The Russos 6

by D. J. Manly

  Only Tony stood alone, staring out the window. The snow was coming down hard now. He wondered where Angelo was. It wouldn't be snowing in L.A. He probably wasn't even in L.A. anymore. Oh, to hell with him, Tony thought. If he wanted to leave without so much as a goodbye, then...screw him.

  He pushed away from the window and went to join the others, determined to put him out of his mind.

  The next morning, they were packing to go back to L.A. Frank had committed them to a Los Angeles New Year's Rocking Eve thing, and they had to get back.

  The sound of Drake and Johnny fighting had awakened Tony. They had been bickering since early that morning. They argued about whether to sell the family house or not for the first hour. The second hour was devoted to Johnny's desire to perform on New Year's Eve, and Drake's objection.

  A rented limo had sat outside the house since eight that morning, ready to take them to their private jet, which was waiting at LaGuardia Airport. The driver, dressed in his limo driver's outfit, sat reading the New York Times, unconcerned. He was being paid by the hour.

  Pepi ducked into the room Tony had been using and made a face. "Are they going to argue all the damn day?" he whispered.

  Tony shrugged. "Brotherly love."

  "We should get going. We promised Frank to go over some stuff with him this afternoon." Pepi sighed and checked his watch. "We're not going to make it."

  "Well, I'm ready," Tony announced, picking up his bag. "I got everything...now if we can light a fire under them. Where's Mac, Uncle Pep?"

  "Mac and Janet are going to meet us at the airport. They've probably been there an hour already. Mac's parents wanted to drive them."

  Tony was about to say something when his dad's voice came bellowing down the hallway. Pepi shook his head and ran down the stairs.

  "You won't come back here to live, Drake..." Johnny was saying now as he carted his suitcase down the hall.

  "Dad," Tony gasped, coming out into the hall, "you shouldn't be lifting that."

  "Oh, stop! Not you, too. You and Drake. I'm not an invalid, and I'm perfectly capable of performing tomorrow night."

  "We'll see what Doctor Nick says," Drake replied, as he came rushing past Johnny, with two of his own bags.

  "Doctor Nick doesn't know shit!" Johnny called after him as Drake bounded down the stairs without looking back. He gave his son an exasperated look. "All that quack knows is burnout and drug overdoses. He's a rock and roll doctor, for Christ's sakes. I never listen to him!"

  "A rock and roll doctor?" Tony laughed. "I can picture that."

  Johnny scowled as the front door slammed shut.

  "Damn him! He never listens to me. I'm not going to sit on my ass and do nothing because of what that old fart says."

  "Dad, you're getting all worked up for nothing," Tony wrestled his father's bag away from him and urged him down the stairs. "Uncle Pepi says we're late."

  "Frank will wait. And another thing, Drake has to listen to reason about this house. I think we should sell it. What's the point of leaving it here empty to rot? None of us want to come back here to retire...it's just sentimental hogwash!"

  "How does Uncle Pepi feel?" Tony asked, opening the front door.

  "Pepi will do whatever we say. He's the baby!"

  Johnny snapped.

  "Thanks," Pepi muttered, standing on the front porch. "I should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, because I'm the oldest baby in history."

  "Don't get smart!" Johnny retorted.

  Drake came up the walk. He looked expectantly at his brothers and nephew, his long black hair blowing across his handsome face. "Are you ready?"

  "Ya...Ya..." Johnny replied.

  "Well, I'll lock up and for Christ's sakes," Drake barked, "get in the limo, will ya?"

  Tony grinned as his father said something nasty under his breath. The three of them climbed into the limousine.

  Drake checked around the house, and locked up. He got into the limo himself, sitting beside Tony, across from his two brothers. He told the driver to go.

  The limo headed toward the airport. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, Drake slapped his hands on his thighs, leaned forward and gave Johnny a satisfied smile. "I got an idea. It just came to me."

  Johnny rolled his eyes heavenward.

  "Why don't we do something charitable with the house?"

  "The charitable thing to do with that house is to burn the damn thing down," Johnny replied caustically.

  "I don't know how you can say such things!" Drake snapped. He fell silent, and slumped back against the seat.

  Feeling guilty, Johnny moaned and then asked him what his idea was.

  Drake grinned, sitting forward again. "What about turning the house into a halfway house or a drug rehab?"

  "Great. I'm sure the neighbours will be overjoyed," Johnny retorted.

  "A shelter for battered women?" Pepi piped in.

  "There's no danger there, is there?"

  "Hey, that's a possibility," Drake added.

  Tony looked at his father. "It's a good idea, Dad. The house would be preserved, and it would be put to good use. Grandmother might have liked that."

  Johnny thought for a minute and then smiled at his older brother. "I'm beginning to like it. I'm beginning to like it a lot, but," he paused, "it does depend on zoning laws, and..."

  Drake waved his hand. "There's always a way around things like that if you grease the right palms.

  Anyway," Drake added, "we'll discuss it more later on with Frank."

  The discussion ended there and thankfully the discussion of Johnny performing on New Year's Eve did not resurface on the way to the airport.

  Pepi had been right about Mac and Janet waiting for them at the airport; they were already on the plane when they arrived. They didn't seem to mind, however.

  Once the private jet took off for L.A., everyone seemed to be into their own thing. Drake was listening to music on the headphones, Johnny had lain down, Mac and Janet watched a holiday movie on the overhead television and Tony played cards with Pepi.

  Tony looked over at Drake, who was mouthing the words to the song he was listening to. God, he was handsome, and knowing that Drake wasn't his uncle after all somehow made it more difficult. He was just Drake Russo, and he was sitting a couple of feet away from him. Tony sighed. He also needed to remember that his father was in love with him, and there was no longer any reason for them to be apart.

  It surprised him that Drake and his father didn't share a room at the family home in New York. In fact, Tony was quite baffled to find Drake sleeping on the sofa in the morning after the funeral. Maybe discovering that they weren't really brothers in blood wasn't enough to bring them together. Maybe they just needed time to come to terms with it all.

  It was obvious to Tony that his father adored Drake, in spite of their quarrelling this morning. Even in the limo today, Tony saw his father gaze at Drake when he was looking out the window, his eyes full of passion and love.

  It was a sad story, now that he thought about it. He wondered why his grandmother hadn't told them the truth a long time ago. Maybe she didn't want them together, except as brothers.

  And Grandmother, what about her life? She had spent it being in love with a dead man who had never even loved her. All she had of him was his son and his grandson to remind her of his memory. He hoped that she had had one night of passion with this man, one night of joy.

  Tears stung his eyes. He played off suit, letting Pepi win the hand.

  Pepi slapped his hands together, declaring himself the winner.

  He never wanted to end up that way. Please, he prayed silently, looking over at Drake, who had gone to sleep, don't let me spend my life in love with someone I can never have. It is the cruellest of punishments.

  "Dad and Drake have to find a way to be together," he whispered. He hadn't realized he had said it out loud until Pepi reached over and touched his arm.

  "Are you okay?" Pepi asked him, noticing the single t
ear that had escaped from his eye.

  Tony sniffed. "I'm feeling sad suddenly. Maybe it's Grandmother's funeral. I knew her for such a short time. Do you think Dad will forgive her one day?"

  Pepi sighed. "I don't know. I'm not sure that any of us have."

  "She had her own sadness. Being in love with Drake's father, but never having him. Did she say much to Dad about Drake's father?"

  "Just that he was the love of her life, and that he asked her to take care of Drake and then killed himself."

  "Why did he kill himself?" Tony asked, looking around.

  Mac and Janet were sitting a few feet away from them with their headphones on, laughing at something in the movie.

  Pepi began shuffling the cards. "Because, he couldn't live without his wife, who died giving birth to Drake."

  "That's sad," Tony announced. "So tragic. Everything seems tragic to me today. All these people in love but not together."

  "Ya, I know," Pepi murmured sincerely.

  Tony blinked back tears. "I guess it's everything all at once, you know."

  Pepi nodded, then after a few minutes, he said, "Life is like that. There is a lot of sadness, but we have to fight for happiness in life, kid. We can't just sit by and let it go. What makes you happy right now?"

  "I don't know. My dad. Being here with all of you makes me happy, being a part of this, even if...." Tony laughed.

  "What?"

  "Well, Angelo always tells me that I didn't miss anything by not being a part of this before. He..."

  "Angelo loves this family, even if he gets impatient with people at times. Now that things are out in the open...after the shock has passed and people have put things into perspective, it will be better. You'll see."

  Pepi dealt the cards, smiling at Tony rather sadly.

  "Most of what has been wrong with this family has come from Mama's lie. Mama is gone now, and so are the lies."

  "But Angelo doesn't even know yet!" Tony replied as if the thought just occurred to him.

  Pepi breathed a jagged breath and then closed his eyes. "He will. When he comes home, Drake will tell him."

  Tony turned and looked out the window at the clouds. Then Pepi urged him to pick up his cards.

  He picked them up as his uncle began to talk about the high school he would attending in L.A.

  "It's all arranged, then?" Tony asked, excited.

  "Everything is fine. It's a good school, a private high school, but not snooty."

  "I told Dad that the public school would be fine," Tony protested.

  "They're rough, Tony. You're used to Canadian high schools. People carry knives and guns in high schools here. There is no way you're going to attend a public high school, even in a good neighbourhood. Let your dad do this for you. If you don't like it, you can transfer."

  Tony nodded and then smiled. "Okay."

  They landed three and a half hours later then they were supposed to. Carter was standing by the limo near their landing strip. Drake was pushing the buttons on the car phone the minute he crawled into the limo as Janet asked Carter to drop her off at her house in Malibu.

  Drake was waiting to be put through to Frank, who was on the other line. Upon hearing Janet's request, he placed his hand over the phone and added, "Ya, and stop by my place, Carter, to let Tony and Johnny off."

  He was about to add something else and then changed his mind as Frank came on the line.

  "So, where are we meeting? Ya, sorry, I know we're late," he was saying as Tony lay back against the seat and closed his eyes. He drifted then, trying not to hear what Drake was saying. Johnny was tired also, and he didn't complain about being excluded from the meeting with Frank.

  Carter let Janet out in front of her house. She gave Mac a quick kiss, waved goodbye and disappeared inside.

  A few minutes later, Carter drove up the curved driveway and stopped in front of Drake's house.

  Johnny looked at Drake for a minute. "It might be time for me to go home soon...live in my own house. I'm feeling better everyday."

  He didn't wait for Drake to answer. He got out. Tony said goodbye and followed him into the house.

  * * * * * *

  His father said little else when he got inside the door.

  He asked one of the servants to make him some sandwiches and tea and bring it to his room.

  "I'm going to bed," he told Tony. "Goodnight, son."

  Tony wished him goodnight and watched him as he slowly climbed the stairs. The events of the last few days had clearly taken a toll on him. He needed to rest.

  Tony wandered around the lavish house for a moment. Things had been cleaned up, but the huge Christmas tree still stood in the hallway, the candles now all snuffed out. And for the first time he noticed that there were gifts under the tree, gifts they never got to open. Tony walked out into the entranceway and bent down to read the tags. In the corner was a gift tag which said simply, Tony. Tony pulled the huge package out of the corner where it stood resting against the wall. He tore off the brightly wrapped paper and stood there astonished. It was an electric guitar of the finest quality, one just like Drake had. He ran his hand over it and then looked around for what he knew must have come with it. He spotted it, a square boxed gift in the other corner. Again the tag read, Tony. It was the amplifier. He let out a whoop which echoed throughout the empty house. After a few minutes, he lay the guitar aside. He bent down and looked at the other packages.

  One said Johnny, another Drake. There was one for Pepi and Mac and then one that read Mama, which was a simple envelope sitting in the tree. Another envelope had Mac and Janet written on it. Suddenly, Tony's eyes were drawn to another package, a rather small one. It was addressed to Angelo. Tony took it in his hands and then closed his eyes. He put it down on the floor.

  Suddenly one of the servants walked into the hallway, a maid. She smiled at him. "Sir," she said.

  "There is a lot of food left from Christmas. Would you like some turkey and--"

  Tony turned and smiled at her. "Thank you. I'll come and eat it in the kitchen."

  "Yes, sir. It will be about twenty minutes."

  "Take your time," Tony told her and left the hallway to go upstairs and put his guitar in his room.

  He wasn't sure who had actually bought him the guitar, but he suspected that it cost a great deal of money and was a gift from all of them.

  He came downstairs again and went into the living room, noticing that the answering machine was flashing. He pushed the button. There were close to two dozen messages waiting. He sat down to listen to them, wondering halfway through if he should be playing Drake's messages at all, especially when Francine Thomson's message came on. "Drake," she said, "I know you said it was over, but God...I don't know. I can't sleep at night, and I'm so horny." There was a pause. "I guess I shouldn't be saying this on an answering machine. Anyway, call me, okay," she pleaded. "I need to talk. I love you." She hung up.

  Tony didn't know what listening to that message made him feel more, guilty or jealous. Maybe it was a combination of both. Other messages came over the speaker, mostly from people who were calling to offer their condolences. There was another message from Francine Thomson where she simply said, "Call me," and then others from people Tony didn't know. A few celebrities called, and magazine people who requested interviews concerning the aftermath of the shooting or wanting to do an expose on the Russo family itself.

  Tony sighed and pressed rewind. There was nothing from Angelo at all, but shit, he had just left. It was just that he missed him already.

  This concludes Episode Six of The Russos.

  Stay tuned next month for the exciting Episode Seven:

  - Angelo takes his band on the road.

  -The relationship between Johnny and Drake is rocky.

  - Mac and Janet plan their wedding.

  - Sandy comes to L.A.

  Meet Janet Smith

  D rake's ex wife and Angelo's mother. She is very much a part of the Russo Tragedy. She takes Tony under he
r wing when he comes to L.A. and disapproves of what Sandy did...taking Tony away from his father. She loves her son and her ex fiercely, and wants Angelo to go to university instead of playing in rock clubs. She will eventually be entrusted with the family secret when Sofia Russo unloads it on her and begs her not to tell.

  D.J. Manly

  J. Manly is fast acquiring a reputation for D pushing the boundaries of male/male erotic romance. A reviewer once said of Manly's work that it was enough to give the reader "...third-degree burns in an air conditioned room..." and that's putting it mildly. If you adore gorgeous men who can't get enough of each other's bodies...if you like rich plots laced with steamy sex, thick and rich with aching need and glorious adoration and love...Manly's books will satisfy the craving and leave you panting for more.

  "If I wouldn't enjoy reading it, I wouldn't be writing it," says Manly. "I like to tease...but I always please..."

  To check out books by D.J. Manly, you can visit the website at djmanly.com, and take a taste...if you dare.

  "Fair warning, I've been told that it's highly addictive."

  D.J. .