Like Father, Like Son - Epilogue

The furor over the disappearance of Delores Kensington filled the news for more than two weeks but eventually waned as other more interesting stories took its place. The police questioned Declan several times but his alibi held. He and Nicky had spent the evening at home, watching television. Declan’s neighbor vouched for the fact she’d heard it going when she’d walked past his door twice during the evening, and the sound of their voices as they argued about which show to watch next.

Declan arched an eyebrow when he was told about that, wondering what she’d really heard, but he was just happy she had what appeared to be a very fertile imagination. In the end it was her statement which finally convinced the police he had nothing to do with his mother’s disappearance.

Six months after Delores had vanished Declan and Nicky decided to move to somewhere new and different to play their game. After much debate they settled on New Orleans.

“With the bayou and the Gulf, disposing of bodies should be fairly easy,” Nicky had pointed out.

“We could buy a large boat and live on it, if you don’t get seasick that is.”

“Not that I know of. Yeah, I like that idea. No nosy neighbors.”

Declan smiled. “Then let’s do it.”

A month later they were firmly entrenched on their boat. They could have chosen to dock at one of the marinas where there were many ‘Liveaboards’ as they were called. But they wanted their privacy so with the money left to him in his mother’s will Declan bought a small slip of land with a deep cove at the edge of the Gulf and there they set up housekeeping.

It wasn’t a perfect life but then, as Declan pointed out, when is life ever perfect. They got jobs to keep the wolf from the door, played their game when the urge got too great to ignore, and in their own way learned to care for each other enough that they didn’t stray.

When he finally broke down and invested in a laptop, Declan discovered an email from his grandfather’s nursing home which had been sent just after his mother’s disappearance. His grandfather had managed to survive the first heart attack, against all expectations, only to die peacefully in his sleep after a second one a few weeks later.

“I hope they buried him next to his wife and son,” Declan said quietly. “I wish I’d gotten to know him sooner, but that wasn’t an option. Another thing I blame my mother for.”

“She had a lot to answer for and I suspect she is, where ever in Hell she landed.” Nicky chuckled. “I wonder if there’s a place there for evil bitch witch mothers.”

Declan looked at him and smiled. “With our luck it will be right next to where killers go, but we’ll worry about it when it happens and not before. Right now, boy, I want you naked in our bed.”

Nicky took a deep breath, anticipating what Declan had in store for him this time. “I think I can deal with that.”

“I’m sure you can. You always do. Now move it.”

“Yes sir.” 

The End

Like Father, Like Son - 37

Declan stared down at his mother. “What do you think? Do you like the ambiance of the place?”  

She looked up at him. Then another scream of terror left her throat.

“It’s our own private playground,” Nicky told her with a rapacious smile as he knelt beside her. He twisted his hand in her hair, forcing her to look at the corpses hanging from the rafters in the mine shaft. “Not quite up to your standards as far as company goes, but you’ll get used to them in time.”

“Why?” The word was barely a whisper. “It’s this slut, isn’t it? He forced you to bring me here.”

“No, Mother. This was my play place long before he knew it existed. This is where I being the women who remind me of you. When you drive me into a rage with your controlling ways I find one, bring them here, and then… play with them.”

“You’re insane! You’re just a crazy as your father. Crazier.”

Declan’s fist landed hard across her cheek. “You will not talk about my father like that. He was ten times the man Reginald will ever be.”

“He forced me to have sex with him and you are the result,” she sneered as she attempted to regain control over herself and him.

Declan backhanded her. “I suspect you seduced him then walked away when you found out you couldn’t control him the way you do me, and Reginald.”

“If you hit me again…” She hissed angrily, struggling and failing to get to her feet.

“What will you do, mother? Scold me? Tell me what a bad boy I’m being? Been there, done that with you, but no more. Nicky, the rope please”

Nicky handed it to Declan, watching in anticipation as his lover tied her wrists. “We seem to be out of empty hooks, babe,” he commented.

“Then she gets to share one.” Declan took her arm, hauling her erect. “That one perhaps?” He pointed to one of the more recent bodies, which was still decomposing. “Yes, it should do nicely.”

Moments later his mother was screaming in horror as he tossed the rope over the hook and pulled her up next to the decaying corpse. She kept screaming until she passed out.

“And so it ends,” Declan murmured.

“Regrets, babe?” Nicky asked, wrapping his arm around Declan as they stared at Delores.

“None,” Declan replied firmly. “May she rot in Hell.”

Nicky nodded. “It’s where she belongs.” He tugged gently at Declan in an attempt to get him moving. “Are you planning on watching until she dies? It could take several days.”

“And even that will be too soon. No, let’s get out of here and go home.” Turning on his heel he walked to the exit from the mineshaft with Nicky by his side.

Like Father, Like Son - 36

“I would love to mother but Nicky’s moving the rest of his things in tonight and I plan on helping him. Maybe next time but now I have to get a move on.”

Declan closed his phone and smiled tightly at his lover. “She thinks I’m still at the office but leaving.”

Nicky rubbed Declan's back. “Relax.” When Declan frowned Nicky traced a knuckle along his jaw. “You know what I mean. It’s all going to work out just the way we’ve planned.”

“Damned well better,” Declan growled, letting his anger override any second thoughts he might be having.

“I bet she’s already in her car, speeding her way here to kick my ass out before I can unpack. Of course she could be riding a broom instead. Aren’t they the favorite mode of transportation for bitch witches?”

Declan’s lips quirked up for a second. “Bitch witch, that would be her.” He sobered immediately, jumping up to pace. “If she told anyone she’s coming here…”

“Where was she when she called, do you know?”

“In her car actually, I think. She said she was on her way to meet friends for cocktails. That’s why she called, to order me to join her since they have ‘connections’.” Declan sneered out the last word.

“We should be good then.” Nicky watched Declan cross from one end of the living room and back again. “Babe, you’re going to wear holes in the carpet.”

Declan came to a stop, his hands fisting and unfisting. “Where the hell is she?”

“Deep breaths. It’s only been five minutes.”

“I want this over with. I wish we’d done someone else last night. I’m… I need the release. I’m off the charts wound up.”

“Which will make this easier on you,” Nicky told him, going over to take his hands, easing them open, stroking the palms. “We get her up there and then it’s over, babe.”

The sound of a key in the lock of the apartment’s front door had both of them turning to look as Delores let herself in.

“Where did you get keys?” Declan said angrily, striding towards his mother.

She smiled grimly. “I’ve had them since you got this place, in case of emergencies.” She shot a withering look at Nicky. “And this is definitely an emergency. Get that slut out of here now or I’ll…”

“You’ll do what, mother? There’s nothing you can do. How I live my life is my choice and you have nothing to say about it. Not any more.” Declan’s voice rose as he glared at her.

“Declan Kensington, you do not yell at your mother!”

“You’re right, mother, I should keep quiet, kiss your ass and just let you run my life as you’ve done all my life.” He grabbed her shoulders, spinning her around, one arm going around her throat. “No more, mother,” he spat out, tightening his hold until she passed out. “No. More.”

Nicky snagged her purse from where it had fallen, digging through it for her car keys which he pocketed. Then he went to open the door leading to the fire escape while Declan hefted Delores’s body over his shoulder. Nicky checked to be certain no one was in the walkway between the buildings then nodded to Declan before racing down to get his car and pull it to the parking lot end of the walkway. Moment’s later Declan was shoving his mother’s body into the back seat.

“I’ll be right back,” Declan said, heading back up stairs. He walked through the apartment, picking up his mother’s purse, re-locking then bolting the front door, and turning on the television as well as a light in the kitchen. Pausing, he looked around to make certain he hadn’t missed anything. He saw something shiny on the floor under the table in the entryway. It was one of the fancy hairclips his mother used. Pocketing it, he went into his bedroom to get his bag then returned to the fire escape, locking the door behind him before going down to rejoin Nicky.

Declan opened his bag, took out a roll of duct tape and bound his mother’s wrists together behind her back then put a strip of tape over her mouth. Finished, he said, “I’ll meet you where we planned. And then…”

“And then, the end.” Nicky gave his a fast kiss, handed him his car keys and headed to get Delores’s car.

“The end.” Declan took a deep breath, got into the car and moments later pulled out of the lot onto the street.

Like Father, Like Son - 35

Nicky bit back a cry of pain, stripping as fast as he could, his clothes landing on a pile beside the bed. He rolled onto his knees the second he was naked, his hands gripping the headboard rails.

Declan chuckled low as he cuffed him. “You’re so eager, my boy.” He left the bed, returning moments later with the toys he needed. The harness snapped on first around Nicky’s cock and balls. Then Declan lubed the vibrating plug and pressed it against Nicky’s tight hole, pushing it slowly before turning it on.

“Oh shit,” Nicky groaned.

“Silence, boy.” Two swift slaps to Nicky’s ass followed his words and then two more when Nicky gasped. “Now as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, we have to figure out how to kill mother.”

You’re so shitting me. You’re going to leave me like this while you talk about killing you mother? Nicky would have verbalized the thought except he knew better. Even he had a limit to what pain he could endure.

Declan did leave him like that, allowing Nicky to speak only when told to. As they worked out a plan he played with Nicky’s cock, stroking it, administering stinging slaps to his ass if he even moaned or thrust into his hand in his need for release. He ended Nicky’s torment eventually, taking the plug out, replacing it with his own sheathed, lubed cock. He fucked him hard and fast, snapping off the harness at the last moment, and they climaxed as one.

When he’d pulled out, Declan uncuffed Nicky and took him in his arms, brushing his sweat-soaked hair from his forehead. “You are my boy,” he told him softly then kissed him.

“As long as you’ll have me,” Nicky whispered back against his lips. When the kiss ended he said, chuckling, “But please, no more discussing killings while you have me bound, needy, and unable to come. That was pure torture at its worst.”

Declan laughed. “It really turned you on I noticed.”

“Fuck yes!”

“I’ll remember that, for future reference.”

“Yeah, you probably will.” Nicky slid out of Declan’s arms, got up and headed to the bathroom, closely followed by his lover. When they’d cleaned up they returned to the bedroom, dressing before going to the kitchen to fix something to eat.

“So when are we going to do this?” Nicky asked, taking another bite of his omelet.

“Soon, perhaps tomorrow. I think I can get her to come here with the right provocation.”

Nicky drummed his fingers on the table. “Got it! Call her just before you leave work tomorrow then drop a hint about having to get right home because I’m moving the rest of my stuff in here. Do it casually then hang up before she can lay into you. Twenty to one she’ll show in battle mode.”

Declan nodded. “That should work. Good thinking.”

“I have my moments. And speaking of work, both of us better get moving. You’re late as it is and I have to be at the shop in an hour and all my clothes are at my place.”

“You will bring them back here.”

Nicky didn’t know if it was a question or an order, but either way he smiled. “As soon as I’m off work.”

Like Father, Like Son - 34

“Get back here now.”

Those four words when he answered his phone set Nicky’s heart racing. He didn’t have a chance to reply, Declan had hung up immediately afterward, but he knew he’d come to a decision.

“Please let it be the right one,” he whispered as he grabbed his jacket and raced out of his apartment.

When he let himself into Declan’s place twenty minutes later the first thing he saw was broken glass and the torn pieces of the photo of Delores Kensington scattered around the entryway. It gave him hope as he went in search of Declan. He found him sprawled half-undressed across his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Did you sleep at all?” Nicky asked, vaguely amused at the banality of the question.

Declan shrugged as he sat up. “No.”

“So…” Nicky chewed the corner of his lip. “What did you decide?”

“You were right. I have to gain control of my life and it won’t happen unless I get her out of it, so I have to do just that.”

“Kill her?”

Declan nodded. “There’s no other way.” He patted the edge of the bed. When Nicky sat, Declan said, “I need to do it, but not the way we’ve killed the others. I mean…”

Nicky smiled slightly. “She’s your mother; you can hardly strip her nude and torture her. That’s understandable.”

“I’d love to torture her, to make her beg forgiveness for what she’s done to me, but not that way. I couldn’t.”

“I could,” Nicky stated emphatically, “but you couldn’t watch me do it, I get that. So the question becomes how are we going to kill her?”

“I don’t know.” Declan frowned as he lay back down again. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”

Nicky settled down beside him, leaning on one elbow as he thought about the problem, tracing small circles on Declan’s naked chest.

“What are you doing?” Declan muttered, gripping Nicky’s wrist.

“Thinking.”

“Well do it without doing…that,” Declan growled angrily.

Nicky cocked an eyebrow. “I can touch if I want to.” He knew he was pushing buttons but…

“Not unless I say you can.” Declan tightened his hold on Nicky’s wrist then with a sudden move he grabbed the other one as well, forcing Nicky onto his back, his hands above his head as he straddled him. “You need cuffs?”

“Please,” Nicky whispered, instantly on fire with need, his swelling cock achingly constricted in the tightness of his jeans.

“Out of your clothes first,” Declan ordered, sitting back on his heels while he waited for Nicky to obey. When he didn’t move quickly enough Declan landed a swift slap on his thigh. “I meant now, not tomorrow.”

Like Father, Like Son - 33

Declan watched in disbelief as Nicky left the apartment.  

What the hell just happened?

But he knew. And he didn’t like it one bit. It wasn’t the fact Nicky had left he didn’t like, although it bothered him more than he might have expected. It was what Nicky had said. It sent him to pacing the apartment like an animal looking for a way out of its cage.

She doesn’t control my life. She upsets it, and me, but I’m the one who’s in control. I only go along with her wishes because it’s easier.

Not true.

True, damn it! It’s just…easier to play along than argue. But… why do I get so angry? Why do I always become so enraged the only release is to kill something?

Because you’re a weakling, a coward, afraid to stand up to her.

She’s my mother.

And?

Declan banged his fist against a doorframe as he passed it. She brought me up.

She trained you to be subservient to her wishes.

I control my life. Me, Declan Hill, I’m in control of my life.

No. You control people and things. That’s it. That’s all of it. But there’s one person you can not control, your mother. And deep inside you know it, so you kill those women, you kill her in absentia. She’s the reason; she made you to do that by her actions. You fear her so much and yet you do nothing about her.

But at the airport… He ran a hand angrily through his hair. Nicky’s right, I knew I could say what I did because…shit…damn it. But I can’t, I can’t kill her. What if… It drove my father insane. His own brother, and it was only his brother. She’s my mother.

It seemed as if hours passed, and for all he knew they had, as he paced, his mind whirling, the same thoughts playing over and over.

  

I’ll go insane if I kill her. I’ll go insane if I don’t. Father, please, what should I do?

“What should I do?” he shouted.

His shout faded to a whimper. He slammed his fist again and again against his thigh, then stopped when his eyes landed on a picture on the wall next in the entryway. A picture his mother had insisted he hang there where everyone could see it as they came into his apartment. Her picture, taken at one of the many charity parties she attended. He tore it off the wall, his hands shaking with rage as he stared at the face he hated beyond all sanity.

“You deserve to die,” he screamed. “If it drives me insane then so be it. I can not go on living in fear of you, you controlling bitch. I can’t!” His voice rose in rage. He smashed the picture against the corner of the wall. As the frame shattered and shards of glass hit the floor he fell to his knees, picking up the photograph, tearing it to shreds. “You. Will. Die.” His words were sharp with promise.

Like Father, Like Son - 32

“About damned time,” Declan growled when Nicky came into the apartment.

Nicky nodded without replying as he walked through the living room to the spare bedroom. Taking out his bag he began packing his belongings.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Packing,” Nicky told Declan without turning to look at him.

“What the fuck for?”

“Because I won’t go on like this, watching your mother run your life while you cower instead of standing up to her, or getting her out of your life once and for all.” Nicky spun around to look at him.

“She doesn’t control my life,” Declan protested even though the look of uncertainty on his face belied his words. “I stood up to her in the airport, damn it!”

“In a public place where you knew she wouldn’t make any more of a scene than she already had. I’d bet my bottom dollar she called you today at work, or even came by, and either way you kowtowed to her.” He stared hard at Declan. “Didn’t you?”

“She’s my mother.”

“Oh babe.” Nicky shook his head. “She’s a bitch who likes nothing more than to make you jump through her hoops. She’s Medea, only she’s not killing you physically, she doing it emotionally.”

“Nicky I told you…” Declan started to say.

“That if you kill her you’ll go insane like your father? God damn it, Declan, don’t you get it?”

“Get…what?” Declan looked as bewildered as Nicky suspected he felt.

“She is doing her best to drive you insane, consciously or not, and she’s going to succeed if you don’t stop her. You think you’re in control? Maybe when it comes to me you are, in the bedroom. I won’t deny it. But outside of that you’ve handed all the control of your life over to her. And babe…” Nicky moved close to Declan, into his personal space, but didn’t touch him. “Unless you take it back you’re worse off than you father in his room in the asylum. You’ve built your own room and the walls are here…” he tapped Declan’s forehead. “She has the key and she’s locked you in there. The only way to escape is to break free of her.”

Nicky backed away but kept his eyes locked on Declan’s face. He couldn’t even begin to read anything in his expression which would tell him Declan had taken in what he’d said. Declan’s face was an emotionless mask.  

“So I’m leaving. I can’t, I won’t, stay here and watch things get worse and worse. I care about you too much to do that. And they are getting worse, Declan. No matter what you may think they are. If and when you come to the conclusion I’m right let me know. I’ll come back then, but only then, and between us we’ll eliminate her permanently. But it has to be her, no more substitutes. It has to be her. Then, afterwards, we can continue on as we have been.” Nicky smiled slightly. “There are more than enough people out there who should be gotten rid of and we’re good at doing it.”

“Nicky, please…”

The need, the pleading in Declan’s voice tore at Nicky but he still replied with, “No, Declan,” as he picked up his bag. “Call me when you’ve decided. And please babe, make the right choice.”

Like Father, Like Son - 31

Declan left for work the next morning without having come up with a plan the two of them thought would be viable. Nicky, who didn’t have to be at his job until late morning, felt a bit at loose ends after all the activity of the last few days. Deciding maybe he could come up with a workable idea he sat down to think about it.

The last thing he wanted to happen was for anything to point back to either of them, and yet with what Declan wanted to do Nicky knew it was possible. This was not going to be random the way the other kills had been. Declan wanted to target some woman he knew, someone who knew him.

Stupid, stupid. If you’re going to go after a woman exactly like your mother, why not just choose your mother.

He knew why. It was because of Declan’s fear of what would happen if they did, his fear he’d end up just like his father, insane and locked up in an asylum. Nicky remembered Declan’s words clearly. ‘You don’t kill family. If you do then you go insane, like my father.’ They were engraved in his mind.

But from what Declan had told him, his father’s killing his own brother had been an accident born out of jealousy. He was trying to kill his brother’s lover and his brother had stepped between them. As a result both men had died.

Our killing his mother wouldn’t be the same. But how can I convince him of that?

For the rest of the day, when he didn’t have to concentrate on waiting on people who came into the shop, Nicky went over various scenarios on how to approach Declan and show him what he had to do if he wanted to survive and remain…sane Nicky supposed.

By the time he returned to Declan’s apartment building he knew what he was going to do. It could end everything building between them. Or it could change things for the better. Either way he knew he had to do it.

As he rode up in the elevator he prayed he had made the right choice. When he arrived at the apartment he took out his keys, sucked in a deep breath, unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Like Father, Like Son - 30

Unbelievably, as far as Nicky was concerned, Delores Kensington was waiting for them when he and Declan deplaned at the airport. Declan grabbed his arm, pulling him past her without a word of greeting. Nicky would have laughed at the look on her face if the moment hadn’t been so fraught with tension.

“Declan stop where you are,” Delores called out, seemingly not caring she was suddenly the focus of attention from several bystanders as she strode quickly after her son.

Declan turned, fury on his face. “I’m back, mother, and I’m going home. I don’t want to hear one more word from you. Oh, and mother, my lover is going with me.” He pointedly wrapped his arm around Nicky’s waist then kissed him soundly.

“How dare you!” she sputtered.

Breaking the kiss, Declan shot her a look of disgust. “I’m of age, Nicky’s of age, if we want to fuck each other it is none of your business. Now butt out of my life.” He started to turn away then added maliciously, “By the way, my father sends his love. Not!”

“You didn’t just say that,” Nicky whispered as the walked away.

“I did. She deserved it, the bitch.” Declan’s lips pressed together in anger.

“On that I’m in total agreement.”

* * * *

Declan threw himself down on the sofa the minute they were inside the apartment, not even bothering to do more than drop his bag on the floor by the door. His actions surprised Nicky even though he understood the reason.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Nicky asked, sitting down beside Declan.

“Find the perfect woman, and this time it’ll be someone her age.”

“Makes sense to me.”

Declan turned to glare at him. Then his glance softened. “I was going to say something nasty, but you don’t deserve it.”

Nicky smiled in reply, certain Declan meant that just as it sounded, but he couldn’t help but hope there was an underlying implication. He wanted to be important to this man whose life he seemed to be sharing. Important for himself, not just as someone Declan took to his bed, and on his killing sprees.

Returning to what he’d been talking about, Declan said, “The problem is finding her. Women like that don’t hang out at clubs or bars.”

“No, they go to country clubs, fancy restaurants and charity events, the same places your mother does. And I’d be willing to bet separating one of them from her husband and friends won’t be easy.” Nicky chewed his lip thoughtfully. “There’s always what you did with the one woman, catcher her off guard at home.”

“That’s true. That’s very true. The only problem is, I want someone like mother and getting onto the property where they live would be risky at best. The rich aren’t fools, Nicky. You should see the protections on Reginald’s house and grounds.”

“Then we go back to plan ‘A’, figure out how to get our target away from all her friends at some party.”

“Hang on a second.” Declan sounded excited. “We’re being stupid.”

“We’re tired and pissed, I think stupid comes with the territory in this case.”

“No, I mean it. I know these people, well some of them, thanks to mother’s Sunday luncheons.”

“And? You can’t exactly kidnap one of them from there.”

“No…but…if I could get one of them to come to me…”

“How would you manage it?”

“That, my dear boy, is what I have to figure out.”

Like Father, Like Son - 29

The drive across the country never happened. As he and Nicky packed, Declan’s cell chimed. He looked at the screen, debated answering, and decided he might as well not put off the inevitable.

“Hello, mother.”

“Where are you? I called your office and was told you had left town. Something about your grandfather and a heart attack.” Her voice rose in pitch with every word. He heard her take a breath before she continued. “Your grandfather, bless his soul, is dead and you know it. How dare you use that as an excuse?”

“I have two grandfathers, mother, in case you’ve forgotten. So far the one in Minneapolis is still alive, not that you give a damn,” he replied icily.

There was a long pause. “You went to see the father of the bastard who donated sperm to create you? How did you even know where to find him? What secrets have you been keeping from me Declan?”

“The same ones you tried to keep from me. Yes I know where he is. I know where my father is as well and I have for the past few years.”

“Don’t you dare try to get in touch with that bastard!”

“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

“I’m your mother, young man, the woman who gave birth to you and then brought you up properly so you’d be the fine young man you are today. Don’t you ever forget that! Although at the moment I’m debating just how well I did raise you. You are to get on the next plane home. Do you understand?”

“We’ll be back when we’re ready to come back and not before.”

“We? You took that slut of a man with you? How dare you.”

“Yes he’s with me,” Declan replied, lacing his voice with amusement he didn’t feel.

“Declan…” There was a long silence before she continued. “Your father is arranging for tickets on the next flight home. You had better be on it, and be thankful he’s being generous enough to get two tickets so your slut can come back as well.”

Declan gripped his phone so tightly his knuckles turned white. Keeping his voice at an even keel he said, “Yes, mother,” and then hung up.

“I take it we’re not driving home?” Nicky sighed. “It would have been fun.”

“Someday maybe, but for now we have to go back before I fly apart at the seams.”

One look at the rage limning Declan’s face and Nicky knew why.

Like Father, Like Son - 28

“Mr. Hill, you have company,” the orderly announce in a loud, firm voice.

Bryant gave no indication he’d heard the orderly as he sat on the edge of his bed, staring off into space. Declan walked slowly over to him. The woman had been correct; he looked nothing like the picture. He was almost as thin as Declan’s grandfather. Well cared for, it was obvious, but gaunt.

Declan knelt in front of him, looking up into to his vacant eyes. “Father,” he said, resting his hands on top of Bryant’s where they sat on his knees.

There was no response.

“Father, I know you don’t know me. How could you, you didn’t even know I existed. My name is Declan and I’m your son.”

Again, nothing.

Declan sighed deeply. He’d known from the start this was the way it would be but it didn’t make it hurt any the less. Looking over at the orderly he asked, “Does he ever respond to anything?”

Lee Whitney shook his head. “He eats when he’s fed, he sleeps, and he stares. Whatever’s going on inside his head is his secret and he’s not sharing it with anyone, not even the doctors.”

Returning his attention to his father Declan said softly, “I’m living my life the way I think you would have wanted. I’m in the game, just as you were. I only wish…” With a shake of his head he stood. “I know this won’t get through to you, wherever you are in there,” he touched Bryant’s forehead. “But I do love you.”

He watched his father for a long moment, hoping by some miracle his father would acknowledge his words, even if was only to look at him. He didn’t. His eyes remained locked straight ahead.

“Goodbye, father,” Declan said dejectedly before he left the room.

Ignoring the fact the orderly was standing there, Nicky gathered Declan into his arms. “At least you got to see him.”

Declan buried his face in Nicky’s shoulder, his voice muffled as he replied, “I did. I think I hoped by coming here it might make him…react somehow. That I would be important enough he’d…” Declan pulled away angrily. “It…didn’t, I’m not.”

“But you tried, babe and that’s all you could have done. Perhaps somewhere in his fractured mind he did hear your words and understands, even though no one will ever know but him.”

Heaving a sigh, Declan nodded. “Let’s get out of here,” he said abruptly. With one last glance at his father Declan walked swiftly down the hall.

It had stopped raining by the time they left the asylum, although it was still dark and gloomy.

Fitting end Declan thought. Nicky’s right though, at least I tried. He glanced at his lover with a small smile. “I’m glad you came with me.”

Nicky chuckled. “If I remember correctly you practically ordered me to, but I would have anyway. We’re a team through thick and thin, whatever that means.”

“Look it up when we get home. It’s probably some obscure phrase which started out much differently in the original,” Declan told him, glad for the change of subject, such as it was.

“Speaking of getting home, did you happen to remember to make return reservations?”

Declan rolled his eyes. “You do know who you’re asking, right?”

“Yeah, you, the great organizer. So did you?”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, no, but,” he added quickly, “only because I didn’t know how long we’d be here and, well…”

Nicky laughed, patting Declan’s thigh. “It’s okay, I forgive you. Hey, maybe we can drive back and see a bit of the country?”

Declan nodded. “Maybe. We’ll see.” As he thought about it he decided he rather liked the idea. It would be a way to forget about everything and perhaps enjoy life for once without any distractions other than the man sitting beside him. “Yeah, we’ll just go ahead and do that.” He smiled when Nicky pumped a fist in the air and cheered.