Page 8 of Protecting Paul

I’m delighted the next day when this proves true. It didn’t take much, all things considered, but it’s still a big win. It gives me a good excuse to go see Paul, even though I have other intentions.

I head home to change first, not wanting to show up still in uniform. I maybe spend a little too much time picking a shirt and fixing my hair, but I want to make a good impression, now that I know I’m going to be seeing him and it’s not out of the blue.

The night is nice and it’s pretty close, so I decide just to walk to Paul’s house. The route to get there is basically muscle memory. The walk gives me a chance to clear my head and think about what I want to say. What I really want is to sweep Paul off his feet and keep him with me forever, but that’s probably not what I should open the conversation with.

When I approach his place, I can’t help but notice it looks pretty broken down. I can tell his dad let the place go from the moment his son left town. I feel sympathy for Paul’s journey to fix this place up. I have some handyman skills. Maybe I can talk him into letting me help.

I jog up the steps, the eviction notice in one hand. I knock on the door and take a step back as I wait. I hear footsteps and a moment later the door opens.

“Sam,” Paul says in surprise. He clearly isn’t expecting me, but to be fair it’s not like I gave him a warning. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s not a very warm welcome,” I tease with a grin. Paul opens his mouth to explain, but I cut him off. “I’m kidding. I’m here for two reasons. The first one is to show you this.”

I hold the eviction notice out in front of me for Paul to grab. He takes it and reads it over. His eyes widen before he beams up at me. He looks so happy and so effortlessly adorable that I want to wrap him up in a hug. I hold back obviously, but the inclination is strong.

“Thank you so much!” He looks so relieved that I’m glad I put extra effort into this. “This means so much to me. Jesus, I can’t wait to get this dickhead out of here.”

“I bet.” I give him the widest smile I can manage. “Before you know it, you won’t have to see him ever again.”

“That’s the dream,” he says, sighing happily, and some of the tension in his body eases up. “How does this work though? Logistically?”

“That’s the only downside.” I feel a little bad about what I have to tell him next. “He has a week to get out. So, if you can be a little patient… it’ll be over soon. Sorry about that, it’s just the way it works. You can tack it on his bedroom door, or one of us can hand it to him.”

“It’s better than nothing, right? I think I can handle him for a week.” His smile falls a bit, but not completely at least. “So, um, this was the one reason. What was the other reason you came over?”

“Right.” This is going to be the harder part. I feel my face grow a little hot, like I’m a teenager again. “I just wanted to maybe catch up. If you’re not busy. It’s been a while, so I thought maybe we would have a lot to talk about.”

“Oh,” he says in a tone that I can’t particularly read. I can’t tell if it’s surprise, disappointment, reluctance, or a combination of them all. “I didn’t expect that.”

I start to get nervous when he doesn’t immediately give me an answer. I’m trying to convince myself not to regret this decision, but it’s difficult. I’m preparing myself to be rejected and leave, but before I can think about that, we’re interrupted.

“Who’s at the door?” I hear a voice yell inside the house. A door slams loudly, and I see Paul flinch slightly.

“Come see, Jerry.” His voice is now clearly strained and upset. “This has to do with you, too.”

I hear the man heavily stomping toward us. I haven’t even seen him yet, but I can already feel his aggressive energy. I’m struck with the desire to pull Paul behind me and protect him before anything even happens.

“Who the fuck are you?” His uncle appears behind Paul, glaring daggers at me already.

“Officer Sam Conroy,sir,” I say. There’s a definite edge to my tone, and I’m glad for it. Paul hands me back the paper with a slightly smug look on his face as he turns toward his uncle. “I’m here to serve you this eviction notice. Feel free to read over it, but in summation, you have seven days to leave.”

“Wow, Paul. Wow.” Jerry refuses to address me and instead focuses back on Paul. “You too much of a sissy to deal with me yourself, hm? Had to go running to the cops like a little bitch?”

“You need to calm down,” I cut in before Paul has to respond to this asshole. “He’s well within his legal rights to do this. From what I understand, you were the one who refused to leave without intervention. You forced Paul’s hand.”

“You think you’re so big and bad just because you’ve got a badge?” Jerry turns his attention to me at last. All I see in his eyes is hatred and darkness. “You’re gonna waste your time protecting this faggot when you’ve got real criminals you could be pursuing?”

“Jesus…” I hear Paul mumble under his breath, but something tells me he’s used to this. I guess I know that, but it makes me sad to think about it.

“Helping Paul isn’t a waste of my time.” I narrow my eyes. “I’m happy to help him out, and it’s well worth it.”

“Oh, I get it,” Jerry sneers at me. “You’re one of Paul’s faggot friends.”

“Jerry!” Paul snaps, his tone growing more volatile. “Shut the hell up. Say what you want to me, but don’t say that shit about Sam.”

“It’s fine,” I say, lightly touching his arm without thinking about it. He gives me a look of shock, and I pull my hand away. “I don’t care what he thinks.”

“If you two fairies are done flirting,” Jerry interjects, and I fight the urge to punch him in the face. I clench my fist by my side and feel my nails dig into my palm. “I’m going back to my room. I ain’t going anywhere.”

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