Wait! Really? “Where the cult lives?”
Carter groaned and shook his head.
Noah’s eyes flashed with anger. “We are not a cult! Is that what people think? That we’re just a bunch of weirdos—”
“Hold on!” Carter stepped between them.
Noah turned on Carter. “Is that what you think, officer? That we’re a cult? Are you investigating us? After everything we’ve done for this town!”
As Noah got more worked up, the bakery door opened and two men raced toward them.
This was bad! Hudson hadn’t meant to upset Noah. It was just what he’d heard. At the firehouse. The other guys would talk about the men that lived by the state park on a ton of private land and how they mostly stayed to themselves. Hudson couldn’t remember who’d said they might be a cult, but he did know he shouldn’t have repeated it.
“What’s going on?” Dean, the man who owned the bakery, demanded.
Dean’s gorgeous boyfriend, Logan, was glaring at them. Logan was usually so sweet and nice that Hudson almost wanted to cry. He’d been such an idiot.
“Miscommunication,” Carter replied. “It’s fine.”
“Fine?” Noah whirled to his friends. “They think we’re in a cult!”
“A cult?” Logan asked quietly. “Why?”
Hudson wanted to run away when he found everyone’s attention on him. Instead, he held Bas up to his face, using him as a shield, and he spoke quietly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. It was wrong and I’m…just deeply sorry.” Hudson hated when people were mad at him.
Noah sighed.
Logan stepped forward. “Hey! It’s okay.” He scratched under Bas’s chin. “I’ve lived here the longest out of us three and I can see that it might looks strange to outsiders.”
Bashfully, Hudson nodded.
“We all just come from places where we haven’t always been safe,” Logan explained gently.
Hudson lowered Bas a little so he could see Logan’s pretty face. Logan seemed so sincere.
“I haven’t been dating Dean long, but I’ve always known I was gay.” He swallowed hard. “My family couldn’t accept that and sent me away.”
Hudson gasped. “That’s terrible!” He couldn’t imagine what he’d have done if Carter had done that when Hudson came out. Of course, Hudson had known his brother wouldn’t have an issue since Carter was bisexual himself.
Logan nodded. “I was barely an adult. It was very scary.”
“I’m so sorry!” Hudson told him.
“When I met Axel, this big protective man, that was also gay, I knew that everything is going to be okay,” Logan said. “The rest of my friends have similar stories. We stick together because that’s where we feel safest.”
Hudson understood and nodded. “I won’t tell anyone your story. I’ll make sure that no one thinks you are a cult though. I really shouldn’t have said that. I was just so surprised that this little guy came from there.”
Logan glanced at Bas and smiled. “Yeah, he’s one of ours.”
Dean patted Logan’s shoulder before drawing him back. “Is there a problem with…Bas?”
Oh yeah, even though Hudson felt like he’d done wrong and was sorry, there was something important that he couldn’t just let go. “I would like to speak with Bas’s owner. He’s an endangered species and I have questions for him. It’s also dangerous for Bas to be running around free.” Hudson tried to sound professional yet firm.
Dean’s lips twitched like he wanted to laugh.
Hudson didn’t find any of this funny and was about to say so when Noah spoke up.
“You should come by the house!” Noah said.
