by Jake Biondi
“Thanks,” Cole said, drinking more wine.
“From someone special?”
“Derek, actually.”
“I see,” Dustin said. “You know, I’d love to know how the two of you met.”
Cole smiled. “It’s a crazy story.”
“We have wine and I’m all ears,” Dustin said, drinking from his wine glass.
Cole took a deep breath and began his story. “I actually met Derek when I was in Boston for a job interview and he was on a business trip. We hit it off right away and spent two full days together, other than my interview and his meetings. I didn’t know at the time that he was married.”
“How did you find out?”
“Well, he told me that we couldn’t stay in touch, even though I wanted to. So when he was in the hotel bathroom, I actually took a photo of his driver’s license with my phone, so I’d know his name and where he lived. Crazy, I know.”
Dustin pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened his photo file. He found the photo of Derek lying naked in bed and showed it to Cole. “You mean like this?”
Cole grew pale as he looked at the photo. “Where did you get that?”
At the same time, Joyelle was relaxing on the couch in Tyler and David’s apartment. She was staying there while they were in California for the wedding. Drinking a glass of water, she was watching television when her phone rang. She got up from the sofa, walked over to the kitchen counter to grab her phone, and answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Joyelle. It’s Mateo.”
“How are you?”
“I’m good,” she replied.
“I wanted to call you personally,” Mateo explained. “I have your paternity test results.”
“Oh,” Joyelle said, walking back over to the couch to sit down.
“I completed your special request and compared your sample to both Derek’s and Tyler’s.”
“Thank you,” Joyelle said anxiously.
“Joyelle, they both came back negative.”
“Oh, my God,” Joyelle gasped, letting her hand holding the phone drop down onto the sofa.
“Joyelle?” Mateo called out to her.
“Then it’s Marco’s baby,” Joyelle mumbled to herself as she started to tremble. “I’m carrying a Ciancio.”
While Joyelle reacted to the identity of her child’s father, Logan was lying in bed in his bedroom. The window shades were pulled down and the room was very dark, except for the soft glow of a small lamp next to the bed.
On the night table next to the lamp were two wine bottles -- one completely empty and one nearly empty -- and a bottle of pills. Logan sat with his back against the headboard. Tears streaming down his face, he finished the glass of wine in his hand.
He reached over and grabbed the nearly empty wine bottle. He poured its contents into his glass and dropped the empty bottle onto the floor. Then he dumped the entire bottle of pills into his wine glass, dropping the empty pill bottle onto the floor next to the wine bottle.
“I love you, Jesse,” Logan whispered. “You’ll have a better life without me.” He gulped down the entire glass of wine and pills. He put the glass down on the bed beside him, folded his arms across his chest, and closed his eyes.
At Rebound, Keith, clearly intoxicated, leaned against the bar, flagging down the bartender. To Keith’s left, Jensen continued to dance on the bar, his underwear filled with dollar bills. Patrons cheered Jensen on and Keith struggled to remain standing. He waved some money toward Bob, his bartender friend, and Bob eventually approached him.
“I’ll have another,” Keith said.
“I don’t think so, my friend. You’ve had enough.”
“I’m fine,” Keith said, slurring his words. “Just one more.”
“You’re done. You need to go.”
Keith raised his voice. “I said I want another one.”
Bob signaled to a security person, who rushed over and stood next to Keith.
“You can go on your own,” Bob said. “Or he can help you.”
Keith raised his hands up. “Okay, okay. I’m going.”
Jensen watched from on the bar as the security guard guided Keith out the door.
“He’s done,” Bob yelled over to Jensen.
“He’s a friend of mine. I’ll help him get a cab.”
Once security got Keith out of the bar, he stumbled onto the sidewalk. He looked in every direction for a cab. Then he stepped out into the street with his hand in the air to get a taxi’s attention.
About a block away, Hugo sat in a rental car parked against the curb. Upon seeing Keith in the street down the block, Hugo pulled a knit ski mask over his head and started the car. He pulled away from the curb and accelerated toward Keith.
Jensen stepped out of Rebound and onto the sidewalk looking for Keith. He saw him a few feet away. He jogged toward Keith as Hugo raced down the street toward him. Seeing the bright car headlights coming toward Keith, Jensen jumped out into the street to get his attention.
“Keith!” Jensen yelled, running toward him. Hugo’s car continued to accelerate toward Keith as Jensen rushed to push him out of the way.
The car raced toward the two men, hitting one of them as the other fell to the ground out of the way. The car sent the body over its hood, into the air, and then onto the pavement. As people on the sidewalk screamed, blood splattered onto the road and nearby parked cars. Hugo’s car sped down the street and out of view, leaving the bloody body in the street behind it.
Outside Dustin’s apartment building, Adam stood on the sidewalk. He looked at the address on the building and compared it to the address on his cell phone screen.
“This is the place,” Adam said.
High above, in Dustin’s apartment, Cole stared oddly at the naked photo of Derek on Dustin’s phone. He had just asked Dustin how he got the photo of Derek and was awaiting Dustin’s reply.
“Did you really think you were the first one to hook up with Derek on a business trip? Did you honestly think you were the only one to fall for him?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I met Derek a while ago in the same way you did. He was on a business trip in Seattle. We met and had a great time together and hooked up. And, like you, I wanted to be with him long after his trip.”
“Oh, my God.”
“I took this pic of him while he was sleeping after he fucked me. I look at it all the time to remind myself of the fun we had.”
“You used to live in Seattle?”
“I did,” Dustin said. “I moved here for the same reason you did, to pursue Derek. Hell, I even dumped my boyfriend. That’s how much I love Derek.”
“Have you talked to him about this?”
“Are you kidding?” Dustin asked. “He doesn’t even remember me. Apparently, I meant absolutely nothing to him. He looks at me and doesn’t even remotely recall our time together.”
“I’m sorry,” Cole said.
“You should be. Even when I took him to the birthday party or we went to dinner together, he never realized who I was.” Dustin took another drink of his wine. “Just think about how many other hundreds of men there may be out there just like me. Men he fucked on business trip after business trip and then tossed aside like garbage, just like he did to me. I couldn’t allow him to keep doing that to people. I couldn’t allow any more men to suffer as I did. So I tried to stop him.”
“Stop him?” Cole asked, pushing his seat away from the table. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re the only one he seems to care about. Not the rest of us that he used. That’s why I had to do it.”
“Do what? What are you talking about?”
“That’s why I had to shoot him. You’re the only one he cares about. No matter how hard I tried, he just ignored me.”
Cole jumped up from his chair. “Oh, my God. You shot Derek!”
“I had no choice; it had to be done,” Dustin said, standing up. “I even broke into Justin
’s apartment and stole his gun because I remember Derek telling me about the brother he hated. It was the perfect set up. But the bastard lived, so I had to try again in the hospital.”
Cole pulled his cell phone from him pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m calling Michael,” Cole said, dialing the number.
“No!” Dustin yelled, picking up the carving knife from the serving platter on the table. “You can’t do that!”
“You shot Derek for God’s sake. You tried to kill him twice.”
“Give me that phone,” Dustin yelled in a rage as he lunged at Cole with the knife.
Cole jumped out of the way and Dustin punched him in the face, sending him backwards onto the floor. His cell phone flew through the air and landed on the floor, activating its speaker mode. The sound of his phone dialing Michael filled the room.
Dustin jumped on top of Cole, raising the knife high into the air. Cole grabbed Dustin’s arm and the two wrestled on the ground. Cole pushed Dustin backwards into a chair. He lunged at Cole again. Cole moved out of the way as the knife tore into the back of the chair.
Michael’s voice was heard in the apartment as he answered Cole’s call. “Hello? Cole?”
“Dustin shot Derek! Dustin shot Derek!” Cole yelled as he struggled for the knife with Dustin.
“What?” Michael asked.
Cole yelled again. “Dustin shot Derek. I’m at Dustin’s now!”
“What’s going on there?”
Both men had their hands on the knife handle as they struggled. Dustin threw Cole up against the wall, trying to gain control over the knife. Cole kicked him in the gut, sending him backwards. The knife dropped and slid across the floor. The men both lunged for it, but Dustin got there first. He grabbed the knife and stabbed Cole in the arm.
Cole screamed but continued to fight with Dustin. Blood flowing from his arm, Cole knocked the bloody knife from Dustin’s hand. As it fell to the floor, he pinned Dustin to the ground. He got on top of him and started to strangle him.
Michael called through the phone. “Cole?”
Dustin flipped over on top of Cole, who used his legs to push Dustin away toward the open balcony doors. The two continued to wrestle, throwing occasional punches. They soon found themselves on Dustin’s balcony.
Cole punched Dustin twice hard in the stomach. Dustin fell backwards. He grabbed an empty plant box from the floor of the balcony and threw it at Cole, who stepped out of the way and let the box smash against the wall behind him. He got up and charged Cole, pushing him against the balcony railing.
Cole wrapped his hands around Dustin’s neck, choking him, and Dustin did the same to Cole. Each clutched the other’s neck tightly as they stood against the railing. Dustin kicked him in the gut and Cole released his grip; then Dustin let go of Cole’s neck and punched him across the face. The two men continued to fight. The struggle grew even more intense as each tried to overcome the other.
Then, suddenly one charged the other. They held on to each other for a moment, until one of the men was flipped over the balcony railing. The man plummeted from the balcony down toward the sidewalk far below, where Adam was standing.
The sound of the engines of the Ciancio jet pierced the quiet night air. Slowly, the jet positioned itself at the start of the runway. Once the pilot was cleared for takeoff by the control tower, the jets grew even louder as the plane made its way down the runway. Picking up speed, the jet raced along the strip until it finally took flight.
The ground crew watched as the plane rose higher and higher into the sky. As the jet flew further away, only its flashing lights could be seen. They soon blended in with the stars that were visible in the night sky.
Dressed in a ground crew suit with headphones over his ears, Ben Donovan walked back toward the airport terminal. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call.
“It’s me,” he said. He paused a moment and then stated, “They’re in the air. Everything went smoothly. After what I did to that plane, none of them will make it to California alive.”
Ben smiled as he turned around to look back toward the jet, now far away on the horizon. The passengers on board celebrated two upcoming weddings, completely unaware that their rejoicing would be cut short from the doom Ben had unleashed on them.
Stars twinkled in the night sky as if welcoming the plane into heaven. The moon cast an eerie glow over the beautiful city beneath it.
