Now, as he put the phone down, he looked over at Sherlock who paced impatiently.
“So are they coming?” he asked.
Before he could answer, a loud crash of thunder shook the house. “Can’t you feel it?”
“Feel what, for God’s sake?”
“The world is going to end tonight, and it sounds like God has already started tearing things apart. It’s an omen, Sherlock, I just know it.”
“You and your omens, and your fortune cookie messages. Will you quit being so superstitious? It’s only a storm, for God’s sake. You know it’s been raining a lot here lately. Remember Suicide Drop? As usual you’re over reacting. Besides, we can’t put this off any longer. Franco needs to know that your feelings have changed, and he needs to know about me. You gave him a pretty hard time. You owe him that.”
“I know,” he said, wringing his hands. “I want to make things right, but it’s just hard, that’s all.”
“It’s hard for you, but for Franco it ought to be good news. It’s something he’ll be happy to hear. Why don’t you just sit down and relax until they get here?”
“I can’t.” He looked down at his watch. “Maybe we should put this off. I mean, there’s a storm coming, and I don’t like…”
“He can take care of himself.”
“I know, but I can’t help worrying, that’s all.” He looked through a window. “It’s getting pretty bad out there.”
“The truth is, you care, and don’t want to lose his friendship. Hell, if you’d just tell him that it would make his day.”
“I just wish…” His words faded when he saw the pictures still spread out on the coffee table, and leaned over to pick them up.
“Leave them there.”
“But they’re just hurtful reminders. I think we should—”
“Rolly, you left them there for a reason.”
“I’ve changed my mind. It would be rude of me to leave them out to remind him of all this. I just want to forget this nightmare as quickly as I can.” Moving swiftly, he gathered them up, and put them away.
“You’re still not over this whole thing, are you?”
When Rolly didn’t say anything Sherlock grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. “Call me when…”
“No! Sherlock, please don’t leave.”
Just then the door opened, and there stood Franco and Dimitri.
* * * *
The moment Franco walked in with Dimitri by his side, he could feel the tension in the air. He had been prepared for an outburst since it was the first time Rolly had seen them together, but he wasn’t prepared for his attack on Dimitri.
“Look at him!” Rolly shouted at Dimitri. “He wears the tension in his face like a mask! You’re turning him into an old man.”
Just then Franco stepped between him and Dimitri. “Is this what you brought us here for? To attack Dimitri? Let me tell you something, Rolly, if there’s tension in my face Dimitri didn’t put it there. You did!”
Rolly turned ashen at his words, and then he felt a hand on his arm.
“Rolly, please,” Sherlock whispered. “This is not what you asked them over for.”
Franco watched Sherlock as he gently led Rolly to the couch, set him down, and whispered a few words to him. He couldn’t hear what was said, but it seemed to have calmed Rolly down.
Sherlock rose from the couch and came toward Franco. “I apologize for that, sir. Rolly is still trying to come to grips with all that has happened, but he’ll be all right. He’s trying, and has made surprising progress since the last time you saw him.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“You can call me Sherlock.”
“Sherlock? Like the det—Oh, my God, you’re the one who took all those pictures, aren’t you?” Franco began advancing on Sherlock. “Why, you fucking son of a bitch. I ought to turn you in for—”
“Sir, please,” Sherlock said as he backed up. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I was hired. Rolly hired me as a private investigator to follow you, and I was simply doing my job.” Sherlock pulled out his wallet, and dug out his fake license, firearms permit, insurance card, and even photo ID identifying him as a PI.
“You got a spying license in there?” Franco asked as he slapped things out of his hand.
“Sir, please. Don’t get excited. Rolly called you—”
Rolly jumped up from the couch. “Franco, don’t blame him for any of this. It was all my doing. Like he said, he was just doing his job.”
“What the hell kind of name is Sherlock?” He looked over at Sherlock, his eyes shooting fire. “Is that your real name?”
“My real name is Byron Douglas. Sherlock is just a nickname I’ve carried since high school. It stuck, and when I opened my business I thought it was appropriate for what I do. You know, kind of quirky.”
“Quirky?” Franco raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m surrounded by children! My kingdom for a mature person who speaks a grown up language.”
“I’m afraid that’s you,” Dimitri whispered.
“All right, maybe quirky is the wrong word. Original,” Sherlock spat out. “Does that do it for you, grandpa?”
When Franco heard Sherlock, he rushed toward him and grabbed his collar as if he was going to hit him. “Listen, you pipsqueak, don’t you ever say another word to me as long as you live, which might not be very long if you stick around here.” Pulling on his collar, he pulled him toward the door, opened it and threw him outside. “Hate to see you go.”
“Franco, what are you doing?”
“I’m tired of all this, Rolly. If you don’t like me and Dimitri being together, get over it! It’s not going to change, and if you can’t accept it, I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is!”
“Franco, I asked you to come because I wanted to tell you that it’s okay. I do accept it.”
“It’s okay? You’re giving me your permission? Well I don’t need it!”
“Franco, please. I didn’t mean it that way. I…I understand now.”
“Then why the hell didn’t you tell me that when we came in instead of attacking Dimitri?”
“I’m sorry about that. Apparently this whole thing has left its scars that will take time to heal. I’m just asking that you please bear with me, and if you and Dimitri want to be together, then I certainly can’t stop you…wouldn’t stop you…wouldn’t dream of trying to stop you.” He raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I’m sorry, it seems like everything I say is wrong. Please…pretend I’m not here.”
“So what changed your mind?”
“Sherlock.”
Franco’s eyes widened. “Sherlock? That piece of shit I just threw out of here?”
“Sherlock and I…well, we’re seeing each other now. I don’t know where it will lead, but when I hired him I had to tell him the situation, and he made me see things…I don’t know…through his eyes, I guess.” Rolly took a big breath. “I don’t know what in hell I was thinking, Franco. I guess I just didn’t want things to change. I wanted you to always be there for me. Once I realized your relationship with Dimitri wouldn’t change that, I was fine.”
“I tried to tell you the same damned thing, Rolly, but you wouldn’t even talk to me about it. You were too busy yelling at me. Apparently you’d rather believe this grammar school PI instead of a good friend who cares about you.”
“I know. How many times can I say I’m sorry?”
Franco exhaled impatiently, and said, “You’d better go out there and get him if he’s still there.” While Rolly went outside, Franco looked at Dimitri. “You’re awfully quiet. What have you got to say about all this?”
“The entertainment value of your little bull-in-the-china-shop display was priceless.”
“It seems I remember saying something like that to you once about a hundred years ago.”
“Yeah, and look where it led us.”
Franco was smiling when he walk
ed up to Dimitri and took him in his arms.
“Hey, better back off. Rolly might come in at any minute.”
“He’s got to see it sometime. Now’s as good a time as any.”
“Franco, don’t rub it in his face.”
“Oh, all right,” he said, stepping away. “But when I get you home…”
“Home? The Marriott? That’s home?”
“Yeah, I know. Well, do you want to come back here with me?”
“What about Rolly?”
“I have a feeling he won’t want to hang around much longer once you move in.”
“Let’s not make any plans until we talk to him about it.”
“Sure.”
Just then Rolly and Sherlock came in, Sherlock looking a little mussed up. Franco gave him a hard look, and then turned to Rolly. “By the way, Rolly, have you found a place to live yet?”
“Not ye—”
“He can move in with me.”
Franco gave him with a look that said, Who invited you into this conversation? “Yeah? Well get this straight, kid, you’d better not mistreat him, because if you do you’ll be in a hole somewhere, and on your way to hell. Got that? He’s a friend, and I protect my friends.” Just then Franco looked over at Rolly, who had a silly smile on his face.
Franco smiled back. “See? Nothing’s changed. I’ve still got all the answers. I’m still a rock, and this place is always a port in the storm if you get lonely, scared, or just need a friend to talk to. Now get out of here, and be happy.”
“All right,” Sherlock replied, “I guess it’s time for the truth to come out.”
“Truth?” Franco said. “You mean you’ve been lying to us all this time?”
“Let’s just say I haven’t told you the whole truth.”
“And what is ‘the whole truth?’”
“My name is Byron Douglas Vancil. You’ve heard of Vancil Textiles in upper New York? I’m Cornell Vancil’s son. I have a trust fund, a Porsche, and a high rise in the heart of Manhattan. This PI business is just a bored rich man’s son living out his dreams. But now that I’ve found Rolly I’ve grown up a little bit, and see how childish that dream was. If Rolly hasn’t changed his mind, I intend to keep seeing him and eventually, when we know it’s right, we might even make it permanent.”
Franco looked at him, and for the first time noticed his amiable good looks, his twinkling eyes, his nice smile, and his uncanny resemblance to a nice guy. “So what do you want from me?”
“Your blessing, sir.”
“You don’t need my blessing. Rolly’s not my son. He can do whatever he wants.”
Just then Rolly walked up to him. “I know what you’re saying, Franco, but I also know what Sherlock means. I guess what I want is your forgiveness, and you giving me your blessing would be like having closure so I could put all this behind me and begin a new life with him. How about it? Give me the gift of closure with a great big beautiful bow on it.”
Franco looked at him with reluctance. “Well, I really should put you through the same hell you put me through, but…I guess that’s not too much to ask.” He put his hand on Rolly’s shoulder, and then looked over at Sherlock and placed his hand on his shoulder as well. “For whatever it’s worth, Sherlock, and Rolly, I’m giving you the blessing, and the closure you said you want.
“And I give you the same,” Rolly said softly as he looked first at Franco, and then to Dimitri. “All the best to both of you.”
“Thank you, Rolly,” they both said in unison.
Epilogue
THE next morning Franco and Dimitri woke up in Franco’s beautiful bedroom.
After Rolly and Sherlock had left the night before, the two men had moved out of the Marriott, and took up residence in Franco’s beautiful house that Dimitri had once admired.
Now, the first thing Franco saw was Dimitri looking down at him while he rested his head in his hand. “What’s your problem?”
“You’re a good man, you know that?”
“I try to be.”
“You’re also a good lover, friend, and provider. I was proud of you last night when you gave Rolly and Sherlock your blessing. That leaves only one thing left to do.”
“What are you getting at, Dimitri?”
“Franco, when are you going to come out of the closet? When you’re sixty?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. Now that I’ve found someone I care about, I don’t think it’s fair of me to ask you to live in the shadows with me.”
“So your clients don’t matter anymore?”
“They matter, but not as much as you. Besides, I’ve been thinking. I do good work, and it ought to be able to stand on its own. Why should my clients care what my sexual preferences are? That’s my private life, and outside of the kind of job I do for them, it’s none of their business.”
That set Dimitri to thinking. Was it just a bunch of words, or did Franco really mean what he’d just said? As he began dressing, an idea began to form, so with a stomach full of butterflies, he said, “Get up, we’re going out for breakfast.”
“We are? Why?”
“Last night you made Rolly’s dreams come true, now it’s my turn.”
“You want me to make your dreams come true? That’s a tall order. What are your dreams?”
“You’ll see. Get dressed.”
With a sigh, Franco got dressed, they got in the car, and Dimitri drove until he reached the center of Manhattan. Finding a parking spot, he got out of the car, looked around, and said, “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. Now, where shall we eat?”
Taking a deep breath, Dimitri looked around and saw a city full of people parading up and down the street. Taxis were lined up bumper-to-bumper, and the cop on the corner was trying hard to maneuver the stranded cars around each other since a broken traffic light was blinking incessantly, keeping the crowded street at a screeching start and stop passage.
Finally, he turned to Franco and with a look on his face that spoke of love, tenderness, passion and devotion, he whispered, “Franco, if you love me, kiss me.”
Franco looked around at the crowd. “What? Here? In front of all these…?”
“I love you, Franco, and I’m tired of hiding our love from the world. If you meant what you said earlier, then kiss me.”
“But, Dimitri, we’ll start a riot. I mean who knows what…this crowd…”
“Franco, it’s now, or never,” he said with a sheen of tears gathering in his eyes.
Franco just stood looking at Dimitri knowing he was putting their love on the line, so after a short pause he smiled, and said, “To hell with these people.” With that Franco reached his hand around Dimitri’s neck, and pulled him closer until their lips met in a crushing kiss. It took only seconds for both men to respond in total surrender to the burst of love they felt for each other. A love that was so strong that it made the whole world stop in their tracks.
At that moment a whole city of people turned to look. Cabbies leaned their heads out of their windows, little kids pointed, dogs even stopped barking, and flashes from the media’s cameras flickered incessantly. Instead of being disapproving, critical, and judgmental, they all smiled because the love they saw demonstrated before them was delightful. Even though it might have been a bit unconventional and unique, it was still love, and the people that watched responded with smiles, cheers, and loud applause.
With that kiss, Dimitri’s dream came true.
He’d always wanted to express his love openly before the world, and not care who knew, to experience that bright and shining moment when he would at last come out of the closet. But now it was even sweeter, because in addition to coming out himself—he had brought the man he loved with him.
The End
Publisher’s Note
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About Temple Madison
Early in her career she was discovered on the internet by a publisher that fully embraced her style of writing, and introduced her to erotic e-publishing. What came from it was a series of books that slowly became published, giving her the feeling of at last achieving her goal.
Temple has had her days in the sun, when she was the life of the party, a laugh a minute kind of gal, and outrageously cool, but writing is her passion today. Today she's one of those boring x-civil service workers that has a penchant for bookstores and sappy love songs. She prefers quiet dinners with friends over maddening crowds. Her favorite pastime is writing a truly exciting suspenseful novel with strong, stand-alone characters, and an exciting, anything-can-happen plotline. After several years, her love of writing hasn't left her, so look for more of her dark romance novels that will give you a chill one minute and a hot flash the next.
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