Christmastime at Papa Lee's

by N. J. Nielsen

  Casey gazed up toward the darkened ceiling and wondered if his mother was looking down on him. Would she be proud of the man he had become? Or would she have acted more like Astrid had? Though with Astrid he’d sensed early on how she wanted him out of the way. His existence didn’t fit into her image of what a happy family should be. To his stepmother, he was an abomination and always would be. He knew people could be cruel and say things to hurt you, but what hurt more was the fact his father didn’t have it in him to stand up for his own son.

  Malcolm Chambers had stood there and watched his eldest son walk away.

  Apparently Astrid had informed his family of his “deviant” behavior, and he felt he lost most of them as well. In the first week of being homeless, more than one family member had shut their door in his face. After it happened numerous times, he decided not to try anymore, because it would only have caused him more heartache.

  His thoughts came back to the here and now as his new roommate entered the bedroom and made his way toward the bed. He shivered as much from the feel of cool air creeping in with the movement of the quilts covering him as he did from the realization he was about to spend the night in another man’s bed.

  “I’ll try not to hog the blankets. I’m not used to sharing,”

  Marty admitted as he made himself comfortable. Casey sighed as he rolled onto his side and faced the other man. “And I’ll try and keep my hands to myself.”

  The thought of Marty’s hands on him had his body instantly reacting, and he was once again glad there was something covering him making sure his prominent hard-on wasn’t on display. They fell into a comfortable silence before sleep came and claimed them both.

  § § §

  Marty moaned as the heat pressing against his front snuggled closer into his chest as if it were trying to crawl inside his body.

  He lifted his head and stared blearily at the clock, trying to work out what goddamn time it was and why he was awake. His hand clamped down on the hip in front of him as he concentrated enough to see it was way too early to be awake. Sleepily he dropped his head back to his pillow, released the hip and slid his arm around his bed partner, pulling him back firmly against his chest. Snuggling closer he buried his nose in the mane of long black hair and then froze.

  Black hair.

  Long black hair.

  Slowly he lifted himself up again, peered at the vision wrapped in his arms and just about pissed himself in amazement. How could he have completely forgotten he brought Casey home with him last night? How the hell was Casey going to react if he woke to find Marty wrapped around him? Extracting himself slowly from the bed, he quickly dressed and headed out to the kitchenette to make himself some much-needed coffee. After his first extra strong cup of the day, he’d be able to think straight enough to figure everything out. He wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to live in such close quarters with Casey and not be allowed to touch, because, boy, did he want to touch. Who wouldn’t? The man was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, but that didn’t give him the right to grope him in his sleep. The sad part was, Casey looked perfect sleeping in his bed. Was it wrong to want to keep him there permanently? He was lost in his thoughts when he sensed he was no longer alone.

  “Is there enough coffee left in the pot for me?” Casey asked, he was moving from foot to foot like he was nervous.

  “At home, I drink instant. The coffee pot’s not long been boiled. There’s tea in the cupboard over the toaster if you would prefer that instead. I can’t promise there’s green tea, but there’ll be some kind in there.” He knew he was babbling and couldn’t help himself. Babbling was a nervous reaction for him. He could see a lot of babbling happening in his future.

  “Thanks.”

  They were interrupted by a knock at the front door. Who in the world could that be? Glancing at the clock, he thought it was way too early for it to be his family, but maybe his ma wanted to make sure everything was okay.

  When he opened the door, he found his mother standing outside and stepped aside to let her in. In her hands she held a pan full of scrambled eggs. She walked over and placed it on the sink before speaking.

  “I made you both some breakfast.” She pointed at Marty.

  “Go and get Casey some socks to wear. He shouldn’t be walking around in bare feet in this weather. Find him a beanie too. Haven’t I told you often enough the heat escapes your body through your head and your feet?”

  She waited for him to return before she began dishing up three plates of food. “We’ll have to go in early; we need to organize uniforms and paperwork for Casey. If he works out, we’ll want him to learn as much as possible. Your father has decided there’ll be a staff meeting, and we’ll all be assigned set shifts from now on. Sonny will be on opens permanently, especially as he is more creative cooking-wise in the mornings. This will give him the evenings at home with his family. You’ll be on closing, seeing as you are a night owl anyway. This shouldn’t be too difficult for you to adjust to. Your dad, being the baker, will stay on starts, and I’ll go where I’m needed the most. And after what happened, your father suggested Casey be on your shift. He doesn’t want you locking up alone anymore, especially because we know you send the staff home early while you stay back and tally up the till.”

  The amount of information being thrown at him was overwhelming. Had his parents been thinking on this for a while or had they decided this after the talk last night? He nodded whenever his ma took a breath and started eating. He noticed Casey was sitting in stunned silence as well. He got so lost in staring across the table at Casey that he didn’t even realize his mother had spoken to him until he felt her smack him on the arm.

  “Sorry, what?”

  “I said, ‘This morning you’ll need to take Casey to retrieve his belongings.’ I’m sure there’re a few things he would like to keep.”

  Casey nodded as he sipped on his mug of tea. “There are a few things, some mine and some things which I inherited after Abe died. They aren’t worth much but they mean a lot to me.”

  “Okay.” Marty nodded in agreement.

  After they finished their breakfast, his ma shooed them out of the house saying she would clean up while he took Casey to grab his stuff. Part of him held a morbid curiosity to see where Casey called home for the last three years. The other part of him felt ashamed that while he lived in modest comfort Casey had it hard. He drove slowly, following the directions given to him, and by the sound of his companion’s voice, he knew Casey was dreading Marty seeing his home.

  “No matter what, I won’t judge you by where you lived. I like you for the young man I got to know this past year, the man who came and always sat inside my service area.”

  Casey nodded. “It’s near those yellow dumpsters. If you stop on the other side of them, there’s an opening kind of hidden behind them.”

  Pulling to a stop and turning off the car, Marty pulled the keys from the ignition before he turned and reached for Casey’s hand. He linked their fingers and said, “Your circumstances don’t define the man you are. No matter what anyone says, only you can let other people bring you down. I don’t care that you’ve lived on the streets. To me that’s neither here nor there. What I care about is how you’re a good person. You’re polite, you dress cleanly… And it doesn’t hurt that you’re totally hot as hell.” He chuckled at the shocked look on Casey’s face. Giving his hand one last squeeze, he let go and climbed out of the car.

  As he followed Casey into his hidey-hole, he saw the tension escalating in the tightness of Casey’s stance. He had to keep himself from gaping at how little there really was in there: a folded pile of blankets in one corner, a few well-worn books lined the base of another wall, and two milk crates that held clothes and the other personal belongings Casey owned.

  “I told you there wasn’t much,” Casey said as he stacked the books into the top of the milk crates. He handed one crate to Marty and carried the other himself as they made their way back out to the car. Marty could s
ee the shame in Casey’s eyes, and he didn’t like it. Here was a young man who had survived the best way he could with the hand life dealt him.

  In that moment, Marty knew he was going to do whatever it took to make Casey happy.

  Chapter Three

  Three weeks had passed since Casey had moved in with him.

  Three weeks in which his dick was threatening to fall off from the amount of times he was forced to take himself in hand with the need to relieve some of his tension. At work Casey, whose real name turned out to be Kevin — go figure — was a great asset.

  The customers loved him. At first some were a little intimidated by his looks, but as they got to know him, he became a favorite for many. After a while, the fact he wore a little make-up and nail polish didn’t even faze them at all. Marty could have done without witnessing the flirting from some of the male customers, but customers flirting came with the territory of being a waiter.

  He even had a few people flirt with him but nowhere near as many as Casey seemed to be getting.

  Where he was having the most problems was at home. The more Casey got comfortable, the more he turned Marty on, and his whole family warned him not to screw the new guy. They all knew he had feelings for the younger man, but if it came to a choice of him screwing Casey and Casey leaving if things didn’t work out or him not screwing Casey and Casey working at the café, he knew what his family and the rest of the staff wanted.

  Reluctantly, Marty had agreed to keep his dick in his pants.

  At the time, he hadn’t realized how hard that promise was going to be to keep.

  The amount of time he spent hiding out in his own bedroom was starting to take an unwanted but foreseeable toll on their friendship. Casey was pulling further away from him. With each new day that passed there was a touch more distance between them, and Marty didn’t know how to make it better. His family had taken to questioning him about it, but what could he say?

  They would never believe the truth. How could he explain he was only doing what they had asked of him?

  Sitting at a vacant table, he folded extra napkins for the next rush. Keeping busy was one of the ways he was able to cope, but with each burst of laughter from across the room, he drowned a little more. A table of young men sat there, and he knew since Casey began working here they had come in most nights, always sitting in Casey’s service area. Tonight was no different. An ache started somewhere behind his heart as he listened to Casey joking around with them. One of these days, he knew Casey would end up accepting one of their offers, and wasn’t that going to hurt like a bitch?

  “Are you okay?”

  Pasting a smile on his face, he turned to Deidre and said, “I’m fine. What could possibly be wrong?”

  “Marty, we’ve been friends for far too long for you to get much past me. I see how you watch Casey. Also, I’ve seen how much he watches you. You’re both making yourselves miserable and for what?” she hissed as she leaned closer to him.

  “You know why. You agreed right along with the rest of the staff that Casey and I should only be friends. I’m only doing what you all asked. What more do you want from me?” The pain behind the truth of his words swamped him. “I’m too scared to even live in my own home for fear he’ll see how I really feel about him.”

  He slammed the folded napkins back into the container and stood. “I’m going to take my break while I still can. I’ll be out back. Call me if more customers come in.”

  “Marty!”

  With his back to her, he shook his head. He couldn’t bring himself to speak as he left. Maybe the freezing cold would put a damper on his pent-up feelings. He hated the uncertainty of it all. His mood swings were getting worse, and he knew it; but he didn’t know what he could do to change things.

  The moment he stepped outside, he realized he had forgotten his coat, but he was too much of a stubborn jackass to go back in and grab it. Rubbing his arms and pacing the confines of the small parking lot, he cursed up a blue streak, unaware he wasn’t alone. One minute he was arguing with himself, and the next he was face first in the snow being kicked and punched from many different directions. He didn’t know which was worse: the frozen ground beneath him seeping through his clothes, slowly numbing his body or the sharp pain he felt each and every time a blow connected with his body. For some strange reason, it seemed funny. Laughter bubbled from somewhere deep inside him as he lay there no longer caring if he was protecting himself. He didn’t want to hear all the names they called him. Nothing mattered any more. The more he laughed, the more vicious the blows seemed to become. In the end, he was grateful when darkness came for him. Hopefully, this time his pain and heartache would end.

  He was cold, so fricken cold. Maybe he should have gone back for the coat after all, he thought as the night faded around him.

  § § §

  Casey stood staring at the back door. Marty had gone on his break nearly forty-five minutes ago. He should have been back by now. He was biting his lip and deciding whether or not to go out and confront him on what was happening between them. He wanted to know why the hell Marty didn’t want to be with him anymore. His mind was made up when Deidre gave him a small nudge from behind.

  “Go. The night isn’t getting any younger. The sooner you talk it out with him, the sooner you can be at home having hot monkey sex all over the apartment you both live in.”

  Nodding, he pulled on his coat and grabbed Marty’s. What the hell was the crazy-ass fool doing outside without his coat for this long? Didn’t he know he could end up with pneumonia? Pushing open the door, he stepped into the night and inhaled sharply.

  Something was wrong! He could feel it in his bones. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness he began scanning the lot. Where was Marty? The car was still there so he knew the man hadn’t left, but the feeling of wrongness had the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. He heard laughter from somewhere off to the side and walked toward the sound.

  By the time he rounded the wall, there was no one in sight.

  All he found was a broken and bleeding Marty lying in the snow.

  “Marty!” Dropping to his knees in the snow, he was too afraid to touch the guy. He wasn’t sure where he could touch him without hurting Marty even more than he already was. Casey tore off his coat and laid both his and Marty’s over the prone body as he raced back to the café. Slamming through the back door, he yelled for them to call an ambulance and the Lees. Grabbing more coats, he ran back and laid them on Marty, not caring that they belonged to the other staff members, nor did he care they were getting covered in blood. Marty’s need for them was greater.

  Tears freely flowed down his cheeks as he crooned to the guy he had fallen in love with. Why would someone hurt him like this? He didn’t think Marty had harmed anyone in his whole life.

  Marty was one of the good guys who went out of their way to help others. This wasn’t fair. He sat there in the freezing cold and waited. There was no way he was leaving until he knew Marty was going to be all right, but looking at the man, he knew that wasn’t going to be the case. There was way too much blood!

  He hadn’t even realized the ambulance had arrived until someone tried to move him out of the way. He fought to stay where he was until he finally heard Sonny’s voice beside him.

  “Casey, you have to move; the paramedics need get Marty into the ambulance. Come on.” Casey allowed himself to be pulled up off the ground. “The police will want to talk to you.”

  Confusion filled him. Why would the police want to talk to him? Did they think he was the one who did this to Marty? “I didn’t do this,” he said not even realizing he had spoken out loud until Sonny answered him.

  “No one thinks you had anything to do with this. The police think it may be a follow-up crime from the beating he received not too long ago.” The anger in Sonny’s voice was evident. “Whoever did this better hope the police find out who they are before I do.”

  “Why would they hurt him? I don’t understand why someon
e would have done this.” His insides were screaming at him. He lurched to the side and dropped to his knees as everything he had eaten that day came back up. When he had finished he felt Sonny beside him caressing his back, trying to ease him, and he felt grateful. Thankfully he didn’t have to go through this all by himself.

  The night dragged on, and somewhere along the line, one of the staff informed him the Lees had closed the restaurant and were heading to the hospital. The police grilled him over and over, asking the same questions. Each time he couldn’t give them the answers they wanted. He didn’t know what happened or who would do this. He stood there numbly as he felt someone grab his arm and lead him toward one of the cars. It was only when he was inside that he registered Catherine had buckled him into the seat. She walked around the car and climbed in beside him, and as she took his hand, he realized she was trembling as much as he was.

  “He’s going to be all right. There’s no way in hell my boy will be taken from me,” Graeme said brokenly as he slammed his hand against the dash. They then drove to the hospital Marty where had been taken.

  He couldn’t help but cling to Catherine as they entered the hospital and were directed where to go. He knew this was going to be the hardest thing to bear — the having to wait to hear exactly how bad everything was and how much damage had been done to Marty. The tears falling from his eyes were a mixture of shock and pain for Marty. Why hadn’t he walked out earlier? Maybe if he had then Marty wouldn’t now be lying there, probably needing to go in for surgery if there was any major damage. Casey leaned forward and placed his head on his knees, trying to understand and get through the stupidity of it all.