Love Means_. Freedom - Andrew Grey

sorry, Preston. I miss you so much. Please call me." Sniffles and small sobs accompanied the message; an image of tears running down Stone's face flashed into his mind, and he felt his heart leaping at the glimmer of hope. The hurt and anger he'd been nursing for the last month threatened to bubble to the surface again. Unsure of what to do, Preston turned and left the apartment, making his way to the elevator.
    "PRESTON!"
He looked up in surprise to see the walrus standing in his doorway, looking very impatient.
"Are you listening?"
"I was preoccupied. I'm sorry." He tried to look contrite, but probably failed, because he really didn't care about this lazy man's opinion. The walrus made no effort to hide his annoyance. "I was asking you if the revenue statistics for the fiscal year were done."
    Preston fished on his desk, finding the stack of papers he wanted. The man insisted he get everything on paper. Preston could have e-mailed the report last night, but he wouldn't have looked at it anyway. "Finished them last night." He held them up, offering them to his boss. "I made some improvements to the form we were using. If you want to review them, we can." Not that the man was likely to understand them anyway.
    The walrus snatched the papers from Preston's hand, and he pulled his hand away, getting a paper cut that stung. "Damn it." Sucking on his thumb, Preston grabbed a napkin to wipe up the blood and found his mind drifting again. "That damn message," he mumbled without heat to himself as he threw the bloody paper in the trash. How could so few words cause so much confusion?
    Steadying himself, he checked his watch and pulled out his phone, dialing without the hesitation of last night. The phone rang and rang. Preston was ready for it to flip to voice mail.
    "Hello, Preston?" Stone sounded small and scared.
Preston's heart leapt just hearing his voice. "Yes, it's me. I heard your message." The line went silent. "Are you still there?" "Yes." It sounded like Stone was crying. "I'm so sorry, Preston." The line went dead.
    He stared at the phone wondering what had happened. Huffing, he began dialing Stone's number when his desk phone rang. Irritated, he closed his cell and answered the phone before gathering his things and using his walker to go to his boss's office, grabbing the cell phone from his desk.
    DAMN, that meeting had taken forever, and the entire time, he'd kept hoping Stone would call back, but his phone hadn't rung. Flopping in his chair, he rubbed his tired legs and tried to get back to work, but found himself staring at the phone. "Fuck." Picking it up, he dialed, but it went right to voice mail. Hanging up without leaving a message, Preston began to worry. What had Stone been sorry for? In his message, he said he missed him. That memory made his heart race, and he tried not to let himself get too excited, but he couldn't help it.
    Finally, the phone vibrated on his desk. Recognizing the number for the farm, he answered it. "Preston, it's Geoff."
"What's wrong? Is Stone okay?" The questions poured out frantically.
    "Stone ran out of the house a while ago, really upset. We found him in the barn. We think he must have startled Buster, and the horse kicked him. He's on his way to the hospital."
    Preston's heart almost stopped right there. "Is he going to be okay?"
"I don't know. He wasn't conscious when I saw them putting him in the ambulance. I'm leaving for the hospital now." He could hear Eli calling behind him that the ambulance was ready to go and that they were going to follow it. "I've got to go." Geoff hung up, and Preston closed the phone, staring at it.
    Finally deciding what he needed to do, Preston dialed again. "Mom, I need your help." He explained what had happened. "I know you and Dad don't understand, but I need to do this."
    He could almost see the expression on her face. "Your father and I don't always see eye to eye. I'll make some calls and see what I can do." "Thanks, Mom." He hung up and tried to go back to work. There were things he needed to finish up.
An hour later, his phone rang again. "Ramon got what you needed." The man was the god of travel agents.
"He won't tell Dad, will he?"
"Of course not." She sounded offended for him. "Here's the information." Preston wrote it down.
"You're a life saver, Mom."
She was quiet for a while. "You really like this young man, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do." He had to be honest with her and himself.
    "Then why did you take the job?" He waited. "Forget