by Posy Roberts
This room creeped him out.
As the hearing wrapped up, Louis let out a sigh of relief.
“Great job, Louis. Thanks for your always insightful assistance,” Oscar said with an outstretched hand.
Louis shook it. “Glad to help.”
“So, have you heard from your fella since the party. Sebastian.”
“Fella?” Louis couldn’t help but chuckle as he followed Oscar out of the SCIF and collected his phone. He turned it on and tucked it in his pocket. “I have. Spent last night with him, actually.”
“Is that why you made the messy hair choice?” Oscar winked. “You letting him style you now?”
“No. I was a little rushed after sleeping in his tent under a bridge and then rushing home to change.”
“You what?”
“He’s homeless, Oscar. Maybe you missed that part at the party, but Sebastian, son of Gabriel Lewis the billionaire, is homeless.”
All of a sudden Louis’s phone blew up with message notifications. One after the other after the other, and he had such a sinking feeling of déjà vu, he stumbled.
“Hey, I got ya, man,” Oscar soothed.
In a heartbeat, without Louis saying a word, Oscar knew exactly where Louis’s head had gone. A sturdy arm guided Louis to a bench that was tucked away along the corridor.
“I know why you’re freaking out, but that’s not what’s happening. What’s going on? Check your phone.”
Louis took steadying breaths as he pulled it out of his pocket and clicked it to life. Missed calls. Missed texts. All from Sebastian.
He scanned them fast.
“A sweep today.”
“A what?” Oscar asked.
Louis held up a finger and dialed Sebastian’s number. He answered after one ring. “Sorry I missed—”
“I just found out about an hour ago. This wasn’t supposed to happen until tomorrow, but they moved it up or else the posted notices lied. They’re coming. I can’t get there in time even if Blanche drives me. I’m too far out.”
“I just got done here.” Louis gave Oscar a questioning look that was answered with a sharp nod. “I’ll go. I can be there in . . . fifteen, twenty minutes max. How soon before they show up?”
“Forty minutes, depending on where they start this time.”
“I’ll do my best to get everything.”
“My tent is locked. Javon has a key. Hopefully he hasn’t left, but tear into the tent if you have to. Shirley will help me sew it back together. I left all my important shit in there,” Sebastian said through sobs.
“I’ll do everything I can, my otter. Gotta go. I’ll call as soon as everything’s safe.”
Louis tore through the Capitol as fast as he could without encouraging the Capitol police to chase after him. He ordered a Lyft, then headed toward the staging area and spotted the driver already waiting. He crossed the busy street and didn’t notice Oscar had trailed him until he climbed in the car beside him, huffing and puffing.
“What the fuck is going on?” Oscar demanded as the driver took off without a word.
“Every few weeks, the city does sweeps of homeless encampments. They drape it in the flowery language of keeping things sanitary, but what really happens is they toss the only things these people have.”
“That’s awful.”
Louis nodded. “I couldn’t agree more. The cops aren’t supposed to toss anything of value or IDs or stuff like that, but they threw away Sebastian’s tent the last time they were through. I just bought him a new tent earlier in the week.”
“And he didn’t know about this?”
“Tomorrow. It was scheduled for tomorrow, I guess.”
“They just moved it up? That’s not fair.”
A laugh bubbled up. “Nothing about this is fair. No one deserves to live on the fucking streets.”
“Amen,” the driver said, smiling.
Louis nodded at her in the rearview mirror. He recognized her from the soup kitchen.
“So what are we doing once we get there?” Oscar sounded scared. “Stop the cops?”
“We? You don’t have to be a part of this. I’ll gather as much of his stuff as I can and haul it away. How? I have no fucking clue.” He patted his coat to see if he happened to leave a fabric tote in a pocket from his last grocery trip. He had. He pulled out the neatly folded square and shook his head. “So, what fits in here, what I can manage to stuff in a blanket or two. He has a sleeping bag we could fill. Oh, and the tent I bought him came in a wheelie thing, so maybe I don’t have to find a stick for the blanket to play the part of hobo.” He growled and gripped his hair, knocking the back of his head on the headrest.
“I’ll help as much as I can.”
“What a fucking disaster.”
“You sure that . . . ?”
Louis waited but didn’t prompt Oscar to finish. He had a feeling he knew where he was heading, and he didn’t want to hear any of that right now.
Was he sure Sebastian was worth this much trouble?
Fuck yes.
Was Sebastian really who he said he was?
Damn right.
Was Louis sure he wanted to put himself out there, maybe even risking his security clearance and his job for a guy he’d only met?
In a heartbeat.
“You don’t have to do this,” he told Oscar. “I’m willing to risk everything for this guy, but I’m not asking you to help.”
“Maybe I can talk to the officers and get them to back off.”
“Good luck with that. Lawyers haven’t been able to stop them.”
28
Cruelty & Kindness
Louis found Javon busy packing his stuff away, and he unlocked Sebastian’s tent to see far more stuff inside than had been there this morning. Stuff from his backpack was scattered all around.
He didn’t have time to take inventory. Instead he started tossing things in whatever could be used as a bag. Oscar helped where he could, but he got in the way more than anything.
The noise level rose. People argued.
“They must be here.”
Oscar stood. “I’ll talk to them.”
It wouldn’t do a damn bit of good, but at least Louis would have more working room.
They were getting closer way too fast. “Go to a shelter. It’s too cold out here to be safe. Subzero temps are moving in fast. We need you to move on. Go to a shelter,” a woman droned.
Javon popped his head in. “Hurry. Get what you have outside and get outta here. They’re being ruthless.”
When Oscar returned, he wore a scowl Louis had only seen when he’d admitted defeat. Message received. “They won’t see reason.”
“Because they don’t see the homeless as people,” Louis said as he tossed Oscar a bag and then another. “They’re a pestilence and a nuisance if they’re visible, and all this stuff is trash in their eyes.”
Oscar grabbed a few more things: the cards Louis had written and whatever else fit in his hand.
“Follow me.” Louis ended up following Javon since he knew what to do, how far to go, and what the rules were in this unfair game. They piled the stuff behind a thick tree trunk up the street, and Louis ordered Oscar to stay there. “If they try to take this stuff, flash your government credentials and tell them you’re . . . I don’t fucking know. Moving?”
“Go.”
Louis ran back, trailing Javon, and he was able to toss the last few things into his fabric bag before a cop peeked inside Sebastian’s tent. He looped the long handle over his shoulder and stood as tall as he could in the tent.
“You gotta go now,” the cop said. Dead eyes.
Louis nodded and joined him outside. He untied the shock-cord that was secured to a heavy rock that kept the tent from flying away. “I just need to take the tent down. It’ll take me five minutes.”
The cop shook his head and palmed his gun. So, intimidation was on the menu.
“Louis, let it go,” Javon said. “This ain’t worth jail.” Whe
n Louis didn’t move, Javon tugged on his sleeve. “Come on.”
“No.” Louis dropped the loose ends of the cord and faced the cop. “I want to watch your face as you destroy a man’s home. I want to see if you realize the destruction you’re taking part in, not of property but someone’s soul.”
“You can go stay at a homeless shelter,” the cop said.
“I have a house, but the man who lives in this tent . . . this is his home.”
“Why isn’t he here moving his stuff, then?”
“Because this was supposed to happen tomorrow, and he’s at work right now.”
The cop held up his hands and took a few steps back. “Sorry, man, but I’m just doing my job.”
Louis gave him a mean lip snarl and nodded. “And I’m doing my job as a concerned citizen of this fine city, a taxpayer who disagrees with this inhumane policy. So go ahead. Do it. Destroy a man’s house. Then go home to your own tonight and think about this moment as you sit down to supper.”
Louis stepped back, raging inside at the lack of ethics and the sheer absence of compassion and kindness in this policy. As he steadied himself, he sent a text to Sebastian.
Louis: I got everything but the tent. I’ll bring your stuff to my place for safekeeping.
The steady beeping of a garbage truck backing up made Louis sick to his stomach, but he made himself stay.
This was Sebastian’s reality. He’d dealt with this again and again. The least Louis could do was stay and watch until it was over.
Someone stepped inside Sebastian’s tent, stepped out, and gave a hand signal before doing a sweep of Javon’s spot, cleared of everything.
Louis watched as Sebastian’s tent was pitchforked into the back of a garbage truck. As the compressor door lowered, he saw tension rods break, fabric tear, and Sebastian’s sense of security crushed.
This was heartbreaking. This practice took cruelty to a whole new level.
Louis’s gut clenched. He bent over just in time to throw up.
He barely missed his shoes.
“I’ll stay at Blanche’s boarding house until I can find a place of my own,” Sebastian insisted as he moved his clean clothes from Louis’s washer to the dryer and started another load. “It’s closer to work, so my commute time is cut way down. I’ll make it work.”
“I’m still sorry about not saving your tent,” Louis grumbled. “But you know I’d rather you stay at the boarding house than outside.”
Sebastian was startled when Louis’s warm hand slipped around his waist and settled above his belly button. “You’re so touchy-feely.”
“With you, always.” A press of lips to sensitive skin. “I’d rather you stay with me, let me take care of you and pamper you like a prince, but I’ll be patient.”
Sebastian spun in Louis’s arms and pulled him close so they were nose to nose. “If we work, if we pass all the tests we’re supposed to pass, I’ll move in with you. But I don’t want to jinx this. Us.”
“Neither do I.” Louis let out a huge sigh. “Which is why I need to do this the right way.”
“Do what the right way?”
“You’re my boyfriend, right?”
Sebastian nodded and ran his fingers through Louis’s hair to spike it, which made him look sexier.
“Christmas. My plans were to spend it alone to prove that I could. I turned down several invitations.”
“Proud motherfucker.”
Louis chuckled. “Says the guy who refuses to live with me.”
“Christmas dinner versus roommates. Not the same thing.”
“Still. Christmas Eve, we could cook here and invite everyone who needs a meal and friends.”
Sebastian grinned. “You’d do that?”
“Of course I would. I have to work a lunch shift down at the soup kitchen, and you’re more than welcome to volunteer as well, but after that, carols, food, and presents.”
“Carols?” Sebastian asked on a chuckle.
“Why not?”
“Can we eat first, then do presents, and then carols?”
Louis came in for a kiss that turned into him chasing Sebastian’s tongue and ended in them laughing. “Carols last, after everyone’s sated. And then we’ll come back here for some ooey gooey dessert that will make us all gain ten pounds.”
“Let’s do that.”
“And then Christmas Day.” Louis grinned. “Let’s spend the day cozied up inside. Make our favorite foods. Bake cookies. Read books, soak in the tub, laze by the fire. Drink cocoa.”
Sebastian licked his lips and ran a thumb over Louis’s brow. “And maybe dance to some cheesy, romantic Christmas songs.”
“Perfect. And anything else you want to do. Anything. You name it.”
Sebastian quirked a brow. “Hmmm. Be careful what you ask for.”
They sang the last verse of the last carol at the final house on Louis’s block, and the smile on Javon’s face told Sebastian that something smooshy was about to be said.
“Let’s head back to my house for dessert,” Louis said to everyone, and Sebastian gave him a little wave to tell him he’d be there in a few.
Javon slipped an arm around his shoulder and slowed them to a snail’s pace, which was just fine with Sebastian.
“You fit with him. I don’t know what y’all are up to the times I don’t see you, but I ain’t never seen you so comfortable in your own skin. It’s nice.”
Sebastian’s cheeks heated, but he knew Javon was right. “He asked me to move in with him, but . . .”
Javon reared back a bit. “You holdin’ out on him? Why?”
“’Cause I can’t pay half or even a quarter of the bills.”
“Does he expect that? Like, have you talked about that?”
“No.”
“Did he ask tent-living Sebastian to move in with him?”
“Yes.”
“Did he ask cardboard-box-living Sebastian to move in with him?”
“Maybe. He wanted to. He’s told me that much.”
Javon gave a definitive nod and pursed his lips. “Then he didn’t expect you to ever pay half. If he wanted the boy in the cardboard box to live with him, he wasn’t looking for a roommate. He’s looking for a partner. A lover.” Javon stopped at the bottom of the stairs to Louis’s place and made Sebastian face him. “He wants you just the way you are. And he even knows about prickly Bash, so that’s sayin’ something.”
Javon dragged Sebastian up the stairs, and Sebastian was overwhelmed with the connection he felt. “I’m a little afraid of losing touch with you if I really make this permanent. I work so far out. How often will I get down to see you?”
“I’m not gonna be homeless forever.”
“I know you aren’t. You’re working on it, and I’ll help every way I can.”
“Maybe there’s a Princess Charming out there for me.” Javon waggled his brows.
“Or maybe I can talk to Blanche about bringing you on to work with me. You’d be perfect in this job. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, I need to talk to Javon about this or Javon would know. I’ve told her about you. I just haven’t had time to talk to you about it until tonight.”
“I might not be opposed to checkin’ it out. Now let’s get inside. Louis promised to fatten me up.”
29
Can’t Help Falling
Breakfast in bed. That’s how Christmas morning started. Louis had made fluffy scrambled eggs that made Sebastian’s mouth sing. Louis feeding him off his own fork sure as hell made the meal a hundred times more enjoyable than if Sebastian fed himself.
As Louis brought an orange slice to Sebastian’s lips, he asked, “Do we have a hand-feeding kink starting up here?”
Sebastian licked and sucked Louis’s fingers, getting every drop, and then nodded. After chewing and swallowing, he added, “I’m cool with it if you are.”
Louis blushed but admitted, “I like watching you take food from my fingers. Makes me hard.”
Sebastian didn’t
have to feel under the flannel pants to see that was true.
“And I bought you this.” Louis pulled an oddly shaped, almost rectangular box from under the mattress and then slid it across the bed.
“You didn’t have to give me anything,” Sebastian said as he pulled the box closer. “You’ve already given me so much.”
“It’s nothing big, trust me.”
Sebastian reached for the tiny box he’d hidden under his mountain of pillows. “I haven’t gotten a paycheck yet, but I was able to find something for you too.”
Louis took the thin box and smiled. “Want to open at the same time or—”
“Lemme go first.” Sebastian was practically bouncing.
“Please do, antsy bottom.”
“Your antsy bottom.” Sebastian blew him a kiss and tore off the paper, not trusting that the box revealed what was actually inside. But when he tugged the cover off, he gasped.
Inside was a ukulele, blue, fading from indigo to light periwinkle.
“It’s beautiful, Louis.”
“You like it? The guy at the store said if you preferred a concert or tenor one, you could exchange it.”
Sebastian reached for it, stroking over the smooth wood. The way it felt in his hands was so familiar. He played a chord, took a moment to tune the ukulele, and laughed as his fingers remembered what to do. “I didn’t know how much I missed this.”
“And I didn’t wrap them, but I bought you about twenty different varieties of olives that are downstairs in the pantry.”
“Seriously? You remembered my love for olives?”
“Hard not to. But I want you to eat them because you want them, not because you’re trying to stave off hunger, okay? Promise?”
Sebastian nodded. “Promise.”
“Now keep playing. I’ll feed you the rest of your breakfast.”
Sebastian chuckled and started finger picking Elvis’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” as Louis brought the last few bites of egg to his mouth. The final juicy slice of orange finished off breakfast.
