The Boy Who Came in From the Cold (33 page)

ever? LeAnn Rimes cheated! That talent-free little bitch from
Twilight
cheated on that vampire guy!”

Todd’s eyes went wide and he sucked his lips in.
He’s trying not to laugh
, thought Gabe. And before he knew it, he was the one that was laughing. Todd let out a blast and joined him.

“Bitch from
Twilight
?” Todd managed to get out through his laughter.

The laughter didn’t last long. The conversation had been pretty serious after all. Nothing to be dispelled with anything less than hysteria, and hysterical they weren’t.

But it lightened the mood a bit.

 

“Well, at least now you know you didn’t ruin the evening,” Gabe said. “I helped.”

Todd’s eyes went big again. “And I he-ulped,” he said, mocking the ancient Shake ’n Bake commercial, and they laughed once more.
“How do you even know that commercial?” Gabe asked. “That was before your time. Hell, it was before mine.”

“YouTube,” Todd said. “Where do you think?”

 

Chapter 17

 

“WHAThappened to them?” Todd asked as Gabe parked the car in the

Oscar Wilde’s lot.
Gabe turned to him. “Thought we were done with that.”

“We aren’t,” Todd said. “And I want to know before we go upstairs.”

 

“Why?” Gabe asked him.

 

Because I want to change the mood
, Todd thought. “So we don’t take it home.”

 

Gabe gave him a little smile. “Home?”

Todd smiled back. “You did ask me to move in. I got that, right? At leasttemporarily?”
“Yes, Todd,” Gabe said. “And you can stay as long as you want. We’ll set up your bedroom and you can live there forever if you want.”

“Then finish. I did. I saw Austin fucking Joan and I moved to KC. You found Daniel in bed with Brett. What happened?”

“It’s only going to make things worse,” Gabe said.
“No, it’s not.”
Tell me. Tell me, Gabe. Get it out
.
Gabe gripped the steering wheel and looked out into the night.

The sky had gone clear at some point—there was no snow—and a quarter moon hung over them, silver and flawless. “They moved out,” he said finally. “They left that night. Brett didn’t even say anything to

me. Daniel said something… not sure exactly. ‘Sorry’ or some lame ass thing, and they were gone. Daniel came back a few days later and I gave him a couple things—most of his stuff was in the storage locker. I guess the two of them had been fucking for a while.” He shook his head. “And Brett a minor!

“Then two weeks after that, Daniel wanted to move back in. He said he caught Brett in bed with someone else.” Gabe snorted. “Can you believe that shit? I can.”

“Did you let him come back?” Todd asked.

Gabe turned to him, aghast. “Are you crazy? No way.” He looked back out the window. “It was over. It had been over. I can’t even blame Daniel. He wasn’t getting the loving he deserved. But Brett! He said
I
was Daddy One.”

I’ll call you Daddy if you want me to
, Todd thought and then blushed.

“And the worst part of it all?” Gabe said.
Todd waited. It got worse?
“He’s a hustler now. He works the park near you.”
Todd jerked in his seat. Hustler. In the park?

“I was going for a run when I saw him. Stopped me dead in my tracks.” Gabe shuddered and he gripped the wheel even tighter.
Shit. This
is
bad
, Todd thought.

“He offered me a deal. Said he was really experienced now, and he’d make my eyes roll he was so good.” A tear welled up in Gabe’s right eye and slowly rolled down his cheek. “He was snapping his fingers and acting really gay. I mean he was always a little effeminate, but now he was acting like the complete stereotype of a gay man. It was disgusting. I wanted to puke. Not just from the way he was acting, but all of it. I started to leave, and he brought the price down. So I asked him. I asked him if he had ever loved me. I told him that I had fallen completely for him. And you know what he told me?”

Todd found he was afraid to ask.

“He said sure, he loved me. But not like I loved him. And that the whole Daddy One and Daddy Two thing had creeped him out.
Creeped him out!
” More tears began to run down Gabe’s face. “He said I should have known better. That his daddy molested him, so why would he want me to call him that?” Gabe dropped his forehead to rest on the steering wheel. “God, it was like he was
stabbing
me, Todd. It hurts now. I thought I was past it, but damn it hurts.”

“Gabe,” Todd said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Gabe. It’s okay. Come here.” He tried to give the man a tug, but of course, he was like stone and there was no moving him.

“Todd, I
never
did anything to hurt him. He was the one that started calling us Daddy.
He
was the one!”

“Gabe! Come here.” Todd pulled at the wrist resting on the wheel. “Come here.”
“I told him that. I said, ‘You’re the one who called us Daddy’ and he said it was so he could get out of the cold. Oh Todd!”

Somehow Todd pulled Gabe’s hand away from the wheel, and Gabe looked at him then, face wet with tears. He tugged again and held out his arms. “Come here, Gabe.”

“He said horrible things to me. Said I was always walking around with a boner looking at him, and that I was no better than his own father. Todd, I
promise
you I never took advantage of him.”

Todd leaned into Gabe and took him into his arms. It wasn’t easy in the confined space in Gabe’s little car. “I believe you, Gabe.”
“But I’ve been doing it to you! Walking around with a hard-on. Like I have no fucking control of myself.”

“Shhhh,” Todd said. “You’ve got control of yourself. You haven’t done anything. You wouldn’t do anything when I started it.”
“Of course not,” Gabe said, pulling back slightly. “It was thankyou sex. I couldn’t do that. I might as well have paid you, and you had to know I helped because I
wanted
to.”

“I know that,” Todd said, and pulled Gabe close again. “I thought you were a hustler.”

 

Todd nodded. A new understanding was hitting him. How weird and confusing all this must have been for Gabe. Crazy, even.

“I thought you were a hustler and I turned Brett into one.” “You did not.” Todd began to stroke the back of Gabe’s head.

“That’s what Brett said. And he told me he had HIV. That it was his only way to make a living. He’s HIV positive, Todd.”

 

Todd froze. Something clicked. “His name is Brett, you said?”
He said he was mixed….

Gabe nodded. “Brett Charles.”
Fuck
, Todd said to himself.
Charles
.
Chaz. The kid in the park who had tried to talk Todd into being a

hustler. Gabe’s ex.
“Todd, I’m a terrible person.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Todd said. “You are wonderful.” He kissed Gabe’s cheek. “You are amazing.” He kissed it again. “And I love you.”

Gabe stiffened in his arms. Slowly pulled back. “What?”

Todd looked into those beautiful eyes and then repeated himself. “I love you,” he said. And kissed Gabe on the mouth.
At first Gabe tried to pull away, but Todd wouldn’t let him. Gabe was stronger than him, but he used all his own strength to keep the man in his arms. To keep Gabe’s mouth against his own. Then with a cry, Gabe kissed him back.
All it took was that kiss for Todd to know. The other kisses were just a hint. But as Gabe opened his mouth to Todd’s, as their tongues tentatively touched and then began to tangle and twist, as Todd grew lightheaded and felt his heart began to pound and his cock grow hard and felt the world melt away, he knew.