Red Shadows. Gaby Crumb
fall in love with a man. Cameron was absolutely convinced of that.
«You know that, when he’ll suffer for a guy I will send him straight to you. I do not know what to tell him and would end up shooting at that dick who will mess up with my brother. You're usually more friendly.»
I almost choked with the beer I was drinking and I decided it was time to change the subject because the memory of the day before with Ash, naked in my bed, did not want to leave me alone.
«Come on, that's enough talk. Tell me about the delivery. Was he there?»
«Yes, he was with us all the time. The trip was also fun. He and Connor get caught all the time. We delivered the goods and everything went well. Ryan took the money. We throw the bait, Sean.»
«Now we wait for him to take a bite. While you were away, Axel had a little problem with The Bulldog. The bastards shot him and hit Colin, I used an entire bottle of whiskey to convince him not to go into their territory and try to take them all out. I think those bastards are allying with the Devils. We are outnumbered Cam, we must be careful.»
«Do you want to take new recruits?»
«No, only Ryan will become part of the gang. We need him.»
«How do you want to proceed?»
«As we have always done, Cam. They have the numbers, we have the brain and now Ryan. We will not stop until even just one of those sons of bitches will be on the streets.»
«Do you never ask yourself what our parents would say if they could see us now? A gun on that we are no longer afraid to use. Sometimes I wonder how it would be if they were still alive.»
«They all died, Cam. Imagining how it would be cannot bring them back to life.»
«Go and do the hard dick-head with someone else, Sean. I know you miss your parents like me and Ash miss ours. The fact that you do not allow yourself to think about them does not make it less real than the fact that you miss them.»
I looked askance at him.
«Have you finished, Dr. Freud?
Cameron laughed.
«I wonder how you've become our boss, you're such a dick sometimes.»
«I became the chief because I am always a dick and because I am the most intelligent of you all.»
Cameron stood up and smiled at me.
«Sure, boss, believe it. We can meet at the King tonight, we take a beer and catch up with the others.»
I looked at Cam going away and for a second I was tempted to stop him and tell him that I wanted his brother. Then I shook my head. Shit, that boy would make me crazy. I had to have more sex, maybe that was why I could not stop thinking about him. If I had had sex with another man, one with whom I could be without paranoia, I would have vented a bit and I would have not thought about Ash. Being with him was not possible and moreover it was ridiculous that I was so obsessed. And then, I had much else to think about.
I grabbed the phone and called the number I had recorded only a few days before. Ryan answered at the second ring.
«Hello!»
«Ryan, it's Sean. I have just spoken with Cameron, and he told me that everything is ok.»
«Yes everything is ok. We delivered the goods as agreed. Now we just wait for our friends to even notice that they were screwed. Are you ready?»
«We will be.»
«Well, just because the Devils will know that you have fucked up the goods and have delivered it on their behalf, will break a big mess.»
«We had to take risks if we want to come out of the closet. Up to now they have sent on the street only the last recruits, if we want to take the big boys then we have to stand tall and create a little casino.»
«I know, I was there when we came up with this brilliant plan, remember?»
«I do not think I will ever forget the day when me and your boss shook hands.»
Ryan laughed again.
«What's it like being on the other side of the fence?»
«In the end we were always on the same side, only with different methods», I answered to him.
«Yeah, and that's the only reason why we are now working together. I have to go now. Do not get shot, Sean. Connor will never forgive it to you.»
«Did I miss something between you and one of my Shadows?»
«Not your fucking business, my friend. I'll be in contact.»
I greeted him and put away the phone. I hated to wait.
I was going to go home to work a little in the workshop when I saw Ash. He was with some friends, they were entering the B & B, a fast food restaurant frequented by teenagers. I swallowed as I watched him. As it annoyed me to admit it, he was still a teenager and for no reason would have to return to my bed even though every fiber of my being was screaming that it was there that he had to be. In my bed, with me next to him. Trying to dismiss the thought I stood up. I did not need to torture me again and I had more important things to think about. Too bad that my cock does not think the same way.
On Friday evening the King was filled with boys and girls from sixteen to thirty years. All they wanted was to socialize and have fun to start in a better way the weekend. The next day there would be no school, many would not have worked, and everyone could go home later. It was a safe place and it was our lair. We had helped the owner when, a few years before, had been blackmailed by a gang from another neighborhood and to thank us he kept us always the best table in a corner of the room where we had a compete view of the entire room. It was on a mezzanine floor over the other tables and a small dance floor and you could see anyone who entered. When I arrived that evening, the others were already all there.
I stood watching them for a minute before reaching them, they were engaged in a conversation and they were all laughing. If you watched them you could just see some guys a bit dark, amusing themselves all together, but I did not escape the details of each of them. Axel, as always was next to Colin. He watched him as if he was always saving him from an impending tragedy. I was amused to note how he gravitated around him attracted like a magnet without being able to admit that there was something more than friendship between them. Colin loved him but it was not a secret to anyone, no one except Axel. Colin probably would have already left the city if it was not that he could not abandon him. Often Cam and I were wondering what it would take for them to realize they love each other, but Axel told everyone he was straight, went with women, and every time it happened, Colin became silent and absent.
Connor was instead the most cheerful of them all. He was our eyes and our ears. He was the one who put me in contact with Ryan. I had the secret belief that many of the leaks that we had in the last few months were just the work of Ryan. Connor was secretive about his private life, and never introduced anyone because he knew that we knew him so well that we had only to look once to see if his companion was just a fuck of an evening or something more.
Then there was Cameron. My best friend, my right arm and more than once my consciousness. He was resting on the sofa with the new conquest. Thinking about it, it was already some weeks that Cam took her to the King. I liked Elise. She was tiny and with a skin so clear to make it seems like a porcelain doll, but she could put in place anyone who bothered her. Cameron had sweated seven shirts to be able to have a date with her, it had become a matter of principle for him and when he had gained it, we all thought that, as usual, he left her soon after fucking her. But apparently, Elise was damn smart and Cam seemed to be increasingly fascinated by her.
Finally I was there. Taciturn and always a little pissed off at the world, I would have liked to get out and make