Hustle (6 page)

When he was done,
Bear leaned back in his chair and said, “You sick little fucker.”

Chapter 6

When the phone finally did ring, Rich and Donny were on the corner with some of the other boys. It was a slow night and they were just about to give up till the next day. The ring-tone sounded in Rich’s pocket. He showed the caller-ID to Donny and smiled. “See, what’d I tell ya?”

“I need to see you,” Gabriel
said.

“Long time
, no see,” said Big Rich. “Did you get any of my calls?”

“I had to turn my phone off for several days.
Trouble with work. I’m sorry, I hope you understand.”

“Sure. So, you
wanna meet, or what?”

“Yes, I’d like that. Right away, are you … available?”

“For you, Gabriel, I’m always available.” He knew the old man would be grinning ear to ear. “But, I’m with Donny. Is that okay? I know he’d like to come along.”

“I’ll pick
you both up and you can cum together.”

“Who’s the bad boy
now, Gabriel?”

“Can you be at Turk and Polk in fifteen minutes?”

“We can be there in ten.”

Big Rich pocketed his phone and told Donny, “Let’s go. We’re on. You still got
enough shit on you to last you till the morning?”

“Yeah, but you got some, too, right?”

“We got enough—between us. After we get to wherever we’re going, I’m gonna give you my phone and do what we talked about.” Rich smiled and looked down Polk Street in the direction they were going to walk and said, “Shit, this is gonna work.”

“It’s about time,” said Donny. “I
gotta stop for smokes on the way.”

“Stop af
ter we meet. Let the old man pay for ‘em”

The boy
s walked down to the corner of Turk and Polk, their pace quick and energized. They arrived there quicker than Rich had estimated. Across the street was 450 Golden Gate, the federal building. It loomed over them, dark gray, square, and oppressive. Its employee entrance on Turk Street never closed. Lined up in front of it were the usual assortment of police cars and official vehicles. Rich and Donny stood across the street waiting in the wind. Ten minutes went by.

“The fucker is late. He’s never late,” said Big Rich.

“He could have picked a better place to meet,” said Donny.

The
y waited on in silence, each of them checking the headlights of every approaching car. Rich pulled out his phone every few moments to check the time. He was ready to call Gabriel back when the black Bentley rolled up to the curb. The boys got in.

Gabriel looked tired, his voice hoarse.

“Jesus, Gabriel, is that a bruise on your cheek?” said Rich.

“
Yeah, I took a spill in the kitchen the other day. It’s okay.”

“You need to be more careful,” said Rich. He shot a loo
k over his shoulder at Donny in the backseat. He knew the old man was lying.

They stopped at a corner store and Gabriel gave Donny forty dollars to go in and buy cigarettes, beer,
soda, whatever they wanted, while he and Rich waited in the car.

“What’s the plan, Gabe?”

“I have a room reserved, you know, just a quiet party with the three of us.”

Donny
came out of the store with a small paper bag in his hand. He got back into the back seat and Gabriel pulled away from the curb. They were heading up the steep incline of Taylor Street, cresting Nob Hill and making a right onto California when Gabriel’s phone began to vibrate inside of his suit-jacket. He pulled it out, looked at it, and said, “Shit.”

Rich could see from
where he sat on the passenger side that the phone’s ID read
Home
. He turned and gave Donny a wink.

The phone kept vibrating and
Gabriel finally said, “I’m going to have to take this. Excuse me.”

T
he boys stayed quiet as Gabriel pulled into an empty loading zone and answered his phone.

“Yes?
” he said. “No. No, I didn’t … there should have been enough there …. I can’t … I’m working, I can’t … yes, you can … yes, I’m in the car, but I’m heading back to the office … can’t this wait?” The voice on the other end was shrieking, cursing. Gabriel hit the end-button and pulled away from the curb. “I’m sorry, boys, but we’re going to have to make a detour.”

“That’s okay. The wife giving you some trouble, huh?” said Rich.

Gabriel didn’t say anything at all. He turned the car around and headed back over the hill toward Pacific Heights. Gabriel hunched over the wheel. He seemed nervous, distracted.

“Everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. I just have to stop by the house for a minute and then we’ll be on our way.” They reached their destination and Gabriel pulled onto the cobblestone driveway. He turned off the car and said, “I’ll be right back.”

Rich said, “Take your time.”

The boys watched the old man go in through the enormous oak front door. Rich swung around in his seat to face Donny. “See, what’d I tell you. Look at this place. It’s a fucking palace.”

“Was that his wife on the phone?”

“Who else would it be?”

“Sounded like a bitch,” said Donny.

“Of course she’s a bitch. Only bitches live in houses this nice. What’s the address, Donny? Write it down so we know how to get back here.”

Donny took out his cell and texted the address to Rich. Big Rich’s phone made a beep. He took it out and looked at the message. “Perfect.”

They sat waiting in the silent car, watching the huge house for signs of life.

“Wh
at do you think he’s doing in there?” said Donny.

“Giving the bitch some money to order Chinese.
How the fuck do I know?”

“How much you think a place like
this costs?”

“Fuck if I know. You figure one of those shitty condos South of Market goes for a million, this place has
gotta be, like, fifty-million.”

Donny said,
“It doesn’t cost fifty-million.”

“You know so much, why the fuck you asking?”

“Why you getting so pissy?”

“I’m
not. I just wanna get this show on the road. I don’t want anything to go wrong. We can do this tonight. You ready?”

“Me, yeah.
It’s you that’s gotta do the work.”

“No, Donny, the work
ain’t it. It’s the filming. It’s gotta be right. You gotta get his face real clear. You gotta be able to see it’s him. That’s the only way it’ll work.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get it. Just give me your phone, and
, when that fuckin’ bib comes out, I’ll start rolling.”

Gabriel’s frail silhouette appeared in the doorway of the house, his back turned, saying something to someone inside. The boys couldn’t tel
l if he was shouting, if he was leaving happy or mad. The old man shut the door behind him and scurried toward the car.

When Gabriel got behind the wheel, he said, “Good news, I’ve brought a surprise for you boys tonight.”

“I don’t like surprises,” said Big Rich.

“You’ll like this one—party favors.” Gabriel smiled and started the car. “Now,
let’s get this show on the road.”

Big Rich laughed,
“I was just tellin’ Donny the same damn thing.”

***

The night went on much like the last one had. They checked in—different hotel this time. They went up to the room, got comfortable, the boys fixing in the bathroom and Gabriel pouring his scotch. Then the old lawyer brought out his party favors to show the boys, about a gram of crystal meth so clean it looked like a bag of crushed-up glass.

“Damn, Donny, check this out. Fucking Gabriel’
s got the shit. Damn it, Gabriel, you must have one hell of a connect. Where’d you get this shit?”

“It’s not polite to ask, Richard. You boys just enjoy. Let’s make a part
y of it. Help yourselves.” Gabriel popped open his briefcase and extracted his bottle of blue pills. He shook out two onto the table and swallowed one with his scotch. He waited patiently as the two young men pulled glass pipes from their pockets and began to stick little shards of the drug into each. He admired the boys, looking at their jeans, their crotches. He was free to stare at them as much as he liked. He was already getting hard.

Soon the boys were high, distracted,
but not enough to forget about their plan. Rich took off his jeans and underwear and Donny removed his T-shirt. Gabriel got out his lobster bib and took his place on the floor.

Donny, sensing the time was right, moved across the room and took the ce
ll phone out of Big Rich’s jean-jacket, then he moved behind Gabriel’s right shoulder and readied the phone.

Big Rich began his show. The
y didn’t call him Big Rich for nothing. He fondled himself close to the old man’s face and got himself hard. He grunted and made faces and said to Gabriel, “You like that? You want to touch it, lick it? Go ahead? You’re a dirty old man. Go ahead, touch it.”

Gabriel sat in front of Rich with his pants undone and pulled below his waist. Moaning softly, he began to stroke himself with one hand and grab at Rich’s balls with the other.

Donny began filming.

Through the len
s of the phone, the scene appeared, even to Donny’s jaded eyes, decadent and perverse; Rich shaking his hips and stroking his cock, the bibbed old man on his knees begging for the young man to let go on his face. Donny envisioned what someone else would see when they viewed the footage. They would be disgusted.

During the performance, Gabriel turned to Donny, “Donny, what are you doing back there
? Why aren’t you in front of me? Let me see you. Are you on your phone?”

“I’m only
texting someone, just a sec, I’ll be right there.” But Donny kept on rolling, moving around the room, arm extended, capturing the scene from every angle possible. He waited until Big Rich was finished, and the old man was in the most humiliating position possible, then he turned off the phone. He stood behind Gabriel and grinned at Big Rich, giving him a big thumbs-up.

The tone of their evening immediately changed. The boys began acting less like guests and more like hosts. They did what they liked without asking, they declined a repeat performance and fixed in the main suite instead of the bathroom.

If Gabriel was taken aback by their rudeness, their sudden lack of respect for him, he hid it. He opened his briefcase, took out his tablet and keyboard and began to work as he had last time. Big Rich reminded him that he hadn’t paid for their services and Gabriel dutifully dropped two one-hundred dollar bills on the table and then added another fifty, saying, “I’m a little tired, boys. I was wondering if
we could call it a night. I’d like to take a nap here in the room before I head back home.”

“We don’t get to stay here tonight?” said Big Rich.

“If you wouldn’t mind, just this one time.”

“That’s all right. We got
shit to do anyway,” Donny said. He was anxious to get away from the old man and cop more junk.

“When’s next time
gonna be?” asked Rich.

“Soon, soon.
I’ll call you.”

The boys gathered their few thi
ngs: jeans, their jackets, what paraphernalia they’d left lying around. Rich picked up the money, gave Donny one of the hundreds and pocketed the other two bills. When they were ready, they looked at Gabriel who was already laying on one of the beds staring at a blank TV screen.

Rich said,
“Hey, Gabe, you want me to turn that thing on?”

“No, that’s fine, leave it. I want to thank you boys for another fabulous evening. I’ll be in touch.”

“Alright, then. Goodnight,” said Donny.

“Call us,” said Big Rich.

Gabriel stayed quiet. He was either distracted or falling asleep.

***

In the elevator, the two boys pondered the old man’s attitude.

Donny said,
“You think he’s pissed off? You think he knows we filmed him?”

“Nah, he would have said something. I think he’s fucking old, that’s what I think. I think we just
tuckered the old bastard out.” Big Rich was callous. “Hey, lemme have my phone back.”

“
Wait, let’s watch it when we get back to your place. Let’s get outta this hotel first.”

“It’s still m
y fucking phone, Donny. If you wanna cop, I’m gonna need my phone, shithead.”

Donny
smiled and pulled the phone from inside his jacket, saying, “Get a couple grams, at least. And let’s get some blow this time.”