The Boy Who Came in From the Cold Read Online Free Page A

head, dark-brown eyes big and sad. “Not really,” he said. He ran fingers through thick dark-brown hair and sighed deeply.
“Let me have your coat,” Gabe said. “And sit down. Relax.”
    Todd pulled off his coat, handed it over, and almost flinched when Gabe took it. God. He needs to calm down. “Would you like something to drink? Coke? Ice tea? Beer? Glass of wine?”
“I’m only twenty,” Todd said and sat down on the end of the couch farthest from Gabe.
    “I won’t tell if you don’t,” Gabe said and offered him a smile. Be careful. You could say that kind of thing was what got you into trouble last time.
Gabe’s expression must have helped because Todd gave a half smile in return. “Whatever you’re having,” he said.
     
“Well, I’ve been planning on opening a bottle of wine I’ve been saving for a special occasion. Why not tonight?”
     
Todd’s mouth turned into a straight line and he nodded.
    Gabe hung up Todd’s coat and paused, realizing how lightweight it was. Not a goose feather or bit of quilting between the layers. Shit, the kid must have been cold. He went into the kitchen, which he’d also had redone, even stripping the cabinets and replacing the counter. Tracy thought he was crazy for doing it.
    “You already pay rent. Why fix up the place?”
“Because I live there, Tracy. I want to enjoy living there.”
    “I don’t know why you just don’t buy a house,” she said. Tracy was a statuesque brunette with a tendency to wear red. She called it one of her two power colors. She certainly got the attention of the men around her, clients as well as co-workers, gay as well as straight. “Get something really nice in Hyde Park or even Brookside. Make improvements that’ll benefit you and not the owners of that building.”
“They’ve let me skip rent on quite a few occasions with what I’ve done to the place,” he’d told her.
     
“Not equal to what you’re spending I bet.”
    “You’re missing the point,” Gabe said. “I like it there. I like having mostly gay neighbors. And it tickles me thinking of the prize somebody’s going to get when they get my apartment after I leave.”
    “They’re going to defecate a brick is what they’re going to do,” she replied. “Hopefully, it won’t be wasted on some lesbian who can’t appreciate it.”
    “Now Tracy….” Defecate. Not shit.
“I can just see some gay boy’s face. Mother skeeter! When he walks in, he’s gonna think he struck the jackpot.” She grinned. “It’ll be Christmas, no matter what month they move in.”
    Gabe smiled at the thought. He wasn’t sure what Todd’s sexuality was; he suspected the young man didn’t know himself, despite his denials. Todd sure seemed to be dazzled by the apartment, though. Would a straight kid even have noticed? Todd was acting like Alice in Wonderland. It was sweet. Speaking of which, would Todd want the Schwartzbeeren he’d been planning on opening, or would it be too sweet? Should he just play it safe and go with a merlot? Or would that be too dry? He started to ask and then remembered a teenhood of Boone’s Farm cheap wine. Sweet was the order of the day, he suspected.
    Gabe opened the bottle, poured two glasses, and returned to the living room and handed Todd one of them. Todd reached for it, and Gabe saw the young man’s hand was trembling. Not a lot, but shaking all the same. Nervous? Something far worse? He hoped the kid wasn’t some kind of addict, although his instincts told Gabe it was nerves. He had to help the kid relax. “Music?” he asked.
Todd gulped again. “Whatever you want,” he said, his voice actually cracking.
    Gabe stifled a sigh and went to his sound system, turned it on. It was already set to a soft jazz station, and he thought that should soothe the savage beast. He joined Todd on the couch, and once again the boy cringed. What the hell?
Then it hit him. Todd thought he was going to have to have sex with Gabe. Well, shitfire