Page 89 of Bazooka
“He made you do this, didn’t he? Let me stay here. Put up with me. Fucking tolerate me when you could barely stand my presence, right? Well, of course. Why else would you let me stay here? You hate me.” He paled. “Did he pay you?”
“No!” I said grimly. “He did not pay me.”
For a few moments, Luz was staring at me as if he’d never seen me before in his life, and it fucking hurt.
“Did you know my father sent me to one of those reform camps when I was a teen?” he asked me, breaking my heart. “None of them worked, but you… You’re a special kind of camp, aren’t you?”
I had no answer. I had no voice. And I cared for him so much. I didn’t know how much until this moment.
“I would have forgiven you for just about anything, Baz,” he said, lowering his eyes. “But this…”
I heard him open the front door, and then he was gone. He didn’t even slam it on his way out. He left the same way he confessed his feelings… gently.
After that, I sent a text to Jordan.
Me:Luz is on his way to you. Text me when he gets there.
A few minutes passed before I got a reply.
Jordan:He’s here. He’s safe. We’re going to my place, but what the hell, Bazooka? What did you say to him? He’s… he’s fucking sobbing, man.
Me:The truth.
After that, I called General Zablonsky.
“Detective Bradley,” he answered. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” I said, clearing my throat. “I just wanted to let you know Luz doesn’t live with me anymore. For the time being, he will stay with a colleague of mine, Detective Slade, who will ensure his safety. Just in case, you should get Luz a bodyguard who will keep an eye on him from a distance.”
“Consider it done. May I ask what happened?”
“More or less what we knew would happen. Luz found your card in my bag and figured out the rest.”
The silence that ensued was deafening.
“I’m sorry, Detective Bradley. I never wanted this to happen.”
“Not as sorry as I am,” I said grimly. “By the way, if you’d told me that you sent Luz to the conversion therapy, I would have told you to fuck off the moment I saw you. So, I’m telling you this now. Fuck off and never call me again.”
Chapter 15
A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed
Luz
When I heard the doorbell ring, I ran out of my room, staring at the front door in breathless anticipation. I did the same thing every single day, whether it was the postman, the food delivery guy, or someone else from the LD. I would run into the hall like a puppy, hoping it was the one person who it never was.
Long story short, I played the truth card, and I lost. Worse than that, I have been played. I have been deceived. I have been fucking betrayed by the one person I thought was incapable of deceit. My father, the ultimate puppet master, hooked his claws into the only person I cared about. It was inconceivable. I didn’t know how it happened, but the result was just the same. I was devastated.
Jordan tried to help. In the one week I spent with him, he tried to console me, talk to me, listen to me, and he encouraged me to see a shrink. Then he tried to get me drunk and make me visit the nearest gay bar. It ended with me vomiting all over his shoes and then crying myself to sleep. Nothing worked, nothing helped, nothing mattered.
So today, when the doorbell rang, I ran into the hall with the same hope. When Jordan opened the door, I saw Detective Tye “The Viking” Thorsen and Detective Dominic “The Trigger” Carter standing in the doorway. The man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and the man clad in black. The blond-haired one and the dark-haired one. The funnier one and the prettier one. They were polar opposites, but they fucking worked.
“Thank God you’re here.” I heard Jordan murmur. “I don’t know what to do with him anymore.”
When I saw them, I snapped, because I didn’t need the double human-shaped-suicide-hotline Jordan apparently called for.
“You,” I said, stomping towards them and pointing my finger at Carter. “What the hell are you doing here? And you…” I looked at Tye, clenching my fists. “It’s all your fault! You introduced me to him. You let him into my life. And now…” Tears spilled down my face until I couldn’t see anything anymore. “And now I can’t liiiiveee wiiiithooouuuuut hiiiim.”
