Page 52 of Joey

Dennis freaking Carter was gay?

****

Chapter 15

Ethan

Dennis Carter was gay?

How in the hell was the lead guitarist for The Ports—as in a “girl in every port”—gay? Ethan had seen him on the front cover of magazines, news sites and social media with a different girl every week. How had he kept that quiet?

“Are you likely to be swarmed by reporters soon?” Joey asked Dennis.

Dennis shrugged. “Who knows. They seem to find me no matter where I go, but hopefully, they’ll leave us alone for now. No guarantees there won’t be photos somewhere, though.” He paused. “I’m surprised you didn’t know I was gay. It’s headline news at the moment.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Wasn’t your fault. I just wish I could’ve done it when Elliott was…still here.”

Ethan could see the pain flow across Dennis’s expression. There was more to his story than he was sharing. Joey settled onto the steps, a couple down from where Dennis was, and Ethan sat at Joey’s back, giving him strength through touch instead of words. It wasn’t his place to say anything, anyway.

“Dennis, what—” Joey started.

“Denny. Please.”

“Denny, what happened the night of the party? One minute, Elliott disappeared into the crowd. The next, we were going home. What happened between the two?”

Denny sighed and threaded his fingers, rubbing his thumbs together. “We hooked up. I’d sent him a message to meet me in an upstairs bedroom. We’d done it before. Several times, in fact. We were there for probably…an hour. Maybe less. Elliott kissed me goodbye before he left the room, and I waited ten minutes before following. Again, we’d done it before.”

“You make it sound like something different happened this time?” Ethan leaned harder against Joey’s back when his voice broke.

Denny nodded. “When I exited the room, there was a man waiting for me. An older man I’d never met before.”

“Who was he, and what did he want?”

“He said his name was Robert, and he,” Denny huffed a laugh before continuing, “offeredme money to stay away from Elliott. Said it was up to him to keep an eye out for him, and what we were doing was irresponsible and disgusting.”

Joey leaned forward. “What did you say?”

“Why would I need money? I told him to get lost, in not such pleasant words. I had no idea who he was.” Denny shook his head. “Not until Elliott’s funeral. Robert is his uncle, and from what I dug up about him since, he’s not a man to be trifled with.”

Was Joey going to be truthful about Robert’s relation to Elliott? Ethan wasn’t sure if it would be beneficial to the investigation or not.

“So I’ve been told,” Joey said. “Did anything else happen that night?”

“No,” Denny said. “I only saw passing glances of Elliott with other people at the party. The last time I remember catching a glimpse of him was around eleven o’clock. He looked trashed, which was unlike him.”

Joey nodded. “That was roughly what time we went home.” He sighed. “I should’ve known something was wrong.”

Ethan squeezed his shoulder. “Elliott appeared to be adept at hiding things, Joey. If he didn’t want you to know, you wouldn’t.”

Joey stood, pacing from one side of the bandstand to the other, sliding his finger through his hair. Ethan hated seeing him so ravaged by grief. He wished there was something he could do to help, but he was working blind from this. He didn’t know Elliott when he was alive, and he only had his impartial opinion to add.

“I wonder if Robert cornered him?” Joey asked suddenly.

“What difference would that make? They’re family,” Denny said.

Joey glanced at Ethan, who nodded once. “I’ve recently found out that Robert is not actually Elliott’s uncle. He’s his father.”

---