Beloved: A Henry Dawncraft Novel |boyxboy| Sequel to Lover for Pay

XXVIII - Debt

Having already picked up Travis after getting out of work and ready to drop the man off at his own house, Henry furrowed his brow when he pulled up closer to the green-painted abode, and noticed the Honda he and Daniel recently purchased out in Travis' driveway. Confused as ever, he stalled his purring exotic vehicle along the curb. "What is he doing here?" Henry said under his breath.

Travis was just as puzzled to find his son's husband had apparently driven over before either of them were even off work for the day.

Getting out of the car together, they walked up the drive as the Honda was still on and Daniel was seated in the backseat with the engine running, doors locked as he sat beside Dimitri's car seat. The moment Henry knocked his fist lightly on the window, the brunette inside jumped frantically, but seemed to calm the moment he saw it was only his husband and father-in-law. The moment his eyes met Henry, Daniel burst from the back seat and he dove into the other young man's arms, wrapped up instantly within the sturdy, protective and welcoming arms that enclosed around him.

Confusion entered Henry's eyes but he allowed the embrace to last, looking toward Travis momentarily with an unanswerable question in his eyes. "Daniel," he finally said, running his fingers through the back of his husband's hair. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" Feeling that Daniel was trembling uncontrollably against his chest, the puzzlement and desire for words only worsened in Henry the moment Daniel began to sob. His cry was immense, frightening to say the least, and his river of tears soaked into the shirt beneath Henry's work uniform.

Allowing Daniel the moment he seemed to desperately need, Henry asked Travis to retrieve Dimitri from the car seat and they all went into the house as Daniel continued to lament.

When they were all inside, Henry took his husband to the sofa and they sat down, Daniel's shaking slowly dying off the longer he was held. Ignorant to anything the brunette was feeling, Henry let it be for the time being, deciding it was good to allow his husband to let everything out before questioning him. The only thing he could think would bring the boy this far down was that perhaps one of his parents passed away and he'd gotten a call, but he held his tongue until finally the long cry turned into Daniel catching his breath.

Finding an opportunity, Henry used the sleeve of his uniform to dry his husband's face, catching the deep redness in his eyes and weighted sorrow. "Talk to me," Henry said, "What happened?"

With a broken voice, Daniel could hardly get the words out first, but after swallowing down a chest of air, he said, "Someone broke into the house."

"What!?" Henry's eyes grew, his pupils seemed to constrict, and he searched Daniel's body for any wounds, discolorations, scars and scratches that might be left behind. "Are you two okay?"

Daniel nodded, even though he was lying a little. He was so afraid, he couldn't have felt any less okay if he tried. "I – I don't know what happened. I think, maybe, it might have been that guy I told you about from the store that stopped to talk to me. I thought he was just some strange guy trying to start a quick conversation, but he said something so weird about Dimitri, and when I got home, I was bringing the groceries in and Dimitri disappeared!" Daniel felt like he might faint again, just thinking of the idea that some stranger, a dangerous one at that, had been holding his son for even just a minute shook his bones. His voice rose and tears once more drenched his red cheeks. "Someone broke in from our bedroom window and moved Dimitri; left a note on him warning not to call the cops. I didn't know what to do!"

The words Daniel struggled to let out hit hard in Henry's heart. To imagine he'd been at work for an hour and a half longer while Daniel had experienced such a thing...

He wished he'd have been there to stop it, confront this stranger. His anger ran through his veins like streams of lava, imagining the hands of someone he didn't know, who clearly had intentions, holding his infant son. They could have taken Dimitri, they could have hurt Daniel, they could have damaged his family immeasurably. With trembling hands, Henry leaned forward and brought Daniel protectively into his tight embrace, his eyes going for his son cradled into the arms of his father.