Omorphi (65 page)

“Art.”

The small word startled Michael from his trance. “Yeah.”

“How interesting. I wonder how that will go over.”

Michael waited.

“And this Yosef is a pedophile?”

“I think of him as more of a sick, psycho, serial predator,” Michael admitted.

“I don’t know why they bother prosecuting these people. They should simply hang them.”

Mom’s opinion spoken from on high: the shower.

“He wants Christy back, is that it?”

“According to Rob, the guy is obsessed with Christy.”

“You say the Greek police and the FBI are looking for him?”

“Detective Davis knows about him too.”

“And Nero’s security personnel are looking for him?”

“Yes.”

“And no one has told Christy that this man is here?”

“No. Sophia thinks he’d panic and go back to Greece and fall into Yosef’s hands again.”

“She’s probably correct.”

His mom’s slight hand slipped out of the shower, reached for her bathrobe, and withdrew again.

“I suppose, with nearly an army looking for Yosef, that’s all that we can hope for. Your father and Nero will work out their differences. They always do. However, I might suggest that you and Christy spend some time alone before I arrive. He’ll be upset that you found out who he is. What do you say? Between eleven and noon?”

Michael looked at the time and smiled to himself. Eight o’clock. He might have enough time to convince Christy that he hadn’t deceived him. Too much. And that everything would be okay. “You’re on, Mom. I love you.”

“G
ET
out!” Christy shrieked and reached for the next thing to throw at Michael. It happened to be the glass pitcher from the Cuisinart juicer.

Michael ducked as it flew over his head, crashed into the window, and shattered it to pieces. The new front window. “Christy!”

“Christy, please!” Sophia pled as Jake held her back, out of harm’s way.

Christy hobbled to the kitchen island. “Get out!” He hurled a physics book at Michael.

“No!” Michael shouted back. “Mr. Santini, leave. I’ll handle this.”

“No, Michael—”

“Mr. Santini, leave,
please
.”

“Michael, let me speak—”

“
No!
Jake! All of you, please,
leave!
”

Rob, who’d been silent throughout the tirade, guided everyone out of the cabin but remained. “I can’t leave you alone with him.”

“Yes!
Yes
you can!” Michael yelled in frustration.

“I can’t, Michael.”

“You can! It’s not as if he can hurt me! He’s no bigger than a minute!”

“It’s for his sake, not yours.”

Michael glanced at Rob, not bothering to hide his anger. “What can happen to him? I’m not going to hurt him.”

“You’ve seen it. Catatonia. I don’t want him in a coma again.”

Michael turned back to Christy, narrowly avoiding the wooden knife block that sailed through the air. At least Christy hadn’t thrown a knife. “Christy! Stop this shit right now!”

“Get out!” Christy hobbled to the kitchen counter and picked up the cordless telephone. “Get out!” The phone flew across the cabin, and Michael ducked again.

“There’s nothing in here that can hurt him, Rob! Go!”

“Five minutes, and I’m right outside the door. That’s it, Michael.”

“Get out!” Christy shrieked again.

As soon as the door closed, Michael rushed Christy. He caught him beneath his arms, careful of his leg and hip, launched him onto the bed, and pounced on him, again careful of his injuries. Christy beat Michael’s chest with angry fists, and Michael grabbed and held his hands and arms above his head. “Stop!”

“You lied!”

“No,
you
lied! You didn’t tell me who you were! Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you think after everything that’s happened that I wouldn’t want to know what happened to you?”

Christy released a gut-wrenching, agonized cry. He was pained, humiliated, destroyed. Michael hadn’t seen Christy this torn apart since he thought Rob had told him things he didn’t want him to know. He rolled onto his side, bringing Christy with him. Christy tried to wriggle away, but he held him tight. When Christy gave up his fight, Michael continued to hold him close and murmur soft comforts over and again. When he finally felt Christy’s frame relax and was certain he was calm, he released his tight hold around him. Christy didn’t move. Didn’t try to run. Didn’t do anything. And Michael began to worry. He pulled away and looked down at him. Christy lay limp, his eyes closed. “Christy?”

Christy’s eyes opened to him slowly. Michael saw hurt. Raw, unvarnished pain and defeat. He stroked Christy’s curls behind an ear and brought him back into his embrace. “It doesn’t matter who you are.” He kissed the top of Christy’s head.

“I didn’t lie.”

“You didn’t tell me. Most people would call that a sin of omission.”

“It is my information to keep private.”

“I know you came here to get away from the publicity, and I don’t blame you one bit. Some of the shit I read was just flat-out sick, but you can’t think people aren’t going to find out who you are. It’s just not realistic.”

Christy looked up at him again, anger seeping into his eyes. “The first time I was allowed to walk down the street in Athens, the first time I am in the sun for years, people stared at me. Some crossed the street to be away from me. One person hit me with a newspaper like a dog and then threw it at me.”

“God, that’s so unfair, so mean, Christy. I’m so sorry.”

“Why do they blame me for what happened? I didn’t call the police. I didn’t kill my father. This is what I don’t understand.”

Michael sighed. “I can only guess it’s because you brought down a very powerful man.”

“The companies still run. No one has lost a job. I have said nothing unkind in public. I have not behaved improperly. I have done nothing to earn such hatred.”

“I know. Sometimes people are just stupid. Remember how awful the cafeteria manager at the hospital was?”

Christy studied him for a long moment. “Were you scared?”

“A little, but I can pretty much thump anyone’s ass if I have to.”

“This is amazing because you are not that big, and you are thin.”

Michael smiled. “Speed and agility. And knowing how to take a punch. I was more worried about Dad doing something extreme. I was even more worried when we were walking back to your room. Dad doesn’t mind that I’m gay, but he worries a lot.”

“Does he know about me?”

Truth, stick to the truth.
“Yes. So does Mom.”

“They did not ask you to reject me?”

Crap.
He decided to evade the question. “Mom’s coming by here to help rearrange the loft after eleven. She cares for you, Christy, and she’s seriously overprotective. You’ll be smothered in love.”

Rob knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for a reply. “Everything okay?”

Michael sat up. “We’re cool.”

“Christy?”

Christy struggled to sit up, and Michael helped him. “I am sorry I broke the window.”

“Me too. Are you all right?”

Christy nodded.

Sophia squeezed between the doorjamb and Rob. “Christy?” Christy responded in Greek, the syllables fast and confusing to Michael’s ears. Nero joined the conversation, his tone almost pleading. Christy finally said in English, “I believe you.”

Nero breathed a deep sigh of relief. “
Va bene
. We have more news for you.”

Christy waited, pensive, obviously unsure he was ready for more news.

“You need not be concerned about Jason any longer. He died last night when the police attempted to apprehend him.”

Christy’s jaw dropped in disbelief, and he turned to Michael, who only nodded.

Sophia spun on Jake. “Is this true?”

“It’s true.”

“How did he die?” she demanded.

Jake looked to Nero for approval before speaking. “He was shot when he tried to run from the police.”

Christy gasped. “The police can do this? They can shoot a person who runs away?”

“Only with cause and after proper warning,” Nero explained. “Jason had purchased another bomb and attempted to elude the police when they found him.”

“Another bomb.” Christy’s words were a fluttery whisper.

Michael hugged him to his side. “It’s over, babe.”

“Thank God!” Sophia exclaimed.

Jake turned to Michael. “You good to go here?”

“Yeah. Go on.”

Sophia crossed the room to pet Christy’s curls. “Would you mind if I went to breakfast with Jacob?” Christy shook his head. “Do you wish to come?”

“No. I must change the bandage and change the loft.”

“You haven’t eaten.”

“I’ll make sure he eats something,” Michael promised.

“Thank you, Michael. You’ll call if you need anything, Christy?”

Christy nodded.

“You are certain you are all right?”

“
Ne, ne,
go. Go.”

“Christy, I will go as well and see you later on the waterfront.” Nero patted Christy’s shoulder with his large hand, and Christy looked up at him with an eyebrow raised in query.

“We decided to make it a family affair,” Michael quickly explained. “Is that okay?”

Christy nodded.

“
Va bene
. See you this afternoon.”

Rob surveyed what remained of the window after they left and pulled the largest shards of glass from the frame before locking the pine shutters. “I’ll call to have this replaced today.”

Michael began picking up Christy’s ammunition. He collected the physics book, the phone, and the heavy knife block, and thought, not for the first time, that Christy was strong for a little guy.

Christy climbed off the bed and winced when his weight hit his bad leg, and Michael wondered if he hurt it during his tirade. “Sit down. We’ll get it,” he said softly.

“I threw it.”

“Don’t worry about it. Do you have a broom and dustpan?”

“In the loft.”

Michael took the stairs in twos and was surprised when he reached the vast loft. Christy had set the paintings against the wall and collapsed the easels and set them aside. He collected the broom and dustpan and took them downstairs.

Rob put the larger pieces of glass in the trashcan as Michael swept up what remained. The broom bumped a solid object behind the couch, and Michael bent to see what it was. He came up with the mangled object in his hand. “You threw the toaster at me?”

Christy looked away. Michael set it on the counter and went to him. “I don’t remember that one comin’ at me,” he whispered before kissing Christy’s cheek.

“I am sorry.”

“You’re forgiven.”

Christy looked up at him with sad eyes.

“Honest.”

Michael swept the floor, and Rob held the dustpan for him. It was six loads into the trashcan before they had the glass taken care of.

“Don’t walk around barefooted until the cleaning staff has had a chance to clean,” Rob cautioned. He took the broom from Michael and set it and the dustpan at the bottom of the staircase.

“Thank you. I am sorry I broke the window.”

Rob turned serious eyes on Christy. “We need to work on your anger management.”

“It was not a management problem.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No. I decided to be angry. I have the right to be angry when someone violates my privacy or me. You said this to me.”

“I did, and you do, but it’s how you manage your anger that is important. You could have managed your anger very differently.”

“How?”

“By talking it out with Michael and Nero. Not to mention that you don’t have the right to harm others. How bad would you feel if you had hurt Michael?”

Christy relented. “Okay. You will help me with this.”

“I will.”

“May I have a new toaster?”

“Yes. What else do you need?”

“The Cuisinart pitcher is gone, and he probably needs a new phone too,” Michael added.

Rob shook his head. “No more tantrums, Christy.”

“I will try.”

“Okay. What are you doing this afternoon?”

“We’re—”

“I asked Christy, Michael.”

Michael clammed up and waited for Christy to respond.

“We are going to the waterfront and the arcade with Jerry and Stephen and Jake and Sophia at one or two o’clock.”

“The same Stephen who kissed you in the bathroom?”

Anger flashed hot in Christy’s eyes. “Yes. Please don’t raise this again. I don’t like it.”

Rob nodded. “That was good. Very good. You didn’t let your anger get the best of you. Are you okay being around him?”

“Yes. He apologized to me more than once and said if I….” He looked to Michael for help. “What did he say if I did he would go away?”

Michael grinned. “He said if you had kneed him in the balls he would have taken the hint, and he was glad you were taking a self-defense class.”

Rob finally smiled. “Good.”

“Lisa, George, and Jorge are also coming,” Michael added.

“They are?” Christy asked, surprised.

“Yeah, everyone is excited that you and Jerry are out of the hospital. You’re heroes.”

“Why? We could not defend ourselves.”

“Because you survived. That’s what counts.”

A small smile tried to form on Christy’s lips.

“I’ll send breakfast over and get the window replaced today,” Rob said as he went to the door.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Michael, are you okay?”

“It’s all good. Christy handled it when I stopped him without going to his far-off place. I think that’s progress.”

“It is, isn’t it, Christy?”

He nodded. “I have only the small blank space in the memory.”

“You don’t remember anything when you drift off?” Rob asked.

Christy shook his head.

“Interesting. We’ll need to discuss that. Call me if you need anything.”

The front door closed, and Michael waited until he heard Rob turn the deadbolt with the key before he went to Christy. “Let me take a look at your leg.”

“It’s okay.”

“C’mon, let me take a look at it. Get back on the bed.”

Christy rolled his eyes and climbed onto the bed. He gathered the negligee and piled it into his lap. “See?”