His Ex-Boyfriend Page 7

  Nonplussed, Jason tried to laugh. "Quit? You mean tell Denny and Sam, 'Bye guys, I've made my pile,' and walk off?"

  She'd caught his tone. "That's not what I meant. A lot of musicians leave the business once they hit their thirties or so. Either the pressure becomes too much, or they just don't care for the lifestyle anymore. Would you ever do that?"

  "I haven't been famous long enough to tell. Everything's just the same as it was in my previous life, except that I'm recognized more often on the streets and can make my 'cycle payments. I don't suffer from most of the craziness that Denny gets 'cause I'm not the lead singer."

  Someone knocked on the half-open hospital door. "How about some visitors?" a voice asked from the hallway.

  "Come on in, Rafe!" Amanda called out. The door swung open, and Jason smothered his exclamation.

  "Mr. Mellor!" Amanda cried. "This is so flattering! I never dreamed you'd come by to visit, too."

  Alexis doffed his sunglasses and smiled at Amanda. He ignored Jason. Irritated, Jason attempted to ignore him in return.

  "Whoa! A baby," Rafe exclaimed. He was clutching a cellophane-wrapped package to his chest. "Sorry. I'm a little weird around babies. It took me forever to grow used to Mr. Bunny."

  Then thank God I didn't marry you, you twit, thought Jason. For a second, their eyes met. I wish I couldn't read his mind so well. That's a 'whoa--fatherhood!' smirk. Is Rafe still so immature? He's twenty and--well, maybe that's still too young. He's looking at me like he can't believe I've gotten myself into this.

  The college student was examining Leila now, and his expression became sober. Again he peered at Jason, this time nervously.

  I can read that look, too. He's wondering what would have happened if we'd ever created a family.

  Alexis came into focus over Rafe's shoulder, and Jason's esophagus gave a twist of hate. The singer nudged his boyfriend. "Your present," Alexis prompted.

  "Oh, yeah! We brought gifts." Rafe presented Amanda with the cellophane package. She smiled and began to untie the bow.

  She looks a lot happier than she did five minutes ago, Jason noted. I'm such a crappy husband. I can't manage to jolly her into a good mood, and Rafe and Alexis do it in two seconds.

  “Cigars?" Amanda asked.

  "They're chocolate," Rafe explained, "filled with praline mousse. To help you recover your strength, and y'know, give Leila her first taste of chocolate milk."

  Amanda lifted one of the foil-wrapped stogies out of the box and posed like Groucho Marx. Rafe laughed. For one second, Jason was reminded of why he'd married her. Amanda could be fun. But she's been pregnant so long, she hasn't been happy in what seems like forever.

  "May I?" Alexis was saying. He was standing by Leila's cradle. Caught off-guard, Jason almost leapt across the room. He glowered at the singer from the other side of the cradle. Alexis was holding a small rabbit about the size of his palm, and its fur was soft and fresh, fluffy-white as a cotton ball.

  "I haven't seen a pelt that clean in ages," Rafe whispered to Amanda. "Mr. Bunny, is, ahem, well-loved."

  For a long moment, Alexis inspected Leila. Then he lifted aside the blanket and placed the rabbit carefully beside the sleeping baby. With a gentle touch, he lifted the blanket back over the both of them.

  In that instant, Jason almost forgave Alexis Mellor.

  But not quite.

  "I wish her eyes were open so she could see it." Alexis's face was strangely sad. "I wonder if she'll like growing up with Amanda's parents."

  "We're living in my apartment, remember, until I can save up for a house. We only go to see the Wallises on visits," Jason replied.

  Alexis just stared at him.

  God, that's unnerving, thought Jason.

  Then Alexis smiled, fast and playful. "Her first rabbit," he whispered conspiratorially.

  Holy crap. There's going to be more? The image of a truckload of rabbits bounding through his front door filled Jason's mind. Shit. I'd better get working on that house. Mellor's capable of it, too.

  "That's Bunny Junior," Alexis informed them unnecessarily. "Though I think she's a girl rabbit. Leila will know for sure. Bunny Junior's very small, but she's about the right size for a baby."

  "Well, break out a cigar, Amanda!" said Rafe. "Tell me all about the birth and don't spare the details."

  "North, may I speak to you for a moment?" Alexis asked in a voice too low to be overheard.

  Jason tensed. The guitarist took a long, slow breath, and asked, "Where?"

  "Just out in the waiting room," the singer replied. "I noticed it was empty when we passed by."

  Scoping out the battlefield? "Be back in a second," Jason told his wife.

  The two men were careful not to look at each other as they headed towards the waiting room. Once there, Jason asked dourly, "No knives this time, Mellor?"

  "No knives. Just a moment." Alexis put some coins in a drink machine and lifted out a bottle of water. The singer seemed weary.

  "What prompts this change? Excuse my sarcasm, but it's not every famous idol who threatens to cut your throat."

  Mellor gave him a look. "It's not every day someone threatens to steal the love of your life right in front of you, either. Think about Amanda and your daughter. It shouldn't have taken a knife to bring you to your senses."

  Jason's face broke into a cold smile. "Maybe I'll forgive you someday."

  "North, in those circumstances, utter rage is a perfectly normal reaction." The singer took a drink.

  "Oh, I understand that, because I experienced the same 'privilege.' Do you remember a certain concert two years ago, when you first met Rafe? I was standing in the doorway of that underground parking garage, watching you fuck him."

  Alexis sighed. "I wondered why you threw Rafe out the next day. I never knew. But do you know it only brought us together more quickly? Rafe panicked when he found his stuff scattered all over the hallway of your apartment building, and he couldn't reach Lang. Then he called Malcolm. I was in the office when Malcolm received the call, and I told Rafe he could have one of my spare rooms until the college could get him back into one of the dorms."

  Okay. This is bad. But I can deal. "Rafe once told me he threatened to commit suicide by jumping off your fire escape. Did you really burst into tears over him?" Yes, Mellor, Jason North can be an asshole, too.

  Alexis's eyes narrowed. "His little stage act required a certain response from me, so I behaved accordingly. I was somewhat worried he might lose his balance on that railing."

  "Act?"

  "Yes. Play-acting. Do you understand games, North? Rafe and I perform a lot of role-playing with each other. It's not always nice role-playing, either. But we like it that way."

  Jason was beginning to be bewildered. "What the fuck are you talking about? You are, if I may be plain, an utter shit to him."

  Alexis smiled. "I act the utter shit to him--when we're in the mood. And he does the same to me--when we're in the mood. We're both drama queens, North. Occasionally, it's real. Most of the time it's a game."

  "A game!?" Jason shouted.

  "Softly, North. There are newborn babies sleeping all over this ward. Sorry to tell you, but neither Rafe nor I are exactly normal. You should know what Rafe's like. You've lived with him."

  Jason was swaying on his feet. He couldn't believe this.

  "And sometimes," Alexis continued, "we're just nice to each other. We're like that more often nowadays. Maybe when we grow old, we'll settle into that role permanently. Being a pig grows boring after a while, as does being a saint. Rafe can't stand it when I'm nice all the time. I get on his nerves. So after a few days he'll call in my ear, 'Hel--lo? Is Alexis Mellor hiding anywhere in there?' and I'll kick his feet out from under him, or something equally chastening."

  "But some of your fights are real," Jason insisted. "Including your recent ones."

  "Occasionally. But don't be deceived. I adore Rafe."

  "You didn't in the beginning. He was only your cheap pickup."


  "As he was for you." Mellor gave his opponent a look. "I know you started dating Amanda while you were living with Rafe."

  "What?" Jason squawked. "Where the hell did you hear that?"

  "From Rafe. He knew you were dating Amanda the entire time you were dating him."

  Stunned, Jason sagged backwards. A chair caught his fall and he didn't even notice. He knew? Rafe—KNEW? "How?" the guitarist croaked.

  "Amanda told him. They're friends, you moron. Didn't you remember that? She's known him since childhood. So when you took her out on that first date--to fly kites, wasn't it?--she called Rafe afterwards, all excited, to tell him about it."

  Jason lay like a limp doll on top of the cushions. Rafe knew? A hundred memories came to the guitarist. Rafe capricious and willful, his odd depressions. A refusal to let things get too close between them, even in bed. Cycling from mood to mood like a teenager, which Rafe certainly had been, but Jason had never dreamt something else might be provoking all that maniacal behavior.

  Alexis's voice was as faint as a snake's slither over leaves. "Rafe always understood that you intended to dump him one day. You really know how to fuck up a relationship, North."

  This time, his enemy's words were too much. White static filled Jason's brain. Mellor was watching him almost pityingly, the mouth of his water bottle resting against his lips. Finally, words emerged from Jason. "You had better be telling me the truth. Or I will fucking kill you."

  "Ask Rafe, if you don't believe me. But why on earth did you do it?"

  Jason could not explain. It had happened unexpectedly one day, when Amanda dropped by the apartment looking for Rafe.

  Roused early from bed, standing at the door shifting from foot to foot, appalled to be caught surrounded by Rafe's possessions. 'He's moved in temporarily. No, the college didn't kick him out. It's just that I'm short of funds, and he offered to help split the rent. What? No, I'm not exactly poor, but rent's godawful in the middle of the city.'

  'You want to see Los Angeles? Sure!' (Anything to get her away from the apartment. Rafe and I didn't clean up after our last 'session,' Ack!). 'I hope you're not afraid of motorcycles.'

  At a park, he'd bought lunch, and on a whim, some kites. He'd never done anything like this with Rafe. Flying kites was peaceful and dumb, yet fun. Lying on the grass under the trees, watching the kites drift, he'd joked and laughed with Amanda. He'd never done this with Rafe, because Rafe would have sneered at it.

  That day, Jason had looked at Amanda, marveling at how much he enjoyed being with her, and realized he could imagine himself married to her. Then there was a child in his mind, and he was teaching this child how to hold onto a kite string--

  All the way back to her hotel, he'd debated. When he helped Amanda off his cycle, he'd kissed her goodbye. She'd jerked out of his arms, flustered. But he was a semi-famous musician and knew he had the charm. A few minutes later, he also had her phone number.

  "Amanda is none of your business."

  "It's a hard penalty to pay, falling in love and not noticing until too late? Were you surprised to discover you loved Rafe?"

  Jason sputtered.

  "So was I."

  What the fuck? thought the guitarist.

  Alexis glanced away.

  He's perched on Rafe's sweating chest, playing with his hair. The air conditioning has failed, and they're both soaked like plants after a monsoon. This hotel is a pit. The bedside lamp has a punched-in shade, half-exposing a bare bulb. Dead insects lie around it in a halo of chitin. The bed is lumpy with bulging springs, and the sheets feel like burlap. He knows this place frightens the boy, and that's why he likes it. "Would you do anything to please me? How about another man? There are several hustlers outside. Pick one and I'll pay him. I want to watch."

  "No!" The boy is a little drunk by this time, but not very. Alexis doesn't want him unresponsive. That's no fun. "I don't want anyone else here," the boy says shakily.

  That's the first 'no' the boy has said all night. Alexis is pleased to hear it. He likes this game of pushing to see how far he can go.

  "No? What about your friend, the one back at the garage? You won't mind him."

  "No! He'd kill you, first."

  "I suppose." Making a little braid in the long black strands, very small and fine. It's difficult work even for the sober. But Rafe keeps squirming and must be held still. Alexis pins the boy's head between strong knees. "What do you like to do in bed with him? Tell me."

  "I--I can't."

  "He won't find out," Alexis whispers.

  The boy is staring fixedly at the braid so close to his eyes, wondering what Mellor will do next. The little strands are suggestive. "Rope! This hotel really deserves its reputation. They've thought of everything." He pulls a beautifully woven coil off the bedpost. It was crimson, blood-colored. The coils spill from his raised hand, falling all over Rafe like a boa constrictor dropping on its prey from a tree.

  "Wait a minute!" Rafe sits up fast and rolls Alexis off. "I'm not into--um, I'm allergic to hemp! Yeah! I break out in spots if anyone ties me up. They look horrible, honest! Huge purple welts."

  Alexis whirls a coil around the boy's torso, pinning him, and strokes a tempting ankle. For most of the night, he's had a hand somewhere on Rafe's body, moving over clothes and under, caressing, arousing, feeling the boy up even while talking to the desk clerk. He wants everyone to know, including Rafe, that this boy is his personal property. He's made every inch of the boy's skin flare red with embarrassment and need. "This rope is made out of silk."

  "I'm allergic to spiders, too! I'm not kidding!"

  The singer pulls on his rein, dragging the boy closer, and puts his mouth by Rafe's ear. Slowly, tenderly, chidingly, he says, "Silk comes from silkworms." Rafe tries to creep away from the singer, inching backwards across the king-sized bed. The singer lets him do this, playing him out like a fish on a line. "I don't like spiders." Rafe's a little wobbly from the liquor. Corrupting innocence is so much fun.

  Alexis creeps after. He's fondling the boy and has him aroused, half-hard even as Rafe tries to escape. The boy teeters on the edge of the bed, trapped. Cruelly, Alexis lets go of the line and unbalanced, the boy falls off the bed with a thump, landing in the well between the bed and wall. Alexis leans over. "I'm one hell of a spider, and you're caught in my web. A pretty butterfly--" Hands loop the rope fast around wrists, knotting snugly. "--with his wings tied."

  Waking up the next morning. They're in Alexis's own bed, in the singer's apartment. How did that happen? Even Alexis isn't sure. Parts of the night are missing and that's troublesome. Wait, what was that about the car? An accident? Something about a tow truck, and the boy sleeping, wrapped up in a blanket in the back of--Kilburn's car? Yes, Carl did know an all-night body shop, or at least one capable, with sizable monetary encouragement, of bumping the dents out and repainting by morning. Who had been driving? Ouch. There's a lump on his hip and a hard wad in his pants pocket. He feels around. It must have been himself at the wheel because he has the boy's car keys in his pocket. Was a ticket involved? Carl will pay it. Carl's so useful.

  And there's--there's the boy. Sleeping on his side under a sheet, facing the singer.

  A slightly worried expression crosses Alexis's face. The boy's clothes aren't in sight, and Alexis is afraid they're in the next county. In fact, that appears to be a sheet stolen from a hotel.

  The phone rings. His ESP is working even before he picks it up. He's right. It's a certain female bandmate in a bitchy mood.

  "Where is he?" Carmen Hyde barks.

  "Hm?" Faking early morning fog. There's no one, nobody under that sheet over there.

  "You know who I'm talking about. That boy you ran off with. WHERE. IS. HE?"

  "In bed with me. Why?"

  "You know who he is, right?" Her tone is ominous.

  "Wait, give me a moment, I'll get it--Roger--Rick--Rafe!" He snaps his fingers. He's so proud. He's actually remembered the boy's name.

  "His
name is Rafe Leeland, you rutting pig." Carmen gives this phrase special emphasis.

  "Why are you so protective of him, Carmy-dear?"

  "I'll say it again. L-e-e-l-a-n-d."

  A slight perturbation crosses Alexis's face. Why does that name sound familiar?

  "He's Langford's brother. Langford Leeland."

  Brother?

  "The younger one, you blockhead. I can read your mind."

  She can, you know.

  "The baby brother. Is he all right?"

  "Uh--" Alexis isn't sure, and right now it's very bad not to be sure. "Carmen dear, I may have been just the littlest, teeniest bit drunk, and I--"

  "Let me explain it in simple words, you lecherous blob of slime. He's Lang Leeland's younger brother--," Alexis begins to chime in, saying the words with her, "--hey, shut up when I'm lecturing you! Who is a member of Mullerin, Malcolm's shiny new up-and-coming rock band, and if he finds out you've KIDNAPPED HIS BABY BROTHER, MOLESTED THE BOY, AND WRECKED HIS CAR IN THE PROCESS--"

  "Must you say that in all capitals, Carmen sweetie?"

  "Rafe is to be returned, intact and unharmed by noon, or I'll tell Lang and let him put out his cigarette on your eyeball."

  "Eeyurg," Alexis says. Cautiously, he lifts a corner of Rafe's sheet, looking for flesh wounds or anything a doctor might need to treat.

  "I'll see you later, Carmen dear." He hangs up quickly.

  Then he realizes that Rafe's awake. One dark eye is peeking shyly out from under the sheet. The boy has heard everything.

  "Good morning, I--OW!" A powerful blow on the skull leaves Alexis dazed. When he recovers, he realizes his assailant is Mr. Bunny. The rabbit, dressed in a miniature suit of samurai armor, has somehow fallen off the shelf above the bed.

  Beaned by his own rabbit! How embarrassing. And Mr. Bunny has rolled--right into Rafe's arms. The boy is clutching the rabbit, looking scared. Mr. Bunny looks fierce. In fact, from the expression on Mr. Bunny's face, he's angrier than Alexis has ever seen him before. It must have been something bad, to make Mr. Bunny dress himself as a samurai, and attack. Disquieted, Alexis understands. Mr. Bunny is furious with him.