Page 24 of Shades of Henry
“Coke keeps you skinny,” Scott mumbled, trying to push himself out of the dumpster. Henry turned to him with a snarl, and he settled back down against the trash bags and closed his eyes.
“Fine,” Henry muttered tightly. He turned toward Bobby and Reg, making an obvious effort to relax his shoulders and his expression. “Reg, you okay?”
Reg peeked out from behind Bobby’s shoulders. “Yeah, fine, Henry.” Reg’s arms crept around Bobby’s trim waist. “Thanks for doing that. Bobby was trying to keep his temper, but—”
Bobby clasped Reg’s hands at his middle. “I’m still on probation,” he admitted grimly. “Which meansweshould probably get scarce. Lance?”
Lance looked at Reg and Bobby, remembering Bobby’s misdemeanor conviction for assault. “Yeah. You guys go get in the car. I’ll be right there.” He checked his pockets for his phone and his wallet, relieved to find he’d brought them with him. “Let me go talk to Henry.”
Henry was herding the rest of the guys up the stairs, and Lance ran by the dumpster, giving it a check inside.
Scott—who was apparently Martin Sampson—was muttering to himself and trying to clamber out over the piles of trash. Good for him. Lance could see the little plastic baggies of pills falling out of his pockets and littering the ground in front of the dumpster. He was unimpressed by drug dealers, particularly ones who badgered guys like Reg.
But Henry had some explaining to do.
“Henry?” he called from the base of the stairs. “Can we talk a sec?”
Henry nodded to Curtis, who was dragging the rear, and came back down to where he stood.
“What?”
“Who the hell is Martin Sampson?” Lance hissed.
Henry grimaced. “Who the hell is Scott?”
“Scott is your brother’s ex-boyfriend—the guy he was dating before Kane, who stalked him and tried to sell coke and… fucking Jesus, he’s a sleazeball.”
Henry scrubbed his face with both hands. “He’s the sleazeball who was hanging around the bus station the night I got in.” His voice rose at the end, like he was wishing it wasn’t true.
Lance groaned. “No.”
“Dude, I hadn’t seen my brother yet, my face looked like hamburger, and….” He let out a groan. “I’m a fucking idiot.”
“What are you going to tell Dex?” Lance demanded.
“Nothing!” Henry dropped his hands and stared at Lance in horror. “Oh my God! With all of the other shit I’ve got to tell him, does he really need the cherry on the shit sundae? I’m telling him nothing!”
“How could you do that?” Lance demanded, the irrational anger kicking in. “Pick up a stranger like that?”
“I don’t know. How can you have sex on camera for cash?” Henry lashed out. “We all have our lines, Lance.” He grunted. “Mine just happens to be trying to get out of the fucking dumpster.”
Lance let out a slow breath. “I was an asshole,” he admitted, and then glared at Henry, expecting the same thing in return.
“And I’m white trash with all the wrong answers,” Henry snapped, obviously not giving in. “Look, man, one thing at a fucking time here, okay?”
And there was the disdain Lance had been expecting. He’d known it was there, waiting to jump out and bite him. “Whatever,” Lance muttered. “I’m going out for a day off with the other whores. You have a nice fucking day.”
“Whatever,” Henry snapped behind him. “Make sure Reg is okay, wouldya? You’re the one who knows what to say.”
Lance drew up short, suddenly realizing that was a compliment and Henry was trying to be an adult. He turned around, but Henry had already made it up the stairs, and all he saw was the door slamming behind him.
“WHAT’S WRONG?”Bobby asked quietly as the boat knifed through the Sacramento River like a machete through butter. Reg was still in the front, looking out excitedly, and Bobby had literally wrapped a rope around his waist to keep him from going nose first over the side. Lance had hung out in back thoughtfully while Bobby’s boss and his wife took turns piloting the thing, talking loudly between themselves. Gruff and homely, in their midfifties, they’d made Lance feel welcome when he’d arrived at the dock. Like with most boating trips, conversation wasn’t going to get good until they arrived at their destination for the planned picnic at Discovery Park, where the Sacramento River and the American River joined.
Lance looked out at the water and then smiled briefly. “Henry surprised me, that’s all,” he said. The trip to the dock had been a lot of Lance and Bobby calming Reg down and making sure he felt safe after Scott had gotten in his face. “I didn’t realize he knew Scott, you know?”
Bobby raised his eyebrows. “A lot of us did. He was in one of my first scenes. But, you know, there’s hookups that matter and hookups that don’t. You taught me that. Which one do you think it was?”
Lance swallowed and remembered Henry’s painful confession. Wouldn’t Scott have come up in their discussion the night before if he’d mattered? “I know,” he muttered. “Iknow.But it… I mean, his brother’s ex-boyfriend. That’s just so….”
