Whistle Pass by KevaD Page A

Her wink was cold as snake scales. “He seems to enjoy the servant role a little more than most.”
    A knot balled in Charlie’s chest as a vision formed of Perkins, leather collar around his throat and attached dog chain held by Dora Black. What the hell does Roger see in this woman?
    A plastic smile adorned her face. “I’m so glad we had a chance to finally meet. Roger’s told me so much about you.” She pushed open the door. “You’ll have to come by the house for dinner sometime before you leave… permanently.” She turned and walked away.
    Unsure whether he’d screwed up with the ill-fated frontal assault, Charlie welcomed the chilly air. He inhaled and held his breath until his lungs ached. If nothing else, he’d found out Dora could be one hell of an enemy.
    “You okay?”
    He blew out the breath like smoke. Good idea. He pulled out the pack of Luckies and lit one. “Yeah. I’m fine. I need a bath, though.”
    Gabe chuckled. “She can make you feel that way, for sure. I damn near scrubbed all the skin off me the time she tried to fix me up with her husband.”
    Charlie bit down so hard he chomped off the end of the cigarette. “What? What’d you say?”
    “Mrs. Black. I thought she was joking around at first. But she kept it up. Talking about what a cute couple we’d make. My shift ended, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. The next weekend she introduced me to a business executive from Chicago.” His face flushed and his eyes closed.
    Charlie patted Gabe’s shoulder. The hotel manager had more pain inside him than Charlie’d realized. And it made him want to hold Gabe and chase away the demons. “Don’t worry about it. Last perfect man, we nailed to a cross. Let’s get out of here.”
    They crossed through the trees to the car.
    “Did you find out anything?”
    Charlie shook his head. “Only that old Dora’s a lot smarter than I am. She didn’t tell me a thing.” He ground out the butt and climbed in the DeSoto.
    Gabe started the car and drove up the road toward town.
    “You sure she wasn’t joking about fixing you up with Roger?” Something beyond a pang of jealousy, just beyond his ability to identify, gnawed at him.
    “I’m not sure anymore. It was a while ago. Maybe she was kidding.”
    “How long ago?”
    “Right after the mayor got elected.”
    “How long they been married?”
    “About a year before that.”
    He narrowed an eye. Maybe not so much a marriage for love as one of convenience and strategy. Strategy . Yeah. Something serious was happening in this town and had probably been in the works for quite a while.
    Charlie looked at the shades of darkness passing by. He scratched at his beard. He really did need a bath. The thigh could use a good soaking too. “Look, Gabe. You’ve got a nice hotel and all, but there’s only a tiny shower in the bathroom. I need a bathtub. Is there another hotel somewhere?”
    “There’s a bathtub in my apartment.” The words tumbled out of his mouth. His hands twisted over the steering wheel.
    Charlie flinched. “Oh shit.” Naked in Gabe’s apartment, while interesting, didn’t sound like the best place to be right now. Not until he could figure out why the man made him think twice about the offer. The prospect of sex seemed good on the surface. But it was not knowing what was below Charlie’s own surface that bothered him. He hadn’t had time to figure out where Gabe stood within him yet.
    “What? Did you say something?” Gabe slapped the steering wheel. “I promise to keep my eyes closed. Partially, anyway.”
    Charlie chuckled.
    “There isn’t anyplace else. You want a bath, it’s my place or nothing. Of course, there’s always the river. Little cold this time of year, though.”
    Thick rubber tires rumbled a memory of the newspaper’s headline— 29 homosexuals committed to insane asylums . Gabe was too nice a guy to play house with for a few days and then leave behind. And he would have to leave him