“Yeah, when they went to see Diablos Rojos.”
“Pretty Boy was talking about himself, Tank, and Tipo. Diablo spent the night talking to El Jefe. He went upstairs with a girl for less than five minutes, but apparently ran outside so fast it was like he’d seen a ghost. El Jefe said he disappeared outside and spent the night smoking with Alejandro.Diablo didn’t have a threesome, and he hasn’t been with any of the girls at the club either.”
I don’t know what to say, I can only stare at him. Angel hasn’t been with anyone else…
“You said you did something you didn’t want to?” he asks.
“Nothing really happened, but after hearing that call, I went to Platinum. I met someone, but I couldn’t go through with it. We had a drink and then his driver dropped me off here. Diablo really hasn’t been with anyone?”
He shakes his head. “He loves you, Beth, he misses you too. I still don’t even understand what happened between you two.”
“I can’t tell you; it involves me keeping a secret for someone else. But the fact that we love each other isn’t enough, this is something I can’t ignore.”
“What if I were to guess?”
I laugh. “You can try, but you’ll never get it.”
“What if I told you that I had a suspicion about Donovan, and a certain rule the club has that might make it complicated…”
“Go on…” I say, terrified but desperately hoping that if Slim does know he’ll take it better than Angel did.
“There was this guy in my squad, Parker, back when I was in Iraq. While the rest of us were talking about girls he was always real quiet; he’d get involved in the conversation enough to not draw attention to himself—he’d respond to jokes, make jokes, but he never really said anything off his own back, you know what I mean?”
I nod, letting him know I’m following.
“One night, this other guy in the squad—he was a fucking asshole—he made this joke about gay people, and at the time I thought it was banter, that’s how we talked. So we alllaughed along, even Parker did, but his laugh wasn’t the same as ours. Later that night, I went out for a smoke, and he was out there, but I could see he’d been crying. Shit, I was still young then, and at that time ‘Don’t ask, Don’t Tell’ was still in place,” he pauses and looks at me. “You know about that?”
“Yeah,” I nod, “I read a lot of books for our LGBTQ+ group at college.”
“Right. I mean, I personally couldn’t give a shit if the soldier next to me wanted to fuck men, women, or both, as long as they were a good fucking soldier. But some people, like the asshole who made the joke, they didn’t think gay people should serve in the military at all; usually because they were bringing bullshit views from back home with them. Anyway, that night, Parker told me that he was gay. With ‘Don’t ask, Don’t Tell’ he shouldn’t have, he was putting a lot of trust in me, but I guess he just couldn’t keep it in any longer.”
“What happened?” I ask, knowing that too many people were discharged from the military just for being gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
“Nothing. I never said anything to anyone, and we both carried on as normal; I think he just needed someone to know, you know?”
“Yeah,” I say, “do you still keep in touch?”
“Yeah, he’s got a husband and two kids now, ‘living the dream’ as he puts it.”
“That’s good.”
“So, the reason I brought that up… obviously I could never know for sure, but hearing the way Donovan talks about girls, seeing his reactions to jokes… I guess he always reminded me of Parker a little bit. I never said anything, it wasn’t my place; but now, all this shit with you and Diablo… it got me thinking.”
“Hmm. Why does the club have your bullshit rule?”
“Frank, and the guys who set it up, they made the rules.”
“And that’s the only reason? In all the years since none of you thought to change them?”
“Yeah, you’re right, we should have done something about this sooner, before waiting for it to become an issue.”
We sit in quiet for a moment, letting it all sink in.
“How about this,” he says, “we deal with this Diablos Rojos shit, and then I’ll speak to El Jefe about the rules.”
“Sounds good.” I nod. “What’s going on with all that anyway?”
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking about it. I can’t help it, Angel joked about me coming up with a plan to get them all out whole, and, well, an idea has been forming in my mind…
