Max
I knewthe universe was conspiring against me when I arrived at work and Jacki asked me to help her with the paperwork that was piling up on her desk. According to her, it was my turn to help out, plus she wanted all the gossip on Isaac.
We spent the first two hours doing paperwork and me answering all her questions. For a moment, I wondered if she’d ask me to bring Isaac to work one day just so she could interrogate him and ask his intentions toward me.
I assured her that his intentions were absolutely unchaste. She laughed all the way to the door and then left me to finish up my tasks.
The rest of the morning was quiet. Too quiet for my taste. I loved a busy emergency room, the rush of the activity and seeing lots of patients. When it was quiet, there was a lot of time to think. And with all the paperwork caught up on, there was not much for me to do between checking on the few patients that had come in.
My mind kept revisiting the conversation I’d had with Isaac last night after our session of out-of-this-galaxy lovemaking. God, Isaac was so perfect; he moved when I moved, he loved when I loved, and he played when I played.
I’d never been so in tune with another human being in my life, but that wasn’t what was playing on my mind.
After our shower, Isaac had prepared us a snack and had then called me out on my behavior toward Lucy.
I’d been defensive at first, but Isaac knew me too well to let me off. After all, he knew some of my history.
“I’m terrified,” I’d confessed.
“Of what?”
“Of messing things up with Lucy, but mostly that looking after a teenager will come between us and I’ll lose you. You never signed up for this.”
“Max, I signed up for loving you. Whatever happens, I will always love you. Come teenagers or overprotective cats, we’ll face it all together.”
“Thank you, baby. I love you, too, so much.”
I realized I was slowly acknowledging some of my biggest worries, and not just relating to Lucy and Isaac.
We’d talked about my parents and the chances of them being out there looking for Lucy, what they would do if they found out she was with me, and my fear of seeing them again after all these years.
We’d talked about the possibility that Lucy would live with us permanently and how I felt about that.
The answer was that I was excited. I wanted to know Lucy better.
I wanted to do what my dad had failed to do: care for her and protect her. Now that her bruise was completely gone, I could see how she was a carbon copy of her mother with her darker skin, perfect nose, plump lips, and those trusty brown eyes.
The problem was that I had failed someone once before, and every time I remembered the consequences, I felt like Lucy would be better off with someone else.
“Who did you fail?” Isaac had asked.
“My friend Ryan.” Telling Ryan’s story would bring back so many memories; it had made my heart beat faster, and my palms clammy.
Isaac had guided me back to our room and sat on the bed with his back to the headboard. I’d sat between his legs, my back to his front, because I didn’t think I could tell Ryan’s story if I was looking directly at Isaac.
“I met Ryan on that first night. When my parents kicked me out, they didn’t give me long to take somebelongings and leave the house. Joel and his parents were on vacation, so I didn’t have anywhere to go. I went to the subway because it was open all night.
“Ryan sat next to me and asked me if I was homeless, too. At first, I said no. I was in shock and didn’t want to believe what had happened. He apologized and left.”
“He didn’t really leave, did he?”
“No. He kept an eye out for me, and hours later when I’d fallen asleep in a corner, he came to wake me and said it was dangerous for me to sleep like that out in the open. He took me to this abandoned building nearby. There were loads of old mattresses on the floor and people sleeping all together.”
“Oh, Max, baby.” Isaac had tightened his arms around me, and I’d steeled myself to carry on.
“We ended up being great friends. He ran away from home because his stepdad had raped him, and when he told his mom, she said it was wrong to be gay and she was going to send him to one of those conversion camps. She didn’t believe what he said about his stepdad.
“I was naïve. Ryan used to bring us food. He said he had a job that paid him some money, so I didn’t question it. He said he didn’t mind sharing his food with me because I would watch over his stuff while he was working.
