Page 17 of What I've Tasted of Desire

I’d tell you how much I loved you, and thank you for allowing me to worship at your altar as you fell asleep with your head resting on my chest and your arms around my torso.

One day, my love. One day…

Chapter Nine

I arrived at the motel earlier than normal to walk Alex to work. I normally wouldn’t be here for another hour, but today was different. Today, Alex was moving into Westing House! He was finally going to get to live in the house he’d admired from the street for years!

This also meant that it was time. It was time to meet him.For real.I’d seen the email come through from the construction foreman to the project manager late yesterday evening. Robert said in the message that the upstairs was ready, and he was confident it was safe enough for Alex to inhabit. They hadn’t passed the fire inspection yet, but that was scheduled for early next week… after a hunky firefighter delivered and installed the fire extinguishers, that is. The moment drew nigh. It made my skin break out in goosebumps just to imagine.

I walked into the small office and rang the bell sitting atop the counter. After a moment, an older gentleman walked out from a back room with a mug of coffee in his hand.

“Good morning,” I said. “I’d just like to settle up for a room. We’ll be checking out today.”

“Room number?” he asked, setting the coffee down on the counter and sitting down in front of an ancient-looking computer.

“Twelve.”

The man finger-punched a few keys in. “Oh, the long-term rental for the county?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I thought they were sending a check?”

The old man had his facts messed up, poor guy. He didn’t seem to have all of his wits about him, and I wondered how often he was taken advantage of. That thought made me feel bad.

The arrangement was that the city was depositing the money for Alex’s room weekly, along with his living stipend. Alex had tried to come in and pay a few times, but they just kept telling him to settle up when he was ready to check out. If Alex hadn’t been such a sweet and trustworthy person, he could have just left whenever and never paid them at all.

“Nope. I’m here to take care of it all in person, if that’s all right,” I told him, offering a friendly smile.

I wanted to pay for Alex’s room so he could keep all the money the city had deposited. I wanted him to feel independent. He deserved to have some security.

After a few more painful minutes of the man fighting with the computer system, he gave me the total.

“Two hundred and forty-seven dollars, please,” the man said, adjusting his glasses on his nose as he turned from the screen to face me.

I sighed. “Sir, I don’t mean any disrespect, but that’s not correct. We’ve had the room for well over six weeks. At $62 a night, I fear we’ve missed something.”

The man frowned and then turned back into the computer screen as if an answer would magically appear without him touching anything.

I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and quickly calculated $62 x 45. I pulled the envelope out of the inner pocket of my coat and counted out $3,000 in hundred-dollar bills and slid them across the counter to the man. I added three more at the last second, in case there had been other charges or taxes I hadn't thought about.

“This should do it. Have a great day, and thank you.”

I walked out of the office and down the block to where I’d parked. I had plenty of time. Alex might not even be awake yet. I pulled away from the curb and headed down the block towards Starbucks.

Once Alex was awake, I escorted him to work, but did so in my car. I wanted to get back to the motel and leave the note and the gift card. I had no clue how soon he’d want to come get his stuff once he knew he was clear to move in. When the shit hit the fan, I wanted him to be able to give the card to the police.

I had watched Tom purchase a prepaid credit card from a gas station when I was trailing him one night. I had been trying to figure out the best way to kill him and make it look like an accident, but I eventually decided against it. It would hurt Alex far too much to learn of his death.

No, I needed Alex to make the conscious decision to cut ties with him once and for all. Alex needed to fear Tom. Alex needed to understand that Tom would cause him nothing but strife.

Growing up the way they had, needing to feel financially safe and independent had turned into a money-hungry obsession Tom couldn’t stop chasing. Alex had figured that out now, too.

All I had to do now was play my cards right, and Alex would never want him again.

Tom had bought the gift card to pay for a boy in the VIP section of the gay club on 5th Avenue. Alex wasn’t having sex with him anymore, and Jenny didn’t exactly scratch the itch, so he’d just buy escorts. I followed him into the club, throngs of sweaty, mostly naked guys rubbing against each other all over the dance floor.

It had taken absolutely no effort at all to shimmy and grind my way through the crowd and snatch his wallet clean out of his back pocket. I slipped the gift card out from inside the fold and dropped the wallet onto the ground. He’d either find it or he wouldn’t. I didn’t give a fuck. He was gonna have a hard time paying for dessert, though…

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