The Boy Who Came in From the Cold (40 page)

It was simply amazing. Just
like
magic.

So, no. It hadn’t been the quiet evening for two Todd had imagined. But there would be a lifetime of romantic evenings. Somehow he knew it. A lifetime.

Chapter 20

 

G
ABEwoke to find himself curled around Todd, the young man’s back to him. He had his arm around Todd and with a happy smile, pulled him closer. He loved Todd’s size. Not a small man, but just small enough that Gabe could cradle him in his arms. He certainly wasn’t small anywhere else.

Happy. I’m so happy.
He never thought he could be so happy. And all for helping a kid get out of the snow.

 

What if I hadn’t?
What if I hadn’t gone down for the mail and seen he was still in the lobby?
What if Todd hadn’t pretended to be my boyfriend and the building super hadn’t brought him here to see if it were true? All for want of a place to get out of the cold.
All for the fact that he’d let Todd in, not only in out of the cold, but deep into his heart.

Just a week ago I was alone. A week. The world can change so much in one single week!
Todd stirred, wiggled closer, his sweet, round, furry butt back against Gabe’s crotch.
Oh be careful, baby. You’ll make me want you.

As if he didn’t already want Todd every minute of the day.

Sure enough, Gabe’s cock began to rise and Gabe had to shift his ass back, pull his crotch away from the sweetness of that bottom, to help calm the beast.

Why did I promise to wait until we can fuck without condoms?

Todd stirred again, slipped his hand in Gabe’s, and he took it, smoothly and easily.
Don’t wake him up. Let him sleep.
Gabe loved the sound of Todd’s breathing.
So alive, this man in my arms
.

Love you, Todd.

 

Such a miracle. So many miracles. That they’d found each other in this cold, cold world. Two people alone and hurting.

Please let this be real. It’s gotta be real.
But he knew it was, at least for himself. Now he just had to wait and find out if it was real for Todd. First times could be powerful, heady stuff. It could feel like love when it was often just that

wonderfully drunken feeling that came from mutual chemistry and such great sex. Gabe felt his cock stir again at just the thought.
Dammit. Think of something else.

So he turned his thoughts to work, and immediately he remembered Tracy’s call from the night before.

He could have told Todd about it, but there was so much more going on. He didn’t want to tell Todd in the midst of his panic about dinner. Then there was the wondrous revelation of Izar announcing she was willing to teach Todd. How excited Todd had been, and justifiably so. Gabe was proud of him, excited for him. No. He couldn’t. The night had been too good. Why destroy it with uncertainty? The information Tracy had stumbled on could be a big deal, but first there was all kinds of information that needed to be gathered. So much unresolved. So many things to check up on. He didn’t want to start something before he knew all the facts. There was no telling how Todd would react. Wait to say anything. That’s what his business sense told him.

But Todd wasn’t “business.” Todd was a person, a man he loved. A human being with feelings.

But in this case, it was best to consider this business. Gabe would know more soon. Tracy was on it and she moved fast. Left little or nothing to chance. She didn’t believe in chance, only facts. That, among other things, is what made her such an asset.

I’ll wait.

I should get up. Go into the office. Do what I’m paid for. Get the details of what’s going on with Todd if nothing else. And dammit. See what’s going on with the AbledRides account.

But do I tell Todd what Tracy found out?
No. You’ve already made up your mind on this. Best wait. Yes. Wait until you have all the info. That’s the ticket
.

T
ODD woke up with Gabe curled up behind him. He felt like a peanut in a shell and couldn’t remember when anything had made him feel so safe.

He slipped his hand in under Gabe’s—it was so much bigger than his own—and in his sleep, Gabe grasped his fingers.

 

Let him sleep. This is nice.

 

Protected. Yes. That is what it was. Todd felt protected. Nothing could hurt him now. Not really. Not when he had this man in his life.
Does this make me “the girl”?

Then he remembered Gabe—mountain of masculinity that he was—sitting down on his cock.
Gabe liked having my cock inside him. He liked it a lot. So did I!

No. I am not the girl. And Gabe wouldn’t want me if I was. Gabe wants me.
Todd felt his cock stir at the thought.
We are two men who want each other. We want men. Wow. Gorgeous. Intelligent. Successful—
normal
. He’s not sick, not disturbed, not a freak. He isn’t interested in children. He wants a man. He wants me.

“Baby?”
Gabe. He’s awake.

 

Todd turned in his lover’s arms, over onto his back, and looked up at Gabe.

 

“I need to go to work. I missed all day yesterday.”

“I don’t want you to go.” Todd pretended to pout. It was hard not to giggle, though, despite the fact that he
really
did mean what he was saying. “I want you to stay here with me. Want to make love.” And he did. His cock began lengthening as if in witness to the thought. Or proof of it.

“Oh, my,” said Gabe, noticing. “Damn. I guess we have time for a quickie.”

 

Todd stuck out his lip playfully again. “No. I want a long time or I’ll wait until later.”

 

But then Gabe was sucking his cock and his intentions were tossed to the wind.

T
ODD showered and padded naked to the kitchen for coffee. Amusing. The only place he’d ever really been comfortable naked before was his secret place in the woods. A week ago he would have never been able to walk through the apartment naked. Why, he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like anyone would see him.

But a lot had changed, hadn’t it? He had done some transforming.

What had Peter said? That he was like a moth? There was no way Todd could remember the scientific name, but it had been an Arctic moth. One that survived for months frozen in ice and took years to reach maturity. That was him, wasn’t it? It was like he’d been frozen, unable for one reason or another to change.

But change he had.

Wasn’t it crazy he was denying he was a “faggot” a week ago, and now he was practically begging Gabe to have sex with him? More, to make love with him?

Crazy world. And oh how one could change and how fast they could change, even if they didn’t want to.

He hadn’t wanted to. He’d fought it. As a matter of fact, he’d slapped on some blinders besides. Super Glued them on. He could only marvel at how blind he’d been.

How did I not know?

All those muscle magazines. His downloading of underwear ads. How he’d told himself it was just shopping, that he was just planning on the day he could afford them. It was just underwear, he’d told himself. Just underwear. But if that were true, then why hadn’t he been satisfied with tighty-whiteys from Walmart? Why save pictures of beautiful men with big bulges in expensive underwear? Especially the mesh one where you could see their penises? He was never going to buy, let alone wear, anything like them.

What about his aversion to Joan’s body? All women’s naked bodies? Why hadn’t that been a clue?

And most men liked women. Liked them a lot. He supposed that was a good thing, otherwise what would happen to the human species? But it was also good to finally know what was wrong all these years. There wasn’t a damn thing wrong with women. They were just wrong for him.

How had he not known he was gay? It was insane!

Why hadn’t his experience with Austin told him? It had been—up until then, that is—the most exciting sexual experience in his life. Why oh why hadn’t he put two and two together?

You did. But you were still afraid of what your stepfather would think.
And now it’s the last thing I care about—
he’s
the last thing I care about.

I am gay.
I have a
man
who loves me.
I am working for Izar Goya.
I’ve got it all!

And he owed it all to Gabe. A sweet, gentle giant who had let him in out of the cold.

If there was only something he could do to thank him. But what? Just like that, the name “Chaz” popped into his head. And just like that, he had the answer.

T
RACYwasn’t at the office when Gabe got to work. Strange, she always beat him there. Sometimes he teased her and said she had an army cot in her office and never went home. She’d shuddered at the idea.

“Me on an army cot! Can you imagine?”
The truth was, no, he couldn’t.

So when he didn’t see her an hour later, he called her on her cell phone.

She answered right away. “Yo!” she said.
“Where are you?” he asked, first thing.
“Well good morning to you too,” she said cheerfully.

“Good morning,” he replied, exasperation shading his words. There was a lot on his mind, most of it this business with Todd. And despite the lovemaking of the night before, he’d still had dreams ghosted with everything she had told him so far and all she had yet to find. “Where are you?”

“Buckman,” she replied matter-of-factly, as if she went there every day.

“Buckman?” he asked. Todd’s hometown.
“Yup. I brought Wilfred Cooper with me—”

Wilfred Cooper? Gabe wondered. From Peter’s lawyer firm— Baily, Cranston and Watch? Well of course, he realized. That made perfect sense now that he thought about it.

“—and we’ve already discovered whole bunches of interesting stuff.”

T
ODD found the young man in the park—he hardly had to look at all. His sidekick Doug was nowhere to be seen. Turning a trick perhaps? At least it was a beautiful day, in the upper forties. Just like Kansas City: it could snow heavily one day and be halfway to melted the next. Chaz couldn’t be too cold.

“Well, look at Miss Thang!” Chaz crooned when he spotted Todd. He walked up to Todd and reached out and felt the fabric of his coat between thumb and forefinger. “Nice.”

“Thanks,” Todd replied.

 

“That had to set you back. Did you finally get you-self a job? Is that why I ain’t seen ya?”

Todd opened his mouth to explain, and then it hit him. “Well, actually,” he said and couldn’t help but grin. “I do have a job. I’m going to be a cook.”

Chaz shrugged.
Todd almost explained just what a big deal it was and then stopped. Chaz probably wouldn’t know Izar Goya from the man in the moon and how would he explain? Tell this young man who was selling himself on the street he would be learning under such a famous chef? Rub it in? Why? It would be cruel.
“Well, goody gumdrops,” Chaz said and smiled dazzlingly. The smile changed his whole face. Maybe that is what Gabe had seen?
“I’m pretty happy.”
“It must be a pretty high-paying job for you to get you-self a coat

like that.” Then one of his pierced eyebrows shot up. “No. Waits. You didn’t buy that did you? Somebody got it for ya, didn’t they?” Todd was surprised at the perception. How had Chaz known? Todd blushed.

Chaz nodded. “Yuppers. That it, baby. Youz got you a sugar… what? Daddy? Mommy?”
And how did he answer? Was Gabe his sugar daddy? He balked at the idea. But was it true? He didn’t really think so. Soon he’d be making some good money on his own. And he planned on paying back Gabe every single cent. But did he explain all that?