Page 32 of Fanboy in the Falls (Devon Falls #3)

“Ellie’s taking it,” Benson tells him. “So I can focus on helping Jack with Lou. But yeah, you do have a case. And you know Ellie. She fights to the death for her clients. She even puts on clothes when she goes to court.”

Mario sends him a strange look, but he keeps writing notes.

“Clearly, this situation is all going to take some time to unravel.” He puts his tablet under his arm and nods to Benson.

“You can have Jack bring Lou in so he and Gabe can have a moment together. But after that, Gabe, I’m going to have to ask you to keep your distance from Lou until you hear from me again.

I’m not trying to be a jerk about this. Believe me when I say that it will be better for any legal case you want to start if a judge sees that you took this investigation seriously. ”

Gabe closes his eyes, and I grip his hand a little harder. It’s going to cost him so much, saying goodbye to Lou like this. “We’re here for you and Lou,” I hear Colin whisper.

“Okay,” Gabe finally says. “Whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do it. Just give me a few minutes with my brother, okay?”

When Lou bursts into the room a moment later, dropping Jack’s hand to run to his brother’s side and wrap his arms tightly around Gabe’s stomach, I cry harder than I ever have in my life.

Harder than I cried at Christian’s funeral, quite possibly.

A few hours later, we’re helping Gabe get dressed into some clothes Sam and Malachai brought over. It’s time for him to check out, and I know Colin and I are both looking forward to getting him far away from this hospital.

“Thanks for the help,” he says to us. He’s back to hardly saying a word, and he’s barely looked at either of us since Maggie and Mario left and Benson and Jack took Lou home with them.

I can’t even imagine how much emotional energy it cost him to watch Lou walk out of this room, his hand in Jack’s.

“Listen,” Gabe adds as Colin and I help him negotiate a giant pair of sweatpants around his cast. “I talked to Malachai while you guys were outside waiting for the sheriff. He says I can come stay with him and Sam for a few days. So if one of you can just take me there after we leave, that would be awesome. There’s no way I’m going to keep staying at Dave’s place, and I gave up my apartment a while ago. ”

I straighten up so fast I drop the sneaker I’m holding. What in goodness gracious is he talking about? “Why on earth would you go to Malachai’s, little fox?”

“I figured you’d come to my house,” Colin adds.

Gabe looks away, toward the maple tree outside his hospital room window.

It’s lost a few more leaves, I notice, since the last time I saw it.

More yellow and orange hues dot the ground below it.

“Look,” Gabe says. “Everything we’ve tried together, it’s been great.

I care about you both so much. But I don’t think we ever should have done this.

” He blinks, and I watch, frozen, as more tears run from the corner of his eyes.

“It’s just too big a risk for all of us, you know?

If I’m going to show a judge that I can give Lou a stable home, being halfway in two relationships with guys who may or may not be in Devon Falls much longer probably isn’t going to look great.

And if Dave does keep full custody of Lou, there’s no way he’ll ever let me see him again if I’m in a relationship with two men. ”

Colin looks as shocked as I probably do. I swallow and do my best to order the swirl of thoughts in my head.

Gabe shrugs. “And let’s be honest, okay? We don’t even know what we’re doing here. Tom, you’ve got a movie career to get back to. Colin, you’re still figuring out what you want your life to be after racing, and then there’s the fact that you two are best friends, and Tom has all those feel—”

He stops, suddenly, clamping his mouth shut. But I know precisely what he was going to say. My heart wrenches inside of my chest.

“Tom has what?” Colin asks.

Gabe shakes his head. “Never mind, nothing. Painkillers are just messing with me. Can you help me with this shirt?” He holds out a t-shirt to Colin, but Colin’s looking back and forth between us, and he doesn’t take the shirt.

“What the hell am I missing here?” he asks.

“Nothing!” Gabe says quickly. “I don’t even know what I’m talking about, okay? Like I said, it’s just the painkillers.”

Except he does know exactly what he’s talking about. Gabe’s figured out what no one else in my life, or Colin’s, ever has. He’s dug up the secret I buried a hundred miles deep.

Everything happening around me seems to have stopped in time, and the smell of some kind of antiseptic is stinking my nostrils.

It’s my gut instinct to keep this secret. To hold onto it tightly, the way I always have. The way I’m still holding onto everything that happened on the set of The Good Sword.

But I stood in this hospital room today and watched how quickly secrets can unravel a person. I saw firsthand how they can destroy a world one thread at a time until the fabric of that entire world is lying in pieces on the floor.

I draw in a deep breath and stand up tall, next to Gabe’s bed. “He knows exactly what he’s talking about.” I send Gabe a quick smile and squeeze his hand as his eyebrows go up in alarm. “It’s okay, little fox. It’s time, I think. Time to air out some secrets for good.”

Colin’s face is wrinkled in confusion as I smile at him. This is one conversation we won’t be able to have with our eyes, so I say my words loud and clearly for Colin. For Gabe.

“I was let go from The Good Sword. Fired. That’s why I’m not filming right now.

And Colin, I’ve been in love with you since we were twelve.

” I smile brightly at them both. “Now, if you two will give me a moment, I need to compose myself. Colin, can you help Gabe out to the car? I’ll be waiting there. ”

The silence that echoes through the room as I walk out the door is so loud I’m absolutely certain they can hear it in the Devon Falls town square.