The Russos 11

by D. J. Manly

  "Angelo must never ever know. Promise me, Mac?"

  "Jesus Christ," Mac choked. "Tony, what in the...you're right, you mustn't even whisper it. Bury it. Bury it forever."

  "Bury what forever?" Angelo asked suddenly from the doorway.

  Tony's heart pounded in his chest. He looked desperately at Mac.

  "A...a...mummy in Egypt," Mac said abruptly.

  "They found it buried. It was supposed to be buried deep forever, you know, but they found it...buried deep. We were talking about that. I read it in a...a magazine."

  "Oh," Angelo replied. "Okay. Well, I'm off. See you later?" He looked at Tony.

  Tony gave him a faint smile. The moment he heard the door shut, he lowered his face into his hands.

  * * * * * *

  Angelo rang the bell a few times, but there was no answer. He walked around to the back, but couldn't get into the alarm-wired fence. He sighed and came back around. He tried the door and found it open. He laughed a little. That was Uncle Pepi for you, an alarm in the back and a wide-open door in the front.

  He walked in and closed the door behind him, slowly making his way down the hallway. He paused when he heard music. It was his father singing, and Uncle Pepi playing the keyboards. It was a song he'd never heard before, beautiful, haunting. He listened to the words, so happy to hear his father making music again.

  You were my world, and now that world feels empty with you. I filled moments with the touch of a hand that so felt like yours that for those moments the pain actually left me...but it wasn't you. In the cold light of dawn, I knew that wasn't the way to forget...forget...baby...how can I forget my very heartbeat...my very soul...

  The music stopped. "I think we should go back to the first part of the melody here," Pepi was saying as Angelo walked in.

  "That's a great song," Angelo said, walking across the floor, clapping his hands together.

  "Angelo," Drake said, standing up. He went to hug him. "I'm so happy to see you. How are you?"

  Angelo held onto his father for a minute. He touched his hair, kissed him on the forehead. "I'm great. You?"

  He shrugged.

  "I went to see Mom," he said, holding out his arms to his uncle. They hugged, and Pepi called him "kid."

  He grinned.

  "How is she?" Drake asked.

  "Good. Abbey is a little performer."

  "Yes, I know," Drake grinned. "Not a surprise. So the contract is finally done?"

  "Yep. I'm glad. I feel a little," his eyes went to Pepi, "a little guilty."

  "Guilty for what?" Drake asked, raising an eyebrow, sitting back at the piano and making a few marks on his paper.

  "Dad, Uncle Pep...Mac knows this too, I don't want to---"

  "Join the band," Pepi said.

  "Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't want to..."

  "I'm going back to work," Drake said.

  Angelo smiled. "Oh, Dad, I'm so glad. Have you told Mac yet?"

  "No, but I will. I kind of just thought of it...thanks to my little brother here."

  Pepi grinned. "Don't listen to him. He did that all on his own. Had nothing to do with me."

  "You should tell Mac. He's going nuts, I can tell, and Mom is tense."

  "I will. I promise. I'll call him tonight."

  "Don't wait too late," Angelo said, "he'll be leaving to drive Tony home, unless you call his cell."

  "Tony?" Drake looked at him sharply.

  "Yeah. He came with me to Mom's, and for some reason he wanted to hang out there. Did you have a fight?"

  "What?" Drake asked.

  "A fight...with Tony?"

  "No."

  "Oh, okay. He's acted a little weird, that's all."

  "Want something to drink?" Pepi asked. "I could use something all of a sudden."

  "Sure. Just juice," Angelo said. "I'm driving, and I'm a little tired."

  Pepi left the room. Angelo sat down next to his Dad and looked at the music he'd written.

  "Any suggestions?" Drake asked, and put his arm around his son.

  * * * * * *

  Tony was quiet on the way back to Drake's house.

  Mac kept his eyes on the road. "Do you think you should be living there still given that...well...in light of what happened between you?" Mac began.

  "I'm moving out. In fact, I'm hoping Angelo will want me to...well...that we could find a place together."

  "Did he...?"

  "No. Like I said, I'm hoping."

  "I wish...I mean, I hope you and Angelo find the happiness you deserve."

  "I'm so scared."

  Mac sighed.

  "It's not the best way to...you know... finally begin a life together."

  "You're not thinking of telling him?"

  "I hate this, Mac. I feel as if I'm deceiving him. I can't see Drake anymore."

  "Tony!"

  "I can't, Mac. I can't honestly be in the same room with both of them and let Angelo go on believing that---"

  "Angelo won't understand that. He'll know that something is up. And Drake will be heartbroken.

  You're Johnny's son. He loves you."

  "Don't you think I love him too? And sometimes not always in the way I should."

  "Do you have...feelings for Drake? And you know what I mean?"

  "Yes, I know what you mean...and yes, goddamn it, I do. It's not the same as what I feel for Angelo. It's weird, Mac. Drake is the man my father was passionately in love with. When he touched me..."

  He paused. "You don't want to hear this."

  "Go ahead. I'm listening."

  "When Drake touched me, I felt so close to my father. I understood him so well, his obsession, an addiction that almost killed him...an addiction for this man's body...his cock, his touch. I'm sorry, Mac. You shouldn't be hearing all this."

  "I'm not judging you. Don't forget who I've been around all my life. I've heard the word cock before...especially in reference to Drake Russo."

  Tony looked out the window. "I need to keep my distance. And so does Drake. It's an explosive situation, one that I don't think either one of us has much control over. And Angelo wouldn't understand. He wouldn't believe me if I told him that he is the man I truly want..."

  "Are you saying that even though you and Angelo are together, that it could happen again...that you and Drake...?"

  "That's exactly what I'm saying. I know it, and Drake knows it too. That's why he asked me to leave."

  "And are you going to?"

  Tony nodded. "I need to talk to Drake alone. We have to concoct some story of why we can't see each other for a while."

  "If you do that, Angelo will be suspicious, Tony."

  "And if I don't, I will be constantly tested."

  Mac pulled up in front of Drake's house. "You know how Angelo has always suspected there was something between you and Drake. I'm telling you, Tony---as your friend---if you arouse his suspicion, it's the first conclusion Angelo will jump to."

  Tony sighed. "Thanks, Mac. I have some thinking to do. Bye." He got out and shut the door. He waited for Mac to drive away, and then went into the house.

  * * * * * *

  Angelo was anxious to get back to his father's that night and happy to find Tony there waiting for him.

  Tony accepted his hug, then looked around expectantly. "Where's your Dad?"

  Angelo shrugged out of his jacket. "He decided to stay at Pepi's. They're bonding."

  "Oh," Tony said, "good. Do you think he'll stay there for...a while?"

  Angelo paused. "I don't know. Why?"

  "No reason. I just like being alone with you, that's all." Tony smiled.

  "Me too. I'm hungry."

  "Again?"

  "Yep."

  Tony laughed. "I can see what's in the fridge."

  "Let's order pizza."

  "Okay."

  "You know," Angelo said, picking up the phone, "Dad looked okay. You know what he was doing?"

  He punched in some numbers.

  "No. What?"

  "Writin
g a song."

  "Good."

  "It's like he's got a second wind or something."

  "Really."

  "Yep." Angelo held up a hand as he ordered the pizza and rattled off the address. "That's right," he said. "I'll meet you at the front door. How long?

  Good." He hung up.

  Tony followed him into the kitchen.

  "We had a good talk," Angelo said, taking some cold water out of the fridge.

  "Talk? Talk about what?"

  Angelo glanced at him. He looked stressed about something. "Hey, what's wrong with you?"

  "Nothing. Why?"

  "You seem on edge."

  "I just don't know where in hell we're going, Angelo."

  "Huh?"

  "You, and me? What...where do we go now?"

  "Well...you're going to join the band, aren't you?"

  "With you."

  "No." Angelo swallowed some water. "I want to do my own thing. I want to make some music with Mike. Maybe find a few guys and---"

  "Mike. What's with you and this Mike guy anyway?"

  "We're friends. He's straight. Don't panic." Angelo laughed.

  "I'm not panicking, but...we need you."

  "No, you don't. Dad is prepared to come back."

  "Come back? You mean...to the group?"

  "Yeah. Isn't that great? You'll take your Dad's place."

  Tony felt the colour drain from his face. Take his Dad's place...travel with Drake on the road...without Angelo? No. He couldn't do that. "I can't," he said.

  "You can't? What are you, nuts? It's a golden opportunity. It's everything you could hope for, and it won't make too much of a difference to the band...all the original members and you in your dad's place."

  "I'm not my father, goddamn it."

  "Tony?"

  "And what about us? What...I stay here with your Dad and you go off gallivanting with Mike?"

  "No. I stay here with you. You go on the road when you need to and I do some studio work, figure out where I want to go artistically from here." Angelo moved closer. "I love you, Tony. I want to be with you."

  "Not here. Not in this house."

  "In the other one, then...or in the house I grew up in. I have a house, remember? It's empty. We can live there if you want."

  Tony hugged his waist. "Yes. Let's live there, but I don't want to leave you. I don't want to go on the road."

  "Of course you do," Angelo said. "It's your big break. You're a Russo. That's what you do."

  "There's too much temptation on the road."

  "Tony," Angelo said, looking into his eyes, "listen to me. I need to trust you. My suspicions about you and my father have kept us apart. It was foolish. I decided on the way home yesterday that I needed to put aside this petty jealously. In order for us to be together, I need to trust you with my whole heart. And I do. No more of this."

  Tony swallowed, tears came to his eyes. He looked away. "Don't make me go on the road, Angelo."

  "Tony, if I didn't make you go on the road, I'd never forgive myself. Plus, you'd let the entire family down. Taking in a stranger now may destroy the band, not to mention the fan base. It's all our fathers ever worked for. They need you. You were destined to be Johnny's replacement."

  * * * * * *

  When Tony heard footsteps coming down the hall the next morning, he scrambled out of bed and dragged on his pants.

  Angelo looked up at him, half asleep. "Where's the fire?"

  "N...no fire. Your Dad is home, I think."

  "Oh, is that all?" Angelo rolled over in bed and went back to sleep.

  Tony took one long last look at him. They'd made such beautiful love last night. He couldn't lose it all now. God, would the fates be that cruel...to take it all away? He had to talk to Drake.

  Tony left the bedroom and hunted the hallway. He heard the shower going in Drake's room and he stood out there frozen. He'd wait. He cast a hesitant look back at his own room. What if Angelo woke up? Shit.

  He walked in and tentatively moved towards the bathroom. He could see the outline of Drake's naked body through the steamy shower door. Drake Russo, gorgeous, sexy, rock star...all words that stimulated every sense. He swallowed. "Drake, it's me."

  Drake turned off the shower and opened the door.

  He stood there naked, dripping, the towel too far away to enable him to cover up quickly. He cleared his throat. "Can you..." He indicated the bath towel on the rack.

  Tony stepped forward into the steamy bathroom and handed it to him. His senses were overly stimulated. The scent of soap...the scent of Drake.

  "We need to talk."

  Drake stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around his slim waist. Drops of water dotted his chest, streamed down his torso and disappeared into the towel.

  Tony suddenly realised that Drake was aware of where his eyes were. He averted them. "Angelo is home."

  "I know." He walked over to the sink and wiped the steam off the mirror. He took out his razor, still one of those men who resisted the electric variety.

  There was something sensuous about the way a man shaved, smoothing shaving cream over the jaw, sensuously gliding the razor over the hills and valleys of the face. Or maybe it was just about the way Drake shaved. He had such a masculine face, all angles and peaks, his jaw square, his chin strong. And those beautiful dark eyes.

  Drake glanced at him in the mirror, pausing with the razor. "Tony?"

  Tony licked his lips, took a step back, his gaze moving over the curve of his ass under that irritating towel. "Angelo...he...he knows nothing about..."

  "No. And he won't." He continued to shave.

  "We're together now. Oh God, Drake, he told me he trusts me."

  Drake put down the razor. He turned and looked at him. "Good. And there won't be any reason why he shouldn't. Do you love him?"

  "You know the answer to that. He's the very air I breathe."

  "Well, there shouldn't be a problem."

  "He expects me to go on the road with the band!"

  "Yes. We'll talk about that. Mac is so happy that we're going to be all together again." He turned back to the mirror and started to shave again."

  "But what if...?" He stopped. It sounded stupid.

  "What if what?" He leaned down and rinsed his face, wiping it on a towel. "Tony," he said, "It won't happen again. You don't have to worry about me."

  Tony nodded, but it wasn't Drake he was worried about.

  "Now scram, let me put some clothes on. Go and give that son of mine some attention. I'm happy for you, Tony. I know your Dad is too."

  Tony left Drake's bedroom.

  * * * * * *

  Frank was ecstatic when Drake agreed to re-sign with him. "I thought you hadn't forgiven me about..." he began, glancing at Drake uneasily from behind his desk.

  "Business is business, and your final gesture was a good one. After Johnny died, I couldn't have asked for a better friend, Frank. You made my life a hell of a lot easier."

  Pepi, Mac, and Tony sat quietly as Drake and Frank talked, and mended fences. Then they all put their signatures on the contract.

  That night, they all went out to celebrate. Angelo and Janet, and Frank were all in attendance as they all ate at a very expensive restaurant, on the music company's tab.

  Tony begged off on the dancing, instead skirting Angelo away to a fancy suite at a nearby hotel. Tony had drunk quite a lot at the restaurant. He had found himself seated between Drake and Angelo, and every once in a while he could feel Drake's thigh brush against his. He knew it wasn't intentional. Drake hardly paid any attention to him at all. He and Mac were talking up a storm about all their plans for the band.

  Frank kept reminding them of the upcoming tour.

  It was a tour to remind the fans of the old tunes and to integrate Tony. In a month, they would do six major American cities. Tony kept feeling Drake's bigger-than-life presence beside him, and his glass kept emptying.

  Horny, he got up, called and booked a room on his cell
, then whisked Angelo away.

  * * * * * *

  "You're ripped," Angelo told Tony as he tried three times to open the door with the electronic card. He took it from his fingers and pulled Tony into the seven-hundred-dollar-a-night room. "Wow. What's all this?"

  Tony raked his eyes over him. "For you, baby. All for you, you sexy hunk. God, you're so gorgeous," he said, pulling at Angelo's shirt, "not to mention hung. Do you know how many people were staring at you in the restaurant, dying to know what you look like naked?"

  "Me, or Dad?" Angelo teased.

  Tony threw Angelo's shirt aside. "Will you stop comparing yourself to your Dad? Your Dad is drop-dead gorgeous and he's good in bed, but you...you're out of this world. You're..." He reached for Angelo's pants.

  "What do you mean...he's good in bed?" Angelo blinked, pushing Tony's hand away.

  "What?" Tony laughed.

  "You said...my dad was good in bed. How would you know that?"

  "How would you know it?" Tony laughed.

  "I don't know it, Tony. I've never slept with my father. Have you?" He looked him in the eye. God, he hated himself when he got like this. He promised to put this shit behind him, but Tony had said..."

  "I...I heard it...that's all...from my father, of course. He was always...you know, going on about that."

  Angelo nodded.

  "I'm talking about you," Tony whispered, coming closer. He reached down and undid Angelo's pants.

  "You're the only one I love, Angelo. Lust is one thing. Love is something completely different." Tony went down on his knees, pressed his cheek to Angelo's cock. "Everyone lusts over Drake. He's a rock star. It's normal. Nothing to feel guilty about. I'm not guilty."

  "Why should you be?" Angelo grunted when Tony took his cock into his mouth. He stumbled backward a little as Tony's mouth became aggressive. He moaned and Tony released him, whipping off his clothes. He ran and jumped on the bed on his belly, raising himself up on all fours. "Fuck me. Fuck me, baby. Do it."

  Angelo stepped out of his pants, took off the rest of his clothes and crawled up behind him on the bed. "I don't have a condom."