Omorphi (56 page)

The lines around Rob’s eyes deepened and a small smile tried to form on his lips. “You really should become a psychologist.”

Michael ignored the remark. “How did you find Christy? I mean, how did he come to live here?”

“Christy found me. The first thing he did after his father died was to study records and sit in on Castlios International’s board meetings. CI is our primary benefactor.”

Michael shook his head. “A predator who supports a facility for his victims of choice. That’s sick.”

Rob winced. “It goes without saying that, had I known what kind of man Vasilis Castlios was—”

“Yeah, I get it. Christy told me he had tutors in Greece, and I know he has perfect grades in school. He seems too smart to be a senior in high school.”

“He’s in high school because he wants to be.”

“What does that mean?”

“He never had a chance to be a normal kid. He’s living his dream right now. He’s a nobody, in a semiprivate high school, in America, the land of the free, and madly in love.”

Michael’s brows shot up.

“He’s happy for the first time in his life.”

“Shouldn’t he be in college?”

“He began university a little over two years ago. His father put an end to it.”

“Why?”

“Need I answer that?”

Michael let his head loll back. “Unbelievable,” he remarked to the ceiling.

“Quite.”

“What’s going to happen when we graduate?”

“That’s for Christy to decide. He may choose to ask the school to fail him and take his senior year again, or he may return to Greece and resume his college studies, or to run the companies, or do absolutely nothing but paint.”

“He can ask the school to fail him?”

“For the right price, anything is possible.”

“That doesn’t sound right.”

Rob sighed. “Christy can be very persuasive.”

“Hey, bro, I hate to interrupt, but it’s getting late.”

“Yeah, okay.” Michael stood. “How do we handle the sister-brother thing?”

Rob looked to Jake, who held his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m ordered to secrecy and value certain body parts that my dad is wholly willing to sacrifice. Much to my mother’s chagrin, I might add. She’d like grandchildren.”

“So we keep it business as usual,” Michael said.

Rob turned to Michael. “I think that’s best until we know more. I’ll give Nero a call to make sure there isn’t anything more that he neglected to tell me.”

“Good call,” Jake said sarcastically.

“Michael, your father indicated that he would likely be discharging Christy on Saturday morning. Can I get your help tomorrow afternoon putting Christy’s cabin back together?”

“You got it fixed already?”

Rob nodded. “Thanks to you, there was far less damage than there could have been.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll come right after I visit Christy.”

N
ERO
was sitting at the kitchen island drinking a cup of espresso when they returned home. Michael took a bottle of water from the fridge and sat across from him. Jake leaned a hip against the granite counter and refused to look at him.

“I’m sorry to you both.”

“Nice to know you have your priorities straight, Papa,” Jake bit off.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Keeping Castlios International as a client is more important to you than making sure Christy and Sophia are okay.”

Michael watched this volley, fearful who would lose his temper first. He’d never seen Jake so angry with his dad and, as far as he knew, he’d never been disrespectful to him.

“That isn’t true.”

“Then explain to me why you’re making me start the best relationship I’ve ever had in my life with a lie.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I am protecting both Sophia and Christy.”

“Bullshit! You’re doing everything in your power to keep Castlios International as a client!”

Michael had never seen Nero Santini turn red with anger, and he didn’t wear it well.

“Are you so selfish that your only concern is about you and your relationship?”

“I’m not the one being selfish! You are!”

“Did it occur to you that I might be the only reason the investigation into what has happened to Christy is ongoing in Greece? Did you take the time to think what might happen to Christy and Sophia if I didn’t represent them in the United States? Did it occur to you that they would have no protection at all from lunatics like Jason Whitman and Yosef Sanna without me? Think, Jacob, think!” Nero accidentally knocked his espresso cup over and swore a blue streak in Italian.

Jake reached for the dishtowel and tossed it to him in silence.

“Mr. Santini?”

“What, Michael?”

“Sorry.”

The big man sighed. “For what?”

“You’re right. Without you, they’d have no protection at all.”

“I don’t know that I am. I am only certain that things would be worse if I wasn’t CI’s attorney.”

Jake withdrew another cup from a cabinet, poured another espresso from the French press, and set it in front of his dad. “Sorry, Papa, you’re right.”

Michael waited until Nero had taken a sip of espresso and set the cup down before he spoke. “May I make a suggestion?”

“Anything, Michael.”

“Wouldn’t Christy’s aunt be able to fill you in on some of this?”

Nero rubbed his forehead, obviously exasperated. “Christy specifically forbade me to speak with her. The press gave her a terrible time over his circumstances. They went so far as to accuse her of knowing about the abuse and contributing to it by failing to report it, and it nearly cost Sophia her modeling career. Christy simply wants them protected at all costs.”

“I think, with the Jason thing, you might be able to get permission from Christy to talk to her. To make sure everything’s okay, you know?”

“Christy is very stubborn, Michael. He is also very black and white in his decisions, there is no gray area, and once he makes them, he does not change his mind.”

Michael smiled a small smile. “I had a hard talk with him a couple of days ago about working with Rob and got him to change his mind. What does it hurt to ask?”

“How did you get him to change his mind?”

“Rob said Christy needs to control things because he’s struggling to reorganize and process what’s happened to him, so I told him I couldn’t take care of him without his help. I put all the control in his hands. You could tell him that you need his help to do your job, to make sure his aunt and Sophia are safe, and that means that you have to be able to communicate with them freely. If something were to happen to them, they would need to know that they can speak freely with you too.”

“You should be an attorney, Michael.”

“No thanks. Will you try it?”

“It doesn’t hurt to ask. I’ll speak with him tomorrow.”

“Y
OU
okay?” Michael asked just before he climbed into the SUV on Friday morning.

“Yeah,” Jake answered as he opened the door to his SUV. “Sorry I lost it last night.”

“Always here for you, bro.”

“I apologized to my dad again this morning.”

Michael smiled. “Smart.”

“Knew you’d like it.”

Michael winked at him. “See you at school after I see Christy.”

M
ICHAEL
found Christy sound asleep. Nurse Carol entered the room, her shoes issuing the now familiar soft squeak. She took Christy’s vital signs and noted them in his chart.

“Did he sleep okay?” Michael whispered.

She shook her head. “Nightmares.”

“A lot of them?”

She nodded. “We gave him a sedative at five this morning.”

Michael stroked Christy’s curls back from his forehead. His hair had lost its white-gold sheen from the lack of care, and the circles beneath his eyes were deep purple. Michael could only silently curse the ghosts that ate at Christy’s soul and felt powerless to help him.

He withdrew two small gift boxes from his pocket and set them on the bedside table, and Nurse Carol mouthed a silent “Oooh.”

“One of these is for his hair. Will you help him wash his hair today?”

She smiled and nodded.

M
ICHAEL
dialed Rob as soon as his phone connected with the guidance system.

“Morning, Michael.”

“Hi, Rob. I just saw Christy. The nurse says he had a bunch of nightmares last night. Can you drop by and see him this morning?”

“The hospital called. I planned on seeing him around noon, after the sedative wore off.”

Michael breathed a small sigh of relief. “Can you… can you look around the bathroom for his lip gloss and take it to him? The watermelon-flavored one. It’s his favorite.”

“I’ll have to look through the boxes we moved to the other cabin, but I’ll find it. Did he ask for it?”

“No, he was asleep. I, ah, I also asked the nurse to help him wash his hair today.”

Rob was silent.

“Is that okay?”

“It should be fine.”

“Can I, can I, ah…. Can I also ask you to bring some underwear? The, ah, the kind he likes.”

“Are you sure you want me to do that? I don’t think he wants your father to know about it.”

“Honestly, I don’t think my dad would care.”

Rob laughed softly. “Probably not. I’ll bring him something.”

“Thanks. I’ll go back to the hospital after school. Then I’ll come help you with the cabin.”

“Great. See you then.”

M
ICHAEL
pulled into the parking lot at school and was alarmed to find a crowd around Jake’s SUV and security trying to push everyone back. Michael sped to where everyone stood, left the car in the middle of the aisle, and jumped out. “Jake!” He received no reply as he pushed through the crowd, and panic zinged up his spine. “Jake!”

“Right here, Michael!”

Michael nearly swallowed his heart whole. “Oh God, Jake!” He lifted him into a bear hug.

“I’m okay, bro, I’m okay. Noah’s not.” He gestured to Noah, who sat on the pavement with his head between his knees, two security guards tending him.

“What happened?”

“Noah and Gavin went to Carrello’s last night, and Jason went after them with his two partners in crime. Gav’s not in the hospital, but he’s hurting.”

“Holy crap! What’s wrong with Noah?”

“He came to tell me as soon as I pulled into the lot and fainted. He hit his head pretty hard when he fell, but I think he’s okay.”

“Make a hole, people!” Lisa shouted as she shoved through the crowd. “Noah! Noah! Are you all right?” She shoved the security guards aside and squatted next to him. “Noah, you all right?”

“They got him, Lis, they got him,” Noah managed to breathe.

“Who?”

Noah looked up at her with desperation in his eyes. “Jason. Jason got Gav.”

“What? When? How?”

“We were outside the arcade ’round midnight, and he came after us with two other guys. They had chains.” Noah held his arm up to show her the blueberry-colored bruises on his arm.

“Bastards!” She stood and turned to the crowd. “Does anybody know anything about this?” The crowd quieted. “Then get the hell outta here before I show you why you don’t want to be here!” They broke up quickly, and she squatted again. “Where’s Gav?”

“Home. The hospital said he’d be okay.”

She swore again. “Does Smitty know?”

Noah’s head weaved back and forth, a little out of kilter. “Don’t know, don’t know.”

“You all right?”

Jake squatted next to her. “He came to tell me what happened and fainted.”

Michael squatted next to them, ran his fingers through Noah’s hair, and came away with blood on his hand. He searched through Noah’s hair until he found the bump and split in his scalp. “Take him to the nurse’s office and call his mom. He needs a couple of stitches.”

“George, get over here!” Lisa shouted.

Georgia Lee Lange, aka George, was a massive girl-guy. Taller, broader, and a hell of a lot meaner-looking than Lisa, she squatted next to them. In a soprano voice more incongruous than Christy’s deep voice was for him, she said, “Come on, baby boy. Let’s get you to the nurse.” Noah wasn’t a big guy, but regular-size, yet George lifted him to his feet as effortlessly as Michael might have lifted Christy. Noah teetered and hung onto George. “Wait, wait. Michael?”

“Yeah, man, right here.”

“You gotta watch out, man. Jason thought we knew where you were. He was lookin’ for you last night.”

Michael frowned. “He thought I was with you?”

“I don’t know. He just kept sayin’ we knew where you were ’cause we’re all fags.”

“Did you tell him we don’t hang together?”

Noah looked at him, and Michael saw despair in his eyes. The raw hopelessness of the condemned homo-queer-fag-butt pirate-fudge packer. Michael brushed a hand lightly over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Go get your head taken care of. You have all our numbers, right?”

Noah nodded.

Michael turned to John, his security for the day. “Give him your number? That way if something happens again, he’s got someone to call.”

John withdrew a card from his breast pocket, wrote a number on it, and handed it to Noah. “Please don’t hesitate to call us if Jason Whitman appears again.”

Noah looked up at John. “The guy’s crazy,” he said softly.

John’s eyes creased ever so slightly. “We understand that he’s dangerous.”

“No, man, you
don’t
understand. The guy’s freakin’ insane. He’s rambling and screaming about weird shit. It’s like he’s on crack or something. And the guys he’s with? One of them laughs like a hyena and talks crap and the other one says nothing but ‘I see monsters.’ They’re freakin’ nuts. Not just like they’re touched in the head, it’s like they’re freakin’ possessed.”

“Thank you for the information. If you run into trouble again, that number is an emergency number. Memorize it. Use it.”

Noah looked down at the card. “Can I give it to Gavin too?”

“Yes. Here’s another card.”

“Thanks.”

George led Noah away, and Michael turned to John. “Jason is targeting everyone he thinks is gay to get to me. If I give you a list of everyone at school who’s gay, can you watch out for them too?”