Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Fallout didn’t even adequately describe the outcome. Dozens and dozens of former “patients” had come forward to press charges against Father Abbott and the men and women who’d helped him inflict countless cruelties on them during their time at both The Ranch and The Tower. I’d decided against being a part of the investigation because between the national coverage and the relentless team of authorities building a case against the church that seemed to grow bigger every day, I’d accomplished what I’d set out to do.
I was living my truth.
And Father Abbott was rotting in a cell that I hoped wasn’t much bigger than the closet he’d put me in, both physically and mentally.
The best part had been when we’d learned that Father Abbott’s church was located in the same county in Oregon where Lincoln had gotten his second chance at life. The young lawyer who’d promised his dying wife that he’d keep going had done exactly that not long after giving Lincoln his own second chance. He was now the Attorney General for Oregon and was heading up the investigation into not only Father Abbott’s church but similar organizations throughout the state. The newly remarried man with his first child on the way had vowed that Oregon would lead the charge to ban all forms of gay conversion therapy. If I hadn’t already loved the man for what he’d done for Lincoln, I would have loved him for all the stories he would make sure would be heard.
“How’s Doc doing?” I asked.
“Not great,” Lincoln said softly. “He finally seems to be accepting it.”
My heart broke for the old man who’d been Pelican Bay’s veterinarian for decades. He’d only recently officially announced his retirement. I was one of the few people who knew why the man had really given up his practice. Although he was not officially Lincoln’s patient, Lincoln had respected Doc Cleary’s privacy and had never mentioned anything to me about the man or his situation. It had been Doc Cleary himself who’d told me why he’d really retired. He’d come in looking for books on a certain topic and when I’d offered to help, the old man who’d seemingly aged by a decade overnight had been overcome with emotion and I’d given him the shoulder he’d metaphorically needed to lean on in that moment. It was only with the man’s permission that Lincoln gave me updates on what was happening.
We fell into a comfortable silence, but I suspected Lincoln had figured out why we were there.
“He wasn’t my boyfriend,” I began. I’d said the same words to him the night that Arthur Tomlinson had come after me in the library and unwittingly outed the most shameful secret that I’d hoped Lincoln would never find out about. Lincoln had interrupted me when I’d started to explain because he’d known I wasn’t ready to deal with any of it.
I was ready now.
“When I got to Minneapolis, everything was so much harder than I thought it would be. I got a job as a janitor at a place that helped people with developmental disabilities. It didn’t pay much but it was enough to get me a shitty apartment in an even shittier neighborhood. I know now that I was suffering from PTSD, but I didn’t know it then. I thought I could just forget everything that had happened in The Tower.” I began stroking Nacho’s head more fervently as the memories began to bombard me.
“I met him at the bus stop. I thought he was hitting on me at first and I kind of lost my shit. The guy, Ben, felt bad for upsetting me and told me why he’d chatted me up in the first place.”
I forced myself to focus on my breathing as I continued. “He said I had the right look for gay porn and that I could make a lot of money. He apologized but gave me his card and told me to check out his website. Turned out he wasn’t even gay. He had a girlfriend who was an equal partner in the business. He’d been introduced to porn through her but ended up making a lot more doing gay porn.”
I felt like I was talking a million miles a minute, so I stopped both to catch my breath and to look at Lincoln because I’d forgotten how important it was that I look people in the eye when I was talking to them. It was another one of those pesky habits I hadn’t even realized I’d used to hide behind.
“Anyway, he apologized and gave me the card. I saw him a few times after that when we caught the same bus, but he never bothered me or anything. He’d just say hello and that was it. I hadn’t even considered his offer but then I lost my job, and I couldn’t find another one. I knew my parents wouldn’t help me out and I wouldn’t have asked them anyway. But I was in danger of losing my apartment and the thought of living on the streets…”