A red tainted Silence (35 page)

Nick frowned. “What happened?” he said flatly, linking his hand in mine.

“Seems the boys here didn’t think Brandon good enough for you and decided they’d try to rope me into their little cause to make sure he was miserable.”

“What did you say to him?” Nicholas demanded, his face reddening as he grabbed Chad by the collar. He backed him against the piano bench and made him sit with a yelp.

“I said I was sorry,” Chad said, as shocked as I was by Nick’s sudden anger. He splayed his hands back against the piano.

“Nicholas, they didn’t hurt me ...”

He turned to me, his hand still fisted in Chad’s collar, his eyes glimmering. “What did he say to you, Brandon?”

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“Nothing --”

“Bull. Did he touch you?”

“No --”

“Take it easy, Nicholas,” Karen said. “He’s trying to apologize.” She pulled him away from Chad. He didn’t make it easy. He reached for me and pulled me almost roughly into his arms. I could feel him trembling with anger. Why was he so mad at his guy? He was ready to punch his eyes out. For me.

Where was this anger when he was the one being attacked?

Chad glanced worriedly from me to Nicholas.

“Go on, then,” Nicholas said. “Say what you have to say.” Chad bit his lip, then faced me. “I hope ... I hope you’ll accept my apology. I didn’t realize what all you’ve done for Nicholas. What you mean to him. I didn’t realize --” He shook his head. “You guys are amazing. I’m sorry I said that, those things about you.”

“I am, too,” Jake said. “You’re definitely more than a pretty face. You’re pretty damn awesome.”

“I accept,” I said softly. The two nodded; then Chad looked desperately at Karen.

“I think you guys should leave,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “Now.” They nodded and slunk out.

Nicholas watched them go, but didn’t relinquish his hold on me. In fact, he tightened it. “What did they say to you, Brandon?”

“It wasn’t important.”

“Yes, it was. It upset you enough that I found you in here,” he said. “They hurt you, and I want to know what they said, why you didn’t come back to me.” I knew he wouldn’t leave it alone. “They found out I dropped out of high school.” Karen barreled on. “So, they figured the only reason you were with him was because of his, uh, pretty face.” She turned and patted me on the cheek. “And you are pretty, but there’s a heck of a lot more to you. I had no idea you played so beautifully.” I gave Karen a grateful look. I had a feeling she knew exactly what they’d said to me, figured Nicholas didn’t need to know the details. I felt Nicholas relax against me. He smiled up at me, a playful light finally returning to his eyes.

“See, Brandon? I told you I didn’t tell her everything.” He looked at her. “But I did tell you he was good.”

“Me, good? You were fantastic,” I said.

He beamed. “Only because of you. You bring out the best in me.”

“And you in me,” I said softly, remembering his words. I love you.

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Carolyn Gray

He licked those beautiful lips of his and looked at me with half-hooded, sensuous eyes.

“I want to bring even more out of you. Ready to go now?” I swallowed, nodded, unable to tear my gaze away from him. “Okay.” He released me. “I’ll go get my jacket. Meet me out at your car?” I nodded. After saying goodbye and thank you again to Karen’s grandfather, I followed Nicholas out of the room. He took off for wherever his jacket was stored, and I wove my way through the now friendly crowd (my own perception of Nick’s friends had changed considerably), accepting amazed congratulations with a shy nod of my head.

I didn’t want to stop and talk to anyone, didn’t want them to know just how turned on I was, how my body thrummed as the next stage of the evening was about to unfold.

I escaped out the front door, breathing in the rain-soaked air. It’d stopped sometime while we were inside, but water still dripped from the house, from the trees. I grinned as I looked out at my car -- somehow Nicholas had beat me and stood on the far side, waiting. I jumped off the steps, but as I ran around the car, shoving my hand in my pockets for my keys, I slammed to a stop as I realized it wasn’t Nicholas.

Now I knew what -- or, rather, who -- Nicholas had seen that had made that panicked look come to his face back in the house.

It was Percy’s buddy. And he was waiting for me.

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I glanced up from my usual spot in Nick’s hospital room, pausing with my hands over my laptop’s keyboard as Katie pulled up a chair and sat next to me. I’d run into her downstairs at the snack bar, sans her little sister this time (Stacey was at school), and invited both her and her mom up to meet Nicholas.

I’d not had the chance to visit as I’d promised, but Katie of course had heard about Tommy and had understood. She’d taken me up on my offer and fetched her mom, and Nicholas had hugged them both, then cannily asked if they might be interested in helping out, just a little, with his fan mail? Both, of course, had said yes.

It was hard to say no to Nick.

Now we all sat in comfortable companionship -- me with my laptop; Nicholas, Katie and her mom Beth, Sam, and Jenny sorting through the mail -- whiling away the afternoon.

If not for worries over Tommy forefront in my mind, I’d have to say I was actually enjoying myself.

“What are you working on?” Katie asked me now, propping her chin in her hand.

I hit Save, but before I could respond, Nicholas said, “Brandon’s writing his memoirs.”

“Really? That’s cool.”

“Our memoirs, actually,” I said.

“Can I read it?” Katie said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“He won’t even let me read it yet,” Nicholas said, then held up his hand to stop me as I was about to protest. “I know, ‘Not until it’s done, Nick,’” he said, in what I thought was a sorry attempt at imitating me.

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Carolyn Gray

“I don’t sound like that.”

Sam and Jenny looked up. “Oh, yes, you do,” they said in unison.

I eyed them all with mock disgust, turning it full on Nicholas where he sat cross-legged on his bed, a box of fan mail in front of him. He smirked triumphantly at me, then began to dig through the box, pretending to ignore me.

I chuckled. I wasn’t fooled, of course, but I took advantage of the opportunity to admire how much better he looked. He’d put on a rather elegant set of black satin pajamas a fan from Spain had sent, and for the first time in almost two weeks he looked less like a patient and more like the diva he was.

I’d have to thank that fan myself, I thought, imagining the material slick beneath my hands as I ran them down Nick’s chest. He looked up at me then, smiling quizzically. “What are you looking at now?”

“Just you, Nick. That’s all.”

His cheeks flushed. “Oh. Well, I guess that’s okay, then.” He turned his attention back to his task. Three additional boxes, also all full, sat on the floor. Jenny sat in the chair next to Nicholas, a notepad on her lap, pen poised.

“What’s the next one, Nicholas?” she asked. “We’ll never get through this box before your naptime if you don’t hurry.”

“Fine, fine, sorry, mum. Wouldn’t want to miss my nappy.” Nicholas glanced at me, catching my gaze. The look in his eye did not equate naptime with sleeptime. He winked.

My face heated. I glanced nervously at the others, but no one was watching us. Except Jenny, of course. But she was used to us and just shook her head, then with a smile bent her head back to her task.

Nick definitely felt better today.

Still looking at me, he ran his tongue inside his cheek, then bit his lower lip, slowly releasing it. Tease. I laid my head back on the chair, half-closed my eyes, and just looked at him, letting my hunger for him show. His eyes widened with surprise and his mouth opened, the corner turning up into a smile. Then he blew me a kiss.

Jenny popped his leg without looking up from her list. “Cut it out, Nicholas. Get back to work.”

I laughed. Caught, I mouthed.

He shrugged, then cleared his throat. “Um, right. Where were we now?” He held up an opened letter and frowned at it. “Hard to read. Someone named ... Meglemnon from Pottsbergh? Pittsburgh? Meg L-whatever from Pittsburgh, I guess. What kind of writing is this? My preschoolers wrote better than this.” He tossed it into the box and took out another.

Katie grinned at me, and I rolled my eyes. “It’s going to take you six months to answer all those, Nicholas.”

“Six months or six years, I don’t care. I’m answering every last one of them.” A Red-Tainted Silence

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“What about the ones you can’t read?” I asked.

He smiled sweetly at me, laying his hand on the box he’d tossed the last letter into.

“You get to answer those. This is the Brandon Box.”

“Great,” I muttered, glancing at Katie.

She laughed. “I’ll help you, if you’d like.”

I eyed the young woman. “That would be appreciated. The job is yours.”

“Seriously?”

I nodded. “I’ve been wanting to ask you anyway. I could use some help while we’re here. Answering letters, helping me shop, stuff like that. Having someone who knows Durango will make things a lot easier. You can drive, I take it?” She looked at me, clearly stunned. “Uh, yeah, of course. I’m almost twenty. My car kinda sucks, though. Heater doesn’t work too well.”

“No need to worry about that; I’ve asked Marisa to get me a new car. Would you be interested?”

She glanced wide-eyed at her mom, who hadn’t heard what was going on -- she was instead smiling over something Sam said. The two had hit it off, but it was hardly surprising.

Sam knew how to wield his charm as effectively as Nicholas, when he wanted to.

Katie looked back at me. “Uh, yes, of course. I could do that, whatever you need, when Mom doesn’t need me.”

I nodded. “Good. I’ll talk to Nicholas about it later, and we’ll figure out pay and all that.

Okay?”

“You don’t have to pay me. I’d be happy to just help out.” I shook my head. “Of course you’ll get paid. All my PAs do.” I paused. “Actually, you’ll be my first.”

“PA?”

“Personal assistant. Why don’t you go check out what Nick’s tossed into that box? I’m almost afraid to look.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

I laughed. “I’m warning you, you’ll be saying that a lot from now on.” Katie grinned and all but floated over to Nick’s bed to look at “my” box, shaking her head as she picked up a handful of letters. She dropped them back in, then took the box over to the table. Sam scooted over to make room for her between him and her mom.

Beth dumped the box and began to sort through it. I watched Katie as she drew her mom’s blankets tighter around her, then sat down to join her. After a moment, Beth handed her daughter a large card. Katie opened it, pulled out a photograph, stared at it, and burst out laughing. She set the card down and covered her face, laughing so hard she nearly fell off her chair.

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Carolyn Gray

“What is it? What’s so funny?” Nicholas demanded. “Tell us.”

“I don’t think I want to know,” I said, glaring at Jenny, who was smirking gleefully at me. I had a sneaking suspicion she’d seen that particular card already.

Katie said, “You don’t want to see this one, Brandon. Honest.” She set that card aside.

“Wait, I want to know; I want to see it,” Nicholas piped up.

Sam leaned over and snatched the card up. “Well, this is interesting.” He winked at Katie. She grinned, still blushing. I raised an eyebrow at the nonverbal exchange between the two -- that was interesting.

“Come on, Sam, tell me what it says,” Nicholas said.

“Let’s see,” Sam said. “It’s basically an offer to ‘service Brandon’s needs’ until Nicholas is, um, capable.”

My face burned. “You’re not serious.”

Sam smiled. “Oh, yes. And its signed ... Sergio and Frank.”

“Sergio and Frank?”

Katie nodded. “And they sent a picture, although it doesn’t say which is which.” Then she held up the photograph -- a glossy of two drag queens, complete with tiaras. The words For Our Darling Brandon were written across the top of the pic -- in gold pen.

“Uh,” I said, in a painfully squeaky voice. “Do we have to answer that one?” Nicholas laughed. “Yes, yes, every single one, that one included. You gonna take them up on their offer, Brandon boy?”

“No, Nicholas, I’m not. Besides, you’re well worth waiting for.” He paused at that, the teasing expression fading from his face, to be replaced by a beaming smile. “That’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever said to me, Brandon.”

“I mean it, too,” I said, unable to keep the note of longing from my voice. The others in the room exchanged those meaningful looks they thought we didn’t notice.

Nicholas smiled shyly and picked up the next card, fanning himself with it. “Okay, then. Well, let’s get back to work everyone, shall we?” I smiled at him and pulled up my story again, keenly aware of the little glances Nicholas cast my way. I pretended not to notice, though of course he knew I did.

“What’s the next one, Nicholas?” Jenny said, and with that we all got back to work.

I ran my hand over my chin before getting back to my writing -- really needed to shave, though I enjoyed Nick’s complaints whenever I kissed him. I’d forgotten how fun it was to aggravate him. My gaze fell back on Katie. She looked up at me and I smiled back, glad she’d taken me up my offhand offer. She’d told me earlier she’d had to drop out of high school to help her mom. I hadn’t liked hearing that, and knew I had to do something to help.

The idea to hire her had popped into my head then.

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I liked Katie and her little sister, who wanted to go on to college someday to study music. I smiled to myself -- maybe there was something I could do about that, too. Help them both -- all three, though I knew from Katie her mom’s prognosis was pretty grim.

My thoughts then turned to Tommy. He’d come out of surgery fine, but two days later was still in ICU, so doped up from the pain meds he hardly knew anyone was there. We saw him in shifts, making sure one of us was there for him whenever he did wake up. So far, he’d been asleep every time I’d dropped by.