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“Don’t get any ideas about saying anything, or writing any notes in the bathroom stall. Use the restroom, buy a sandwich, water, and leave. I’m going to be watching you this time. I can’t trust you.”
“Trust? That’s fucking rich. You can’t trust me. I’d say that’s an understatement. Where’s the fucking trust when I place my belief in you that you wouldn’t fuck me over, and then kill me?”
“I didn’t let anyone else kill you when I could.” He sounded as if he was doing me a favor.
“Oh, and I’m supposed to be grateful for that, you dick?”
“You should be grateful that we both aren’t dead now. So, listen to me, and do as I asked of you so maybe one of us will live to go home.” Dante stepped out of the car as I headed for the door to the small shop and restaurant. I glanced back to see Dante spying on me with weary eyes. He hadn’t slept, it appeared, for days.
“I should be grateful one of us will make it out of this fucked-up situation. And we know who that will be,” I murmured. Stopping at the opening of the door, I called back, “Do you want anything?”
He shook his head.
“No,” he yelled. If I had some poison and I was that bold and not afraid, I’d drop some in his drink. But like everything else, I was not a killer and I didn’t have those instincts for survival. Therefore, all I could hope for was to find my opportunity and make a run for it. Dante would have to sleep soon and that was when I’d make my getaway.
When I stepped inside the small store, I headed to the back and used the restroom as quickly as possible under the circumstances. I wasn’t at ease and it appeared as if I was peeing a river when I hadn’t even drunk any water. This entire situation had me uptight to say the least.
Grabbing bottled water and two sandwiches, I rushed outside to see Dante parked in front. “You didn’t think I was coming back did you?” I questioned, sitting and putting my seatbelt on.
“I had no doubt you would be back. Where were you going?” When I gazed around he was right. There was a casino about a mile away, but still it was too far for me to make a dash for it, and if I asked for a backdoor the two older people would have called the police, and by the time they came, Dante would have caught me, and I knew then my time would have run out. Now I was playing for time, and hoping Dante saw me as someone he could love.
In other words, I was playing this by ear as my father would say whenever he attempted something for the first time. I was not sure if this would work, but that was all I had and I was giving it everything, because I had nothing else to bargain with. Not that I had anything in the first place, but I thought I had my body, and the fact that Dante wanted it. Now I was not so sure because of what he said about one of us making it out, and I knew he wasn’t talking about me. There was no way his brother would put a hit on him. Me, it was a given.
Reaching into a bag, I said, “Here. I brought you something.” I handed over the Subway sandwich, and Dante raised an eyebrow as if questioning why I would think about him. To my surprise he didn’t say anything, but unwrapped it and took a bite. I handed him a bottle of water. He raised his tight lips and curled his mouth up to the right. “Water is better than one of those sugary drinks.”
“I grew up drinking those sugary drinks. Next time bring that and don’t act like a mother. I don’t have one and now I don’t need one.” But he drank down the water, and glanced over at me and his eyes smiled even if he didn’t. I knew I was making a dent in his armor. Not a big one but one, nevertheless. I could work with that. “Well, I have one and just about now I’m needing her more than I thought. Here’s where her advice comes in. ‘Don’t get into a car with a strange man and stay away from the men who never smile.’” The last one I added.
“Men who smile too much are hiding something. Remember Nico. He had smiles and flirted with you and you fell for it. It appeared your mother doesn’t know everything.”
“No one knows everything. Not even you, Dante. You thought that you would never have a gay relationship, and here we are together—”
“We’re together because you thought you were smart and knew me better than I knew myself, but no one knows anyone that well.”
I dismissed everything he said because it wasn’t worth anything if he kept in the direction to his cabin. “Do you want me to drive while you eat?”
“I can do both.” And he pulled on to the road, took the curve to I-10 going west, with a sandwich in one hand and the wheel in the other, and when he nodded I handed him the bottled water to wash it down.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you so accommodating when you know what will happen the minute we get to the cabin?”
“For one, I don’t want us to get into an accident and deprive you the pleasure of whacking me, because men like you—”
“Shut the fuck up, Romeo. What do you know about men like me?”
I knew when to keep my mouth closed and when to open it, and now wasn’t the time to say a word. Now was the time to pray that Dante wasn’t the man I thought he was—cold and heartless.
Chapter 5
Romeo
When the car slowed, I woke, then I turned to look around and then at Dante. His eyes were almost closed, and I was lucky we’d reached the place without him driving me off the road and into a ditch, or hit a deer and then neither one of us would have made it. I’d preferred that because I thought someone once said, “No one should die alone. They should be with someone they love.” That was a joke. At this point, I’d prefer to die alone if the one I loved was planning on offing me. He pulled to a stop off a gravel road in a paved driveway to a deserted cabin.
Dante stumbled out of the car like a drunk man making his way up the steps and opening the door after fumbling around for his key. “We have lights. Get out and come in.” After surveying the surroundings with those tall trees of pine and the like, I was better off doing as he’d asked me to. “Did you hear me, get out.” His voice was weak.
“I’m coming,” I yelled. I wasn’t eager for obvious reasons. When I entered the house it was neat as if someone had cleaned it because they were expecting guests. Dante sank into the nearest chair near the fireplace-like stove, or a chimenea my mother would say.
I knew my way around those chimeneas, and the wood had been cut, and I threw it in and got the fire going. Now was my chance. My chance for what? I thought. Go out and die in the cold damp forest, let animals feast on my bones, or take my chances with that handsome man sleeping on the sofa.
It was a hard choice, but I had to make it. I had to believe that I meant more to him than a piece of disposal ass.
