Taking In Strays (22 page)

The two remaining men grabbed him by the arms. Stone’s smile was cruel and cold. “I think you will, Donny Kirkpatrick. We’ll even send your father the video… well, after we send it to the police and tell them how you raped a man tonight.”
              Donny stopped struggling to stand and stare, horrified. “You… What…?”

Stone gave the area a narrow eyed look, but they were alone. He gave Donny his cold eyed look again, “Your father is making a bid to unseat my father. He has a good chance. You understand, don’t you? It’s all politics. You really should have taken your father’s offer to go to South America.”

They were dragging him down a back street and then throwing him into a van without any rear seats. A thin carpet didn’t save Donny bruises. He was sitting up almost immediately though and spitting out. “I won’t go through with this!”

Stone was checking a video camera and frowning. “You will or we’ll take your lover and do unspeakable things to him. When I say unspeakable, they really will be too horrible to recount in polite company.”

Donny tried to wrap his mind around the shock and confusion. “Why aren’t you afraid of getting arrested? We’ll both be able to say that you forced us into this.”

“That’s why you’re acting ability will be very important,” Stone chuckled. “You will convince him that you are in on this. As for our identities…” He pulled a hood over his face. “My father didn’t raise a fool.”

Donny took out his cell phone and waggled it at Stone. The screen was cracked, now from his fall into the van, but it was clearly on and clearly connected to the police station.

“Donny? What the hell is going on?” It was Dan’s voice. Donny had hoped for someone working late to pick up the man’s phone. He hadn’t hoped to reach the man himself.

“Want to tell him what’s going on?” Donny asked. He didn’t smile his triumph. It was too hard to tell what someone like Stone might do.

Stone stared at the phone and then pulled off the hood. He ordered his men, “Get him out of here.” He stepped through the front seats, dug into his pocket, and dropped fifties onto Donny’s chest. “Whore’s do need to get paid for their time. Isn’t that what you were already arrested for, once?”

Donny gritted his teeth, wondering where Stone was getting his information, “I wasn’t actually arrested.”

Stone said loudly enough for Dan to hear, “Thanks for the blow jobs, Donny. Sorry, for the misunderstanding. I thought you liked it rough. Just some roleplaying, that’s all.”

Stone nodded to his men and they opened up the back hatch of the van and shoved Donny out onto the pavement. Donny hit hard, scraping flesh. The third man stepped into the van and closed the door solidly as the van pulled away.

“Guess I’m not getting paid,” a young sounding voice said.

Donny blinked up into the dim light of a lamp post and saw a very young man standing beside him looking after the van. He had fish net gloves, a black leather vest, black leather pants, and a great deal of tattoos. His eyes were blue and partially obscured by his shaggy, bleached blonde hair. He looked far too young for what Stone had been planning for him.

Donny sat up and checked a bleeding arm.

“I was promised a lot of money,” the boy said petulantly.

A few of the fifty dollar bills had fallen out of the van with Donny. He handed a few to the boy and the boy took them eagerly. “You might as well have those,” Donny told him, “Go home, now.”

“He’s right, go home,” a serious voice said and Donny flinched and looked around. Two police officers were approaching, hands on stun guns and cuffs.

The boy clutched at his money and took off running, his boot heels clicking on the pavement and his hair a white beacon in the darkness until he rounded a corner and was gone.

“Got a call there was a disturbance,” the older officer said.

“You’re about four seconds too late,” Donny grumbled as he looked at his smashed phone. He had landed on it again.

“Doesn’t look like it to me,” the younger officer replied angrily. “It seems like we have our
perp
right here.”

Donny frowned at them. “If you think I was buying that kid…? That’s sick!”

“Just what I said to Officer Stanton,” the younger officer retorted as he approached with his hand cuffs. He wasn’t much larger than Donny, but he had bigger shoulders and looked capable of overpowering Donny. “You just hold still and nobody gets a well deserved busted head.”

“Look!” Donny shouted. “I just saved our butts from some guys who were about to kidnap us both and use us for some sex entertainment. Here’s my proof!” He held up his scraped hands and arms. “He threw the money at me and took off.”

“Give me some identification,” the older officer, Stanton, asked quietly.

“Stanton!” the younger officer complained. “You don’t believe that bullshit?”

“It sounds like the truth to me.” Burton came out of the darkness with his bulldog on a leash. The bulky dog growled suspiciously, but then came to Donny and licked at his wounds while wiggling its small tail.

“Mr. Burton,” Officer Stanton said, tapping the brim of his uniform hat. “Do you know this boy?”

“He’s my assistant in the book store,” Burton explained as Donny opened his wallet and showed his license to the suspicious younger police officer. The man used a penlight to look at it closely.

“Donny, are you all right?” Burton asked as he bent to look Donny over.

“I was roughed up, but I think I’m all right,” Donny grumbled as he slowly stood up. Burton kept a hand on his elbow to steady him, but Donny didn’t feel that he needed it.

“Then give a report to the officers and I’ll take you home,” Burton ordered him as if he was five and the man was his father.

Donny almost bristled at the tone and then deflated and obediently gave his statement. Stanton made notes while his partner kept looking at the license, as if trying to determine if it was a fake. Donny left out Stone’s name because he knew better. Stone would cover his tracks and all the evidence was in that van.

“We’ve had some incidents,” Stanton explained as he finished his notes. “There have been several rapes and assaults. You don’t match the descriptions of the suspects, though. If you have any idea who might have attacked you, please tell us. You may be getting a dangerous person off of the street.”

“I’d love to do that,” Donny replied, and meant it, “but I don’t know a damn thing that will convict anyone.”

“We’ll get him… or them!” The younger officer snarled. “Give us the information and we’ll decide if it’s useful.”

Donny bit his lip. Burton saw it and said firmly, “Son? If you know something, tell them.”

It was dangerous, like sticking a needle in a tiger. If Stone or Stone’s father guessed that he had name dropped… He blinked and then frowned. What could they do? Ruin him? Leave him penniless? Give him bad press? He wasn’t thinking like the tossed off son no one wanted to know any longer.

“Stone-”

Donny swallowed hard as everyone looked at him. “Stone Farlane, the Governor’s son and some of his men. He came down here to kidnap me and make me… with that kid… on video tape. I don’t know if Stone was going to turn it into the press, or blackmail my father, but that kind of bad press could ruin my father’s chance to win the upcoming election.”

“Your father is… Mayor Kirkpatrick?” the younger officer asked in astonishment as he stood poised to give Donny back his license.

Donny nodded. “Yeah, not that he would care about that connection any more”

“That Stone is a pretty damned sick individual,” Stanton growled and then looked at Donny in respect. “That’s also a dangerous accusation to make. You know I have to take your statement, even though we don’t have any proof this incident even happened?”

Donny nodded. “He said he comes down here for fun,” he said in a tight voice. “If I can help you ruin it, it’ll be worth it.”

“We may have to call you into court,” Stanton warned him.

Donny could feel the three ring circus potential of it. He had been reared to avoid that sort of publicity at all costs. It was hard to say, “I’ll be there.”

Donny was sore and exhausted by the time the officers left them. Burton had saved him from sitting in a jail cell until someone believed his story. The automatic trust the officers had in the Burton’s opinion impressed Donny.

Burton’s dog panted and cocked his head to look up at Donny as if he expected them to play at any moment. “Sorry,” Donny said down to it. “I interrupted your walk.”

“We do a lot of stopping and talking,” Burton said. “He’s used to it.” He cocked his head, almost in imitation of his dog, but he didn’t look playful, he looked very serious.

Donny snorted sourly. “You don’t trust me, do you? I wasn’t propositioning a kid, Burton!”

“Didn’t say you were,” he replied, surprised, “but I wonder how you went from talking to my friends one moment and tangling with police officers and Patrick, not ten minutes later.”

“I’d like to know how everyone knows where I am?” Donny grumbled.

“Anna told me, ‘
we just saw your new partner
,’” Burton replied testily. He mimicked a perfumed and gloved hand gesturing delicately. “’
He went that way, heading for home, I do suppose
.’”

“Patrick, was that the kid’s name?” Donny wondered. “Do his parents know he’s a prostitute?”

“He’s not!” Burton snapped back. “I’m sure his story is just as good as yours, as to why he was going to that van.”

Donny shrugged and then winced at the pain. Burton looked worried. “Are you certain you’re all right?”

Donny nodded. “I just want to go back home and wash up. Going out was a bad idea.”

“Maybe the end of your little adventure wasn’t good,” Burton hazarded as he followed Donny down the street with his dog waddling behind on its leash. “The rest was very helpful, though. My friends told me about your plans to have a meeting with everyone on the street. I was rather shocked that they all agreed. They can be-”

“Stubborn, insular, independent?”

“Assholes. At least when it comes to business,” Burton chuckled grimly. “They don’t play well with others. I suppose I don’t either, but I’m starting to feel my age and I know I need to make sure that the shop stays open.”

“I’m not sure why you trust me,” Donny complained. “I wouldn’t.”

Burton chuckled, “Trouble does seem to go looking for you, but I can see that you are trying to do the right thing.”

“You can?” Donny turned to him, scraped hands in his jean pockets. “Can I ask why you came after me in the first place?”

Burton looked troubled, guilty, and then he decided on the truth, “I was angry when my friends told me about your plans. I came to give you a piece of my mind. The more I walked, though, the more I realized that I was being an idiot and that you were doing the right thing.”

Donny smiled. “I was thinking all along that you would probably be angry.”

Burton laughed. “We know each other well already. Why shouldn’t I trust you and give you a chance?”

Because it was naïve, Donny thought, but that was the old Donny, the cynical, self centered young man who used to believe that everyone was out for himself. He had learned differently. “Thank you,” he said instead.

“I’ll stop here, then, now that we have things sorted out,” Burton told him as he gathered his dog’s leash. “It’s a long walk for someone my age and I don’t want it to be longer. Those men won’t come back for you?”

“No,” Donny replied, certain of it. “Stone is probably looking for an alibi right now.”

“He’s a sick person,” Burton said, troubled. “I hope the police arrest him.”

“Men like that are hard to touch,” Donny told him bitterly. “They have too many lawyers and too many people willing to lie for them. Whatever power I had to do him any harm ended when my father disowned me.”

“That’s acting like a defeatist,” Burton retorted. “If we all thought that way, every criminal would still be walking the streets.”

Donny nodded, but it was hard for him to agree knowing intimately how things could work in the favor of people in power.

They said their goodbyes and Donny walked down a few almost empty streets before reaching the bookstore. He was nervous, despite his assurances to Burton. You couldn’t tell what a person like Stone might do. A man like that might not always think rationally.

As Donny locked the door behind him, walked through the darkened book store, and went up the stairs to his room, he felt a sense of relief, of finally finding safety. It was strange that a loft over a bookstore seemed home in such a short time. He supposed it was the company. He felt welcome.

Donny had a stable job, he was making the right decisions, and, though Burton might think of him as someone young enough to call
son
, he was getting respect for his ideas. Soundly rejecting his old life and seeing how destructive and sick Stone was, seemed the benchmark he had been searching for. It was possible that he was now someone who wouldn’t be toxic to Peter, someone who could date him and not end up disappointing or hurting him.

Donny sat on his bed and was surprised that his knees had gone weak. The relief, the knowledge, that he could have a chance, now, at a relationship with Peter packed an emotional punch that he had been unprepared for. It was frightening; because Donny knew that Peter could now hurt him; could crush him emotionally, if he decided that Donny wasn’t right for him.

“Fuck!” Donny swore under his breath and put his face in his hands.

A cowardly part of Donny wanted to tuck tail and run. It was hard to realize that the coward had been in firm control up until now, making excuses not to attempt to find out whether a relationship with Peter was possible. If Peter hadn’t confronted him, would he have kept pushing it down the road and finding excuses for never reaching that point? Burton had sensed it.

Donny’s new epiphany didn’t help him sleep that night. He mostly stared at the ceiling and wished that he had drunk more alcohol. When he heard the door to the shop jingle as morning light began coming through a small window, he doubted that he had managed more than an hour of sleep.

He showered to wake himself up, listening to old pipes groan, and then tried to dress his best for Peter’s arrival. He dithered over clothing choices until he settled on a white button down shirt, a pair of black jeans, and tamed his spiky black hair with a comb. He left off mascara, shaved well, and tossed on cologne with a light scent.