Page 10 of Obsessed

That made sense because Rain had spent the night with someone he’d met at Bar None and had only been home a short time before Gage had shown up. So, where was the surveillance? In his room? Dropping his pack, Rain began a full sweep. Gage hadn’t broken in but had Rain missed a camera from his initial move-in search? Slowly, he unscrewed the smoke detector and checked it again. Nothing. Maybe the cameras weren’t in here but in the hallway or outside?

Sitting hard on the bed, he wiped his hands over his face in despair. Things were getting worse. He was living with a predator who wanted a piece of him and who would know when he was home.

But Rain could either wallow or survive. Taking in several deep breaths, he steadied himself and put his ear to the door. It had gone quiet during his searching and subsequent freakout, but he could tell that Gage was in the bedroom and his mother was probably still on the couch, scrolling on her phone. Although he wanted to wait until they either left or went to sleep, he had a shift that afternoon. For a few minutes he considered trying to jump from the second-floor window but he’d probably hurt himself. His best chance was to slip out quietly while they were both distracted.

Shouldering his backpack again, he silently removed all the security measures and inched out into the hall. Sure enough, his mother was in the living room, facing away, and he managed to get to the small flight of stairs by the front door without incident. Putting his foot onto the first step, he thought he was home free until it let out a long betraying creak, and Rain cringed, bracing himself as his mother whipped her head around.

“Babeeee!” she shrieked and Rain’s heart leaped into his throat. Fuck.Fuck. Gage definitely heard that.

“Hi, Mom.” He tried to sound excited, letting her wrap him in a hug. Her saccharine love always left a bad taste in his mouth and he wanted to break away, but he was plagued by confliction. She was hismom, and while she hadn’t been the best mother out there, others were far worse. In the time before Tristan she’d been all he’d known and that had forged a bond difficult to sever; however, it was lined with cracks that widened every day.

“What’ve you been doing, Rainy?” she pouted, pulling away. Taking a hit from her strawberry-scented vape, she blew it across the room. “I haven’t seen you in foreeeveeer.”

Rain refrained from wrinkling his nose. “Oh, um, work and I’ve been hanging out with Tommy. I made some new friends too.” He tried not to glance down the hall, inching toward the exit. “And I have to start my shift soon so-”

The bedroom door banged open and Gage strode in, stopping between Rain and the exit, and Rain’s system flooded with adrenaline. Slipping a hand into his pocket, he grasped his pepper spray, hoping that he wouldn’t have to use it indoors.

“New rules!” Gage declared, puffing his chest like a walking red flag. “No more locks in my house.”

“What?” slipped out before Rain could stop himself. He’d been wrong. Things weren’t getting worse; they’d passed worse a while ago and were careening toward downright horrible.

“Are you deaf?” Gage took a few steps closer and Rain shuffled back toward the hallway, his grip on the canister tightening. “I said I’m tired of your fucking door being locked. This ismyhouse and you willnotkeep me out.” His eyes gleamed during the last few words and Rain wanted to be sick.

“I can’t have any privacy?” he pushed, hoping against hope that his mother would saysomething.

“Be glad I’m letting you keep the door.” Gage crossed his arms, staring Rain down.

“Mom?” He gave it one last try. Why did he always ask? She rarely helped him; why would she start now?

“Hmmm?” Eyes on her phone, she took another drag from her vape, the fake fruit smell only adding to Rain’s nausea.

“Help me here?” He looked at Gage and then at her, feeling trapped and scared, even with the pepper spray in his hand.

“With what? Listen, Rain, Gage is right, it’s his place. Don’t make him mad, he’s stressed from work.” Her attention went right back to social media.

Rain wanted to smack the phone away and shake her, but Gage held his hand out, palm up.

“Key.Now,” he barked with anger and enjoyment. If he thought that this would give him access to Rain, then he had another thing coming.

Scowling, Rain took the key for The Pointe’s staff bathroom off his ring. It looked similar enough to the real one and he knew that Gage would probably freak out and break down the door anyway, but that didn’t matter. Everything he truly needed was in his backpack. Thankfully, it didn’t look too full because he didn’t want to be questioned or searched. He just wanted to leave.

“Okay. Here.” He dropped it in Gage’s hand, trying not to recoil away in disgust. Between the smug expression and the clear lust in Gage’s eyes, Rain was pretty sure he wouldn’t have an appetite for the rest of the day. “I have to go to work.”

“Be my guest,” Gage gestured toward the front door but Rain sneered, shuffling to the side and walking past his mother instead, leaving through the back. Bursting into a sprint the second he stepped outside, he was halfway down the street before the door closed behind him.

My last day in Shenandoah National Park. Miss you. Hope you’re doing okay, kid.

Rain sighed at a picture of rolling purple and blue mountains as far as the eye could see. He wasn’t okay, not at all. After running almost a mile from Gage’s house, he’d taken a sharp left into a park and walked along their nature trail. Another mile in, he’d found a wooden bench that overlooked a small marsh. Surprisingly, no one passed for a while, and Rain had been able to compose himself, comb through his hair, and stare at Tristan’s text, contemplating his next steps.

Growing up, it had taken a long time for his mother’s toxicity to sink in. The feeling of walking on eggshells, her erratic behavior, and the way she treated him had all seemed normal because there had been a lack of competent adults to compare her to. But as he grew so did his worldview, and his opinion of her had slowly declined.

And then Tristan had come along. To be honest, he’d probably saved Rain from a lot more trauma, so he didn’t need to know that his ex was still a terrible human being and that Rain was suffering as predicted, unable to come up with the capital or the balls to free himself.

But he had no choice now. He couldn’t go back to Gage’s except to quickly grab a few things which meant he needed somewhere to crash. Even with his appetites, one-night stands were not sustainable; he couldn’t bounce from place to place. He’d have to ask around during his shift again, see if anyone needed a roommate or had anything cheap to rent.

Standing, he braided his hair back effortlessly, hands moving of their own will as his mind whirred. If worse came to worse maybe he could stay with Emma or Angelo, but he didn’t want anyone to know his shitty life story. He had enough work drama without it surrounding him day and night.

Quickly changing into his tux uniform, he walked back out to the road and headed to work, reaching for a solution, any solution, when it hit him like a sledgehammer.

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