Jase frowned. Though he wasn’t being kept by anyone, and he had more money than he’d ever know what to do with in his lifetime, Luis’s comment stung him harder than anything anyone had ever said to him. Luis had no idea why Sherman left him money and he shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. And the fact that Luis would judge him this way and call him a kept man made him clench his fists.
He looked down at the twenty dollars between his feet and scowled. “You shouldn’t throw your money around that way,” he said. “Selling your filthy underwear to dirty old men isn’t going to keep you going forever. You’re going to get older just like all the other young rent boys before you and then no one will want your underwear anymore.”
Luis lifted his head and tried to straighten his shoulders. “I’m not a rent boy and you know it. You’re the rent boy…the middle-aged rent boy.” He pointed to the door and said, “Get out.”
Jase stood for a moment and looked down at him. He looked into his wide green eyes and waited for him to speak again. When he didn’t, Jase turned and crossed to the door. On his way out, he looked back again. Luis was still on his knees and he was still watching him. For a moment, Jase thought he was about to apologize. But then his face tightened and he turned his head toward the window. So Jase closed the door and went to his own apartment without looking back once.
Chapter Ten
After the tenth knock, Luis crawled out of bed, grabbed his short white bathrobe, and stumbled to his front door. According to the small poodle clock in the table next to the front door, it was a few minutes before seven. The last time he’d been awake at seven in the morning he’d just come home from an all-night party. He didn’t bother to put on the bathrobe. He covered the front of his naked body and cracked the door open a few inches.
“Good morning,” Jase said. He was smiling and dressed for the day. He held a large cup of coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. “I brought coffee.”
“Good morning,” Luis said. Though he hadn’t spoken to Jase since the night they’d gone out to the underwear club in the Bowery, he smiled before he even knew he was doing it.
“I heard some good news this morning,” Jase said, “and I wanted to stop by and make up for the other night. Can I come in?” He looked directly into Luis’s eyes and didn’t seem to care about the fact that Luis wasn’t wearing any clothes.
“Sure,” Luis said. He opened the door a little more. “Close your eyes while I put on my robe. I’m not decent.”
“I promise I won’t look,” Jase said. He lifted the newspaper to cover his eyes.
“Oh, screw it,” Luis said. He turned his naked back to Jase and slipped his arms through the robe. “It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before. Who am I fooling?”
Jase followed him into the apartment and closed the door. Luis’s dog was on the floor beside the loveseat. When he saw Jase, it lifted its head and bolted across the room to greet him.
It was a cross between a scoot and a trot; the long hair on his head bounced all over and his tail was wagging so fast his hindquarters were moving. Jase bent down and patted the top of his head a couple of times. The dog responded by licking the back of his hand.
Luis laughed. “He certainly does like you. I can’t get him out of bed before ten to go outside for a walk. He’s not very animated and there are times when I think he’s just plain obtuse.” For some reason, the word obtuse kept popping into his head that week. But that’s how it was with certain words. He’d hear them, use them until he couldn’t stand listening to them anymore, then stop. He wouldn’t use them again until they started popping into his head.
“I think he’s very bright,” Jase said. “I think you’re very bright, too.”
Luis rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to compliment my brain,” he said. “I’m not mad at you anymore.”
Jase stood up and followed Luis into the kitchen. He placed a large container of coffee on the counter and said, “It’s for you. I’ve already had mine.”
Luis tightened the thin string on his robe and took a few sips. He closed his eyes and inhaled the aroma. “This is heaven. You really are a prince, you know.”
“Have you seen the paper yet?” Jase asked and frowned. But he was speaking faster than he usually did, as if he couldn’t wait to tell Luis this news. “There’s an article on the second page about your friend, Derrick.”
Luis took another sip of coffee and smiled. “I know all about it,” he said. “It seems Derrick isn’t as nice a guy as I thought he was. Oh, he’s charming to be around and he knows how to make great conversation. But as it turns out, he’s just like all the others: a big piece of shit.” Luis was still smiling. He wanted Jase to know he wasn’t the least bit surprised by what Derrick had done and, more importantly, that it didn’t bother him at all.
Jase placed the newspaper down on the counter and opened it to the second page. He pointed to a small article and said, “Did you know good old Derrick was even thinking about getting married?”
“Not until yesterday,” Luis said. “A friend of mine called and told me. I learned a few more things I didn’t know, too.” His voice was light and carefree; the coffee was waking him up.
At first, when he’d heard Derrick was getting married, he’d been furious. Derrick didn’t even have the decency to call and tell him himself. But the feeling didn’t last for long. If there was one thing Luis knew, it was that there were plenty of older guys like Derrick out there. The problem was most of them were liars and they couldn’t be trusted.
“What sort of things?”
“As it turns out, old Derrick has to get married,” Luis said. “The woman he’s going to marry is a very wealthy older woman and she needs a companion. They’ll be the perfect couple.
Derrick hasn’t been doing as well in real estate as everyone thinks…or as he leads them to believe. With the state of the real estate market these days, he’s lost almost everything. His Park Avenue house is about to go into foreclosure and he’s in a great deal of debt. I’ve even heard some rumors he’s been doing a few illegal things, but I’m not sure I believe them. He’s a jerk, but he’s not a crook.”
“How could that happen?” Jase asked. “How could he pretend to be doing so well when he isn’t? I don’t get it.”