Chapter: 2
Rating: I'm gonna say PG13.. Cuz I don't even think there's a curse word in sight here.
Summary: Miami made it's mark, but it moved fast through Hector's life, leaving him to head home with some mixed feelings, and a mountain of shit waiting for him.
Disclaimer: If you recognize them, they're not mine.
Warning!! I repeat, if you're uncomfortable with bi-sexual relationships, find something else to read.
Author's Note: Don't throw anything at me over the shortness of this chapter. I'm once again blaming Hector.. Hehehe, it's all his fault.. Always his fault. I'm leaving in the musical selections for each chapter, even though I know the links won't load, this way anyone who's interested can simply pop open Youtube and search for the music. I always suggest listening while you read, my writing is always heavily influenced by the music I include.
Music for this section:
Motley Crue W/Chester Bennington - Home Sweet Home
For Blue Skies
Chapter 2
I returned to Trenton with equal parts dread and anticipation. I left the makeup behind, wrapping my newly found sense of self worth around me to protect me from what was ahead. Everyone in Trenton already knew who and what I was, there was no sense in trying to hide that from them.
I studiously ignored the sideways glances and the safety zone that people seemed to keep around me, even in the compact space of the airplane, shuffling to stay as far away from me as the confinement would allow. But here I expected this. The public world had never looked beyond the cover, and I had grown not to expect them to. This wasn't a disappointment, it was just the way the world worked.
I was silly enough to hold out hope that things would be different at RangeMan Trenton. Miami had confused my expectations.
On the other side of the security gate I ran up against Lester's smiling face. But it was one of those smiles that never made it all the way to his eyes. He held his hand out to me and I took it, allowing myself to be pulled into a mirror of the manly hug I'd been embraced in the day he left me here at the airport.
"It's good to have you back hermano." His words growled past my ear, and I viciously pushed back the emotion's that nearly drowned over me at that one tiny breath.
That was it. The only words spoken between us from the moment our eyes met in the airport, until we were nearing Trenton on the highway some time later.
"I hope things in Miami went well for you." His voice was flat, emotionless. What was left unsaid was that things weren't going to go well here in Trenton.
The garage was noticeably void of people as we pulled in and made our way across the cement to the elevator. Likewise, we didn't run into a single soul as Lester led me up in the elevator and down the fourth floor hall to the door of the apartment I had inhabited before Miami.
Lester stopped in front of the door, his larger frame blocking my view entirely. His eyes traveled from my feet to the tips of my spiked hair, and back down again. Measuring me. For what I wasn't sure at the moment, but I knew it had to be something serious, just from the hard glint at the edge of his eyes, the way the skin at the corners tightened and creased as he concentrated on what he was seeing. Not my clothes, not my tattoos, but something much deeper inside than that.
"I'm glad, you seem to have come back a stronger person Hector. That may just give you what you need to make it through this. This is where things start getting rough." And without another word or glance, he twisted the doorknob and stepped back, pushing the door open behind him but keeping his eyes on my face as he stepped back into the room.
And there it was. All of it. Every earthly possession I had ever owned.
My electronics packed tightly into plastic totes, stacked against the far wall next to a dark wood entertainment center I'd never seen before. A large tote full to overflowing with books sat beneath a small, dark, two seater dinette table that matched the entertainment center, sitting by itself in the empty floor space between the kitchen alcove and the living section of the apartment.
I stepped further into the room, glancing around the corner wall to the space the bed had occupied. There, large as life, placed gently over the bed, was the dark blue velvet blanket, and the single large body pillow that Rufio and I had shared for countless nights.
I stumbled, nearly collapsing to my knees as I weaved across the floor of the apartment. Praying Ella hadn't gotten ambitious and laundered the blanket or pillow case.
Praying that just this last time I could fill my head with the sweet smell of Rufio on our pillow. Close my eyes and pretend for just one second that none of it was real, he was still here beside me and we would continue on together as always. One last time I wanted to let myself picture his face, settled there on the pillow beside me, that unguarded smile he always had just as sleep started taking over, black lashes fluttering on his cheeks and "I love you Hector" slipping past his lips, just barely more then a breath of air.
I fell to a heap on the bed, tugging slowly back on the covers to bury myself beneath them. The breath went out of me when the blanket pulled back to reveal Rufio's teddy bear, Curly, tucked safely down against the pillow. The only thing he'd worried to take with him when we ran from that foster home, what seemed like lifetimes ago.
A quiet sob worked it's way loose from my throat, swallowed abruptly by the pillow as I fell headlong into the bed. All of the sorrow, all of the pain that I had tucked away safely in a locked box in the corner of my mind, so that I could make it through this and still stay sane, suddenly broke loose.
As Rufio's scent surrounded me, I was dragged down by wave after wave of memories. Some were beautiful moments, bathed in happiness and Rufio's precious smile. Other's were vile, harsh reminders of just how much of ourselves we'd had to give away in order to survive.
I was left lying in a heap, crying out my grief one more time, surrounded by the comforting scent of the man I loved, with the very teddy bear he'd cherished since childhood tucked lovingly between my arms.
I have no idea how much later it was when I finally came back to myself. To the feel of Lester's hand rubbing soothingly up and down my bare arm, the only part of me that had worked it's way loose from the blanket.
I pulled that rich blue velvet safety net down from my face and took in Lester where he sat perched on the edge of the bed, very carefully not touching even the edge of my blanket. Silly, but I appreciated the gesture. A part deep inside of me thanked Lester for showing Rufio and his memory that respect.
Lester's voice was quiet, modulated, and yet it seemed so harsh breaking through the silence of the apartment. Perhaps it was the levity of his words.
"It's over, they're gone now. Not just running things from jail, but gone, none of them will ever get the chance to atone for what they did to you, and to Rufio. I made damn sure of that."
He paused for a moment, bringing his eyes up from the blanket he'd been staring so intently at, to meet my eyes. What I saw there caused a thread of fear to shoot through my belly, I knew whatever came next, it wasn't going to be easy.
"But not until after I made them tell me what they did, and why. I know it all Hector. I know what they did to Rufio. The question is, are you sure you want to know?"
End Part 2
