There were cobwebs on the ceiling, dust bunnies on the floor, and every flat surface had a thick layer of dust. When Gage inhaled, the room had that damp, moldy smell the interior of a boat gets when no one bothers to drain out the excess water. He rubbed his palms together and sent Luis a glance. His twin brother was in the jail cell, sitting on the edge of the twin bed, with his legs crossed at the knees. “Good morning,” Gage said. “Did you sleep well?”
Luis stood up and glared at him. “I didn’t sleep a wink. How could I sleep in a place like this? It’s the most disgusting room I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing but sex things in here. How could you do something like this to me? I have friends in the country who have a room like this, and I’ve only been there once. You know how I feel about these things, Gage.”
Gage smiled, enjoying this adventure more than he should have been. “I didn’t really have a choice. This apartment happens to be available and I wasn’t the interior designer, Luis.” Though this kinky playroom hadn’t been planned, it couldn’t have turned out better for Gage. Luis had always been more conservative in this respect than Gage had been. Gage had always been more open-minded than Luis about these things. The darker side of life had always made his heart race faster, especially when it came to sex. But he knew Luis was just the opposite. Luis liked flowers and pretty, frilly things. He wrote love notes to himself when they were kids and kept wedding magazines under his bed. When it came to sex in general, Gage had a feeling his twin brother was more talk and tease than action.
Luis walked to the door of the jail cell and said, “Let me out of here right now. I’ve had enough. I can’t stand any more of this. I’ll die in here. I want to go home. I want my life back. I want to see my husband and my child. I’ll do anything you want.”
“Ah well,” Gage said. “I’m not finished with you yet, not by any means. I have so many surprises for you before I leave for Cider Mill Farm today, you’re going to be amazed.” Then he turned and left Luis standing at the cage door.
He carried the large boxes into the living room first, knowing he didn’t have much time to set all this up before he had to leave for Cider Mill Farm. He still had to go back to the house on 95th Street and pack a small bag for the weekend. And he had to bring that awful little dog with him to Cider Mill Farm. He thought about leaving a message on Donny Vitelli’s voice mail, just so Donny wouldn’t wonder what happened to him. But he decided to wait a while. The pathetic odds were Donny wouldn’t even know Gage was gone, which actually didn’t bother Gage as much as it could have.
Luis went back to the bed and watched every move he made. Gage dragged the kitchen table into the living room and pushed it up against the cage so Luis could reach through the bars to get what he needed. Gage opened the largest box first and put a miniature refrigerator on top of the kitchen table. Then he plugged it into an outlet near the window and went back for the other box. When he opened this box, he pulled out a small microwave oven and set that up next to the small refrigerator.
“What on Earth are you doing?” Luis asked, gaping at the microwave with his head tilted sideways.
“You’re going to need food,” Gage said. “And I’m going to be at Cider Mill Farm all weekend. I figured it would be best to just set you up until I come back on Monday to check on you.” He knew Luis had a toilet and running water inside the jail cell, so he wasn’t worried about that.
“You can’t leave me here all weekend,” Luis said. “Have you gone completely insane? This is worse than the time you left me up in that tree house when we were kids.”
Gage smiled. He had, indeed, left Luis up in a tree house when they were kids. He’d taken the ladder away and Luis had been forced to remain up there until his parents went looking for him. But he’d done it for a reason. Luis had slashed the tires on his bicycle because Gage had refused to trade bicycles with him. They’d both just received bicycles for their birthday. Gage’s bike had been blue and Luis’s had been red and Luis preferred the blue bike. When Gage refused to trade and give Luis the blue bike, Luis slashed the tires when no one was looking. Gage knew it was Luis. It couldn’t have been anyone else, so he waited until Luis went up to the tree house and took the ladder out from under him. If Gage had told his parents about the slashed tires they wouldn’t have believed him. Luis would have lied and they’d always taken Luis’s side.
“Oh, stop complaining,” Gage said, as he crossed back to the kitchen for a few of the bags he left near the door. “You’re going to be well taken care of, trust me.”
When he returned with three bags of groceries, he set them on the table and opened the refrigerator door. The first item he pulled out of the grocery bag was a large microwavable frozen lasagna. He waved the box at Luis before he put it in the refrigerator and said, “You’ll love this. I’ve had it before. It’s the best frozen lasagna you can buy. It tastes like it was made from scratch.”
After that, he pulled out containers of prepared food and showed them to Luis. “In case you don’t feel like lasagna, I got you some prepared food from the gourmet section. Here’s a dish you’ll love, vodka penne with lots of cream sauce. And I bought four other different kinds of prepared pasta dishes in case you don’t like the penne.” He reached for the other bag and started loading the items in the refrigerator. “For dessert I picked up a few of those rich cakes, the ones with gobs of frosting. And I didn’t forget about snacks. I bought you ten different kinds of cookies, a large bag of chips, and several different kinds of spicy nachos in case you’re in the mood for something hot.” He pulled a half dozen bottles of sugary soft drinks from the last bag and smiled. “And here’s just what you’ll need to wash down all this great food.”
Luis sent him a glare. “I don’t eat things like that. I only eat protein and fresh vegetables. I’m a staunch supporter of the first lady’s fight against obesity. I’d never eat garbage like that, not even if I were starving to death. And I never drink sugary soft drinks. I only drink a special brand of bottled water.”
Bingo. This was exactly what Gage had portended. “You’ll have to eat sooner or later, and you’ll have to drink something. If you don’t drink the soft drinks I bought, you’ll be forced to drink water from the tap in that small sink. And you never know what kind of kinky sex games have been played in that sink. I’ll bet if that sink could talk, it would be X-rated.”