All of the Voices by Bailey Bradford (little red riding hood read aloud txt) 📗

his necklace. “No, it wasn’t him. Has Conner given you any shit since you’ve been back in New York?”

“Why would he do that? He’s in McKinton—” Carlin replayed Severo’s earlier words about his schedule. “Isn’t he? Isn’t he bound by proximity to where he died or something like that?”

“Nope,” Severo said with a cheeky grin. “He’s been keeping an eye on you since you left.”

Carlin couldn’t stop himself from looking around his office, as if Conner’s spirit would pop up and shout ‘Boo!’ any moment now. “But…I haven’t felt him! There hasn’t been a single slap on my ass, or a message on my laptop… And if spirits aren’t bound by distance, why haven’t I encountered Aunt Mary?”

“Because she’s been busy keeping Matt company,” Severo explained. “And you did warn Conner about the ass slapping and messing with your laptop, or Matt did. Either way, he’s been unusually circumspect around you, though I think it’s probably because you’re so miserable.”

“I am miserable,” Carlin admitted before he thought better of it. “I miss Matt, which is ridiculous considering I only knew him a few days.”

Severo nodded. “Love is like that. It kind of slaps you upside the head and grabs you by the balls, and there isn’t anything you can do but give over to it.”

Carlin snorted and rolled his eyes. “You just managed to take the epitome of romance and turn it into an experience to be terrified of.”

“Why not? It’s true. Look at you, and Matt looks even worse. He’s got so thin that Doreen and Virginia have started sneaking meals on him and hovering over him until he eats whatever they put in front of him. And bitchy, God.” Severo sighed. “The guy’s a walking advertisement for a broken heart. It hurts just to look at him.”

Carlin hadn’t thought it was possible to feel any worse, but he’d been wrong. Somehow he’d thought Matt would get over him quickly and go on with his life. It was the images he played through his mind at night, of Matt laughing and surrounded by friends, living a quietly happy life, that had pushed Carlin through his own bouts of depression. He hadn’t been able to go so far as to think of Matt taking another lover, though. Carlin doubted he’d ever be able to handle that.

“Well, I might have a solution for you.”

Carlin blinked as what Severo said sank in. “What do you mean?”

Severo pulled some brochures out of his jacket pocket and handed them to Carlin. “A couple of different things. First of all are these.” He tapped the brochures. “These are for a couple of private mental health care facilities, one in Dallas, one in Fort Worth. It wouldn’t take you more than about an hour to get to either of them. Now, I don’t know how long it takes you to get where your father is here in New York, but I’ve heard stories about the traffic, and it sure as hell was awful on the cab drive from the airport.”

“Up to a couple of hours,” Carlin murmured as he stared down at the brochures. Why hadn’t he thought of this? “The facility my dad is in is actually on the outskirts of New York on what used to be some millionaire’s estate.”

“Well, these are good places, I actually went and checked them out just to be sure, and let me tell you, having been stuck in a state run mental hospital as a kid, walking into these two places, no matter how nice they were, was still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

Carlin’s head was spinning with hope and the distance Severo had gone to try to make it possible for Carlin and Matt to have a relationship. And to be willing to go into a psychiatric facility after being committed as a child… Carlin would never be able to thank Severo for doing that. Severo didn’t give him a chance.

“My folks stuck me in there after I started telling them I could talk to spirits. My grandmother got me out.” Severo touched the charm on his necklace. “Now, you probably aren’t going to like what I have to say next, but you need to consider it anyway.”

That sounded ominous even though Severo spoke the words lightly. Carlin set the brochures on his lap and waited.

“I need you to take me to see your father.”

Epilogue

“I said I’d have the reports done in a few minutes,” Matt snapped as someone knocked on his office door. One thing about being a cranky bastard, people stopped barging into your office unannounced, though one of these days, and probably soon, Laine was going to get tired of Matt’s shitty attitude and kick his ass.

The knocking began again and Matt snarled as he shoved his keyboard aside. “Come in!”

Then the door opened, and Matt’s heart broke all over again. “Carlin,” he whispered, soaking in the sight of the gorgeous man who’d haunted him more than any spirit ever could. Carlin was dressed in his old faded jeans and a tight red T-shirt. Matt wanted to lick him from head to toe.

“Matt,” Carlin said equally as quietly, his lips trembling as he looked at Matt.

Matt wanted to protect himself from this man, wanted to be angry for the months he’d suffered, but he couldn’t. Carlin hadn’t lied to him, and Matt hadn’t been able to stop himself from loving him.

“How long are you here for?” Matt would take off however many days Carlin was in McKinton. Fuck it, everyone would probably be glad to be rid of him for a while, but God knew how he’d hold himself together when Carlin left again.

Carlin smiled tremulously as he cleared his throat. “Can I sit?”

Matt couldn’t stand it anymore. “No,” he said as he stood up. “You stay right there.”

Carlin’s hurt expression vanished as Matt rounded the desk and pulled him into an embrace that had them both trembling.

“My God, I’ve missed you, sweetheart. We were plumb stupid to think a