Gentleman Nine(59)
The right words escaped me. I wasn’t expecting him to pour his soul out like that. “Okay,” I simply said.
Channing squeezed me tightly and lingered before letting me go. He walked close behind me as I returned to the kitchen.
Looking over at Rory, I said, “Okay. Let’s go.”
Rory didn’t make eye contact with Channing as he grabbed Bruiser by the leash and headed out of the kitchen toward the door. Channing, on the other hand, didn’t take his eyes off of Rory; he was watching his every move.
I looked back once at Channing who was standing with his hands in his pockets. The worry was plastered all over his face. If there was ever any doubt of his feelings toward me, it was diminished in that moment.
My heart was hurting as I followed Rory out of my building and down the sidewalk to where he was parked. It was freezing out, and light snowflakes were starting to fall.
Shivering, I asked, “Where are we going?”
“I don’t know.”
“You can’t just kidnap me. You have to tell me where you’re taking me.”
“Alright, then…I’m taking you to my house.”
“That’s too far away.”
Rory let me into his car before opening up the back for Bruiser.
He walked around to the driver’s side and closed the door before saying, “I know you don’t think that I deserve this time with you. But just give me this one thing. I need to talk to you alone. And it’s either a hotel or my house. I won’t ask anything else of you.”
“You’re acting strange. I don’t understand any of this.”
His eyes searched mine. “You will.”
The ride to Rory’s house in the northern Boston suburb of Reading was quiet. Relishing the warmth of the heated seat beneath me, I spent the latter part of the time in his car trying to clear my mind by meditating on all of the Christmas lights that decorated the houses we passed. The smell of his leather-scented car freshener was familiar and oddly comforting.
We passed through the town center that was aligned with lit wreaths affixed to light poles.
After turning onto a side street, Rory pulled up to a two-story structure. The first thing I noticed was a lone Christmas candle in the window of the lower level.
“Are you on the first floor?”
“No, that’s Boris, my neighbor who’s in his eighties. I’m upstairs. We have to sneak in quietly so he doesn’t see you.”
“Why?”
“He’ll never leave you alone. He knows who you are.”
“How?”
He pulled out his phone to show me his screensaver. It was a picture of me.
Why did he still have that on his phone?
Once inside and upstairs, I took a look around. “This place is nice.”
Bruiser retreated to the corner of the room to play with his toy.
Rory’s place was cozy. He’d set up a small Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. A pellet stove was going, which made the space warm and toasty.
He walked over to the window and looked out, seeming to grab his bearings. I wandered around and couldn’t help noticing a framed photo of us sitting on his end table. This was the second photo of me I’d seen in two minutes.
Why did he still have photos of me?
His old Gibson guitar sat in the corner.
“Have you been playing guitar again?”
“Yeah. I’ve been trying to teach myself. It’s cathartic.”
“That’s nice.”
A long period of silence passed as he continued staring out the window.
He spoke with his back toward me. “How long have you and Channing been…” He wasn’t able to finish the sentence.
“Not long.”
“Do you care about him?”
There was no sense in lying. “I do. Very much.”
“Do you love him?”
Yes.
Do I admit that to him?
Closing my eyes, I spoke the truth. “Yes.”
That was the point he finally turned around to look at me, his eyes burning with pain.
Rory slowly approached before lifting his hand to my cheek and gently caressing it. “I’m fucking too late. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“What’s happening, Rory? Why are you acting like this?”
His voice was hoarse. “I lied to you.”
“What?”
“The reason I gave for breaking up with you…it was a lie.”
“You didn’t really want to see other people?”
“No.” He shook his head slowly and whispered, “No way.”
Utterly confused, I said, “Okay…what was the real reason?”
“It has to do with the accident.”
The accident.
It was one of the worst nights of my life, second only to the night Lainey died. I’ll never forget receiving the call that Rory was in the hospital after his truck was hit head on while he was driving home from work. Thankfully, he ended up being okay. But something definitely did change in him after that.
“What about the accident?”
“There’s something I never told you.”
A feeling of dread hit me. “What?”
He just stared at me for a while before finally spitting it out. “One of the worst injuries I sustained was to my groin area. The doctor had me undergo some tests as a result of the blunt trauma. He said I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to, but I felt that I needed to know…for your sake.”