The Truth of Yesterday

by Josh Aterovis

  He stared into my eyes for several seconds before answering. “I don't know. I guess that remains to be seen. Any other questions, sir?”

  “What? You know everything about me; I'm just trying to learn more about you.”

  “You know everything that's important. You know I love you. You know I want to be with you. What more do you need?”

  “Um, how about a written guarantee? Completely satisfied or my money back.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “I'll satisfy you, you little twerp,” he said as he threw his leg over my lower body and began to tickle me.

  I laughed, wiggled, and writhed under him as I gasped for breath. “Stop!” I finally managed to shout. He collapsed on top of me where we both panted and giggled.

  “If anyone walked in right now they'd never believe that you were just tickling me,” I wheezed.

  “We are fully clothed you know,” Micah pointed out. He sat up and reached into his pocket.

  “I have something for you,” he said as he pulled out a small gray jewelry box.

  “Oh, is that what I felt? You mean you weren't just happy to be lying on top of me?” I asked without taking my eyes off of the box.

  “Oh, I was quite happy to be there. I'm sure what you felt was the real thing. This is just something I bought for you. I was going to give it to you no matter what you decided. If we broke up, it was something to remember me by. If we didn't, then…well, here.”

  I took the box gingerly and held it in my lap, half afraid to open it. “Always prepared. You'd make a good boy scout.”

  “Except for the fact that I'm gay. Open it, please.”

  I looked down apprehensively at the box. What if it was a ring? I wasn't ready for that. With a sigh, I tentatively pried open the lid and felt all my anxiety drain away. Nestled against the silvery gray lining lay a beautiful rainbow pendant on a delicate silver chain. The pendant was in the shape of an inverted triangle outlined in silver with the rainbow colors in the middle.

  “I went with silver because you don't seem like the gold type,” Micah said softly. “It's a pride necklace.”

  “I've never seen one so beautiful.”

  “I hope you like it. I've never seen you wear anything like it, but I saw it in the store and…”

  “I love it.” I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

  “Want me to put it on you?”

  “Please?”

  He took the box from my hands and freed the necklace. He fiddled with the clasp until it opened, then moved around behind me on the bed and put it around my neck. It lay perfectly in the hollow at the base of my throat.

  “Stand up so I can see,” he said in my ear.

  With a little shiver, I did as he asked.

  “You look incredible,” he said with a sexy smile.

  “So do you.”

  “It's a shame to let all this go to waste. What do you think about heading over to the Inferno?”

  The Inferno was a local gay dance club. It was back in the country in the last place you'd expect to find a club of any sort, let alone a gay one. We'd been a few times and I'd been delighted to discover that I loved to dance and was actually pretty good. While I was technically underage, Micah knew the bouncer, a bulldog of a drag queen named Carmen, and I was allowed entrance without a word. I jumped at the chance to go dancing. I left a note for Adam telling him where Kane and I were so he wouldn't worry, and then we left.

  If you didn't know what you were looking for, you would have never suspected that the unassuming two-story cinder-block building surrounded by a few pine trees and acres of field was anything other than a warehouse or something similar. From the outside, it was quite unremarkable, no paint on the walls and no windows to speak of. A small inconspicuous sign above the large black metal door declared this to be the Inferno. The gravel parking lot was full of cars, typical of a Friday night.

  Next to the door, under an overhang, a podium had been set up with a high bar stool behind it. On the stool sat Carmen. No one who has ever met Carmen will likely ever forget her. She was very large, for one thing, she easily topped out at six foot six without her heals-which must have added at least another three inches-and she was built like a tank. Her square face would never be described as pretty, or even attractive. She compensated for her lack of looks with an abundance of make-up and hair big enough to have its own zip code. Tonight the wild wig she had chosen to sport was approximately the same shade of pink as Pepto-Bismol. Her silver sequined ankle length dress was a few sizes too small, but it was all pulled together by the pink feather boa draped around her shoulders. Her trademark mirror-ball earrings dangled from her ears. I couldn't see her shoes but I knew from previous trips that I could have used them as skis. While the Eastern Shore wasn't the most liberal part of the state, rednecks and country bumpkins abounded, no one ever feared any trouble with Carmen on duty. I'd heard rumors that she kept a large pistol somewhere on her person and that she knew how to use it. I didn't doubt it for a second.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite boys,” she said waving a large red lollipop around.

  “You say that to all the boys,” Micah said with a grin.

  “You know it, honey. So Micah, darling, are you still running around with this baby?”

  “He has a name, Carmen.”

  “I know your name, don't I, Killian baby?” she said waving the lollipop under my nose. I noticed it was shaped like a penis.

  “Hi, Carmen.”

  “The baby speaks. He is a pretty one; I have to give you that. Just be sure you hide him if the big bad police ever happen to show up.”

  “I promise,” Micah responded with a grin. He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me into the Inferno. The name was fitting. The noise may have been the first thing to hit you as you entered, but the heat was close behind. Once your eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and flashing strobes, a cacophony of sight and sound awaited you. Multi-colored light flashed, laser lights sliced through the air like light sabers, fog machines created so much haze that you almost had to feel your way along the dance floor where a multitude of male bodies gyrated, bumped and grinded to the heavy beat of the dance music blasting from every angle. Sweat and glitter sparkling on the dancers' skin created a dizzying and mesmerizing effect.

  The décor was simple; it had an industrial look with almost everything being made of shiny black metal. Chimney-like columns were spaced at regular intervals around the room with flames spouting from them, not real flames, but amazingly realistic fire made from a light gauzy material lighted from below and blown up-wards by fans. Spiral staircases led to a wide metal grid catwalk that went around the whole room and looked down on the dance floor. Tiny pedestal-like tables sat near the walls, each with four stools bolted down around it.

  I was always in awe of this place; it was so foreign to anything I'd ever seen before. Everywhere I looked there were guys kissing, touching, dancing, and laughing. It was a euphoric feeling.

  “Ready to dance?” Micah yelled into my ear, the only way I could even possibly hear him over the din.

  “Hell yeah!” I responded with a shout.

  A few hours later, we slipped out the door into the fresh, cool air outside. The party was still going strong inside, but I was completely exhausted. Dancing is strenuous exercise and don't let anyone ever tell you different.

  “With all that heavy breathing you two could at least be naked,” Carmen commented lazily.

  “Don't you ever want to be inside?” I asked. I think it was the first thing I'd ever said to her besides hello.

  “In there? Are you kidding?” she said with a laugh, “Honey, I'm way too old for such foolishness. I'd throw out a hip or something. No, I'm content to just sit here and breathe in the ambiance of youth and beauty.”

  “Oh come on,” Micah scoffed, “We both know you could dance circles around most of those guys in there. You're healthy as a horse.”

  “And just as big,” she said
as she produced a cigarette from her cleavage and lit up. “Now you boys run along, it must be past the baby's bedtime.”

  “Yes, mother,” I said with a grin and started for the car.

  “Sassy one, isn't he?” Carmen shot after us.

  Micah chuckled as he trotted to catch up to me. “Did you sneak one of my drinks again tonight?” he asked, referring to the first time he'd taken me to the Inferno and I'd been so nervous I'd fortified myself with his drink before hitting the dance floor. “I've never seen you so playful with Carmen.”

  “Nope, all I drank was the bottled water you got me. I just figured if she was going to dish it, she could take it. Hey, remember our first date when you promised me if I went out with you again you'd tell me who Carmen really was?”

  “I did?”

  “Yeah, you did.”

  “Well, I lied.”

  “No fair! You promised!”

  “You're the detective, you figure it out.”

  “I hate when people tell me that.”

  * * *

  I was at the office again the next day, plugging away at the stack of paperwork that kept building up on my desk, when Judy swept in as only Judy could. Judy Davis is a slender, attractive woman with deceptively normal appearance. She was a far cry from the person I'd first met several years ago. She'd had long, brilliant red hair and favored a look that could be the most closely described a Morticia Adams chic. I'd found out later that the look had only been affected to intimidate her brother-in-law.

  These days, her look was much more low-key. She wore her straight blonde hair cut off bluntly just above her shoulders and tucked behind her ears. She was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans and looked like she'd come from working in her garden, which she probably had. She took a great deal of deserved pride in the tiny, but exquisite flower gardens she had created in just the few short months she and her son Jake had been living in the small house she'd bought after she moved here from California. She had another son named Dash who was currently studying abroad in Australia. To look at her, you would have never guessed she was the mother of two.

  “Hi Judy,” I greeted her. “Novak is out on his case.” Judy and Novak, a widower, had been dating for a few months now and she occasionally dropped in to see him unexpectedly.

  “I know. Actually, I'm not here to see Shane; I'm here to see you,” she said.

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you. I need to talk to you about Jake.”

  For a brief time, way back before Asher and I started dating, Jake and I had almost become boyfriends. I'd ended up choosing Asher and Jake and I ended up as just friends. We were barely even that these days, though, so I couldn't imagine why Judy wanted to talk to me about him.

  “What about Jake?”

  “Well,” Judy grabbed one of the chairs that sat against the walls and dragged it over to my desk. After she settled into it, she went on, “I'm worried about him. I think he may be doing drugs.”

  “Oh, well, I really wouldn't know. We don't talk that much anymore.”

  “I didn't expect you to know. That's not why I'm here. I want you to find out.”

  “Huh?”

  “I want to hire you to find out what's going on in Jake's life.”

  “Hire me?”

  “He won't talk to me. I've asked him, he won't say a word. I know things have been hard for him since Tom and Janice died, but we've always been able to talk, at least we could before we moved back here. I'm beginning to think that it was a mistake.”

  Tom and Janice were the people Jake had grown up thinking were his parents. They'd both died a couple years ago and Jake had gone to live with his birth mother, Judy, in California. They'd moved back to the Shore earlier this year. My mind was still on the fact that Judy wanted to hire me.

  “But wait,” I interrupted her, “What about Novak, why don't you just hire him?”

  “I think that would be make things just a little too awkward. I mean, I'm seeing Shane and there's already enough tension between the two of them as it is. Shane thinks I let Jake get away with too much, but he is almost 17, I can't baby him anymore.”

  “But you can hire someone to follow him around?”

  “Oh don't sound so judgmental, Killian. If he'd talk to me, I wouldn't have to do this. He's my son; I'm worried sick about him. I've been having…feelings-premonitions, whatever you want to call them-that he is in danger. I don't know what sort of danger but I need to know something. Please, will you do this for me? As a favor? Not that I won't pay you.”

  “I don't know…”

  “Please, Killian. It would mean a lot to me.”

  “I just don't feel comfortable following my friend around. I mean, I'm not even that good at this. I'm still learning.”

  “Poppycock. Shane says you're a natural, that you're the best he's ever seen even without training. I know you can do this, and I know you'll do it well because you care for Jake too. If he's involved with drugs, or something else illegal, his life could be in danger. If you refused to help me and something happened to him, how would you feel?”

  Great, now I get a guilt trip. She was right, though. I knew if anything happened to Jake after I turned her down, I'd never forgive myself. I sighed.

  “Ok, I'll do it.”

  “Thank you, Killian. But there's one more thing.”

  “What's that?” I said warily.

  “I want you to keep this quiet.”

  “Of course.”

  “I mean from Shane.”

  “You don't want me to tell Novak?”

  “No. Not yet. Let's see what's going on first.”

  “It's not good to keep things from the person you're dating,” I said stubbornly. I didn't like the idea of trying to hide an investigation from Novak.

  “Killian, darling, as much as I appreciate your concern, I don't really need dating advice. I mean that in the kindest possible way. I know you don't like keeping things from Shane but you'll have to trust me that it's best for now.”

  “Fine,” I agreed rather grouchily. At least now I knew why'd she'd come into to talk to me while she knew Novak would be out.

  “Please don't be upset with me. You'll understand later.”

  “Whatever. How do you want me to start? Stalk him?”

  She sighed. “He gets out of school at two-thirty. I don't know where he goes after that. He doesn't come home some nights until eight or later. There've been a few nights when he didn't come home at all. When I ask him where he was, he just tells me not to worry about it. If I get angry, he tells me to mind my own business. I grounded him but it didn't faze him in the least.”

  “Can't you take his car away from him?”

  “I could, but I know he'd just find another way and at least this way I know he's the one driving. If he is into drugs, I have to say I've never seen him high or out of control when he gets home.”

  “So what makes you think drugs? You said earlier that it could be something else illegal. Like what?”

  “I don't even know. I just had a feeling it involved drugs. I have no real evidence besides his erratic behavior, which could, I guess, just be teenage rebellion. Although God knows I didn't have any problems like this with Dashel.”

  “Was Dash the perfect son?”

  Judy snorted. “No, Dash wasn't perfect, but we could talk about anything. And he was never openly rebellious, never really into drugs or drinking. He's Gifted too, you know. Very much so, in fact, and quite in control of his Gifts-at least as much as one can control them. Sometimes I think he's in better control than I am. How are you coming with yours?”

  “I'm not,” I said tersely. “Back to Jake…”

  “Killian, you know you really should learn more about your Gifts. I think they are very strong.”

  “I'm not interested.”

  “But you simply must! They can be dangerous if left untrained, but they can be a marvelous tool if you know how to use them. You were given them for a reason, you know.”

 
; “You sound like Seth,” I snapped crossly.

  “Is he still coming to see you?”

  “I hadn't seen him for a few months but he showed up the other night.”

  “Relationship problems?”

  “Actually, yeah. But he also said I should deal with my Gifts. Like I told him though, I'd doing just fine without them.”

  “Are you?”

  “Yes! I am. Now, is there anything else I need to know about Jake?”

  “You know what he drives, right?”

  “A dark blue jeep?”