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I saw him frown again, and he scratched his neck with one big, tanned hand.
“I better come with you,” he said.
“Not necessary, Beau,” I said.
“Very necessary,” he replied. “I know you, Elowyn, and I’ll make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
“Fine, whatever,” I said. It was too much work to try to convince his stubborn ass not to do anything, and I wanted to get this over with.
“I don’t know why I’m even doing this when it’syourboyfriend,” I said when we were in the car and merging into the busy midday traffic.
“Cody’s not my boyfriend,” said Beau absently, trying to push his seat back to fit his long legs. “What kind of shitty car is this? What kind of corporate consultant are you that you drive this kind of car?”
“I like this car,” I said hastily, because the last thing I needed was for Beau to figure out that I was an archaeologist. “Does he think you’re his boyfriend?” I asked, to distract him more than anything else.
“No,” said Beau. “I don’t do the boyfriend thing. I just fuck people when I want to.”
I sniffed scornfully, but didn’t say anything.
“Maybe I’ll fuck you,” he said casually.
“How about not,” I replied. “Now shut up or I’m going to miss my exit.”
* * *
Codyand his brother lived in one half of a duplex down a busy street near several bars, all quiet at noon, but I’m sure the place was lively and noisy at night.
His brother Eric was, as I had expected, as short and weaselly as Cody was big and friendly.
“Hello,” I said winningly, sticking my foot in the door in case he thought we were door-to-door sales reps. “I’m Elowyn Carew and this is Beau de la Fontaine, and we work with your brother Cody. Can we come in and talk to you?”
“I’m kind of busy,” Eric said, “I’ve got a lot of ladies back in my bedroom I need to satisfy.”
I coughed hastily in case Beau made any derisive noises.
“Ah, well, we won’t keep you long,” I said. “Cody seems to have the extraordinary idea you are going to tell your parents he does drag.”
“Uh, yeah, I’m definitely going to,” Eric said, leaning against the doorjamb and fishing in his pocket for some cigarettes.
“Well, he’s afraid if you do they’ll refuse to pay for his college,” I said. “So can you maybe not tell them?”
“I don’t care,” said Eric. “I want the duplex to myself.”
“That’s awful!” I cried hotly.
Eric only shrugged. “Deal with it.”
“OK,” said Beau, his deep voice rumbly beside me. “How about this. If you tell anyone that he’s a drag queen, I’ll come back here and kick your ass.”
“Oh please,” said Eric. “I know you gay guys don’t beat people up.”
Then Beau hit him. Not even particularly hard. Just raised his big fist and gave Eric a quick and efficient pop on the eye. But it was a little terrifying how little power he had to expend to send the much smaller man stumbling backwards.
“Your information is outdated,” I said severely. “Consider this a useful lesson in stereotyping people.”
Eric clutched his eye, which was rapidly blossoming with lovely shades of blue and purple. “Give me $500 and maybe I won’t tell.”
I was incensed. “Cody is your ownbrother!” I said sharply.
