was going to have to deal with him. I wondered if he’d been blowing up my phone all night. The thought of dealing with him was overwhelming. Even the thought of dealing with Toby and Sebbie made me tired. I loved them—they were my best friends—but I didn’t want to explain everything, and I didn’t want their sympathy and their outrage on my behalf. Usually it was wonderful knowing that you had friends who cared and had your back, but right now, I didn’t know if I could deal with it.
I was surprised they hadn’t come banging on the door in the middle of the night, although maybe it had been late enough that they didn’t know yet. I was sure Aiden would tell Quinton, who would tell Liam, who would tell Dexter, who would tell Toby, who would call up Sebbie right away. By the end of that twisted game of telephone, I’d probably be described as near death, and Toby would decide that Rick was really a vampire or something.
Toby and Sebbie were great, but I just… I didn’t want to answer questions. They were both so extroverted and full of energy, and I was boring, plain, quiet me. Usually I was grateful they had befriended me and dragged me out of my shell, but right now, I just wanted to curl up and hibernate.
I looked over at the nightstand, which did not have my phone on it. It was probably dead wherever it was, but I needed to at least text Barb about work. I sat up, and that’s when I noticed my wrist. It was wrapped up in that beige bandage stuff, and it looked like the swelling had gone down a lot. There wasn’t the same persistentthrobbing, either. Wilder had said it was a sprain, so that was something, at least.
There was a folded t-shirt on the dresser, and I managed to get it on with little trouble. My wrist really did feel better, but there was a dull ache, and I was still careful with it. I walked out into the living area and stopped when I saw Aiden sitting at the table on his phone, his big ass dog next to him, resting his head on Aiden’s leg while Aiden pet him.
He looked up at me, and I braced myself for questions.
“There’s orange juice in the fridge, coffee in the coffee maker, and some muffins on the counter. I brought the coffee maker over this morning at Q’s insistence. Something about it being inhumane to make anyone face the day without coffee.” Aiden rolled his eyes, but he smiled, too.
I walked over to the counter—the place had an open floor plan, with the kitchen, table, and living room all connected. It was nice. Cozy, but it still felt spacious. It was obviously a pretty new cabin—it smelled like new wood, and there were no decorations, just basic furniture. And a coffee maker, apparently.
