“Think about your future. What does he have to offer you? He’s a tattoo artist and he lives above his business in a tiny apartment. And he’s crude.”
Eli shook his head. He knew his father wouldn’t understand.
“And you have absolutely nothing in common.” At least he didn’t say that Dimitri was too old for him. “He’s a violinist.”
“He was a violinist, but he had to give it up because his family was too poor to keep up the classes,” his father said.
“How do you know all this?”
“I have my ways.”
That meant he had Dimitri investigated.
“Being poor does not make him a bad fellow. So he’s had a hard life. Most people have.”
“You haven’t,” Ambrose said. “But you will if you don’t end this relationship.”
At least he wouldn’t starve or be homeless if his father disowned him. Lucky for him, his inheritance from his maternal grandfather kicked in on Eli’s eighteenth birthday. He should be able to support himself until he graduated from college and secured a job. His other inheritance didn’t kick in until he turned twenty-five. He supposed Dimitri would either leave him when he found out just how much he’d be worth then, or stay with him and enjoy the ride. Either way he didn’t care just as long as they were happy. “I can handle this,” Eli insisted. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you want to give your mother a heart attack?” No, he did not go there. “No. Does she know?”
“Not yet,” Ambrose said. “Your mother loves you. What will it do to her when her friends find out that you’re gay?”
“I don’t really care about what a bunch of old women think.”
“You should. And what about your career? Do you think that the world is ready for a gay violinist?”
Eli pouted. His father was being so unfair. “I’ll be discreet.”
“You might be, but your friends won’t be. Trey couldn’t wait to tell me. I won’t say I wasn’t shocked at first, but I consider myself very liberal when it comes to sexuality.”
“Trey is just jealous that I have no interest in him.”
Ambrose cleared his throat.
“Would you have liked it better if I had hooked up with him?”
“At least his father is a lawyer, not the town wino.”
“That’s so not fair.”
“I offered Miller money to stay away from you,” Ambrose finally said.
Eli moved to the edge of his chair. “What? You didn’t?”
“Yes, I did. You are my son, and I will do anything to protect you.”
“Dimitri can’t be brought.”
Ambrose raised an eyebrow. “Oh, no? Everyone has his price.” What did that mean? Did Dimitri take the money? Did he leave him? Funny, he hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days. “How much?”
“One million dollars,” Ambrose said.
Eli groaned. Damn.
Chapter Seven
Dimitri stared down at the check. One million dollars. He still couldn’t fathom that amount of money. Granted, he loved Eli, but a million dollars could mend his broken heart. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t called him in two weeks, and he supposed by now Eli must have found out what his father had done.
Dimitri rose from the couch, upset that he had allowed Eli’s father to turn him into the type of person he despised most of all, someone motivated by money. He’d never been like that and he didn’t know what possessed him to accept the check. Still, he hadn’t cashed it.
That should mean something. Dimitri walked into his kitchen and got a beer. No, it did not change the fact that he accepted it. Poor Eli must be so upset and so angry at him. One minute he’d professed his love to him and the next he just took the money and walked out on him. Eli didn’t deserve to be treated that way, especially since he had been the one to seduce him and take his cherry. If it hadn’t been for him, Eli would probably be a happy teen entering his first year of college.
Now, his friends had deserted him, and the two men in his life that he thought he could trust had deceived him.
He walked back into the living room and sat down. He never figured that Eli’s father would be a snob. The man had turned his nose up at his apartment and at his tattoos. Just because he had money did not mean that he was better than him, just had better advantages.
Yet, he could understand what the man felt from a father’s perspective. Eli was his only child and a father needed to make sure that a child would be taken care of. Right now he could not do anything financially for Eli, but it would not always be that way. He planned to be useful to him in the future. He had dreams beyond being a tattoo artist. In fact, he’d been thinking seriously of returning to music or perhaps giving art another shot.
He got up again and walked over to his violin. Dimitri took down the case and blew the dust from it. Then he opened and removed the violin and bow. He placed the instrument under his chin and began to play. The beautiful music filled his tiny apartment. Afterwards he wiped a tear from his eye, amazed that the instrument still sounded so sweet after all these years, and that he hadn’t lost his skill. Granted, he wasn’t orchestra material, but perhaps he could start out small by performing in some of the local clubs. He and Greer had been part of a group once when they were teens. Greer played a mad set of drums.
Dimitri smiled. Maybe he’d like to get their act together again. He’d run it past him later.
Dimitri put the instrument back into the case and placed it on the shelf. He liked the idea of performing in front of a crowd again.
Maybe he would speak to Mr. Dubisson and get his opinion. Surely he
