Secret Prayer Ch. 04

Gage didn't try to fight the cops at all, letting them lead him outside with both of his hands up to show he wasn't threatening anyone while Arthur explained his son was in a mental breakdown and being brainwashed by the owner of the residence.

Jarek leaned over and told Jimmy that it may be a good idea to push the issue on that restraining order they had discussed. "You know I dislike weaponizing the police, especially after what they've done to our community, but it's necessary," Jarek pointed out. Jeremy was in agreement with that.

Lucia had gone off ahead of the others, yelling at the cops to let her client go and that they had no right to take him from his residence like this. The cops only let go of Gage once he was seated in the ambulance that had come. The EMTs were asking all sorts of questions while checking his blood pressure, which was high right then, his heart rate (also high), and his temperature.

"Excuse me a moment," Jimmy said calmly to the nearest police officer. "How are you so certain that that man is Gage Belford? You asked for no identification and you are going completely off the word of people who are intruders onto private property."

"We were given a description and saw identification from his dad," the cop replied.

"I see. That identification was stolen, sir," Jimmy continued, writing down the officer's badge number and name from his uniform. "These people are members of a dangerous religious cult and are using your authority to attempt to kidnap Mr. Belford. I strongly suggest you prepare to see us in court."

"A cult? Preposterous," Mr. Hartman grumbled.

The cop seemed unimpressed with the threat but they could hear Lucia's voice cutting through some of the noise. "Mr. Belford is in out-patient treatment right now for depression, anxiety, and possible C-PTSD. Hospitalizing him just puts him at the mercy of the very people who have contributed to that. I will be happy to call his psychiatrist and therapist to aid us in making sure he stays out of in-patient care."

"Do you feel like harming yourself or anyone else?" one of the EMTs asked Gage.

Gage clenched his jaw as he looked over at where his father was, because he did, in fact, feel like punching his father in his smug face. With a lot of control and effort though, Gage shook his head. "No. I have only ever considered hurting myself before, but have never acted on it and do not feel like doing that now."

Lucia got Gage's doctor on the phone and, with Gage's permission, she spoke to one of the EMTs in order to come to a compromise. Eventually, Gage was allowed to leave the ambulance with the promise that he would be going in to see his psychiatrist the very next day. Gage wasn't against it, either, because he was shaking with anxiety and anger. When they let him get up, he rushed across the grass toward Jarek, just wanting to feel safe again.

Jimmy quickly rounded on the police. "And now that you see that their allegations were false, Sergeant, would you mind seeing to it that they return his property to him?"

Tate came walking over to them around that time, slipping past some of the cops and Kennedy until he was standing next to Jimmy. The cop turned to ask that Arthur hand over the documents, but Mr. Belford refused, saying this was a family matter and he could have them returned once he was home.

"Luckily for Gage, he is home," Tate replied and pulled the birth certificate, social security card, and passport out of his pocket and handed them to Jimmy.

Jarek, meanwhile, had stepped forward and caught Gage in a bear hug, to the cheers of some of the neighbors, who had gathered on the edges of the property at the sight of the ambulance and police cars.

Jeremy took the papers from Jimmy and handed them off to Kennedy, who he told to get Gage and Jarek inside the house. Mr. Hartman was trying to reprimand Tate, but Tate ignored him, walking over to join Kennedy while flipping off the Mission President.

"I think this meeting is over with," Jeremy told the bishop and Mission President. "I'd suggest you get off this property. The cops are still here and I'm positive the owner of the home would be happy to have you trespassed if necessary."

"One of my charges is still on the property," Mr. Hartman cried. "I can't leave without him."

They heard Tate call out from near the front door, "Get fucked, old man!"

"I believe Mr. Campbell is also an adult who can make his own decisions," Jeremy pointed out with a smile that was anything but warm and friendly. "If something changes with his choice, you'll be the first to know. Until then, leave."

Jeremy didn't wait for any of them to agree. He turned around and put his arm around Jimmy so the two of them walked back into the house together and shut the door behind them. Jeremy locked the door and when he came into the living room, Gage and Jarek were on the couch together with Gage resting his forehead on Jarek's shoulder. Gage was still shaking and his hands were in fists that were clutching onto Jarek's shirt.

Jarek was petting Gage's hair soothingly and murmuring to him about how proud of him he was. Jimmy, who had followed Jeremy into the room, looked at Jeremy and smiled affectionately, nodding in their direction. Jeremy put his arm around Jimmy, smiling at the two because it reminded him a lot of them many years ago before they created the foundation.

When Gage calmed himself enough to be able to focus on anything other than Jarek, he turned to look at Tate. "That was a big risk you took. What about your identification papers? What about your dad?"

Tate chuckled at that. "My dad won't bother to come out to try and collect me. He'll assume that I'll fuck around here in Chicago, fail miserably, and then come crawling back in a few years. I'm going to shock him by not doing those last two parts. As for my papers." He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his birth certificate and social security card.

"How did you manage that?" Gage asked, sitting up in surprise.

"Remember that family that had that big supply of fireworks?" Tate asked Gage with a laugh, and only continued once Gage nodded. "I was around when your parents came in and were given your papers. Mine were in the safe too, and I knew that. So I added a bunch of fuse and made sure it was going to go off when the safe was open. There was too much chaos for them to notice me slipping them out."

"Did they not suspect you?" Gage questioned.

"No, because I was in the room for a good fifteen minutes listening to them talk when everything happened," Tate explained. "They likely didn't think about adding fuse wiring to it. I'm sure he'll put two and two together soon though."

"You didn't have to do this because of me though," Gage replied.

Tate sat down so he was right across from Gage, looking him in the eyes. "Yes, I did. I have met so many people in this church because of my dad. People of all ages, sometimes different races, all different types of income. You are the only person I've met though that has looked at me and said I wasn't a lost cause. Out of hundreds of people, it was only you."

Gage swallowed hard, trying to blink back the tears that came to his eyes again. "Well, go on," Jarek said, nudging Gage ungently on the shoulder with a wink, "Invite him into the room for a threesome."

That broke the tension that had been through the room since the cops came in, with everyone laughing.

"No threesome," Gage said after he stopped laughing. "But, we do have this second room with a bed I haven't actually been using, you know."

"And here I was just telling your family that I hadn't been corrupting you!" Jarek said in mock-surprise.

"What they call corrupting sometimes is just introducing new things," Gage replied with a wink. "If this is corruption, you can keep doing it though."

Tate pretended to gag, and the others laughed while Jeremy looked at Jimmy with a glint in his eyes as if he was thinking through something. He motioned toward Tate with a questioning expression. Normally, the Silas Foundation only helped people in the LGBTQIA+ community as that was their specialty, but he seemed to be asking if they should make an exception this time with Tate.

Jimmy shrugged. "I mean, they do say the A in LGBTQIA is for Ally..." he said with a smirk, knowing full well that's not what it meant.

Jeremy chuckled at that, and then asked Kennedy if they could start a file for Tate so they could get him some help as well. Kennedy seemed more than happy to do so, and started asking Tate in what ways she could help him now that he was settling in Chicago. Once she had all of the information she needed, Jeremy went back to the front door to check that the cops, ambulance, and Gage's family and church leaders had left.

With that, they left the three of them alone there. Gage let Tate borrow a t-shirt and shorts to lounge in and go to sleep in before Jarek and Gage went into the master bedroom to strip down to shorts and snuggle up against each other.

Gage needed to feel Jarek against him, solid and real, for safety and security that night. He would deal with this mess more in the morning, but for now he was exhausted and needed to be in Jarek's arms.