Line in the Shadow

by Clancy Nacht

  If he’d had days to prepare a thank you to a man who saved his life, he didn’t think he could manage it. On top of that awkwardness was the one-night stand. Ike had never been any good with those.

  As Ike thought about it, he suddenly remembered the mp3s. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry, man. I forgot your mp3s.”

  Ike started for his room to see if what he’d been wearing that night was still in the laundry basket, but stopped when remembered the fate of the jeans he’d been wearing. “Oh. Um. I lost your email address.”

  Kaylee shook her head at Ike. “Don’t be such a spaz.”

  “Yeah, Ike, don’t be such a spaz,” Rex teased. He laughed softly and searched Ike’s face, seeming to notice Ike’s lack of readiness for this encounter. “Why don’t I just leave my email and these gifts and go? Having that music back will be more than thanks enough, and really I just wanted to be sure you were both all right.”

  Rex shifted his trench coat to his other arm to reveal a pair of small packages. “I had to take a few business trips before I could make it back to New York, so I thought I should bring some bribes after being a stranger for so long. Once I’m sure Kaylee forgives me for missing taco night, I’ll vamoose.”

  “Presents?” Kaylee’s eyes widened and she looked back at Ike. “He brought us presents.”

  Heat bloomed in Ike’s cheeks. “No, come on in. Have a seat. You’re saving me from Kaylee’s bad musical.”

  Kaylee smacked Ike’s arm as she passed him and began to clear the couch of her schoolwork. “It’s not bad. It’s less formulaic than those crappy crime shows you always watch.” She dropped onto the couch and patted the spot next to her. “Come on, Agent Carver. I want to see my present.”

  There was something in Kaylee’s manner that was far too eager about this man. Ike wasn’t sure what it meant. He limped to the door and held out his arm to guide Rex’s way. “Denying her will only make her try harder, so you might as well come in.”

  Rex gave Ike another searching look, then let Ike usher him inside and lock the door behind him. Rex went to the couch to sit beside Kaylee and put the beautifully wrapped boxes on the cushion between them. He looked back to Ike and smiled before focusing on Kaylee and offering her one of the gifts. “My travels took me briefly to Spain, so your gifts are from there. It’s— Well, I should let you open it.”

  “Ooh, Spain. You’ve been to Spain, haven’t you, Ike?” Kaylee sat up and cocked her head.

  “Yeah. Briefly. Can’t say I remember too much about Europe, unfortunately.” Ike hobbled over to his chair and took his seat. He should be using his cane, but he hadn’t planned on being on his feet this much. He swigged his beer as Kaylee tore into her present.

  Inside she found a thick book to help her learn Spanish. It was beautifully bound and glossy, the sort one had to spend a hundred dollars on at least. She held it up for Ike to get a better look at. “Wow! Look, it’s got an inscription—’For Kaylee, who is far too smart for her own good and might as well be smart in more than one language.’”

  Ike grinned. “Let me get a pen so you can fix that. I think you said smart when you meant annoying.”

  Kaylee squinted at him. “You’re only annoyed because I’m so smart.”

  Ike leaned over, grabbed a lock of her long hair, and gave it a playful tug. “Too smart for your dumb old dad, huh?”

  “I’ll be even smarter now,” she said, holding up her book. She then seized Ike’s present and held it out to him. “Open yours!”

  Ike felt Rex’s gaze on him as he took the present from Kaylee. It weighed on his skin, carrying some of the same intensity it had that night at the coffee house.

  “This gift is...perhaps a little bit for me as well as for you, if you’re willing to play a song or two,” Rex said with an enigmatic smile. He gestured to Ike to go ahead and open the gift. “But it’s something one finds only in Spain that I thought you might appreciate.”

  He couldn’t think of the last time someone gave him a present he didn’t pay for. Kaylee did, but it was out of her allowance. He opened the package slowly, reveling in the moment. When he opened the box, he couldn’t help but smile. Guitar strings.

  “They’re beautiful.” Ike ran his thumb over them. “That was very thoughtful.”

  Kaylee beamed. “Now we really owe you dinner, don’t we?”

  “They’re handmade nylon strings for classical fingerstyle guitar,” Rex explained with quiet enthusiasm. “I know a luthier in Seville who specializes in these, and they’re so... You have to hear it. I don’t play, but I’ve been assured that they provide exceptional feel and control as well as a rich timbre.”

  Eyeing Kaylee, Rex asked, “Would you mind getting Ike’s guitar? I would like to hear how the strings sound, if it’s not too much to ask.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get it!” Kaylee jumped up and ran into Ike’s room.

  Ike found Rex’s gaze on him once more, hopeful and full of questions. “Just one song, and I promise to go. No need for dinner. I’m sorry to just drop in, but unfortunately my career makes planning ahead difficult.”

  “Hang out as long as you like, man. I mean, at some point we’ll go to sleep, but we play it pretty fast and loose here.” Ike wasn’t sure that was the best choice of words, but he was going with it. “Kaylee told me you were a field agent. I don’t know much about it, but it sounds like there’s a lot going on. I picture you going around the world stopping muggings.”

  “Ah, if only.” Rex’s tone was lighthearted enough, but Ike sensed a deep sadness beneath. “It’s fairly unusual that I get a chance to rescue a handsome stranger.”

  As Kaylee reappeared with the guitar, Rex changed gears. “So, how’s the leg? Is it healing properly?”

  Ike was happy to retreat behind his guitar. It gave him something else to occupy his mind besides the fact Rex didn’t seem interested in him beyond his music. And that odd night.

  What had possessed Ike to behave that way? He was past bathroom hook-ups. Something about Rex drew him. Of course, Rex had to have that sort of charisma to do what he did. Probably a bit of ruthlessness, too.

  Shaking off his musing, Ike focused on restringing his guitar. “I guess it’s healing okay. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be doing. Never got stabbed before.”

  “He stopped taking his pain medicine,” said Kaylee. When Ike glanced up at her, she was sitting on her end of the couch, looking seriously at Rex as if the man could force Ike to take her advice. “He’s supposed to take it all, right?”

  “Actually, if he thinks he can handle it without the painkillers, that’s for the best. Pills, even prescriptions, can be very addictive.”

  Ike was grateful that Rex had given him that out, that he sounded so confident and reassuring. Kaylee seemed to be responding to it, but then Rex’s sharp green gaze fixed on Ike’s face.

  “The question she should ask is: Did you finish your course of antibiotics?”

  “Hey! You’re not supposed to drink with those! I saw on the Internet that it could damage your liver!” Kaylee glared at Ike.

  Ike sighed. Kaylee looked like her dad, from what Ike could remember. He hadn’t known the guy well, and he hadn’t stuck around long. But as she got older, she reminded him more and more of his sister. Maybe that’s why he’d started teasing her so much. “It’s a light beer.”

  “As long as he doesn’t overdo it, it shouldn’t cause any irreparable harm. Sometimes grownups just need a drink.” Rex’s gaze had grown sharper still, his eyes shining at Ike with some mysterious intent. Rex didn’t give off any of the usual signals, didn’t make facial expressions that Ike knew how to take. But he did seem to care, and Kaylee was clearly trying to leverage that to get Ike to do what she wanted.

  “Does it still hurt? I’ve been stabbed, and it took quite a while to be back to normal. I didn’t rest like I was supposed to and kept pulling stitches.”

  “He’s not resting. He’s back out there tiling.” Kaylee sounded disgusted.

&nb
sp; Ike shook his head as he tried to concentrate on the strings. “Bills ain’t gonna pay themselves, you know.”

  Kaylee grumbled. “You need to see a doctor.”

  “You haven’t been back to the doctor?” Rex didn’t sound alarmed or patronizing. Instead there was a faint echo of the way he’d talked to Ike in the men’s room that night, as if Rex was carefully, expertly navigating the conversation to achieve some desired end.

  “It’s expensive. My insurance is crap. It’s fine. I’m just going to walk it off.” Ike didn’t like where this conversation was going. He rushed tuning his new strings. They were a little off, but he brought up his guitar. “Any requests?”

  Rex looked at Kaylee. “Do you ever say ‘Freebird’ just to annoy him?”

  “I did. Once.” She scowled at Ike.

  He beamed. “I sang it.”

  Instead of playing “Freebird,” Ike strummed a familiar tune and started to sing Johnny River’s “Secret Agent Man.”

  Rex’s cheeks turned red, and he let out a sigh that sounded somewhere between embarrassed and pleased. “Oh god, Ike.”

  That it succeeded in flustering Rex was all the more reason to continue.

  Kaylee, feeding on the fun, joined in for the chorus, “Secret agent man, secret...aaaagent man.”

  “But we know your name is Rex,” Kaylee added, off beat enough to throw Ike’s rhythm until he just laughed with her.

  “Shockingly, the media portrayals of my line of work are frequently inaccurate. Who’d have thought that a community devoted so passionately to secrecy would actively allow and promote a culture of misinformation to spring up surrounding its practices?” Rex shook his head in fake dismay. “‘They’ve given you a paycheck and taken away your nights and weekends’ would be more accurate.”

  Rex looked sad for a second, but then his jovial smile was back, convincing and charming. He elbowed Kaylee gently and whispered, “Speaking of nights and weekends, I’m not keeping you up past your bedtime, am I?”

  “No, it’s only...” She raised a brow and stared hard at Rex a moment. “But you know, I am kind of tired.”

  Ike blinked. “It’s only 7:30.”

  “It was a really long day.” She yawned and stretched with exaggerated emphasis. “I can play games if you’re worried about me getting too much sleep.”

  “Except you’re grounded.” Ike gave her a sharp look.

  “Then I’ll go read.”

  Ike had no idea what her game was, but what could he say? “All right. Good night, then.”

  She kissed Ike’s cheek and offered her hand for Rex to shake. “Thank you very much for the book. I think I’ll read that, in fact. And listen to some music. With my headphones on.”

  “You’re very welcome, my dear, and thank you for inviting me. It has been a true pleasure.” Rex’s knowing chuckle and hearty handshake seemed at odds with the sadness of moments before. “Enjoy your book. If I see you again, you can try some of your new vocabulary on me.”

  “You’ll see me again.” Kaylee smiled at Rex.

  Ike could only wonder at the subtext of what was going on. He furrowed his brow. He’d heard about grooming. Then again, if Rex was grooming Kaylee, then they’d be trying to get together alone. She was trying to get Rex alone with Ike for some reason.

  Oh.

  Surely Rex wouldn’t have been so indiscreet. Kaylee was a smart kid. She could’ve figured it all out herself.

  Or this was wishful thinking.

  Nate and Kaylee were too competitive to get along—something that was reasonable for a preteen, but was nearly intolerable coming from Nate. If Ike and Nate didn’t have so much history, Ike would’ve cut him off. At this point he was like family.

  Well, like Ike’s dysfunctional family, anyway. The part he didn’t talk to when he could avoid it.

  Kaylee left the room and shut her door, and suddenly Ike was left alone and unsure what to say. Rex had spent most of the night trying to leave and making excuses as to why he wasn’t returning. Ike didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but other than the presents, Rex just didn’t seem that into them.

  Ike ran his fingers over the slick new strings. They were so much lighter and easier to manipulate. Grinning, he wiggled his fingers, then launched into his rendition of “El porompompero,” a popular, though not overly complicated, Spanish song.

  As Ike played, the reserve Rex had shown with Kaylee in the room faded. A few bars in, Rex was sprawled on the couch with his eyes closed to slits and his hand swaying in time to the tune. He was like a tweed-suited tiger lounging there, potentially dangerous but for the moment drowsy and seemingly content to listen to Ike play. While Rex looked more like a dapper businessman than a killer, he probably had at least one gun hidden somewhere on him.

  “Couldn’t have chosen a better gift for you, it sounds like.” Rex opened his eyes wider to look at Ike. “Do you have another gig coming up anytime soon? I’d like to attend, if it wouldn’t be too awkward.”

  “It would be awkward without you.” Ike smiled, feeling sincere in the sentiment, especially given the gratitude Rex had shown for the music. “I don’t think the crowd appreciates my classical dalliances. That’s what I grew up playing, though.”

  Thinking about his history with the guitar always jolted the memory of telling his parents he was gay. His father had turned to his mother and said, “It’s all because of that fruity guitar you gave him.”

  Though his father would accuse his Spanish guitar instructor of making Ike gay, the man had been the biggest womanizer Ike ever met. No one had to teach Ike how to desire another man. That was the easy part. Convincing him to date girls, that was what was awkward.

  Drifting off into unpleasant memories was no way to continue a conversation, so he snapped himself out of it. “I don’t have anything scheduled. Might try for a day gig next time. Kaylee thinks she needs to come along as my bodyguard.”

  Rex rolled onto his side and stared into Ike’s eyes, his expression one of concern. “How’s your leg really? I know what you said in front of Kaylee, but if you need me to look at it... I do have some experience with this stuff.”

  There had been a million questions Ike wanted to ask about that night: Who was his attacker? Why did he never see anything about it on the news? Why did the nurses say he was a matter of national security? Why did the US government pick up the tab for his hospital stay?

  Right now, though, looking at Rex lying there, all Ike could think was that if he showed Rex his injury, he’d have to get mostly naked. Given how their last meeting had gone—and the way Ike had jerked off to the memory—he wasn’t sure he could restrain himself from becoming aroused.

  “I’m sure it’s fine. It bleeds a little sometimes, but I don’t see any infection or anything.” Ike hugged his guitar in front of him as his thoughts of Rex’s body flooded his mind.

  “It shouldn’t still be bleeding.” Rex frowned, sat, and leaned forward, studying Ike’s face with the same intensity as the last time they’d been alone together. “The surface heals fastest, and it’s the deeper tissues knitting together that takes some time. If you’re still experiencing bleeding, you may have ripped your stitches. At least let me look at it, Ike.”

  Ike took a deep breath. Was he more worried this would end in sex or that it wouldn’t?

  What he did know was that he didn’t want Kaylee walking out to see him mostly naked, particularly with his injury exposed.

  “Yeah, okay. Come on.”

  After another bracing breath, Ike hoisted himself from the chair and carried the guitar to his room. He set the guitar in its stand and then turned around. Rex had shut the door behind them, though Ike didn’t hear it lock.

  Rex’s manner was matter of fact, but there was a gleam in his eye that seemed to hint he was more excited than he let on. Rex was difficult to read, by training if not by nature. The clear signals he’d given Ike at their last meeting were not in evidence, so Ike could only assume it was legitimate medical curi
osity.

  Rex guided Ike to the bed and then perched on the edge. “All right, let’s see it. I’ve got a first aid kit in my coat pocket if we need it. Can’t have you limping around and alarming your girl.”

  “I was going to ask if that was a first aid kit or if you were just happy to see me.” Ike smirked as he unbuttoned and slid his jeans down past his thighs. Like this, his thigh was just below Rex’s line of sight, as were his briefs. Ike reminded himself that Rex was just going to look at his wound; he wasn’t there to do more.

  Even if he was, Ike’s range of motion was limited, or he really would pop a stitch.

  Rex held Ike’s gaze for a few moments, impassive and distant despite being right there. Then Rex’s gaze swept down Ike’s torso to his leg. A gentle finger prodded the area around the wound.

  “It doesn’t look like you have a serious problem, but the surface tissues need support or you’ll have an ugly scar and increase risk of infection.” Rex reached into his pocket and withdrew the promised first aid kit. It was a small box with no visible catch, but it clicked open when Rex ran a fingertip along one side. Within Ike saw small vials, a couple of miniature, sterile-sealed hypodermic syringes, several tiny pill boxes, and some bandage type stuff.

  “I could repair your surface stitches. It should only take two.” Rex pointed to one of the vials. “Local anesthetic, if you want it, but you can’t afford to ignore persistent skin separation. Trust me on that; I’m the voice of experience.”

  Ike nodded. Skin separation didn’t sound good at all, but having a scar wouldn’t be bad. “Scars are cool. Shows you’ve been somewhere and done some things. Granted, showing that you got mugged isn’t all that, I guess.”

  With a sigh, Ike pushed down his pants the rest of the way, toed off his shoes, and left his jeans on top of them. It was a little awkward standing there in a t-shirt and briefs, but this was more of a medical situation than anything else. “So what do I do, lie down on the bed?”

  The look Rex gave Ike made his heart beat faster. With those words, it had stopped being clinical and turned into an attractive if strange man sitting on his bed and eyefucking Ike. Before Ike could change his mind, Rex nodded and shifted to one side, then gave the hem of Ike’s shirt an encouraging tug.