“I would have found you,” I whispered and gave him another hug.
“Yeah. Me too.”
We lay in silence and watched the lights twinkle on the tree. Nothing bad could happen to us as long as we were protected by a fir tree, right?
He gave a big sigh, then snuggled closer.
“There’s a happy ending, though.”
“Yeah?” I asked, rolling over to my side and throwing one leg over his. “How so?”
“I was here a couple of weeks, living in the Star’s storage room and looking for a place to stay when this older woman walked up to me and said, ‘You must be John. You look just like my little brother.’ Turns out she was my mother’s sister and owned this house. My aunt’s the black sheep of the family. Or maybe the black ewe?”
We giggled over that and tickled one another for a few minutes until he pushed me back.
“Anyway, I found a relative who loves me and accepts me. I lived downstairs in her guest room until she decided to move into the senior residence with her girlfriend.” He laughed abruptly. “Her lady friend? I don’t know what to call her. My aunt sold me the house for practically nothing and told me to get a handsome lodger who would knock me off my feet, just like in the romances she reads.”
“And you rented to me,” I said, knowing full well that handsome and I had never crossed paths, but glad that John and I had.
“I found my handsome prince.” He went up on one elbow, and his face loomed over mine. “But is he a frog or a prince, I wonder. I will just have to kiss him enough to find out.”
Our lips almost met when Ricky started shouting from downstairs. It sounded like someone was trying to kill him.
John and I jumped up, quickly putting on our shoes.
“Fuck. I gotta go. Leo dumped Ricky with me, and Ricky’s started to have nightmares.”
I grabbed a sweater from my bedroom and followed him.
He ran to my kitchen and into the pantry, to the locked door I thought led to the water heater and other utilities. He took out a set of keys and opened the door. Inside the room were not only the utilities to the right, but also on the left a stairway leading down to the first floor, into his kitchen.
Chapter 8
I followed him down the stairs, marveling that I hadn’t even guessed there was a way to get between our floors without going outside. Why’d he kept this a secret? Was he sneaking into my place while I wasn’t home? I doubted it. What did it matter anyway? What did I have to hide? Did he come up here to look at the tree? The thought made me almost smile.
Ricky had stopped shouting now, but I could hear his sobs. Then he started yelling again. “Help me! Somebody help me!” His voice was softer now, as if it were giving out.
I stood in the doorway of his bedroom and watched as John held him close even though Ricky seemed to be fighting him.
“Shhh. Shhh.” John crooned as he patted Ricky. “It’s okay. Johnny’s got you.”
Ricky was covered in sweat and still didn’t seem to be fully with it. I opened the window a little bit more and then slipped away to John’s bathroom to wet down a washcloth to cool off Ricky’s forehead. When I got back to the room, I handed it to John, who gave me a startled glance and then a nod and a slight smile. He seemed to be acknowledging that we were working together.
As Ricky settled into an uneasy pattern of whimpers and groans, I began to relax and was about to move nearer when someone pounded on the front door.
“If it’s Leo…” John began. He stopped to tighten his hold on Ricky, who had started fighting him again. As Ricky began sobbing and shouting, the pounding got louder. John turned to me. “Get rid of him. I can’t deal with him now.”
Sheriff Lloyd Campbell stood in the doorway, a grim look on his face. “What’s going on here? I was walking in the park next door and heard the shouting.”
“What? Nothing. We’re fine.” Ricky’s sobs had followed me from the bedroom. “It’s okay. We have it under control.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.” The sheriff pushed past me and strode toward where we could hear John trying to calm Ricky.
I followed Lloyd and nearly bumped into him as he stopped in the bedroom doorway. John looked up, surprise written on his face when his eyes stopped at Lloyd.
“This isn’t a good time, Sheriff.”
Ricky started screaming and fighting John again. “Don’t. Don’t let him touch me. Leave me alone. Help me. Help me!”
The agony in his voice filled the room. The sheriff took off his jacket and tossed it on the chair near the bed. Then he walked slowly up to Ricky. He carefully put his hand down on Ricky’s shoulder.
John stared at me, surprise and a question in his eyes. I had no clue what the sheriff was doing.
“John, why don’t you leave us alone for a minute? I’d like to talk to…?” His words ended in a question.
“His name’s Ricky.” John looked down at his friend. The blond heaved a
