0215543001348293036 vaughn piper oshea m.j. (19 page)

Not until Rue.

It was as if he’d woken me up after years of living as half a person. I’d never even realized what I’d been missing, but when I kissed him it was like everything came together, and for the first time in my life I saw the whole picture instead of just the pieces.

Rue… he was everything.

Rue

YOU know how that law goes? The one that says, on days when you didn’t even want to leave your house, when you’d do anything to be at

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home, then everything comes together to screw up any chance you have of getting there? Yeah. I had one of those nights. I felt like I was in a horrible movie, one of those ones I didn’t even like to watch, where everything goes wrong for the main character until at the end he’s a wrung-out rag doll dragging his ass home at dawn.

It
was
nearly dawn by the time I got home. I was pissed.

The night started off fine, with me and Devon swinging our butts, pouring drinks, and watching the tip jar fill up. It didn’t take long for the whole thing to go to shit.

The first time we called the authorities (and yeah, by first time I mean it happened again.
Sigh.
I’ll get to that), there was this tweaked-out twink who kept trying to crawl over the bar and kiss me. I’d pushed him off a few times, and thankfully he
finally
got the message that I wasn’t interested. Unfortunately, that was his cue to transfer his attentions to Devon. By some combination of drug-enhanced strength and raging hormones, he managed to get his arms around Devon’s neck and wouldn’t let go. He was on his third or fourth kiss when the bouncers hauled his ass off Devon and escorted him to the front door.

The little shit somehow managed to worm his way back into the bar, and the second time he tried to suction cup himself onto Devon, we called the cops. Kid needed to ride his high off in jail for the night before he got in even more trouble.

After that, the bar calmed down a bit. We had our usual crush of sweaty, barely clad guys bitching and moaning about getting their drinks, but the tips were piling up, and the sight of all that desperately needed cash helped me forget our little clinging incident earlier. We were about to announce last call when the real shit went down. A boy, who was either gifted with eternal youth or a really good fake ID, came running out of the bathroom screaming and squealing that there was a body collapsed on the floor of one of the stalls. In pure raging queen style, two-thirds of the guys on the dance floor freaked the hell out.

What ensued was pure, undiluted chaos.

Security had to fight their way into the bathroom through throngs of panicking, half-naked men. Devon and I had to start herding people out the door and onto the sidewalk. The poor kid who found the body

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in the bathroom was cowering behind my bar, going into what I could only imagine was shock. Even after the bouncer, who’d finally managed to get to the bathroom, announced that the guy was unconscious but alive, I knew we were probably in for a very long night. I was right.

It was hours before the big ball of bureaucratic messiness was finally unraveled. Accident reports were filled out; the guy, who’d apparently overdosed on GHB, was on his way to St. Francis; and I’d gotten all of our freaked-out customers into cabs and cars so they could make it safely home. After the place was deserted, except for us and the owners, Devon and I were finally allowed to leave and trudge our own way home. I was intensely relieved it was Saturday (Sunday, actually, probably only a few hours before sunrise), because there was no way I could do it again the next night.

Erik

WHEN Rue didn’t show up for Alice at his normal time, I didn’t worry too much. He’d been late getting home from the club more than once. I knew they closed at one, but Rue had told me the exact time he got to leave varied, depending on how quickly they emptied the club and how much of a mess the customers had left behind. But late for him was two fifteen,
maybe
two thirty. So when three o’clock rolled around and he still hadn’t shown up or called, I started to get a little antsy.

Alice had already been asleep for hours. Though I hadn’t heard a sound from her since I’d put her down at eight, I’d been peeking into the room on and off throughout the night just to make sure she was okay.

After the Gary incident, I’d purchased one of those smaller, portable cribs for her and set it up in the corner of my office. I’d even bought a miniature storage chest that fit underneath so I could keep a stash of clothing for her in case of emergencies. She’d only slept in the crib for a few hours here and there. The nights Dusty couldn’t babysit

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at all were rare. I’d worried at first that she would wake up and be upset because the crib was unfamiliar, but she was resting like a little angel every time I looked in on her.

That turned out to be a blessing.

Initially, I’d brought my laptop out into the living room to try to write once Alice was asleep, but I couldn’t get Rue and our perfect kiss out of my head. I’d settled for watching
Star Wars
as a distraction, and I’d gone through the original trilogy and had even started working on the newer ones before I’d finally noticed what time it was, and my anxiety started to rise.

An hour later, as the hands on the clock approached 4 a.m., I was about ready to jump out of my skin. I’d tried calling Rue’s phone twice, but it went straight to voice mail. My hands were trembling when I tried for the third time, but once again he didn’t answer. I debated calling the club itself, but I didn’t think I’d have much of a chance of getting a response there either, since they technically closed at one.

My stomach roiled with dread and fear.
Where is he? What if
something happened to him?

The thought of Rue being hurt, or worse, sent me running to the bathroom. Luckily there wasn’t anything to bring up—I hadn’t eaten for almost the entire day—but I still spent over ten minutes dry heaving on my knees beside the toilet.

After I’d finally gotten it under control and rinsed my face with some cold water, I found the number for the Tom Tom Club on the list Rue had given me. I called a few times, but the line just rang and rang.

What kind of business didn’t even have a machine? I had to remind myself that they were closed, and had been for hours. But that did nothing to ease the tension in my stomach. If they were closed and Rue still wasn’t home, then where was he, and
why wasn’t he answering his
phone?

The next half hour was pure agony. I sat on my couch, staring at my TV but not really seeing anything on the screen. I couldn’t stop thinking about Rue and why he wasn’t back yet. My heart raced, my

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breathing got more and more erratic. I knew I was on the borderline of panic when I heard a key in the lock, and the door creaked slowly open.

Rue came into the apartment, clearly not expecting to see me sitting there in the living room. His face was ashen, and he looked like he was about five seconds away from falling to the ground in a dead sleep.

The first thing I felt was relief, so utterly absolute I worried for a second I might pass out. But quick on its heels was anger. There he was, and aside from his obvious exhaustion, he didn’t appear to be suffering from any grievous injuries. So why was he so late, and why hadn’t he returned any of my calls?

“
Star Wars
?” he said, glancing at the TV in surprise.

I couldn’t help but grit my teeth. “It’s
Episode II
, but it worked in a pinch.”

“What’s the matter, Erik?”

What was the matter? How could he not know? I’d thought of more than a dozen possibilities for what might have happened to him over the past few hours, each one worse than the last. I’d thought about him bloody and mangled in the hospital, or lying cold in the gutter somewhere. How could he just stand there and casually ask me what was the matter, when he’d gotten home three hours later than normal?

“I was w-worried!” I eventually burst out. “It’s almost five in the morning. Wh-where the hell were you?”

Rue looked startled for a second. Then he sighed and came to sit on the couch beside me. “At work. I’m sorry I couldn’t call, Erik. You would not believe the night I’ve had….”

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Chapter 10

Rue

I WASN’T sure what I expected when I used my copied key to get into Erik’s place. We’d had it made a few months earlier, for nights when Dusty couldn’t watch Alice and she went to bed over at Erik’s. I tiptoed in, expecting darkness and silence. Instead I found a tightly wound Erik sitting on the couch with Yoda’s battle with Count Dooku playing on his flat screen.

He looked like hell. When he told me it was from worrying about me, I felt, well, awful but weirdly melty and happy at the same time—

that amazing kiss-happy from earlier. I sighed and sat next to him on the couch. I wanted to scoot closer, wanted to wrap myself around him like a clingy little emo octopus and never let go.

Don’t be such a needy sap.
I moved closer anyway.

“What happened at work?” Erik’s worry was dissolving, but he was still on edge. I could tell by the way he unconsciously mouthed Yoda’s dialogue. Just a little, but he was still doing it.

“Some kid overdosed in the bathroom. We had to call the cops and an ambulance and fill out about five hundred pages of paperwork.

It was a disaster.”

“Is h-he…?”

“Oh, no. He’ll be okay after they put an IV in him and he gets some fluids and some sleep.”

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I could see the moment when Erik started breathing again. “I’m glad you’re okay. Can you p-please try to call next time if something like this happens?”

I nodded. I hoped it wouldn’t happen again before I got the chance to quit. What a nightmare.

“Where’s Alice?”

“In her crib, of course.”

Erik stood and held out a hand to haul me off the couch. I followed him to Alice’s crib in the corner of his office. She looked so peaceful and sweet sleeping there—like my life outside of the two apartments never had to touch her.

“I hate to wake her,” I murmured.

Erik was silent for long moments. He bit his lower lip, looking unsure of himself. “Why don’t you just sleep here?” I glanced up sharply, trying to gauge what he was asking for. “Maybe we can talk for a little bit—until you wind down, you know. You look pretty upset still.”

Oh. Talk. I could do that. I nodded.

I didn’t even get undressed, just took my boots off and collapsed on Erik’s surprisingly comfortable bed, costume, sweats, and all. I didn’t even realize I still had on my shiny pink bunny ears until Erik gently took them off my head and hung them on his lamp.

“Under the covers.” He rolled me over until he could pry the blankets out from under me, then covered me up and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

I heard the sounds of tooth brushing and water splashing in the sink; then Erik was crawling into bed in a T-shirt and boxers. He stayed on his side for a minute or so before we both kind of drifted to the middle, and he wrapped his arms around my waist and laid his forehead against mine. It was really nice to be held like that. I never had been before.

“I was really scared tonight, Rue,” he finally whispered. “I didn’t know what to do.”

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I nudged his nose until his lips were in reach, and pressed a kiss on them. “I’m sorry, babe. I’ll call if it happens again.” He smiled against my mouth. “What?”

“I… I didn’t think.” Erik kissed me back, a bit hesitantly, but I could tell he wanted it.

“What didn’t you think?”

“That I’d like this.” He paused, like he was considering his next words carefully. “I’ve never been very good with people. I mostly only know my parents and the writers I talk to online. I didn’t think being with someone like this would feel so good.”

“You know, it might surprise you, but I’ve never been like this with anyone either.”

He did look surprised. “
You
?”

I nodded. “I flirt, and I’ve, well, uh, I’m not exactly a virgin, but I’ve never had a real relationship with anyone other than Dusty, and that doesn’t really count.”

“Is this a real relationship?”

I was so tired that I just answered. Honestly. “I’d like it to be.” He smiled. “Me too.”