Rentboy (11 page)

“You can have the attic, and the twins can share,” his mother said firmly.

“Eat your cake, aliens. Nothing to be upset about,” Fox said gently to the twins. The young man looked at Mrs. Atherton. “Eddie’s my boyfriend, so I’d think we should sleep together.”

Sinking his head into his hands, Edward refused to look at anyone. The heavy silence that followed was broken by his mum.

“Not under my roof. The neighbors!”

“There aren’t any neighbors. But if you like, we could go to that B and B by the village green,” Fox said very calmly as though it was no big deal.

“No! Then the whole village will know.”

“We’d better stay here, then.”

His cheeks burning, Edward emptied his wineglass and poured another. He could kill Fox for bringing it up like this. But it was done now, and all he could do was deal with it. “Mum, Dad,” he began, but he could think of nothing to say.

Steepling his fingers, elbows on the table, Dr. Atherton spoke. “Edward, are you saying you are a homosexual?”

“I said it,” Fox piped up.

“Fox, leave this to me.” He sounded quite authoritative, surprising himself. Fox fell silent. “I was going to tell you this weekend anyway. Yes, I’m gay. And Fox is my boyfriend.”

In the silence that followed, Fox looked ready to fill the gap until Edward threw him a look to silence him. Even with his hot cheeks and thudding heart, he felt very much in control of the situation. His parents had to be told at some point. “I’m thirty years old. I have to live my own life. I’m the same person I was five minutes ago before you knew.”

Yes!
Fox mouthed at him, clenching his fist.

“Of course you are,” his father said. “And I have to say, I have wondered before now. We even discussed it at one point, didn’t we, Annika?”

“Only in passing, dear. But they still can’t sleep together under my roof. Knowing is one thing. Having it thrust in our faces is another.”

“Nobody is thrusting anything in your faces. You’d let Nicoletta sleep with a boyfriend here,” Edward said.

“No, she wouldn’t,” Dr. Atherton said.

“All right, that’s true,” Edward assented.

Dr. Atherton washed down another mouthful of food with a large gulp of wine. “But Nicoletta is only eighteen, and Edward is thirty. And it’s not as if he’s going to get anyone pregnant. Ever.”

A momentary standoff followed as his parents glared at each other. His mother was the first to back down. “As you wish, but please be discreet.” She looked at the twins. “Would you like more cake, dears?” The twins nodded and waited while she served them another gigantic slice each. This time she separated the cake from the filling herself.

“Is there any for me, Mum?” Edward asked hopefully.

She walked around the table and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Of course there is.”

She dropped a kiss on his forehead and got him a slice of cake. Relief, happiness, and other things he could not identify overwhelmed him. Everything was better since he met Fox.

“Edward, can we keep this from your grandparents?”

“If I had brought home a girl, you’d be announcing it in the
Mitton Monthly Review
,” he said quietly. “Mum, why should I keep my boyfriend secret?”

“I know, Edward. Just give me time.” The desperate look on his mum’s face made him feel quite sorry for her. You’d think he had announced he was a serial killer and intended to continue murdering. But they were old-fashioned, and they lived a very blinkered life.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell them, and neither will Fox. Will you?” He met the young man’s gaze, and Fox mimed zipping up his mouth.

From the window of Eddie’s bedroom, Fox looked down on the gardens at the back of the farmhouse. Extensive flower beds filled with myriad colorful flora Fox could not identify lined pretty little paths, and beyond those lay fields with two horses grazing. The declining sun cast a golden glow on the idyllic scene. They had walked the twins over to visit the horses after lunch, but the animals had terrified them, and they had both started screaming when one of the horses snorted loudly.

From his backpack Fox took a sketch pad and a soft lead pencil and began to draw a galloping horse, its muscles strained with effort.

On the bed Eddie lay stretched out, naked from the waist down, having fallen into a doze after Fox had treated him to another blowjob. He should not have made that big thing about telling Eddie’s parents they were a couple. They weren’t really, and when Eddie found out all the lies he had been told, he would finish with him anyway. Who’d want to date a liar? But just maybe they could carry on a bit longer, because the thought of not seeing Eddie again left him feeling hollow and cold inside.

A light tap on the door made Fox grab the tartan blanket folded neatly on a chair and throw it over Eddie’s hairy bum and legs. He tossed his pad on the bed and opened the door.

“It’s the twins,” Mrs. Atherton said at once.

Oh, don’t let them be sitting on the floor rocking like they do when they get stressed. Like we’re not weird enough.
“What are they doing?”

“They’re cleaning the bathrooms.” Mrs. Atherton clasped her hands in front of her. “Don’t get me wrong. They are doing a marvelous job, but why are they doing it? Nobody asked them to. They just started.”

My dad kicks the shit out of them if they don’t clean a room every day.
“They like cleaning.” He shrugged. “Do you want me to make them stop?”

“Not at all. I just don’t want them to feel obliged. They’re guests in my home.” She looked past him at Eddie, whose big bare feet stuck out from under the tartan rug. His trousers were on the floor with his gleaming white undies. Both looked as if they had been thrown there in the heat of the moment, which they had.

Mrs. Atherton’s cheeks flushed.

Even with Fox’s attempt to cover the scene of their abandon it was obvious what they had been up to. Looking directly into her eyes, he whispered, “I love him.” Why had he said that? They hardly even knew each other. He hadn’t said it to Eddie. He had no intention of saying it to Eddie.

A ghost of a smile flitted across Mrs. Atherton’s pink face. “Nicoletta is here, and my parents and Dr. Atherton’s father. You should come down and meet them. We are having sherry before dinner.” With a last glance at Eddie she closed the door quietly.

“Was that Mum?” Sitting up, Eddie rubbed his eyes with his fists. The gesture was so childlike and sweet it made Fox stand for a moment just looking at him. There was nothing conventionally attractive about Eddie. Too thin, nose too big, the epitome of the nerdy scientist. So why the hell did he feel an intense affection every time he looked at him?

Fox closed the door. “Yeah. She said your sister is here, and the twins are cleaning the bathrooms.”

“Excellent.” Eddie said, putting his glasses on. Fox picked up Eddie’s trousers and shook the creases out of them. “Don’t worry about those. I’m putting a clean shirt and smart pants on. Mother likes us to dress up a little, though I doubt Nicoletta will. She’ll wear her rainbow-colored Andes hat to the table as a protest.”

Fox laughed. “I know a girl who wears one of those. But what about me? Is the kilt all right? Your mum’s been really good, especially with the twins. They both have. I don’t want to push it.”

Smiling, Eddie kissed his cheek. “That’s really sweet of you, but the kilt is just perfect. Be yourself. Be Fox.” Eddie picked up the sketch pad. “Fox Baillie.” He read the name scribbled on the front. “Is that your full name?” Fox nodded, watching as Eddie flipped through the pages, his eyebrows shooting up in obvious surprise. “Fox, this is great. You’re really good.” Fox sat down beside him as Eddie stopped on the half-finished sketch of the horse. “This is what you need to be doing. You need to be in art college.”

“I told you, I’ll think about it.”

“I mean it. This is impressive.” Eddie scrambled off the bed and stripped off his shirt. “You could get grants and get into school. You could pursue a career in art or graphic design or something. What do you think?”

Avoiding the question, Fox opened the door. “I’ll get the twins and meet you downstairs.”

“Be right down, dear,” Eddie called after him.

Outside the door Fox halted. “Did you call me dear?”

Completely naked, Eddie stood at the wardrobe where he had hung his dress pants. “Yes, what’s wrong with that?”

“Everything, Eddie. It’s wrong on so many levels.” Shaking his head, he walked away.

The twins were just finishing up the main bathroom when he found them. The bath was shining, he could see his face in the brass fittings, and the floor was fit to eat dinner off. “Well done. You did a great job. Now come on. Let’s go downstairs, and remember to be really good at the dinner table. And you have to go to bed right afterwards. All right? You’ve had a busy day. You should sleep like logs.”

They looked at each other and then at Fox. A very slight smile tilted their mouths. Those smiles were so rare Fox relished them. With a hand on each of the faces, he popped a kiss on their foreheads. “I love you both. Come on.” The twins followed him down the stairs. Voices came from the living room, and Fox was about to go in when someone hailed him from the kitchen, “Fox Baillie?

“Nik?” The split second of pleasurable recognition was quickly followed by horror. “You’re Nicoletta?”

“You’re my brother’s boyfriend?” In her rainbow Andes hat, a pair of jeans, sans knees, and a T-shirt bearing the phrase
Stay Calm and Carry On
, she walked toward him. “OMG!” she screamed and hugged him. “I didn’t know you were gay. You should have told me. I’ve had a crush on you for months.”

“Sorry.”
Shit, shit, shit!
What was he going to do now?

Panicked, his heart racing, Fox grabbed her by the arm, pulled her through the kitchen and through the back door into the warm, still evening. The twins followed. That was it. Now he had to end the relationship with Eddie, and soon. It couldn’t go on any longer. Fox was really fond of Nik, but he knew she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. They took three studio classes together, and Nik spent the whole time feeding him gossip about other students. Every second sentence was,
“I know I shouldn’t repeat this but”
or
“She told me not to say anything but.”

“What’s going on? Are they the twins? I thought you said they were five years old or something.”

That was right; he had. “No, they’re thirteen.” He drew her down the paved path between the flower beds. Clumps of bright pink peonies and red gladiolas drew the attention of the twins, who stopped to admire them.

“Are you Edward’s bf?”

“Yeah.” How was he going to put this? Nik absolutely could not tell Eddie where she knew him from. “I need you to do me a favor. Don’t let him know we know each other.”

A frown creased her forehead. “Why?”

“Because I’m going to end it, and it would be best if he didn’t know how to contact me. Sorry if that’s mean, but…” He shrugged.

“Why are you going to end it? He never mentioned a name, but I knew he was really into someone. I had no idea it was you.”

“He’s not really my type, Nik.”

“Oh.” She looked a bit disappointed. “Eddie’s a real egghead, but he’s a great brother. He’s always been good to me.”

This was horrible. He was betraying Eddie and making himself look like a right prick. And maybe he was. “I know that, and he’s a lovely bloke, but he’s thirty, for God’s sake. That’s really old. I’m only nineteen, and I’m not ready to get into anything heavy.” He forced a little laugh, feeling like a bigger piece of shit than ever. “Too many blokes, not enough time and all that.”

Looking like a sulky child, Nik placed both hands on her hips. “Why did you come for his birthday if you’re going to finish with him? That’s just leading him on.”

“He asked me to, and I didn’t want to upset him. I really do like him.” He wondered if she could detect his anxiety. “Just let me get through tonight. We’re leaving tomorrow, and that’ll be it. Give him a nice birthday, and then he can move on to someone better.”

“Better? There’s nothing wrong with you, Fox. You’re lush. At least I always thought you were.” The disappointment in her face compounded the guilt he already felt. She was right. He was leading Eddie on, and it was all going to come crashing down.

“Sorry. I don’t want to hurt him.”

“It might be too late for that.”

Another side of Nik that Fox had never seen was coming out in defense of her brother. The usually self-involved gossip with the cockney accent was an unselfish sister who cared deeply about her brother. And her accent was sliding further back with every syllable.

“How’s your arm?” she asked.

Had Nik figured out that he cut himself just like Eddie had? He hadn’t been fooled by the knife-slipping story, and perhaps she wasn’t either.

“It’s fine.” An image of William Baillie with a kitchen knife stuck in his chest popped out of left field, filling his brain.
It’s all your fucking fault, you pig. Your fault I met Eddie and had to lie to him and steal from him. Your fault I’m going to hurt him. I can’t wait for you to be dead.
“Nik, I just can’t do it right now. I can’t have a relationship. And to be honest, he doesn’t know I’m in art school. I told him I was a bit of a layabout, just to put him off, you know?”

“Didn’t work, did it?”

“No. He just accepts me for who I am.”

“That’s my bro.” She smiled. “Never judges anyone. But he values honesty.”

Fox groaned inwardly.

“He just doesn’t get why people aren’t straightforward like him.”

“Right, I’ll keep that in mind. He’s a great dude. He’ll find someone else.”

Nik shrugged, but it was obvious she was unhappy about it. “Okay, I’ll go along with this for the weekend. But let him down gently. I love him.”

So do I.

“I can see that. And I will, next week. Just don’t tell him you know me. I think it will make it harder if you do. Leave it to me. I’ll take care of it.”

The four of them walked back inside and into the living room where Eddie and Nik’s grandparents stopped speaking at the sight of them. They would be used to Nik, but a geezer in a kilt with black eye makeup would catch their attention.