Page 33 of Edge

Damian frowned. “Rogerwasn’t around before then?”

Jory shook his head. “Ohno, he was. He and my dad were old army buddies and they stayed intouch throughout my childhood. Roger lived in Salisbury, so Dadwould visit him there, and Roger would come down to usoccasionally. I called him Uncle Roger when I was a kid.” Hegrimaced. “He was a stickler for discipline even back then. Made mytime with him unbearable.”

He stopped, trying tosummon up the energy to continue. Damian’s hand on his helped.“Then one day, my folks told me they were going to Dorset for theweekend. They said Roger was coming down to take care of me.” Hehuffed shortly. “I told them I was fucking fifteen years old anddidn’t need a babysitter. But they wouldn’t listen. The next thingI knew, Roger arrived and I was waving good-bye to my parents asthey drove away. It was a strange moment. My mum was more at peace,although when she hugged me good-bye, I swore she was crying. Dadtoo. It was weird, but I was a teenager.” He smiled twistedly.“Angst was my middle name.”

He paused, the image ofthe back of the silver Ford Escort station wagon disappearing intothe distance etched clearly in his mind. “Roger stayed over. It wasfucking awful. He gave me curfews, made me work for my food. Scrubthe toilets, and shit like that. And of course, I rebelled. Istayed in my room, went out with my friends after hours,” hegrinned, “doing the usual sneaking out of the windowthing.”

Jory’s stomach dipped andthe fog from the past descended. “Sunday night came and went and myfolks still hadn’t returned. Roger was pissed about it because heneeded to be back in Salisbury the next day for some work thing.”He took a deep breath. “He called the hotel Mum and Dad werestaying at and that’s when we heard the news. They’d taken a yachtout from a rental place in Solent on Saturday afternoon and… Theynever came back.” His breaths came in jagged bursts and Damianmoved closer to him, his arm draped around his shoulders. “Theynever found the boat or the bodies. My folks…disappeared.” He wipedat his stinging eyes as Damian groaned in shareddistress.

“Oh my God, Ihad no idea. Christ, baby, I’m so sorry…” His voice tailed off.“Wow. I can’t even say anything more.” His beautiful face reflectedcompassion and sadness and Jory wanted to kiss it away. Hisboyfriend shouldn’t look like this, as if his world had disappearedin a puff of a sad story.

Damian pulled him close,murmuring sympathies and soft words in his ear as Jory sobbed intohis lover’s comforting chest, letting out the loss that had plaguedhim for so long.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Damian

Watching Jory come apartin his arms cracked Damian’s heart, and he held his sobbingboyfriend closer, willing his affection into him.

Jory’s story washorrifying. For him to have lived with losing his brother andparents in such a tragic way all in a year’s time was something noone should ever have to experience.

“I even wentto look for them.” Jory’s muffled voice sent vibrations intoDamian’s soggy chest. “I chartered a boat for a week with a skipperI knew, and we looked for the wreckage or any sight of them. Wefound nothing. And then—” He moved away, and there was a feveredexpression in his eyes. “I got home and found Roger had moved intoour home. I’d had no idea my parents had given him the duty ofbeing a godparent, so it was a bit of a surprise. At the time, Iwas grateful there was someone else to help me get through it all.No matter what a kook he was.”

“So he becameyour guardian?” Damian shifted on the couch and handed Jory atissue from the box on the side table.

Jory nodded as he blewhis nose. His pale face was red from the crying and his eyesswollen. Damian’s cracked heart opened up even more. “Yeah, thatwas the official situation. I was fifteen, still at school, and Icertainly didn’t want to go into foster care. That would havesucked.” He gave a sharp laugh. “At least my folks did somethingright in organising Roger when they planned to off themselves andleave me alone. The lesser of two evils, I guess. They didn’t knowhe’d take the role far too seriously and make a misery of mylife.”

Damian stared at Jory inhorror. “You think they committed suicide, rather than simply gotlost at sea?” He couldn’t even fathom how a parent could do that totheir only remaining child. Surely Jory was wrong.

Jory sniffed and waved ahand. “I found out they’d sold assets, updated their will, and putall the money in a trust fund for me, with Roger to manage it.Everyone said I was being stupid. That my folks would never havedeliberately left me, but I knew better. They’d decided I wasn’tworth hanging around for with Lark gone.” His tone echoed with hurtand grief, and Damian pulled Jory closer and hugged himtightly.

“But you don’tknow it for sure. Perhaps they did get into trouble at sea andperished out there.”

Jory smiled and gave afaint chuckle. “Perished? What are you, some sort of old-timewordsmith?” Damian shrugged, glad he’d made Jory laugh.

“You’re right.I’ll never know for certain.” Jory shrugged. “But it’s my versionof what happened.” He sounded defiant about his belief and Damianlet him be. There was no point belabouring the point. It wouldn’tchange anything.

“So how comeRoger and your relationship got to where it is today?” Damianasked. “What went wrong?”

Jory’s face darkened.“What went wrong was he got more damned bossy and overbearing. Hetreated me like one of his army trainees, making me earn everythingI had, and putting down all these stupid rules. He seemed to thinkI owed him something because he’d taken time out of his busy lifeto look after me.” He snorted in derision. “Like he had a greatlife before he came my way. He lived alone in a little village inHertfordshire, had two ex-wives, and a bunch of debt. My trust fundwas what he needed. And he made sure he benefitted from it. He wasable to charm the solicitors into letting funds go, by promisingthem it was for my education and welfare. And sure, I got some ofthe benefits, in being able to stay in school and buy new clothesand finally get a mobile phone, but Roger?” His lips twisted in asnarl. “He lived a great life. Weekends away, dinner with severalfriends. He had no problems leaving me alone when I was sixteen fora week here and there to go abroad. I was lucky to get a few daysin bloody Brighton now and then, while he met with some ‘friend’ hehad on tap down there.”

“Huh, soundslike he had the best of both worlds,” Damian remarked, starting tosee why Jory would resent the man. “Like he decided he needed areward for looking after you rather than doing it for your folks,or out of any true concern for you.”

“You got thatright.” Jory stood up and paced around the room. “I couldn’t waitto get out of there when I finished school. At seventeen, I engageda solicitor, Walter Griffin, and got my trust fund back fromRoger’s control, managed by my dad’s old lawyer.” He stared out ofthe window.

“I only getfull control of it at twenty-five, but I wangled a decent sum ofmoney from Mr Griffin from my depleted trust fund. I found anapartment of my own, and a low- paying job at Sainsbury’s packingshelves. I worked fucking hard and saved, then got into Uni tostudy music. They were the best days of my life. I met Hannah,Alice, and Bernard there, and we decided to start a band together.Then the magic happened and Stone Edge was born.”

Damian frowned. “Andwhere was Roger during all this? When did he come back into yourlife?”

Jory turned, his lipstwisted in a parody of a smile. “When we got signed and startedmaking money, of course.”

“But why wouldyou accept him back into your life? I’m confused.” Damian stood andwent into the kitchen to put the kettle on. He needed coffee. “Imean, surely you could have told him to fuck off?”

He spooned coffee intotwo mugs, with two sugars for Jory. When Jory didn’t answer, Damianturned around. Jory stood in the middle of the room lookinguncertain, chewing on his bottom lip. Damian had never seen hislover at such a loss for words.

“Sorry, am Iasking too many silly questions? I can stop—”

Jory shook his headvigorously. “Nah, it’s okay. It’s a logical question but the reasonis not something I ever really wanted to share. Until now.” He cameinto the kitchen and planted a soft kiss on Damian’s cheek. “I needyou to not judge me on what I tell you next. But if we have anychance at a relationship, I need to tell you the truth.”