Radio Waves (manxman)[Match Maker Series]

Chapter Twenty-Six

Gabe's POV

I strolled out of the radio station with my head down. I was tired of people asking me how I was and what was wrong. Even Terence had been circling lately like a vulture ready to pick up the pieces of my ruined relationship. I wasn't interested in Terence. I wasn't interested in anyone but Jake and I'd totally blown my chances with him. 

Jake had vanished into thin air. His dorm room had a new occupant who was anything but friendly or helpful. The campus security was understanding but I got the impression their patience with me was starting to wear thin. Jake's friends were, understandably, looking after their friend's best interests and refused to tell me anything except that Jake was no longer in town or attending the college.

I was running out of ideas on how to find him. I'd try to phone his parents but I didn't have their phone number or their address. All I could do was keep looking for him in the places I was familiar with and hope that he turned up because my phone calls and voicemails were going unanswered.

I stepped outside and felt my jaw explode with pain. My head snapped back and I had to quickly brace myself with a hand against the wall before I ended up kissed the brick. I shook out my head, dazed and confused and looked around. 

A very angry man stood, feet braced for a fight, in front of me with his fists raised. I recognized him immediately as Jake's father. "You son-of-a-bitch. Did you think you could just hurt my son and get away with it?" He threw another punch and I took it. I deserved it.

I could see the receptionist looking at us wide eyed while she reached for the phone but I shook my head at her, letting her know that I didn't want the police involved in this. I would be hated by Jake even more if his father was arrested because of me.

"Are you going to say anything or just stand there with your mouth shut? You had plenty to say to my son though didn't you?" His next punch was to my kidney and I crumbled with a groan. That shit hurt like hell.

"I fucked up." I managed to admit between gasps for breath. I was on my knees and in a very vulnerable position if he decided to keep up his attack.

His father laughed bitterly above me. "That's putting it mildly. My boy can't even return to school. He breaks down every time he tries to get on that bus and it kills me that I can't fix it for him and make everything better. But I'll be damned if I can't fix you." He cracked his knuckles and drew back his fist and I closed my eyes waiting for the hit.

I cracked one eye open when nothing happened after a moment, and then the other. Mr. Hollin's wrist was in the very tight grip of my friend Howard who worked at the station with me. "Mind telling me why you're beating on my friend?" He snarled in Mr. Hollin's face.

"It's okay Howard," I said as I managed to get my feet under me. "He's Jake's dad."

"Your boyfriend?" Howard frowned in confusion.

"Ex." Mr. Hollins hissed between his teeth.

"Ah," Howard said, realization seeming to dawn in his mind. He looked at me with a measure of sympathy in his eyes. "Do you both want to use my office to talk? If you stay out here fighting you're both going to end up getting arrested."

I thanked Howard and accepted the offered office and after a begrudging promise to be on his best behavior Mr. Hollins followed us inside and through the maze of corridors to Howard's office. Howard left us alone with a promise to return in twenty minutes and check that we were both still alive and in one piece.

I was sitting across from Mr. Hollins waiting patiently for him to start the conversation. There wasn't much that I could say except to admit complete fault in these circumstances. 

"Tell me exactly what happened between you and my son to send him running home to his mother and me." He folded his arms over his chest and waited. The scowl on his face was making me nervous but I bit the bullet and told him everything from the start of our visit to my mother's house up until I fell apart and lashed out at Jake. I left out nothing, except the parts that no father wants to hear about his son and his lover.

"I've tried to find him to talk to him, explain, but no one would tell me where he is and he wouldn't answer his phone." I wiped a hand over my face. "I don't blame him for ignoring my calls."

Mr. Hollins narrowed his eyes at me before speaking again. "Is that everything?" I nodded. "In that case I think you're both idiots. Should you have spoken to my son in that way? Hell no! And you deserved the punches for that. But I can understand why you lashed out. You were upset and scared and people in that type of situation tend to lash out at the people who are the closest to them emotionally. It's a knee jerk reaction but it always ends up with things being said that can't be taken back. Should my son have kept your mother's secret? That's a hard one to answer, he didn't want to break his promise to her but he could have tried harder to encourage her to talk to you about it. He could have tried to talk to you when things had cooled down between you both."

He stood suddenly and I braced myself for more physical conflict but he just paced the office as he spoke. "My son is young Gabe. He's still learning how to deal with what life throws at him but he's a good boy with a big heart." He turned and looked at me with an icy expression. "You've broken that heart and like it or not you can't magically make things right between you again. Stop looking for my son and stop calling him. When he's ready, if he's ready, he'll come looking for you." He opened the office door and walked out.

Could I really just let Jake go? Stop trying to fix things, stop trying to make it right? It seemed I had no choice. If you love something you let it go. It wasn't easy but it was the right decision to make for Jake's sake. 

So I let him go. And nothing had ever hurt more.