Whistling in the Dark (20 page)

"The kiss?" Jack considered as he wriggled a little closer. "That was your fault, for being so brave and reasonable with unreasonable people."

Sutton laughed. "And the singing?"

"I suppose I wanted to leave them thinking we aren't such bad fellows."

"I don't think we are," Sutton said softly and put an arm around him. "Even Harry may forgive us."

"If he starts throwing plates, can I hide behind you?"

"Better do it quick."

Esther and Ox arm in arm behind him, Harry came in and sat down across from Jack with a glare that wasn't nearly as ferocious as Jack had anticipated. But after a cup of coffee, he'd warmed up enough to indulge in a little reproach. "You could've ruined their evening, you know."

Jack followed his nod to the other end of the table, where Esther and Ox sat, sharing cake and cocoa. "They don't look like they're suffering."

Harry rolled his eyes. "My evening, then."

Jack pushed the last piece of blueberry pie toward him and Harry accepted it as penance. He was laughing to himself as he broke the crust with his fork. "Gertie. Says she can't believe you led her along all this time."

"Heartless of me. Where is she, anyway?"

"Still playing eenie meenie minee moe." Harry yawned. "I'm heading home. I take it you're not?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe we'll go 'round to some place less respectable." He winked at Sutton, who went red and avoided Harry's gaze.

Harry shook his head. "Watch out for this boy, Sutton, or you'll never sleep again." He clapped Ox on the shoulder. "You want to whistle down a cab? You and Es can come with me. Be cheaper."

Jack suspected once the cab left Harry off, Ox would walk Esther home just to spend more time with her. Sutton yawned and Jack poked him in the ribs. "You're not drooping too, are you?" Maybe it was time to head home, after all, or Sutton would be asleep on his shoulder in the cab. That had its appeal, but Jack's thoughts had been returning all evening to something a little more intimate.

Sutton tried to hide another yawn. "We're going some place less respectable now?"

"Heaps less," Jack said with a laugh. He hailed a cab and climbed in after Sutton. The cold night air agreeably revived him and seemed to have the same effect on Sutton, for no sooner had the cab started than he fished pencil and paper out of a pocket. In the intermittent flare and fade of street lamps, Jack saw the musical staff crowded with notes. "The tune at the restaurant?"

"I want to remember it."

Jack burrowed against his shoulder. "Let it go for tonight. If you forget, I'll hum it in the morning." Numbers at the bottom of the paper caught his eye and he sat up. "You and Harry conspiring now?"

"Harry's just concerned," Sutton said quietly. "So am I."

"I don't need anyone feeling sorry for me--"

"For God's sake, Jack. I've had nightmares, too. I don't know any one of us who hasn't."

"Yeah? While you're awake?"

"Are you? You don't remember any of it?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes not." The conversation was taking a turn he hadn't planned on or wanted. "It does keep me awake. It may end up keeping you awake, too."

"I'll sleep well enough. I did, despite your snoring." Arms came around him and lips brushed comfortingly against the nape of his neck.

"Snoring?" Jack muttered, a little less glumly.

"Made me think of home," Sutton whispered. "Cows lowing and all that."

Jack confiscated the paper and pencil and, risking expulsion once again, pushed Sutton into the corner of the seat and covered his mouth with a bruising, eloquent kiss. Breaking from it was torture, but Jack did, long enough to clarify things, if the kiss hadn't done the trick. "Piano tomorrow."

Not even lack of breath could lessen the emphasis. Sutton stared at him with smoky gray eyes and echoed, with barely breath enough of his own, "Tomorrow."

Jack pocketed the paper and as soon as they'd lit from the cab, caught hold of Sutton's hand and flew for the door. They ran up the stairs, overtaking each other every few steps until they stumbled over the landing and Jack jammed his key into the lock. The apartment was icebox-cold, but it was only a passing sensation noted in comparison to the heat of Sutton's mouth on his--hardly before the door closed--and Sutton's hands working under his coat to separate buttons from their buttonholes.

Making their way in the direction of the bedrooms, they left a trail of coats and shoes until Sutton's exasperated groan brought Jack up short. "Ah, hell, you didn't," he whispered as he reached up to tug at the knot in the tie. "Never mind. Come on." Jack led him into the bedroom and over to the bed. He rummaged through a drawer and produced a pair of scissors.

As Jack snipped the tie, Sutton looked guilty. "I'll have to buy Harry a new one."

"Tomorrow." Jazz, dress ties, and radiators could wait for Monday. Maybe even Tuesday. The affection in Sutton's gaze shone for no one else but him. The frank desire in the hands that pushed the shirt off his shoulders and the mouth that fell on his with so much need made him want to lay his heart open wide without even thinking twice. Those kisses--he knew, as he and Sutton blindly tumbled to the blanket, that he could live on those kisses for a good long time. Monday was just a gleam in the distance, on the other side of the best dream he'd had in forever.

The radiator, anyway, could definitely wait.

- Twenty-One -

Sutton woke to an unfamiliar slant of sunlight on the shades and realized the noon hour had come and gone. Dismay gave way to a sense of decadence and he wanted to blame the music, that intoxicating music as transformed from the music he knew as the world itself. He liked the rhythms broken free of old restraints, the accents that dared go where they weren't supposed to. He wanted to play the music that lived--and live it as Jack did, with a confidence as inexhaustible as his energy.

Perhaps not quite inexhaustible, Sutton amended, when he looked upon the rare sight of Jack quiet and still, a tranquility in his sprawl as if he'd achieved a tentative truce with sleep. Dear Jack, as flirtatious as he could be with the world, he was altogether serious and attentive at his most intimate. Reluctant to wake him from a comfortable sleep, Sutton might have drifted off again himself--if not for the racket coming from the street. A shower of what sounded like pebbles rattled the window, followed by strenuous, off-key singing.

"What the hell's that?" Jack, awake with eyes shut, moved closer and wrapped Sutton in delicious warmth. The singing grew louder and Sutton recognized the song the same instant Jack did. Jack scrambled out of bed, and Sutton, grabbing dressing gowns, joined him at the window. In the street waited Theo, Lewis, Amelia, and Miles in overcoats with mourning bands, orchids wreathed absurdly over their somber hats. Jack leaned out bare-shouldered into the wind. "Would you guys shut up before you wake all of Manhattan?"

The four of them burst into applause and any further rebuke from Jack was lost in a pleased grin. "That got around quick."

"As noble acts among the brethren will." Theo bowed in approval.

"We heard you were ably assisted," Miles said, with a warm look at Sutton.

"And now we come to find two tousled heads at the same window," Lewis said, with a certain acidity that made Sutton's cheeks burn. He slipped down to sit on the floor and looked at Jack in mortification.

Jack reached over and mussed his already disheveled hair. "Don't worry about it," he said for Sutton's ears alone. "He's jealous, that's all."

"Has he gone red as a beet?" Theo called up fondly.

"Not at all," Jack said, giving Sutton a wink. "I've cured him of it."

"Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick," Lewis said, smile stretched thin.

"It's my winning personality," Jack shot back cheerfully. "And my unbelievably good looks."

"That's what I said," Theo exclaimed, and Amelia giggled.

"That may capture them," Lewis said. "But what keeps them?"

"You're keeping us," Miles said, exasperated. "Jack, get dressed. We've got the wake today, remember?"

"Oh, hell. Of course. No, I forgot."

"Well, dress each other quick and come along," Theo said. "We're going to grab some coffee and meet Bill at the 'mat."

"A wake at an automat?" Sutton asked.

"It's not what you think." Jack leaned back out. "Come up. You won't be much warmer inside, though. Radiator's dead."

"We'll keep each other warm," Theo said, waving a bottle of something. "Just hurry."

Jack ducked inside and shut the window. "Damn, it's cold." He burrowed goosefleshed arms under Sutton's robe and Sutton winced. "Sorry," Jack whispered, kissing his neck. "And sorry about them, too. Don't worry about it, all right? They're harmless."

"I like your friends. They do take a little getting used to."

"You're a good sport. Come with us? It'll be fun." He pulled Sutton with him as he stood. "Bill's getting married."

"And a wake is called for?"

"Theo and I are grieving the loss," Jack said with a laugh. "Lewis thinks he's a gold-digger. The girl's got money."

Dressed, they ran down to find a shivering group huddled in the stairwell. Theo passed the nearly empty bottle to Jack.

"Starting a little early, aren't we?" Jack asked.

"In eighty-two days, this manna from heaven will be snatched away from us for all time," Theo said solemnly. "I intend to get gloriously drunk every day we've got left."

Jack took a long drink. "Restricting your lawbreaking to sex?"

"A fellow can only give up so much," Theo said and put a welcoming arm over Sutton's shoulders. "I'm so glad you're coming along. We might need a little piano and I'm not familiar with the hymns."

"He's probably played in church," Jack said, meeting Sutton's eye with a knowing smile.

"I have," Sutton said, not quite sure why he felt uncomfortable acknowledging it.

"We all live two lives," Miles said. "Well, most of us." His smile at Theo was fully affectionate.

"After your dad's chased you off with a shotgun, pretense is pointless thereafter." Theo grinned toothily. "To hell with them. Let's go find our boy of the hour."

They walked to the automat and there warmed up on coffee until a sleek black Cadillac drew to the curb and idled, gleaming, in the sun. "There he is," Theo said and tore out of his seat.

"Are you serious?" Jack caught Sutton's sleeve, pulling him along as they followed Theo outside. A tall fellow with curly red hair and a bashful smile got out of the car and greeted Theo with a particularly affectionate hug. Jack nudged Miles. "Maybe we should rethink this marriage idea."

His comment elicited exasperation from Bill. "It's not my car. It's her father's and he's only lent it, so we've got to be careful with it or he'll have my head."

"Always a price to pay," Miles murmured, and Jack laughed. Sutton was glad to see him give Bill nothing more than a warm handshake before hopping onto the running board to inspect the interior.

As Miles and Lewis joined him, Bill looked on anxiously. "I've got to be back to the house in time for supper, all right?"

"Oh that's quite impossible," Theo said. "We'll hardly be started by then."

"Maybe you'll have a flat tire along the way," Jack said, grinning. He grazed fingertips over the hood. "Think I could have a quick look?"

"Jack, for heaven's sake, it's just a boring old engine." Theo opened the passenger door. "Bill, you must take us around the neighborhood so everyone who dislikes us can writhe in an agony of envy. That's quite a lot of ground to cover, so let's get going."

"Let me drive it, will you?" Jack asked, with a look Sutton would have found difficult to resist. "I'll be so careful, Bill, I swear it."

"You can drive?" Bill asked.

"Sure I can. Can't I, boys?"

While the others chimed in with hasty support, Sutton couldn't contain a laugh. "If you drive anything like you ride a bicycle--" The rest died on his lips as Jack winced. It occurred to him Jack didn't often have the opportunity to drive a motorcar. "You should be good at it, I imagine."

Jack looked surprised, but quickly recovered to pounce on Bill. "There, you've heard. How about it? I'll drive it like it was my own."

Sutton let Theo sweep him in beside Jack and squeeze in after him. Theo turned in the seat as Lewis, Miles, Amelia, and Bill crowded into the back. "You'll have to have Mel on your lap, Bill." He winked. "Good practice."

Amelia giggled and sat on Miles' lap, instead. As Jack started it up, Sutton leaned over to whisper to him. "You are a good driver?"

"We'll find out."

"Jack--"

"Don't look so worried. How much harder can it be than riding a bike?" He hit the pedal. "Hold on to your hats, kids."

- Twenty-Two -

The Cadillac roared into the street and the vehicles already on the road swerved out of the way. Jack steadied his speed, easing onto Broadway, and drove as if he had been doing it all his life. He flashed a sidelong grin. "Didn't shake you up too much, did I?"

More than Sutton cared to admit. He let out a breath. "You've driven before."

Theo laughed. "Take everything Jack says with the smallest of grains, my dear. I learned long ago it's best for one's health and state of mind. Jack, keep it down to twenty or no one shall see us long enough to recognize us."

Jack's meandering took them all around Times Square and eventually further afield. The chatter quieted as Jack ventured onto Fifth Avenue.

"A shame it's too cold for the beach," Theo said after a bit. "Perhaps we could take the yacht up the coast."