Deadly Devotion (Soulscape #4)

Chapter 5

NOTE:  A piece was added to the last chapter after the initial posting. The added piece begins with Alec and Frank in the kitchen, after they returned from town. If you've read that part, then you're all caught up :)

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"Alec..." the two of them retired to the front porch after another hour or so of working on the upstairs hallway. He handed the boy a glass of chilled lemonade then sat down in a chair beside him. "What did you really mean when you said you saw it in their souls? I'm not sure I understand."

"The eyes are windows, Doc," Alec said. "To both the heart and the soul. Anyone can see the truth if they really look."

Frank sipped his drink. "You seemed so positive. How can you know for a fact that Randall Scott is abusing them?"

"Zeke told me."

"Zeke?" Frank frowned. "Isn't Zeke...asleep?"

Alec looked at him. "Sometimes he wakes up...when I let him."

"You..." Frank shook his head slowly, somewhat confused. "You let him? When do you let him?"

A slight twitch at the corner of Alec's lips. "When we're fucking. He really likes you, Doc. And he likes it when we fuck you together." A faint smile curved his mouth. "Alex did, too."

Images of the sexy go-go boy filled Frank's head; there had been something special about that boy. He swallowed hard. "Alex was awake when we...had sex?"

"Sometimes." Alec gazed at him. "You liked him, didn't you, Doc? Even when he wasn't me anymore."

Frank lowered his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I did. He just seemed like..." he shrugged. "Like he needed someone in his life to care about him."

"You cared about him."

Frank looked up and smiled softly. "So did you."

Staring into his eyes, Alec said low, "You shouldn't try so hard to see things in me that aren't there, Doc. In the end, it will only hurt and disappoint you."

His heart squeezing, Frank murmured, "I call it as I see it, Alec. You helped Alex. You didn't have to. You could have discarded him, left him in the middle of nowhere with no idea where he was or how he got there. All alone and scared. But you took care of him, you helped him get back home."

"Even someone like me can be courteous," Alec said.

"It was more than that," Frank told him. "And I think you know that. You liked Alex. You saw into his mind, saw the impending tragedy, and you helped him deal with his pain and anger the only way you knew how. You saved his life."

Alec shifted his stare out to the lake and said nothing.

Frank studied his face. To the naked eye, the boy wore a perpetual mask void of emotion. Frank had learned to detect the little things that alerted maybe there was more going on inside than was visibly evident to the average onlooker; the faintest tightness around the eyes, the slight twitch deep in the corners of his mouth, the barely noticeable flare of his nostrils. And that single tiny line that crept across his brow, nearly invisible.

"How would Zeke know that Randall was abusing his family?" he asked quietly. "What has he shown you in there?"

"Memories," Alec whispered without taking his eyes from the lake. "Bad memories. He knows what abuse looks like...in the eyes of others." He turned his head slowly and looked at Frank. "He sees it every time he looks in the mirror." Alec held his stare firmly. "Randall Scott is a bad man and he's going to do bad things to the boy."