Boystown 7: Bloodlines (12 page)

Half the theater was empty before he got around to offering us free popcorn. Joseph and I went out through the lobby, since that was our closest exit. Most of the audience was congregating in front of the theater, which was not a good place to stand if there actually were a bomb about to go off. But it seemed no one believed the threat. Certainly, the manager’s speech gave the feeling this happened on a regular basis.

Before the CPD arrived, Joseph asked, “You don’t really want to see the movie, do you?”

“I was enjoying it.”

“You weren’t paying any attention.”

“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t enjoying myself. It’s a comedy, right?”

“Sort of,” he said. “The daughter gets cancer and dies.”

“That sounds hysterical.”

“See, you don’t want to see it.”

I shrugged. “You’re right. After you’ve been through it a couple of times, watching people die isn’t as entertaining as it used to be. We could go back to my office and continue what we were doing.”

“No. I shouldn’t. That was more than I’m ready for.”

“You seemed ready to me.” He frowned at me so I said, “All right. Whatever you want. So, we’ll have another normal date, soon?”

“Yes. I’d like that.”

We stared at each other. It would have been nice to kiss him again, but the street was well lit and crowded.
 

“So, I’ll catch a cab then,” he said.

“All right.” It felt weird to just leave him there. “Um…so, are you okay with what we did? You don’t need to talk about it?”

“I’m okay.”

“I didn’t push too hard did I?”

“You pushed just fine.” He got a funny smile on his face and said, “I will tell you one thing. I’ll never think of Shirley MacLaine the same way, that’s for sure.”

Then he stepped out into the street to hail a cab.

Chapter Ten

That night I slept like I was drowning in a shallow pool of water. Brian’s couch was too short and too hard, and my mind was too full of bad things. Everything blended into a muddle. Jimmy English knew Madeline’s secret but wouldn’t tell me. Shirley MacLaine was on trial for smothering her daughter in a crib and I was supposed to help her. Someone wanted to hurt me but I couldn’t see who it was. Joseph, Joseph was kissing me, touching me, feeling my cock. Was it Joseph? Or was it, I couldn’t see…

I woke up. The blanket had fallen off me. My prick was hard and sticking out of my boxers. Terry sat on the coffee table just a foot away from me staring at it. I jumped up to a sitting position. Shoved my erection back into my underwear and pulled the blanket up off the floor and across my lap.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s more interesting than morning TV.”

I wrapped the blanket around my waist and walked through the apartment until I got to Brian’s door. I pounded on it, and a moment later Brian and Franklin were standing in front of me half dressed. “I woke up with a woody hanging out of my boxers and Terry was staring at it.”

“But he didn’t touch it?” Brian asked. “I mean, that’s an improvement. Right?”

“What do you mean that’s an improvement?”

Brian shrugged. “He’s crawled into bed with me.”

“What?” Franklin nearly jumped out of his skin.

“I told him to get out of my room,” Brian said.

“You can’t—this is not a safe situation,” Franklin said. I wanted to disagree but I couldn’t. “If anyone found out they’d blame you. And a kid like that could say anything and then where would you be?”

“Nothing’s going on. He’s just confused.”

“I’m standing right here,” Terry said from a few feet down the hall.

“Go back in the living room,” I said. He didn’t budge.

“It doesn’t matter if nothing’s going on,” Franklin sputtered. “Normal people already think we rape children. Even the suggestion—”

“I’m a normal person,” Brian said.

“You know what I meant.”

“Yeah, you meant straight people are normal and we’re not.”

“That’s not important now. What’s important is that you’re in danger and you’re not seeing it.”

I really hated that Franklin was right. I didn’t like him and preferred that people I didn’t like always be wrong.
 

“Terry, get dressed. Grab some of your stuff,” I said.

“Oh Nick, I can’t throw him out.”

“You’re not throwing him out. He’s just going on a little vacation.”

“What?” Terry practically screamed. “Where am I going?”

“You’ll see.”

“No. I won’t do it.”

“Yes you will. If you won’t pack your stuff, I’ll do it for you.” Something about my tone of voice must have scared him because he went into his room. I went out to the living room and put on my clothes from the night before. Again the idea that I needed to get my own place crossed my mind. I really did need to do that. And not just because of Terry. Brian and Franklin were arguing in his bedroom. I already knew I didn’t want to be in the middle of their relationship. As arrogant and unpleasant as I thought Franklin was, he did have Brian’s interest at heart so I expected them to get through the nasty fight they were having.
 

Terry presented himself in the living room wearing his school uniform and carrying a backpack. “I’m not sure you’ll get to school today.”

“That’s one good thing.”

He followed me out of the apartment and down the stairs to the street. My car was a block away and Terry didn’t say a thing until we got there. When we did he informed me, “You’d better not be taking me back to my parents. They’ll just laugh in your face.”

“Don’t worry. I thought up something worse.”

“Worse than my par—” I didn’t hear the rest of what he said, since I’d gotten into the car. I leaned over the passenger seat and unlocked his door. He settled himself in the seat and asked, “How long do I have to be wherever the fuck you’re taking me?”
 

“Until you learn to stop making passes at grown men.”

“I didn’t make a pass at you. I was just looking.”

“Well it didn’t make me happy to wake up and find you gawking at me like I was your own personal porno flick.”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“Leave the room. Put a blanket over me. Have some common decency.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Then you won’t mind not seeing me for a few days, will you?”

I pulled out of the parking space and went around the block so I could cut back to Lincoln and start heading northwest. I began a lecture that I hoped would last the entire drive. “Two years, Terry. You just have to wait two years and then you can fuck any guy who’ll have you. You want to fuck old men in two years, have at it. But right now messing around with anyone over eighteen is just a really bad idea. And I don’t mean a bad idea for you; I mean a bad idea for Brian. Brian has gone out on a limb for you and you repay him by climbing into bed with him? Do you have any idea what happens to people who get caught with teenagers? Wait, yes, you do. You know exactly what’s going to happen to Deacon DeCarlo. He’s going to prison. Do you want Brian to go to prison?”

“I didn’t think he’d do anything with me.”

“So why did you have to try?”

“To find out.”

 
I was quiet for half a dozen blocks, then I said, “Why can’t you leave some things to find out when you turn eighteen?”

“Stop saying eighteen. The age of consent in Illinois is seventeen.”

“How did you find that out?” I asked, hoping to prove him wrong. I really hoped there would be two years before this child was unleashed on the world.

“I went to the library.”

I could already tell parenthood wasn’t for me. The fact that the kid went to the library was terrific. The fact that he went there to find out how soon he could legally have sex was not. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so we didn’t say anything the rest of the ride. When we got to Devon, I turned west and headed out to Edison Park. Ten minutes later we pulled up in front of the yellow brick condos that were now very familiar to me.
 

“Who lives here?” Terry asked, his voice dripping with suspicion.

“Someone I want you to meet.”

“I’m not staying here if I don’t want to,” Terry said. “I don’t have to. I’m emancipated.”

“As long as you have a place to live you’re emancipated. The minute you’re homeless you’re a ward of the state. You can stay where I put you or you can try foster care,” Actually, he could only be someplace that a judge approved, but since I’d orchestrated his staying with Brian I figured he had an inflated sense of my power, so why not use it? He was silent as we walked into the lobby of Mrs. Harker’s building. I buzzed her condo and a fraction of a second later she came out in an overcoat and carrying a purse. As she opened the outer door so gave me a sly look. “Is Thursday. Why you here?”

“I brought you something,” I said, indicating Terry.

“Is boy.” Her tone suggested she’d rather have something useful, like a head of cabbage.

“Yes. I’m hoping he can stay with you.”

“Oh come on. I don’t want to stay with her.”

“You don’t have a choice at the moment. If you behave you’ll have choices.”

“Wait. He not stay here. Is not place for boy.”

“You did a good job with Harker. Maybe you can help me out with this one.”

She eyed me suspiciously. A compliment that evoked her son. I was pulling out all the stops. She dragged me inside and let the outer door shut, leaving Terry outside.
 

“Where his parents?”

“They threw him out?”

“Why? Is terrible boy?”

“He’s gay.”

I watched a series of emotions pass over her face. Distaste. We didn’t discuss gay things so I’d crossed a boundary. Sadness. Gay was like Harker. Confusion. She was probably responsible for Harker being in the closet most of his life, but she would never have thrown him out. Anger. Yup, in Eva Harker’s world you do not throw boys out for any reason. “Fine. I will take.”

“Thank you.”

She opened the door and said, “Come, put bag in house. Then we go to church.”

“Oh my God, how long do I have to stay here?” he whined, but he put his backpack into Mrs. Harker’s apartment.

“I’ll be here for Easter Sunday. We’ll talk about it then.”

“Four days, okay.”

“No, not four days. Four days and we’ll talk about it.”

“Is time to go. Must catch bus.”

“Do you want a ride?”

“No. We take bus.”

“Okay.”

I lit a cigarette and watched them walk down the street heading back toward Devon. Terry looked back at me a few times and I could feel him cursing me even from a block away. It was about eight o’clock in the morning and I badly needed breakfast and coffee. I also needed a shower, so I figured it was a bad idea to just grab some breakfast and start my day. I found a Dunkin Donuts on Peterson Avenue, bought a dozen mixed and three coffees, then made my way back to Brian’s.

When I walked into the apartment balancing the tray of take-out coffee it seemed silent at first. Then, after a few moans drifted up my way, I realized there was make-up sex going on in the back. A couple years ago I would have walked back to Brian’s bedroom and offered my assistance with the making up. The fact that I didn’t like Franklin much wouldn’t have stopped me for a moment. Things had changed. Things had changed a lot. I sat down at the dining room table, picked out a coffee, and chose a chocolate cake donut out of the box. I began to contemplate how I should spend my day.
 

The highest priority for my day was talking to Owen Lovejoy, Esquire. I needed to tell him about Connor’s phone call. But since it had to do with Jimmy’s case, and some very incriminating information about me, we had to meet someplace that wasn’t bugged. Which meant Owen wouldn’t trust the telephone, my office, or even his office. So, how exactly should I set up a meeting with him? I could call him and ask if he wants to fuck, but since someone else was in his bed last time I talked to him he’d likely say no. Not to mention, as horny as I was, I wasn’t sure I was in the mood, if, in addition to the conversation about business, he expected me to follow through.

Of course, if I was going to meet with Owen I should collect my thoughts about the Levine case. He’d ask about that one too. So, where was I? There were still people I needed to talk to. The rest of the Levine family, for one. And of course, I needed to find Emily Fante.
 

Brian came into the dining room in his briefs. “Hey,” he said when he saw me. “You’re back.”

“I bought donuts and coffee. Coffee’s probably cold.”

He looked through the box for a donut. “Where’s Terry?”

“He’s staying with Mrs. Harker for a few days.”

“Won’t she hate that?”

“If she runs true to form she’ll start complaining about how awful it is in about three days, but when I try to take him back she won’t want to let him go.”

“
He’s
going to hate it.” He picked out a jelly donut and bit into it, getting purple jelly all over his chin.
 

“He doesn’t have a lot of choices.”

Franklin walked into the dining room. He wore just a towel. He wasn’t bad looking. Maybe I’d made a mistake foregoing a three-way I wasn’t invited to. He saw me and blushed. “What’s going on?”

“Nick brought Terry out to Mrs. Harker’s”

“Who’s Mrs. Harker?”

Brian opened his mouth to give a full explanation but then thought better of it. “A friend,” he finally said. “He’s not going to stay there long, right Nick?”

“You can’t let him come back here,” Franklin said.

“Well, he’s not going to like it with Mrs. Harker,” Brian explained. “She’s in her seventies or something. And sort of a bitch.”

“That doesn’t make any difference. It’s not safe if you’re here. I’m surprised a judge let it happen in the first place.”

“Because all gay men want is to have sex with children?” I asked.

“Because that’s what straight people think.”

“And the best way to get them to not think that is to avoid all contact with children?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Franklin said emphatically. He suddenly made me feel like all gay teachers were incredibly brave people.