Page 8 of Wolf's Whistle
“Mon ange, does the landlord live in the building?” Julien sniffed around. He turned to Etienne, “Lavender…”
“That’s strange… I smell peaches, not lavender. I think it was the pie. Maybe there is some lavender in the weeds outside the window. This wasn’t always a marginal neighborhood.” Julio giggled, and Richard turned to him and frowned. “What? I haven’t changed that much, Julio. I’ve always liked the smell of fresh peaches.”
He faced Julien. “The owner of the building lives in Highland Park, but the superintendent lives in 1A.”
“I’ll go and tell him you’re leaving and pay the last month’s rent in lieu of you giving notice.” Julien took out his billfold.
“I’ll pay you back out of the stipend. Don’t let the super overcharge you. I pay five hundred and fifty dollars a month here. The super was about to raise my rent to seven fifty because he had a girlfriend he wanted local, and he was trying to run me out. That’s the other reason my stuff was all packed. I was searching for another place to live.”
“I’ll go down and take care of it.” Julien headed out the door.
Richard sighed. Julien’s brown hair shone, and his hazel eyes sparkled when he spoke. He’d better guard his heart. This man was the stuff his dreams were made of, and he was Howdy Doody; red hair, freckles across his nose, and prominent ears, no match for Julien’s perfection.
Julien came back upstairs as the last box left the closet.
Julio pivoted in Etienne’s arms to speak to Julien. “We’ll put Richard where I was the night before last. The room is already made up. Denis and Charles are two doors down the hall.”
Richard scratched his chin. Even though it was Etienne’s house, Julio seemed to defer to Julien to approve where he would sleep. Strange.
“Across from Adrien, that sounds satisfactory. Let’s get to the limousines before we miss supper. I’ve heard that Ian waits for no one when he wants his food and Colin is as bad as Ian. Denis?” Julien called. “Have the men taken care of the problem?”
“He made threats, but it doesn’t matter, Richard will be in Manhattan.”
Julio headed down the stairs holding Etienne’s hand. He stopped on the bottom step and stared up at Richard. “I can’t believe Etienne found you for me. Thank you, my love. Richard, it’s so damn good to see you again. I’ll even let you whoop my ass atTomb Raider.”
“It’s been so long since I played a video game that I’m sure you could whoop mine.” Richard smiled at Julio.
Laughing, Julio skipped down the stairs. “I know better than that. Don’t play video games with this man, he’s a hustler.”
Julien laughed. “We’ll see about that.”
§ § §
Highland Park
Red Oaks
Late Wednesday Afternoon/Early Evening
It took thirty minutes to get back out to the Highland Park residence. When they arrived, most of the cars in the driveway were gone. The limousine pulled around the back of the mansion, Richard thought it was too big to call a house. To his surprise, there were six more limousines and six Navigators parked in front of an enormous garage.
Julio jumped out of the first limousine. “Let’s go inside, I’m hungry. Richard?”
“It seems like I just ate, but I’m hungry too.” Richard glanced around Julio to see if they were alone. “Do you see that string?”
Julien smiled softly. “You see a string?”
“It’s strange. There is a yellow string as fine as a single hair. I keep trying to brush it away, but my hand goes straight through it.”
Julio took him by the arm. “You’re probably tired. It’s been a big day for you. I’m so glad you decided to come back to Manhattan with us. You’ll like my friends. I’m sure you’ll fit right in. They’ve already invited you to lunch.”
“Does lunch have some sort of special significance?”
“Everyone is busy with school and work, but we try to make time once a week on Wednesday or Friday to see each other for lunch. We rotate houses. The fact that you’ve been invited means that they like you. It’s so damn good to be able to talk to you again.” Julio teared up.
“It seems as if you saved my ass. By the way things seem to be with Kasun, I’m leaving just in time. If you hadn’t shown up, I think I would have had to take to the streets because he would tear Chicago apart searching for me.”
“Everything happens for a reason, mon ange. The gods will, and we do as we must.” Julien patted him on the back as they entered the huge kitchen.
