“Ouch,” Diego said from where he was laying in the back, holding his stomach. “This hurts! Stop!”
“Oh, fuck, Tommy, you’re killing him in the back and my stomach feels like Godzilla punched it. What the fuck?”
Tommy wiped his eyes on his sleeve and told them both, “You two and your fucking tension! If it’s not murderous, it’s sexual. What’s up with you guys, really?”
The laughter died and Gary set his hands back on the wheel, ready to take off again.
Tommy reached over to stop him from placing the van into drive. “Really. Talk to me.”
“The way I figure it,” Diego started, “we displaced our anger and it had nowhere to go. It’ll calm itself.”
Tommy wasn’t buying that. Diego may be smarter than him, but he didn’t seem to be great at self-analysis. “Why don’t we talk about it when we get where we’re going. It can’t be safe to be out here on the side of the road.”
Gary nodded curtly, getting back on the road. If Tommy thought the quiet was bad before, it was nothing to after that conversation.
They passed by a few small towns, but Gary never slowed. When he said way south, he meant it. When they were over three hundred miles south of San Luis de la Paz, Gary finally stopped for gas.
“Tommy, you pump, okay?”
“Sure, Gary.”
The pump was old, numbers turning on wheels to show how much gas was being pumped instead of the digital he was used to. Gary was walking far from the van, his phone to his ear. Tommy figured he was finding out where they’d stay. When he took his eyes from Gary, he looked at Diego in the van. He was resting his head on his arm as he stared out into nowhere.
They were both acting crazy, totally unlike themselves. Diego never moped, never went so long without some kind of loving gesture in Tommy’s direction. He couldn’t blame him, though. He’d been kidnapped, his boyfriend was trying to choose between him and his ex…
Tommy was surprised he was sticking around at all.
Then there was Gary, and he had the best chance of making it on his own and there he was, taking care of the three of them.
His heart was torn, his head a mess and he needed to talk to someone about it. Seeing Gary speaking intensely on the phone told Tommy what he needed to do. Outside council, someone that was separate of the threesome they’d become to talk to that could help him sort out his raging feelings.
Once Gary was off the phone and the gas was pumped, they drove through the little town of Chiautla de Tapia. Tommy was still in awe, watching people from another country, how they lived, the completely different feeling there than he experienced in most places he’d been in the states. It was like a celebration, groups of people together, smiling, laughing, the scents of food cooking drifting through the open car windows. Gary stopped at a little outdoor market and together they picked out fresh fruits and vegetables, some jars of menudo, posole, and some chili sauces. Gary spoke to them easily, smiling with them as he made the purchases. The people were so accommodating, happy that he was buying their goods, shaking hands with him, Diego, and Tommy, showing them handmade clothing and shoes.
By the time they got through in the town, the back of the van was nearly full, and the townsfolk followed the van as it moved slowly toward the highway, waving, smiling in on them through the windows. Tommy felt like a celebrity.
With the full directions, Gary drove them down the highway another fifty miles, then turned off into nowhere. Tommy grew nervous at first, worried that Gary’s connections had turned on him and were leading them into the wilderness to be killed.
Diego seemed to share that suspicion. “Gary, you are truly sure of these people who are helping us?”
“I am, and I know what you’re both thinking right now. It’s better if we’re somewhere that they can’t easily find us. Mike and Daniel are talking to some of their associates to get us out of this, so until they do that, we should be as far from cameras and people as we can be.”
It made sense, but it didn’t alleviate his fears much.
Another ten miles passed before they came to the destination, and once they did, Tommy leaned forward, gasping at what he was seeing. “What the hell?”
The huge estate, Gary told him later was called a hacienda, had several buildings surrounded by a tall, thick terra cotta fence. The big house was two stories and spread out in the center, there was what looked to be a church, small, but stained glass and steeple unmistakable.
Diego got out and started walking around, in awe, like Tommy.
“This is an old plantation. They used to grow sorghum and sugarcane, and there are still avocado trees behind the servants quarters, my contact said. The big house isn’t very livable right now, but there is a house that is fully functional where the caretakers lived until the gentleman passed last year. That’s where we’ll be.”
Tommy was itching to explore the big house and church, but he promised himself that he’d have time to do that later. The one part he missed about robbing homes was simply seeing the different places where people spent their lives. Exploring, looking into closets and seeing a piece of the lives of the people who lived in the homes, he loved that.
They unloaded the van into the small house where they would be staying. There were two bedrooms, a nice, large kitchen with a wood burning stove and ice box. An actual ice box, where a large piece of ice would be stored in the center to keep the food cold as it slowly melted.
“Back in my thieving days, I would have wanted to steal this. This would go for a fortune.”
Gary asked, “Would have wanted to steal it?”
Tommy informed him bitterly, “All Lee was interested in was electronics and jewelry. He thought he was some big-time jewel thief. He was an idiot.”
“Sounds like.”
The house was simple, but still beautiful. The walls were painted brilliant colors of sun yellow, dark chocolate brown, turquoise, and the floors were shining cherrywood. The bathroom had an old-fashioned pull chain, the tank the same beautiful cherry as the floors, and the sink was a pump sink, the same as there was in the kitchen.
“He said there is plenty of water in the tanks. Used to be well water, but they changed it to tanks in the eighties or something.”
Diego asked Gary, “How does he or she know so much about this place?”
“His parents used to be the caretakers. This is where he sends a lot of people who need to hide out. The owner lived in Chile, he has no kids, so my connection may inherit the place.”
Diego nodded toward the servants’ homes, which were no bigger than shacks. “The indigenous lived there. They were basically slaves if I’m not mistaken.”
Gary gave him a nod and confirmed, “You’re not. They were as fucked up to them here as they were in the states. Still are, all up and down Central and South America.”
Tommy didn’t know anything about what they were talking about, barely understanding what indigenous meant.
Diego and Gary walked over to them, giving Tommy the leave he had wanted to go off by himself. Killing two birds with one stone, he headed first for the chapel, eager to explore, but he also took out his phone to call Daniel.
“Hey, Tommy, it’s so good to hear from you. We’ve been going nuts, worried. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we’re good. Well, physically, anyway. I’m just glad you gave me a secure phone, man, because if I couldn’t talk to someone right now, I’m not going to be so great.”
“Gary again?”
Huffing, Tommy reached the huge front doors of the chapel and placed a hand on one as he retorted, annoyed, “It’s both, Daniel, and if you are going to have your mind made up, pushing me to Diego instead of listening, then this conversation is going nowhere.”
“Sorry! I guess I just like Diego, but I’m here! I’m listening, I promise.”
The doors he stood in front of were thick wood, ornately carved with diminishing squares in rows of four, all the way from the top to the bottom. Tommy thought they
were the most beautiful doors he’d ever seen.
“Tommy?”
“Sorry, I’m exploring. This place is…I don’t know, magical.”
“Well, great, maybe it’ll turn Gary into a more loving and romantic guy or Diego into a rougher guy so you can have the best of both worlds in whoever you choose.”
Tommy sat on the step and laughed at that. “Actually, I might get the best of both worlds, if what’s in my head could happen. I mean, it’s insane and it would never work, but that never stopped me from dreaming, right?”
“What the fuck are you talking about? This situation has made you nuts.”
“I can’t argue with that. I…there seems to be something between Diego and Gary. I mean, I could be imagining it, but I don’t think so.”
“Hatred? The fact they want to kill each other?”
“No,” Tommy argued, picking a yellow wildflower and taking a sniff of the spicy scent of it. “I think they’re…I think they’re hot for each other.”
For a minute, Daniel didn’t respond, and when he did, it was a noise and not words. “Huh.”
“That’s it?”
Daniel chuckle and admitted, “Javi brought that up, that you three should just become a…what did he call it? Oh, a throuple.”
“What’s a throuple?”
“It’s a couple, but with three people. I thought he was crazy, but maybe you both have a point. That’s if they actually are hot for each other and it’s not you projecting what you’d like to happen.”
Tommy thought about that as he saw Diego walking around the other side of the courtyard. “I could be, I guess, but I don’t think so. Diego admitted something to us, after Gary pushed him into it. After that, Gary was sympathetic to him, and, I don’t know, something changed. Now, though, they feel it and they’re back to sniping at each other like two old women.”
“Huh.”
“Jesus, Daniel, can you give me more than huh? I have no clue what to do. You’re the smart one, tell me what to do.”
“You’re smart too, Tommy. You saw what was happening, and if you were as clueless as you credit yourself to be, you wouldn’t have noticed it at all. The only thing I can think of is turn them on, like make them crazy hot but don’t give either one of them any ass. Then, they’ll have to turn to each other to kill their blue balls.”
Sitting up straight, it was as if a bright light started shining over his head. “Are you a fucking genius or what?”
“Now, wait, Tommy. This could backfire on you and they may go back to wanting to kill each other. I know that Javi and me, we’d fucking kill anyone that got too close to the other, and Gary is a lot like that, as well. Gary’s Javi’s friend, yeah, but Diego is part of the Montello family, the consiglieri. If something happened to him with all this, and it was Gary that did it, we’d…”
“Have to take him out, I get it, Daniel.” He thought of the shot Diego had taken, taking out the driver of the jeep chasing Gary, and all he’d told them about his past and assured, “I think Diego can take care of himself. I’ll be careful, though, I swear.”
Chapter Twelve
Inside the chapel, Tommy felt like he was walking into another century. Over the pews and podium were sheets and tarps to keep them safe from the elements. It wasn’t huge, six pews on each side of the semi-circular room. The rounded part was the far end of the main area, and there was a ceiling to floor mosaic that surrounded two indentures, one with Jesus on the cross, the other with Mother Mary, right below her son.
The colors in the mosaic were beautiful shades of cobalt and deep greens. On the side of this was an organ that he saw once he took the tarp from the top of it, and once he saw it, he thought he could hear the organ music echoing in the domed room.
There were wooden crosses on either side of the podium and the upper area was separated from the pews by a railing that had more of the glass tiles used in the mosaic lining each spindle.
The stained-glass windows, two on each side, were biblical stories. One was the birth of baby Jesus, Mary gazing at her child in the manger while Joseph looked down on them. Another was Noah standing guard while the animals walked into the ark. The one that caught him, however, was where he stood and stared the longest. It was the story that hadn’t come to pass back in those times. It was revelation. He’d heard the stories so many time from his zealous grandparents he could recite them.
Michael, the archangel was in the glass, dressed in white robes, holding a sword high and ready to pierce Satan. Satan was horned and cloven hoofed in the glass, all black and menacing, wicked smile on his lips as if he wasn’t worried about the sword about to plunge into his heart.
With a shiver, Tommy tried to look away but stared a while longer before tearing himself from it to look at the other glass, the one much less intimidating of Adam and Eve in the garden.
He’d never been religious, far from it, but there, in that chapel, he thought he could feel an entity that was good and peace and everything he’d searched for his whole life. Maybe it was the room itself, or maybe there, where people once prayed for their most desperate needs and for those they loved, God really lived.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
He turned to see Diego walking slowly up the aisle, gazing all around him, but pointing to the beams that were arched over the ceiling. “The craftsmanship is amazing. This was built before power tools, so can you imagine the work that went into each part of this building?”
“I was just thinking that.”
Gary came in behind Diego and even his steps slowed, and his eyes moved around the room, taking in the quiet beauty. “Wow. This is intense.”
“I hope it’s okay that we’re in here, because I haven’t felt so mellow since this started,” Tommy whispered.
Diego nodded to him and agreed, “I hope so. I’d love to get some pictures of this place to hang in my house.”
“As long as it doesn’t show the location, I don’t see that to be a problem, and anywhere we want to go is fine, as long as we don’t take anything or fuck anything up. I told my friend we’d take care of a few things that need done here, if either of you can swing a hammer.”
“I’d love to help,” Tommy volunteered. “Anything. They’re saving our lives.”
“I’m up for it, too. Anything they need us to do.”
Gary didn’t meet Diego’s eyes but told him, “Thanks.” To Tommy, he avoided his stare, too. “You should get some rest, Tom. We really shouldn’t have to take watches, but I’d like to anyway. If you’re up for it, I’d like you on first watch.”
“Sure, Gary, whatever you need.”
It gave him time to think, so it was perfect. Regrettably leaving the chapel, he went into the little house, seeing more of the beauty of it since seeing the chapel. The walls were thick, keeping out the stifling heat, but more than that, they were full of color, of texture. He was used to flat drywall with a coat of white or beige paint. The walls of the homes there, in this colorful country, were alive, like they absorbed the happiness of the people inside the home. There were gentle arches between rooms, not closed doors, and when there was a door, it was thick and beautiful, not some rectangle of hollow wood.
The beds in both bedrooms were high, stairs next to them to climb on top of the thick mattress. The bedspread on the one in the room he chose was a bright, rust orange with blue and deep green pillows covering the top half. There were rugs on each side that matched the colors of the bed. It was like heading to sleep in a garden, the colors were so alive.
He didn’t plan to fall asleep when he lay on the bed, but it was so comfortable, he couldn’t help it. The stress and exhaustion hitting him and carrying him to a deep, relaxed sleep.
****
Gary got on the phone with Javi, hoping to have good news. “Tell me you have a plan.”
“I do. Well, we do, as a collective. Mike has some great friendships with other families. They’re stepping in to try to work out a deal. Even they said they probably see
the money as being stolen from them and will want one or all of you as an example to anyone else thinking of stealing.”
“Yeah, and Crowley sticking his nose in, likely egging them on, that can’t be helping.”
“We’ll soon see. It’ll take a few days to get ahold of them and work shit out. Are you safe? You have everything you need?”
“We have weapons, food, and a place to lay our heads. We’re fine.”
“Good, then I can get on to the rest of it. How are you and the other two you’re with? Are you ready to kill Diego?”
“We’ve had this conversation, Javi. I know he’s important to your organization. I’m not killing him.”
Javi was chuckling, but Gary didn’t see the humor. “Good. And Tommy?”
The name alone sent waves of heartache through him. “I’m no good for him, Javi. It’s one of the biggest reasons I left in the first place. Look what happened seeing him again? His fucking life’s in danger.”
“He’s the bodyguard of a mafia don. You don’t think his life will always be in danger? You love him. I had the same reservations with Daniel, but it worked out. Why? Because we made it work out. We are still working things out.”
“Good for you, but you were also ready, Javi. I wasn’t, and I doubt I am now.”
“You’re fooling yourself, but you’ll learn, Gary. I only wish you the peace and happiness you deserve, buddy. I love you, man. Take care of yourself while you’re trying to keep Tommy safe. I know you want to do anything you can, but remember, you have people who care about you, too.”
“That list is getting shorter all the time, Javi, but I get you. I love you too, papi.”
“Shut up,” he laughed. “Talk to you soon.”
“The sooner the better.”
When he ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket, he saw Diego wandering the grounds.
The gardens hadn’t been kept up as well as they probably once were, but the caretakers had done a pretty amazing job of it, nonetheless. There were roses, which were not easy to grow in the intense heat that could befall the area. Organ pipe cactus lined the terra cotta wall, golden barrel cactus, agave, and yucca in front of those. Brahea trees with their fanned fronds gave shade over the perfectly placed wrought iron and wood benches and bistro tables.
Tug of War (Legacy Book 5) Page 10