Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four (95 page)

him. They’re the fake twins we saw the other night, when I first met

Giancarlo, and they look bored. Giancarlo isn’t, though. He can barely

pull himself away from them when he notices us. I can’t stop thinking

about Nick telling me he has evidence of Giancarlo’s taste for

underage boys, and I wonder how old these two really are.

“Aaah, my miracle workers,” Giancarlo says as he extracts

himself from the two kids, who don’t try very hard to keep him on the

love seat. He turns back toward them. “They’re making my clubs a

big success again.” When he turns around his face is all ice. “Only

Nick here doesn’t seem to want new girls for his places, and God

knows we need some new flesh.”

I know what he means and I’m sure Nick understands as well.

“It’s not my job to get the girls safely through immigration,

Giancarlo. That’s what your mules are for.”

Although he’s outwardly calm, I can tell Nick’s isn’t too happy

with being Giancarlo’s scapegoat, but he doesn’t glance at me so I

can’t give him an encouraging look. I just stay in the background and

keep my mouth shut. Nick’s old enough to fight his own battles and

he knows, much better than me, how to play Giancarlo.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you snitched on me, Nicky,”

Giancarlo says, walking away from his androgynous twins. He’s

practically naked except for a silky-looking bathrobe, which he barely

bothers to tie up. He has an okay body for an older man and obviously

works out, but even his regular boys couldn’t make him more than

half-hard. “
You
knew they were coming,” Giancarlo continues, and I

can hear the accusation in his tone.

“Me and everyone who works security at the clubs,” Nick replies

flatly. “You didn’t exactly keep it a secret that there were new girls

flying in this week.”

“No, but I don’t question their loyalty to me,” Giancarlo says,

sounding devious. He moves closer to Nick, invading his personal

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space, and Nick stretches to stand taller so he can look down on

Giancarlo.

“You have no reason to question mine either.”

Instead of appearing hurt, Giancarlo smiles. “True. But I only

have your word on whether I can trust your little boyfriend.” Instantly

Giancarlo’s look changes to ice cold again as his gaze snaps to me.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Nick says sternly.

Technically, Nick isn’t lying. But if Giancarlo somehow senses

our connection, we’re in deep shit.

“In that case it shouldn’t be a problem to test his loyalty,”

Giancarlo says to Nick, but without taking his eyes off me.

“I’m not performing for your sick pleasure, Giancarlo. Save the

humiliation for your boys.”

“But you know I like to see you take your pleasure with
your

boys, Nicky,” Giancarlo purrs. I swallow to keep the bile from rising

once Giancarlo’s taken his eyes off me. “It’s been a while since I’ve

seen all your tattoos,” Giancarlo continues, running the back of his

finger over the shoulder of Nick’s suit. “Does your boy have any? Is

he as decorated as you are? Probably not, right?”

“He’s not my boy,” Nick hisses.

“Then make him your boy. Right here, right now. Show me he’s

willing to prove his loyalty to me.”

I try to stay calm and tell myself if that pervert feels the ultimate

way to show I’m not a cop is for me to pull down my pants and let

Nick fuck me, then I’ll do it. It’s not how I’ve imagined my first time

with Nick, but it’s not like I don’t know how to shut off my emotions

and just let my body endure the invasion. There’s no doubt in my

mind that I can separate this from the feelings I have for Nick, and

that if Nick and I ever get the chance to make a real connection –

emotionally as well as physically –this won’t interfere with that. I just

wish Nick would look at me so I can tell him it’s okay, that I’ll do it if

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 575

that’s what it takes. We’ve come this far, and if Nick is right and

we’re
this
close to nailing this family to the wall, then nothing should

stop us. I take a deep breath and am just about to say that I’ll do

whatever’s asked of me when Nick interrupts by raising his hand.

“Forget it, Giancarlo,” Nick says with a calmness that surprises

me. “Just because we’re all gay men doesn’t mean we’re willing to

drop trou like your go-go boys. My sex life, or Matt’s, is none of your

business, and I for one like to keep it that way. Because I caved for

you once back in Baltimore doesn’t mean I’m willing to do it again.

Neither Matt nor I am your type, so you won’t even get off on it.

Either you trust us or you throw us out. And if you throw us out, then

all that great revenue from the clubs we took over will be out the

window.”

Giancarlo looks impressed as he sits down on the bench between

his two bored-looking twinks again.

“That is why you asked us here, I presume,” Nick continues. “To

find out how your clubs are doing?”

“Yes,” Giancarlo replies, all of a sudden very business-like again.

“We could have used some new girls, of course, but that can’t be

helped right now. Even without them, we’ll be okay, since the ones

we have aren’t quitting like they used to anymore.” Nick reaches back

toward me again and this time I step forward, letting Nick rest his

hand between my shoulder blades. “Matt here is quite a hit with the

girls, as you can imagine. Ask any of them. He charms them all. And

they feel safe in his clubs. That’s what’s keeping them there. I’ll get

you the numbers tomorrow.” Nick’s hand rises and squeezes the back

of my neck. “Now I’d like to get home, because we both have work to

do in the morning.”

Nick doesn’t wait for Giancarlo to react. Instead he guides me out

of the room and through the corridor to the warehouse and with brisk

steps to the waiting car outside.

“Marty, home please.”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 576

Once we’re alone, with the partition closed, I feel the tension drain

out of me. Nick is sitting next to me looking deflated. “Everything all

right?”

Nick nods, but doesn’t speak.

“That was quite a performance. You played him like a fiddle. I’m

not sure Giancarlo even knows what just happened. I sure don’t.”

Nick takes my hand and kisses it, like an old-fashioned gentleman.

“He wanted you to let me fuck you, to prove your loyalty to him.”

“I know,” I say with a slightly uncomfortable smile on my face.

“It would have been okay, you know.”

“No, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t have been okay for me.”

My face must have told him I didn’t believe him. “Matt. I can fuck

anything I like when I like it. In Baltimore he made me fuck a woman,

although by then he knew I was gay. That was
my
test of loyalty.”

“And this would have been mine. Wouldn’t we have gotten further

with him if you’d fucked me there?”

Nick turns toward me and kisses me. It’s more a needy than a

passionate kiss and I let him, trying to convey that I’m good with

everything that’s happened. When he stops he buries his face against

my neck and inhales, as if he’s committing my smell to memory. “It’s

okay,” I say in my most soothing voice. I’m not used to this level of

intimacy and it makes me uneasy, but I hope Nick doesn’t notice. “It’s

okay,” I repeat, and I don’t know if I’m trying to soothe him or me.

The car stops and Nick looks up. “This is me,” he says. “Do you

want to come up or should Marty take you home?”

“I’ll come up,” I say, hoping I’m reading the signs well enough to

deduce that’s what Nick wants.

Nick doesn’t say anything as he leads me to the lobby, where a

doorman gets up from behind a desk to hand Nick his mail. “Good

night, Mr. Castro.”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 577

“’Night, Marcus,” Nick replies. He puts his hand on the small of

my back as he leads me to the elevator, and I see Marcus smile at us

as if he understands the intimate gesture and doesn’t mind. Or maybe

I’m reading too much into it, because I’ve never been treated quite

this nice.

Nick is still silent as we travel in the elevator, and I can’t help

thinking that his years undercover clearly got him out of the dump I’m

still living in after six years of working my way up. Everything

around us breathes luxury I can only dream of, and his apartment is

very much the same. The one thing that strikes me is the sterility of it

all. No pictures, no plants, some carefully chosen artwork, but nothing

that looks handpicked, no magazines, books, nothing that makes this

apartment look like anyone actually lives there. I’m genuinely

surprised when he opens the refrigerator and there’s actual food

inside.

“Matteo?” he asks as if this isn’t the first time he’s tried to draw

my attention. “Want a beer? I could sure use one.”

I nod and smile to hide my thoughts. He opens a bottle and hands

me an ice cold beer. I take a large drink and the cool liquid feels

heavenly. I take another swig and by the time I’m done he’s close to

me, his arms wrapping around me and his forehead resting against my

temple.

“We shouldn’t do this, but will you stay?” he whispers in my ear.

“Does your mother live with you?” I ask, hoping to lighten his

mood a bit.

“No, why?”

“Then there’s no reason not to do this,” I reply. I’m trying to

ignore all the real reasons this isn’t such a good idea, so I kiss him and

start taking off my jacket. With all the distractions out of the way, this

is what we set out to do when we left the club.

Nick doesn’t break the kiss as he leads me to what must be the

bedroom, and it isn’t until he turns me around to face an enormous

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 578

bed that I see actual evidence of human occupancy here. The bed is

unmade, and that makes me smile.

“What?” Nick asks. The uncharacteristic nervousness he displayed

in the car isn’t gone yet.

I decide that honesty is my best policy. “When we walked in, I

thought you’d taken me to some random safe house, but you actually

live here?”

Nick nods. “I know. I just never know when I’ll need to pack my

bags and move on, or if I might not be able to even come back for my

things. It gets kind of hairy in my line of work sometimes.”

“I know, remember?” I say with a wink. “Only I live in a dump in

Koreatown.”

Now Nick smiles too. “At least the food’s good.”

“It is. Now stop stalling and take me to bed.”

I want Nick to take the upper hand, force me down, ravage me,

but I can tell that won’t happen tonight. When I look at him, I wonder

if anything at all is going to happen, and I almost resign myself to

sleeping with him in my arms. And then something changes. It’s

subtle, but as I pull Nick’s jacket off his shoulders, it’s like he’s

decided to ditch his dark mood and enjoy the moment. He starts to

unbutton his shirt, but I swat his hands away and take over, so he

starts on mine. By the time our shirts are gone and it’s time to take our

pants off, we’re both fumbling as the urgency takes over. I don’t need

to see his tattoos. I spent most of our first encounter in the dressing

room of the baths staring at his muscles rippling underneath the dark

inked swirls, trying to blank out the fact he was fucking Alex. Now

that I have him all to myself, I want to feel him. I want his mouth on

mine, his hands on my skin and his cock inside me. Preferably all at

once and right now.

While my pants are still around my ankles, Nick shoves me back

and I fall on the bed. As he takes off my shoes and pulls my pants all

the way off, I can’t hide how his taking charge is turning me on. By

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 579

the time he’s naked and crawling on top of me, he’s hard as well and

he kisses me roughly. Grabbing my wrists, he pulls my hands over my

head. I resist, but only for form and in the hope it’ll make him push