Page 32 of Fighter
Chris decided it was time to defuse the situation. “Calm down, Victor. They are just trying to find out what happened, okay?” Victor turned and glared at him before he threw his hands up in the air and stepped aside, letting Chris speak directly to the officer that was obviously letting his narrow-minded views on homosexuality cloud his judgment while on the job.
“I think you need to call your sergeant or your boss or whomever and ask for a couple of officers to be brought here that are not homophobic, because everyone in this room is either gay, bi, or an ally, so your narrow-minded personal views aren’t welcome here.” The cop’s eyes went wide and he puffed up his chest, taking a step closer to Chris. He would have laughed in the man’s face if he wasn’t wearing a badge. Balding, potbellied, and an idiot, yep, Chris could take him out with one hand tied behind his back. Thankfully another officer rushed over, stepping between Officer Idiot and Chris, telling Officer Idiot the asshole he’d take over.
“I’m sorry. He’s old and stuck in his ways, but there is no excuse for his behavior. I’m Detective Brennan, and I’ll take your statements since I’m the one who will be in charge of Matthew’s case.” The officer smiled at Victor. Chris could tell by the set of Victor’s jaw and the way he was squinting up at the man that Victor was still dangerously close to having a meltdown.
Detective Brennan seemed to realize it too, and he took control of the situation quickly. “Okay, let’s do this one at a time. We’ll start with you,” he said pointing to Victor. “Tell me what happened.” It took them a while but one by one, they each gave a statement. “All right, so Matthew was fine when you rejoined the group, Lincoln, is that correct?” The nice detective asked.
Linc nodded. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Lincoln, I’m not trying to be difficult but once more, can you start at the beginning, when you rejoined the group? That seems to be the catalyst.” The detective asked nicely, smiling at Linc, which eased some of Chris’s tension.
“My ex showed up and we kind of had a confrontation, but he was never here in the VIP section. After I left him at the outside bar, I grabbed a couple of beers for me and Chris and came over here. I guess it was about thirty minutes before Mattie started acting strange. He dropped his water and he couldn’t catch his breath.” Linc repeated everything he’d already said verbatim, but the detective still had a puzzled look on his face.
Chris nodded. “Yeah, Linc came back and Mattie slammed the shot, then…” Detective Brennan waved his hand, silencing Chris midsentence.
“What shot? No one has said anything about a shot,” he asked, his eyes sweeping the table and landing on the empty shot glass. “Was this the glass?” Detective Brennan asked. Chris and Linc nodded. “What was in it?”
Chris looked over at Linc; he couldn’t care less what it was. “Nothing, just a Midori kamikaze, I’m pretty sure.”
“What is it? You are thinking this make Mattie ill?” Victor asked.
The detective waved his hand, and everyone shut up. “I don’t know if this is what made Matthew sick or not, but I’m going to have the residue in the glass tested to see if the lab finds anything suspicious. And you say you bought the shot for Matthew, is that right, Lincoln?”
“No.” Linc shook his head, and then it hit him. “Oh, my God. My ex gave me that shot—he was pretty insistent that I drink it. He, like, shoved it at me a couple of times. Oh shit, you don’t think Lance would have put something in that drink to get back at me, do you?” Linc was visibly shaking now. “Oh God, oh no, this is my fault!” Chris reached for him, pulled Linc close, and wrapped him in his arms.
Detective Brennan clapped Linc on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t go blaming yourself for something you didn’t do, something you aren’t even sure happened, okay?” He waited for Linc to look at him and nod before he finished. “I’m going to go file my reports and your statements. Then I’ll head over to the hospital on my way to the precinct and have the lab there check this out.” He held up a large Ziploc bag with the shot glass inside it. Chris didn’t even see the cop pull out the bag, much less stuff the glass into it. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I learn anything.”
Detective Brennan turned to leave just as Dusty and Kory came their way. Chris noticed that the detective stopped and stared over his shoulder, watching Kory walk toward them. When he looked over, he saw that Kory was eyeing Brennan as well. Before Chris could even decipher all that, Victor was on his feet and heading toward the exit, barking at them in Romanian. He didn’t seem to care that they couldn’t understand one goddamn word he was saying.
Chapter Thirty Two
Mom’s Pissed!
To say the next few days were insane would be the understatement of the century. They all spent most of that night and the early morning at the hospital, waiting for news on what happened to Mattie. When the detective and the doctor found them in the waiting room and told Victor that Mattie had been drugged, Andrew went postal. It was quite concerning when Andrew, who was always in control of his emotions, lost his mind, punctuating his breakdown by kicking a chair across the room.
With everything that had happened, Chris truly felt like things couldn’t get any worse. Boy, was he wrong. The doctor caring for Mattie wouldn’t let Andrew or Victor into the room at one point because they weren’t family or married. It broke Chris’s heart to stand there, helpless, watching two men that he looked at as parental figures. Two men that loved the adorable little blond in a bed down the hall by himself and probably terrified, unable to go be with him, threatened with being removed by security if they so much as tried. Why did people who were in positions of authority feel the need to force their views and beliefs on complete strangers? Thank God and everything else holy, one of the paramedics turned out to be someone that knew Mattie. The man didn’t hesitate to walk Andrew and Victor to Mattie’s room, glaring at a nurse that questioned him.
Mattie was finally released later that day, Andrew and Victor fussing over him as the paramedic, Tony, pushed Mattie out to the lobby in a wheelchair. Chris drove the throuple home, stealing glances at the three of them in the back seat: Andrew and Victor were bookends with Mattie in the middle, the two older men so obviously, completely, and hopelessly in love. He held Linc’s hand, happy to have someone by his side, finally, that he truly cared about.
Detective Brennan, who insisted that they call him Jon, came out to the house the day after Mattie came home, two days after the incident at the club, to fill them in on where he was with the case. The residue in the shot glass from the club tested positive for Rohypnol, the date rape drug. Jon then had it tested at the police lab for fingerprints that came back matching Lance, Linc, Mattie, and the bartender. When the detective visited Lance, he tried to deny everything at first, then lawyered up when he realized he was up shit creek.
“I need to know if you want to press charges, Matthew.” Jon asked and when everyone in the den shouted, “Yes!”Jon laughed. “Okay, just checking because had you declined to press charges, the DA was going to pick them up anyway.” Jon stood to leave, pulling a card out of his pocket and handing it to Victor. “Call me if you have any questions or need anything.” Victor nodded.
The friendly detective was walking out when he stopped and turned back to Kory, pulling out another card and handing it to him. “Andyoucall me if you need anything, okay? Anything at all, Kory.” With a wink, the detective showed himself out.
“Why’d he give me this?” Kory stared at the card, confused.
Everyone in the room cracked up. “You’re a fucking idiot,” Jordan said dryly. “The guy was eye-fucking you at the hospital and again here today. Please tell me you aren’t that clueless. I mean, he only called two people by their first name today, Mattie and you. He obviously likes you, though I don’t see why.” Jordan plopped down onto the couch, grabbing the remote and turning the TV on.
“Fuck you, Jordan,” Kory threw over his shoulder as he stomped out of the room.
“My point, exactly.” Jordan shook his head. Chris watched him go and noticed that as Kory passed the trash can he stopped briefly, and Chris was certain Kory was gonna toss the detective’s number. Instead, he tucked the card into his pocket and stomped up the stairs. That was something, at least.
“Just Chris, Lincoln, can you coming in here, please?” Victor motioned them into the kitchen. “I think we are needing to be doing the shoot on the boat another day.”
“Come on, Boss, we don’t need a wardrobe for a boat shoot, just trunks and sunscreen,” Linc whined. Chris had to agree with him.
“Vic, baby, I’m fine, just a little tired. We’ll do the shoot as planned tomorrow,” Mattie reassured Victor. Chris could tell Victor wanted to argue, but Mattie was very convincing.
