Easy Does It Twice

by Gianni Holmes

  “Make yourselves useful and bring us more beer,” Eric told them, offended that they didn’t take the game more seriously than they should. Beau didn’t protest but looked relieved. He and Celeste disappeared into the kitchen. They returned with chips and beer and passed to everyone. My fingers brushed Beau’s when he handed me the bottle, and I tipped him with it. He smiled, his eyes full of love and I wanted to burst it out then, that I was fucking gay and didn’t care what anyone thought.

  My phone rang and rather than risking Eric’s foul-mouthed cussing, I excused myself to the kitchen to take the call. It was from Charlie.

  “Hey honey, how’s your stay at your aunt’s?” I asked her.

  “It’s boring here,” she answered. “But it’s nice to see grandma again. She doesn’t remember that mom isn’t still alive.”

  Alarm speared through me. “Oh no. I’m sorry about that. Do you want me to come get you tomorrow?” I couldn’t imagine what it must be doing to her for her to hear her grandmother talk about her mother constantly.

  “Oh no, dad,” she replied. “At first it hurt, but it’s getting better. I’m learning all these cool things about mom. Did you know she won Little Miss Lake Charles?” For someone who was bored, she sure chattered a lot, but I allowed her. These past weeks had been a great bounce back for her, and I was proud that she was dealing with her grief.

  “And how is Ollie taking everything?” I asked her.

  “Um, well he spends most of his time in his room. I think he only came to escape you. Sorry, dad.”

  Ouch. “No, that’s fine. As long as he isn’t in trouble.”

  Eric stalked into the kitchen then and pointed at me. “You and I need to talk. Now.” His face was red from whatever had him upset.

  “Charlie, I have to go,” I told her. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Okay, dad. Bye.”

  I hung up the phone and turned to Eric, my defenses going up. “Something wrong?”

  “Damn right something is wrong,” he grated out in urgent but hushed tones. “Your boy ain’t right, Gordon. He needs to go.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, trying not to show how much I was shaking inside.

  “He’s fucking gay!” he exclaimed. “How can you not know, and you’ve spent the longest time with him.”

  “Who says he is gay?”

  “He practically just admitted to everyone when Celeste asked him if he had a girlfriend.”

  Damn. I could feel the pressure building between my eyes. “So what if he’s gay?” The words came out despite the numbness of my lips.

  “What do you mean fucking so what?” he bellowed. “This is Lacovia, not fucking Hollyweird! We don’t want his kind around here.”

  I could sense myself getting pale, and I gripped the table at my back for support. The disdain in his voice gave me the urge to throw up the food he had just fed us. The vehemence in his tone was shocking. I had heard him joke about gays before, but many people around Lacovia did. I usually took it with a grain of salt.

  “That’s a homophobic thing to say, Eric,” I tried to reason with him. “What does it matter if he likes men or women? This is the twenty-first century for fuck’s sake, and it’s about time Lacovia catches up with the rest of the world.”

  “I don’t give a damn what he does, but I don’t want him under my roof. I don’t want that goddamn bullshit in my house.”

  “I can’t believe you right now!” We never had cause to talk about gay people in a serious manner before, so I had no idea how much his hatred would run. During high school there were the odd teasing and labeling effeminate guys as gay. There may have been some offensive comments from him as well when he saw gay content, but this was Lacovia. It was rare for someone to bring up a topic about gay people. It was a topic I usually avoided and steered clear of because it struck too close to home. His eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared.

  “It’s alright, Gordon,” Beau stated, showing up at the entrance of the kitchen. “It’s not a problem for me to leave.” He gave a sad smile to Eric. “Thanks for inviting me.”

  He turned to leave, and as I watched him turn, it was as though everything was happening in slow motion. I couldn’t let him go like this.

  “If he goes, so will I.”

  Chapter 19

  Beau

  At Gordon’s words, the temporary feeling of hope that filled me was quickly replaced by alarm. The significance of what he was about to do sank in. I couldn’t let him do this. This confrontation was all my damn fault, and he shouldn’t have to throw suspicion on himself for defending me. I’d tried to lie to Celeste when she asked me about my past girlfriends. After struggling to answer her, she had asked jokingly, “Hold on, you’re not gay, are you?” I hadn’t been able to say no, and suddenly all eyes had turned on me in the room. I didn’t remember a time when I’d felt such contempt before upon my person simply because I was gay. I had never faced that level of discrimination before, but it took feeling it firsthand to understand Gordon more. At that moment, I realized how brave he was for starting a relationship with me, knowing if anyone found out, how they would react.

  I turned to him now and implored him with my eyes. “Gordon, don’t,” I told him. “It’s fine. I’ll leave. I don’t need to be around people who are narrow-minded and judgmental, but Eric’s your friend. The guy doesn’t know me, so I don’t expect him to react any differently. He doesn’t know any better.”

  His friend didn’t take kindly to my words and was up in my face before I even finished the last word. “You want to say that again, you little prick?” he spat at me. I stumbled back and turned slightly to find his friends from the police station watching in amusement.

  “Eric, stop it!” Gordon shouted and approached us. “Leave him alone. I can’t believe how fucking obtuse you are.” He pushed Eric’s shoulder. “I mean it, Eric. If he goes, if he’s not welcome here, neither am I.”

  I shook my head at Gordon, my eyes boring into his as I ignored the raging idiot who hated me for no good reason than what I did in the privacy of my bedroom and with whom. “Don’t do this, okay? He’ll never understand. People like him don’t want to understand.”

  “What the fuck do you mean people like me?” Eric shouted, grabbing me by the front of my shirt. “You mean straight people? Normal people?”

  Before I could shove him off, Gordon was there, so livid his face was white. He grabbed hold of his friend’s shirt front and slammed him hard into the wall beside us. “Get your fucking hands off him!” He grated out. He was blowing so hard, his eyes so murderous I would be lying if I didn’t admit seeing him like this scared the fuck out of me.

  “Why the hell are you defending the little prick?” Eric asked, trying to heave himself off the wall but Gordon had him pinned tight.

  “You have no right to hate someone because of who they love!” Gordon spat at him. “You don’t have the right to do that, Eric. You don’t. And so help me God if you lay another hand on him I’d fucking take you out.”

  “That’s enough,” Drew announced, having entered the kitchen with the rest of his co-workers. He advanced on the pair. I wouldn’t have two against Gordon alone so when he grasped Gordon’s shoulder, I reacted and pushed my hand in his chest to back him up.

  “Everyone calm arggh—” I cried out when Drew grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. I screamed when he twisted higher, and I felt like my fucking arm was about to snap.

  Gordon released Eric and let his fist fly, straight into the cop’s nose. Drew dropped my arm and shouting profanities, grabbed his nose which was squirting blood. We were both rushed then. Rocky grabbed both my arms and flung me up against the wall before I could reach Gordon, who was pushed onto the floor with his hands behind his back.

  “Fuck you, Eric!” Gordon shouted at him. “I thought you were my friend.”

  Eric kneeled on the floor beside Gordon who was still thrashing beneath Drew and Eric, who it took to keep him down.

&nb
sp; “You know when Barbara told me you were gay, I never believed a word of it,” he stated. “I defended you. How could you be gay? I’ve known you for years. But I didn’t know you. Did I, Gordon? You are a fucking disgrace to the men of Lacovia.”

  “What are you guys going to do with them?” Celeste asked, intervening for the first time since she stood there watching. “I think everything has gone far enough. Just let them go home.”

  Eric shook his head. “Not at all. Since they love being with men so much, we’ll take them where there are plenty.”

  “You can’t be serious? You’re taking them to the police station? On what charge?”

  Gordon was pulled to his feet by the two men restraining him.

  “Pretty boy there assaulted a cop,” Eric remarked, nodding at me.

  “That’s a goddamn lie,” Gordon remarked. “I did that. Why are you going after him anyway? Let us go, Eric. We’ve not done anything to you.”

  “You violated our friendship! You let me believe all these years that you were something you were not. And because of you, I might have made the biggest mistake of my life!”

  “What are you talking about?” Gordon asked.

  He smiled, his eyes gleaming dangerously and I was fearful for both myself and Gordon. Eric seemed to have a screw or two loose. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Celeste, we’ll take them to the station in your car,” Eric gave orders. “Bring us some handcuffs and let’s get these two off the streets for a little while.”

  I was worried, and Gordon must have seen that. He nodded to me. “What they’re doing is not right. They’ll never get away with it. It will be fine. You’ll see.”

  But I couldn’t believe that. I didn’t know what sort of stunt Eric was pulling, but whatever it was, if they fingerprinted me for any crime, my contract could be broken if the school found out about it. They would send me back to France, and I’d never get to experience life to the fullest with Gordon.

  We were handcuffed and taken in two separate cars. I tried not to show how worried I was, but it was hard to do when the two men in the car with me, Eric and Drew spat hateful words at me all the way to the police station. When they arrived, they kept me sitting in the back of the car while they took Gordon in. Gordon didn’t resist but seemed quite sure of himself. He could afford to because this was his country. I could have my papers revoked because of this. I’d ended up back at square one. Should I set foot in France, Ian would travel there to harass me again. Although we had lived together in England, France was his playground and he would know where to find me.

  After about half an hour of sitting in the backseat of the car, I was allowed to get out. I couldn’t believe these officers were violating my personal rights this way. This was something I saw on the news but had never thought I would have ever experienced in person.

  I tried to be rational and to squelch the urge to scream at everyone I passed that I was innocent. More than likely, that was a song they had heard many times before. I instead went with the flow and waited to get the opportunity to speak to the right person who would listen. I didn’t see Gordon anywhere when I entered which worried me.

  “Where’s Gordon?” I asked.

  “Cooling off,” Eric answered. “Don’t worry. You’ll be reunited in twenty-four hours or so. But, I’d head out of town as soon as you’re released if I were you.”

  I swallowed hard and stared at him, wondering why he hated gay men this much. Neither Gordon nor myself had done anything to warrant the hate that he was spewing.

  “Why am I not being booked?” I asked him when he bypassed administration at the front and proceeded to the back where I presumed the cells were.

  “That can be arranged,” he smirked at me. “We don’t want to book you, Beau. We want to make a man out of you.”

  I staggered to a halt. “What do you mean?”

  He shoved me roughly in the back. “I mean exactly what I said. We’ll toughen you up then send you home. You’ll thank us for straightening you out.” He chuckled at his own joke.

  He didn’t lock me in a cell as I had thought. He brought me to what he said was an interrogation room. He pulled out a chair and demanded that I sit before he left with me still in handcuffs. Left alone to my own devices, I wondered what kind of police station this was, for them to allow these officers to do this to me. It took me almost three hours of being kept in the interrogation room alone before I found out.

  The door opened, and Gordon walked in. He was free from his handcuffs and he rushed towards me, his face full of concern. I rose to my feet, relieved to see him. He enveloped me in his arms and hugged me. I rested my head against his chest and drew from his strength.

  “Isn’t this touching?” Eric jeered leaning against the door to watch us. “What a pity it has to end.”

  “Let him go, Eric,” Gordon pleaded. “He did nothing, and you know that. What the hell is wrong with you? I get it if you don’t approve of our choice. I get it, but this is extreme. How can you look at me any differently than the man you grew up with? Simply because I am gay?”

  He chuckled. “Man, if you only knew how extreme I can get.” He bugged out his eyes and gave a mock shudder. “If only you knew.”

  “You can’t have him locked up without just cause,” Gordon remarked, still holding me against him.

  “We are well within our rights to detain him for twenty-four hours without charging him.”

  “You son-of-a-bitch!”

  “Careful or I might just detain you too,” Eric remarked. “Be grateful I decided to let you walk free, but your boyfriend here will have to take your place.”

  “I was the one who punched the cop.”

  “Make up your mind who stays,” he snapped. “I’ll give you three minutes. If you stay Gordon, we are officially charging you for assaulting a police officer. It’s your word against four upstanding officers who have worked for this town for over ten years. Think about your kids and how they’ll fare. Mother committed suicide and father thrown in prison.”

  Of course I couldn’t let Gordon stay in that situation. I could feel the anger mounting in him once more, and I wished I had kept my damn mouth shut. We wouldn’t be in this mess.

  “I’ll stay,” I stated.

  “Beau, no.”

  “It’s just one night,” I told him. “I’ll be fine.”

  He placed his forehead on mine and shut his eyes. “Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you here. I don’t trust these bastards. As soon as we get you out of here, we’ll get the lot of them fired.”

  Behind us, Eric chuckled. “I thought you might say that. Just remember this, Gordon. We can charge you both with assaulting a police officer. We have pictures of what you did to Drew’s nose. What do you think would happen to your boyfriend, an immigrant, when it’s revealed he has a record?”

  Our hands were both tied. I knew it. Gordon knew it, and so did he. If only we had stayed away this whole thing wouldn’t have happened. Gordon was apparently thinking the same thing.

  “We’ll go to your captain,” Gordon threatened. “There must be someone around here who is morally upright.”

  “Yes, there are. In fact, most of the department members are pretty legit, but you lost their respect and their willingness to help when you struck a police officer. One of their own. Not to mention, they feel the same way I do. They hate your kind.”

  Gordon’s hands tightened around me. I could feel the anger surging through him. He was a ball of pent-up frustration, and I was afraid he would do something else to get us into more trouble. Shit, what a day! How could we have gone from having a calm enough evening to me being in police custody?

  “You should go,” I told Gordon. His friend was having too much fun with this. I had a feeling there was a whole lot more going on there that we were missing, but I barely knew the guy. In all this time Gordon had known him, he’d never even seen this side of his friend? “Please. Go.”

  “I swear we’ll find a
way to get justice out of this,” he remarked, pressing his lips to mine. I leaned into him, not caring that Eric was watching us. They all knew now anyway. “I won’t stop until I do. I love you, Beau.”

  My mouth went dry at his words, and he walked away before I could repeat them. His words brought me back to life, filled me with an energy that had been stripped away earlier. I didn’t have to think about my fear of being here at the station. I didn’t have to think about what these men wanted to do to me.

  All that mattered was that I was loved. By the man I had fallen in love with.

  Chapter 20

  Gordon

  I struggled out of the pit of sleep as I heard the ringing of my phone trickling into my subconsciousness. Exhausted because I had been up all night, pacing and worrying about Beau, I groaned. My hand felt like lead as I reached across the bed for my phone. I peered at the screen, not recognizing the number. I almost tossed the phone aside and buried my head back into the pillow before the implication of such a call jerked me awake.

  Beau.

  “Hello.” My words came out gruff and low, so I repeated. “Hello?”

  “Gordon?”

  I sat up in bed not recognizing the voice. “Yeah. Who is this?” I flicked on the bedside lamp and placed the phone on speaker while I peered at the time. It was 2:20 AM. Definitely not a social call.

  “It’s Drew. Eric’s co-worker.”

  At the mention of Eric’s name, anger surged through me. “What the hell’s going on?” I demanded. “Why are you calling me at this hour? Is it Beau?” Fear that they had done something to him gnawed at my gut. I tried to shrug it off. This was the twenty-first century. Even Eric wouldn’t go too far. But how far was too far in his eyes?

  “Can you meet us at the hospital?” he asked. “He’s seeing the doctor now.”

  “Jesus Christ!” I swore, springing out of bed. “What the fuck did you do to him?”

  “It’s not as bad as it could have been. Just get down here. I won’t leave him till you do.”

  “Son of a bitch.” He had already hung up the phone. I dressed in haste, not taking note of what I had on. I swiped my keys from the dresser and bounded down the stairs. My hands shook so badly as my thought raced with all kinds of crazy theories about what they had done to him. I dropped the keys to my lap and rested my face against the steering wheel, trying to get the fear to subside. I gripped the steering wheel hard and tried to rein in my emotions. I had to keep it together until I at least knew what was going on.