Tango and Taz 6: Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?
"They've been up there an awful long time." Taz sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the entertainment center and watched Tango pace, then look at the window, and then pace some more. "I hope he didn't hurt that Brock kid."
"Brett won't step on a spider, Taz. Chill out, okay?" Tango chewed on his knuckle as he moved. "We got a bigger problem, man. If one psycho can find us, so can another one." He threw up his hands in exasperation. "I wish we'd never fucking done the web site! This is exactly what I expected!"
"We can always turn it off." Taz said quietly. He looked down at his hands and played with a piece of string in the carpet.
"By now every fucking site on the web has those pictures, Taz! We didn't copyright them or anything, they're public domain. Anyone can use them, and we let them have 'em." Tango threw himself onto his recliner. "I've done some dumb shit before, but this takes the cake."
Taz looked up and noticed feet on the top landing of the stairs. He patted Tango's leg and pointed. Their eyebrows rose and their jaws dropped simultaneously. Brock was the first one to start down the steps, with Brett right behind him, his hand on Brock's shoulder. Brock was dressed in Taz's blue board shorts and a yellow tank top, and his face was unreadable.
"Guys, I want you to listen to what Brock has to say. If you don't like it, then you can kick his ass out the door, but I want you to hear him first." Brett led him to the couch and sat down. Brock's face was red, but he met their gazes steadily. He sat next to Brett and exhaled slowly.
He didn't know exactly what to say, or where to start. It was getting harder and harder to hate these guys, and that had always been his safe retreat. He cleared his throat. "Uh, I don't really know what to tell you guys. Brett's right. I kinda had a crush on you in school, but I didn't really know you were gay."
"Neither did we." Tango said, resting his chin in his hand.
"Oh. Well, when I saw the pictures, it sort of, well,......I kind of lost my mind. I had to see you, I don't know why." Brock shivered and felt an arm go around his shoulders. He felt reassured as he continued. "See, I used you guys as an escape, but my life really sucks, and it was easy to blame you guys. You're beautiful, you know? And popular. I'm a nobody."
"I hate to break it to ya, dude, but we ain't that popular. We damn sure weren't 'In Crowd' material." Taz snickered and leaned against Tango's leg.
"I admit I imagined a lot of shit." Brock settled back against Brett's arm. It felt very natural to do so. "But I was a loner, you know? You guys always had friends. I wanted to be you."
"Fine." Tango smiled, meeting his eyes, then looking at Brett and noticing the strange expression on his face. "Tomorrow morning, when my mom gets home, you be me, okay?"
Brock blushed and looked at his hands. "I really am sorry about that. I'll pay for it." He winced as Brett accidentally touched his ribs.
"What happened to your ribs anyway?" Brett asked, repositioning his arm. "You look like you pissed off a prize fighter."
Brock fumbled with his hands, ashamed to tell them, but not wanting to screw up. He wanted them to like him, and to tell the truth, he wanted to tell someone his story, just to tell it once. He was oblivious to the tear that ran down his cheek.
"My brother likes to throw me around." Brock's voice lowered to near a whisper. "He drinks a lot, and I'm his favorite toy." He sniffed and took Brett's offered hand. "Uh, my dad used to beat us both before he left. When he did, he'd drink too. My mom is too small to stop either of them. She just kind of goes inside her head, you know?"
"Why do you stay there?" Brett asked, trying not to cry him self. It was stupid, but he knew that he was falling into something, maybe love, and it made him sick to hear about this kind of abuse.
"Where would I go?" Brock asked matter of factly. "I'm gay, eighteen, unemployed, and not likely to land a millionaire, right? It's what I have open."
Taz shook his head. "You can get a job, dude. It's not hard."
Brock chuckled. "If you want the truth, I never had a reason to change things." Brett squeezed his hand, and Brock looked into his eyes. "Well, maybe 'til now, anyway."
"So I'm guessing you're adopting him into the family?" Tango asked Brett, knowing full well what the answer was. Even Taz, who would never be a genius at relationships, could see that Brett was falling hard. "I admit he looks a lot better in those clothes than in those Johnny Cash starter suits, but Taz might want to wear his own clothes once I've washed them."
"Hey, I wash my clothes!" Taz said indignantly and then realized he'd missed the point. "Oh."
"I'm sorry." Brock went to stand up to change, but was pulled back down.
"He was kidding, Brock. He meant you look better in color, like I said." Brett smiled. "Maybe we can go up to the lake and take you to get some sun."
"Really." Tango laughed. "You look like a ghost."
Brock laughed a little. "I never liked to go out much. I was either in school or in my room."
"I couldn't live like that." Taz stood up and headed for the fridge, catching a smoke from Tango as he passed. His voice traveled to them from the kitchen. "I gotta see the sun. I'd fucking shrivel up."
They chatted until almost three am. Tango looked at his watch and his eyes opened wide. "Oh, shit. Guys, we have to be to work in three hours." He stood up and started gathering all of the pop cans. "Looks like you're staying tonight, Brock. Hope that doesn't get you in to much shit."
"My brother doesn't get home until seven. I'll leave with you guys and drive home." Brock let go of Brett's hand and wiped it on his pants sheepishly. He grinned, and then closed his eyes as Brett kissed him. "Oh, I could get so used to that." He whispered to Brett.
"So could I." Brett smoothed Brock's bangs back. "A whole lot."
Taz caught Tango's arm as he passed into the living room and pulled him into the launder room. "Are you okay with that?" He asked and pointed towards where Brett and Brock were on the couch. They stopped what they were doing and watched the other two as they kissed.
Tango sighed. "I guess I am. Brett's a good friend. Maybe this is like his big chance to have someone, you know?"
"Tango, that guy was watching us, you know, through the windows and jacking off in here!" Taz whispered loudly, waving his arms.
Tango caught his hands in mid air and held them. "Calm down, you dumb little shit. I don't want you to embarrass Brett. Let's just go to bed, and we'll sort it out in the morning. It raining so hard I doubt we're gonna be working."
They went back into the living room and Tango set some spare blankets and pillows on the end of the couch. "Brett, I'll call your dad at 5:30. It's raining really hard, and I don't think we're going in tomorrow."
"After me and Taz did both of those sod trucks yesterday, I won't be to sad to have a day off." Brett stretched his arms way up over his head and yawned hugely. "When we get up, I'll buy us all breakfast someplace."
"Cool!" Taz turned at the bottom of the stairs and grinned.
"Now you've done it." Tango wandered towards the stairs. "You volunteered to feed the bottomless pit." They all chuckled and said their goodnights, and Tango pushed Taz up the stairs. Without even noticing anymore, they took off their shorts and underwear and climbed into bed. It had become so natural that they kissed goodnight without a thought and settled in.
After a few minutes of quiet, Taz rolled to face Tango. "Have you ever thought about us maybe getting an apartment?" he whispered quietly.
"Not really." Tango stroked the side of Taz's face. "I don't think it would suck, though."
Taz smiled in the near darkness. "Me either, dude." He kissed Tango again and rolled back over, pushing his back up against Tango's torso.
Brett spread out the blankets on the floor and tossed the pillows at one end. Together, he and Brock turned off the lights and checked the doors. They stretched out a little ways apart on the floor. "Do you think they like me?" Brock asked, looking into Brett's perfect eyes.
"I think they will when they get to know you." Brett yawned. "You made a pretty weird entrance, but they'll get over it."
A huge crash of thunder went off right over the house, causing Brock to jump. He stared at the ceiling wide eyed and pulled the blanket up. Brett's arm snaked its way over his stomach and gently pulled him closer. "I told you I wouldn't let anything hurt you." Brett whispered in his ear. Relief trickled through Brock's mind, and he wrapped his arms around Brett's massive arm. It was warm and comfortable to be so close, a feeling that Brock couldn't remember having before. With amazing speed, he fell asleep and dreamed about being rescued by a blond god.
A few hours later, Tango hung up the phone and yawned. Joey had called off the crews for the rain, which still fell hard, and Tango reset the alarm for 8:00 so he could get everyone up and moving before his mother got home, and cook her breakfast. It was chilly in the house as he climbed back into bed and pulled a blanket over he and Taz. He was asleep before he hit the pillow.
Brock woke up to Brett's eyes looking down at him. It would be perfect, he thought, to have this view everyday. Please please please please! He put his hand on Brett's warm bare chest and sighed. Brett's hand went under his shirt and up his chest, lightly caressing his skin. Brock closed his eyes, wishing this could go on forever.
"Spend the day with me." Brett whispered.
"I'd really like that, but I have to go." Brock forced himself to move away and sit up, regretting that Brett had to move his hand away. "My brother is probably home. He'll have a fit that I've been out all night."
"I'm sorry if I got you in trouble." Brett sat up with a look of concern on his face.
Brock laughed quietly. "Until last night, my life was complete shit." He leaned in and kissed Brett on the lips. "I'd face Dorn any day to have that happen again."
"I washed your clothes. They're on the dryer in the laundry room." Brett stood up and pulled Brock to his feet. "In the pocket is a paper with my cell number on it. Will you call me when I can see you?"
Brock smiled and nodded, wrapping his arms around Brett. It felt so good to rest his head on someone's chest. He could hear Brett's heartbeat. With a sigh, he moved away and walked into the laundry room and changed clothes. It felt so wrong to put on those black pants and shirt. He wasn't in mourning anymore, and they looked out of place. He put Taz's clothes in one of the baskets and looked at them, longing to put them back on.
Brett walked him to his car and leaned in the window to kiss him goodbye. "I love you." Brett mouthed silently. Brock felt a lump in his throat and mouthed it back. The hardest thing he had ever done was to start that car and pull away.
Tango, Taz, and Brett sat at a booth in Denny's eating breakfast an hour later. Tango spoke to a glass store on Brett's phone, and Taz looked through an apartment magazine. Brett ate, but really wasn't paying attention to what was going on. His mind was on other things.
"This one's cool. It's the whole top floor of a building down town. The bathroom is finished, and so is the kitchen, but those are the only walls." Taz showed the picture to Tango. "It says you can build the walls to suit. We could do that."
"You mean frame them in and finish them?" Brett asked, barely catching what was being said.
"Yeah. The place is fucking huge. We could do like eight giant rooms if we wanted to. They only want seven hundred a month, and that includes utilities except for the phone." Taz set the book down and tackled his Grand Slam Breakfast.
"You going in with us, big guy?" Tango asked and handed the phone to Brett. "If we like that place, we could design it however we want. I know your dad would loan us tools, and you're damned talented with a hammer. I saw the family room you and your dad did."
Brett thought about it and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'd like that. We practically live together anyway."
Taz laughed out loud. "Just think, your mom would finally get some sleep during the day." He elbowed Tango in the ribs.
They paid their bill and piled into the 4runner, dodging through the rain to get to it. Brett called the number for the apartment, and a thin, short, funny looking little man met them at the building to show it to them. He shook all of their hands vigorously, causing Taz to get a serious case of the giggles. Listing to a running line on how wonderful and scenic the old place was, the three of them followed the little man up two flights of stairs to a huge metal door.
"You don't get security like this." The man tittered in a strange laugh and pounded on the door. It was obviously quite solid. Brett looked at Tango and Taz and smirked, causing Taz to start snorting into his hand again. Tango rolled his eyes and elbowed Taz hard.
The building, one of the oldest in town, hard ornate window moldings and hard wood floors, and had been everything from a tavern to a dance hall to a dance studio. As they entered, they looked up into an open ceiling where you could see air ducts, lights, and electrical lines.
Towards the back of the building, where they had parked, the kitchen sat in the right corner, very modern, with white cabinets and appliances. It had obviously just been built. In the left corner, there were pipefittings for a bathroom that hadn't been built yet, and windows ran the entire length of the back wall.
The finished bathroom was halfway along the inside wall, and had no windows. It sat like a box out into the room. Towards the front of the building, the windows were taller. The floor was in good shape but dusty.
While Tango talked numbers, Taz and Brett poked around and drew lines on the floor in the dust, imagining walls. They pictured four large bedrooms, one for the computer room, and a not so huge living room. Brett walked around pacing off the measurements, figuring board feet.
Taz stopped what he was doing and looked up at Brett. Together, they looked over at Tango, and noticed he was alone, leaning on the wall with his hands on his pockets. They walked over to him.
"Where'd the little guy go?" Taz asked. "Don't we get the place?"
"You're not in a position to call anyone little, Taz." Tango smiled hugely. "We had an ace in the hole the whole time and didn't know it." He looked at Brett and cocked his head to the side. "Your dad owns the fucking building, Brett. That guy almost shit his pants when I told him who you were. We don't even have to sign lease papers." He pulled a key out of his pocket and flipped it to Taz. "We could buy it if we wanted to."
"No shit?" Brett laughed. "I knew dad invested all his retirement when he left the plant and started the landscaping company, but I never asked him what he did with it."
"So it's ours?" Taz was so excited he couldn't hold still. Tango always teased him about looking like a nervous happy little dog when he got excited, but he didn't care. "We really got it?"
Tango nodded, and then almost fell as Taz wrapped his arms around him. "Dude, I can't breath." He pushed Taz back. "Besides, it was Brett that did the deal, Taz."
Taz jumped up and grabbed Brett's neck and wrapped his legs around his waist. "You are the fucking bomb, you know that?"
Brett staggered under Taz's weight. "Jesus, Christ, I think a hand shake would work, man." They fell on the floor. "Before you get to excited, we have a shit load of work to do, and I need to call my dad."
"Here's your phone." Tango picked it up off the floor where it had fallen and handed it to him. Brett smirked and pushed Taz off his lap.
They met with Joey, who was only to pleased to let them have the apartment, and made arrangements for them to pay three hundred a month, one hundred each, and gave Brett the company credit card to buy materials. Brett didn't know it, but Joey planned to transfer title to the building to his son for his twenty-first birthday anyway, and routed the rent money into Brett's college fund.
"You little shits do a good job on them walls." Joey pushed up the brim of his cap. "No cuttin' corners, and you go get Linus Barkley to do the 'lectrical, you hear me?"
"I got it, Pop, I got it." Brett hugged his dad and slapped his back. "Thanks, Dad."
"You thank me when you get the place cleaned up." He mussed Brett's hair and hugged him back. "There's a lot more work there than it looks like, boys. I think you bit of a chunk of shit, but if that's what you want, go get it."
They spent two and a half hours in the lumber store, ordering wood, wallboard, wiring, and fixtures. They sketched the layout of the walls and got help with paint and pre hung doors. "Sorry, boys." The man at the counter leaned back on his stool. "We can use the lift truck to deliver it to the second floor, but you'll have to wait until the rain breaks, probably late tomorrow afternoon."
"That's okay, we have a lot of cleaning to do first." Brett shook the man's hand and took a copy of the receipt for his dad. "I think the yard truck is at my place isn't it?" Tango and Taz nodded and followed Brett towards the doors. "My bike is at your house. Let's go get it and I'll take it home and grab the truck."
"Will you take me to my house for some clothes, dude?" Taz asked, climbing into the back door of the 4runner. "All I have at Tango's is good stuff. I need some work clothes."
They stopped at McDonald's on the way and grabbed grub, as Taz put it, and then ate in Tango's kitchen. There was a note from his mother on the counter explaining that the window man had come and put in the new glass, and that there was a letter for him on his computer. He ran up and got it and opened it on the way back down the stairs. He stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the kitchen. His jaw dropped.
"What is it, Tang?" Brett asked around a mouthful of Big Mac. Taz looked up and saw the look on his face and raised his eyebrows.
"Uh, Taz?" Tango swallowed hard and blinked rapidly. "I'm holding a check for over thirty two hundred dollars." He wobbled unsteadily and leaned heavily on the counter. "It's from the AVS Company, in my name."
"YEAH!" Taz jumped up and threw his arms up, jumping in circles. "I told you so! I told you so! I so fucking told you so!" He wrapped his arms around Tango's neck and nearly pulled him down onto the floor.
"We can pay the rent for the whole year in advance!" Tango laughed. "I'm such a money whore!"
"We can make more, too! We have those pictures from last night that Brett hasn't posted yet!" Taz pounded up the stairs followed by the others. Brett worked for almost an hour formatting the pages, then stopped short. There were several pictures of him and Brock. Apparently they had forgotten to turn off the camera until Tango turned off the computer. He found a picture of them on the floor in each other's arms, and impulsively formatted it into a page, created a link that said 'Brock, go here', and set it up on the web page. On the page with the picture on it, he put the caption 'To B, Love B'.
"Dude, Brock left this here when you showed it to us." Tango handed Brock's wallet to Brett. "You guys can drop it off on the way to Taz's house."
With Taz in tow, they went down to his bike and pulled off the tarp. He tossed the helmet to Taz and kicked the kickstand up. He climbed on and held it steady as Taz got situated. "Hold on." He felt Taz's hands around his waist and he started the bike and pulled out.
It was really hot and humid, but the rain had stopped. Brett was careful to avoid the puddles as they wound through the streets. Brock's house was easy to spot. Taz raised the visor on the helmet and leaned up to Brett's ear. "It looks like a dump."
"I don't think Brock gets much of a vote." Brett slowed down and pulled into the first six feet of the driveway, the only part of it that wasn't cluttered with boxes, broken furniture, and two inoperable vehicles. Brock's battered Subaru was parked across the street. An old pick up truck was parked where the front lawn used to be, now nothing but weeds. The house had a tired look to it. Once green shutters hung askew by the windows, and the screen door was off its hinges sitting next to the front door on the porch.
Taz stayed with the bike, sitting on the seat and looking around in disgust, while Brett carefully picked his steps to the front door. When he got there, he wiped his hands on his pant legs, nervously hoping he wasn't going to upset Brock by showing up. He knocked on the door and was relieved when it didn't fall down.
A loud crash from inside the house made him jump. The door opened just a crack, and an obviously over weight jowly face glared at him through the opening. "What the fuck do you want?" Dorn Hendricks growled, narrowing his eyes at the stranger.
"Uh, hi. I'm Brett Donovan, a friend of Brock's. He left this at a friend of our's house last night." Brett held up the wallet. "Is he in?"
"I'll give it to him." Dorn grumbled, opening the door just a little bit more to take the wallet. Brett held it up, but then heard a sound, like a strained voice. Dorn's eyes opened wide, and he kicked at something Brett couldn't see. A sound like a sack of lawn seed rolling over thumped against the door, and Brett looked up quickly to meet Dorn's eyes. They were cold and hollow, and Dorn's cheek twitched. The door slammed shut.
"Brock!" Brett bellowed and rammed his shoulder into the door. The impacted splintered the wood, and he backed up to do it again. His heart thudded in his chest. "Brock!" he shouted again, and hit the door like a steam engine. The door jam shattered and gave away, and Brett landed on his knees just inside.
Dorn snarled and let fly with a vicious kick, nailing Brett in the ribs with his steel toed work boots. Brett crashed against the wall and landed near Brock's out stretched hand. He had only a second to meet Brock's glassy eyes before he had to throw himself to the side, missing another kick.
Dorn picked up a scarred baseball bat and threw a recliner chair out of the way to come after Brett. He lifted the bat and brought it down, destroying a folding TV tray and missing Brett's head by a half an inch. Brett crab crawled towards the kitchen; feeling pieces of broken furniture and shattered glass rain down on his back.
Taz's eyes went wide as he watched the happenings on the porch. He couldn't see who answered the door, but he heard the door slam, and he saw Brett batter it open. "Holy shit!" He jumped off the bike and ran for the house, seeing someone throw a kick at Brett. "Oh, shit!" He jumped onto the porch and ran into the doorway, just in time to see a one huge fucking guy swinging a ball bat at Brett's head. He jumped forward to grab for the bat, but crashed to his knees, tripping over Brock's arm.
Brett stood up and felt anger wash up through his body. The bat came at him again, and he grabbed it with both hands and yanked it out of Dorn's hands. Dorn's eyes opened in surprise, and the bat impacted with the side of his head as Brett swung it. It was a glancing blow, not very damaging.
Dorn roared like an animal and charged Brett, carrying him into the wall. Brett saw stars as he tried to take a breath, and then nearly blacked out as the bat hit him in the head. Dorn turned back towards Taz and Brock and trudged through the mess. His eyes burned as he towered over them, and he brought his foot back. Taz used his body to cover Brock, waiting for the kick. After a second, he stole a glance at Dorn, who hadn't moved.
A look of confusion came over Dorn's face, and a little blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. He blinked a couple of times, then his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell forward, shaking the entire house when he hit. An aluminum leg off one of the TV trays stuck out of his back. Brett stood in the middle of the floor panting, blood coming out of his nose and mouth.
Taz sat up slowly, the situation dawning on him. "Oh, Brett." He whispered. The giant of a man that he respected and admired looked like a truck had hit him. Brett had come up behind Dorn and rammed the leg into his back, stopping the dinosaur that threatened them all. With out realizing it, Taz had tears in his eyes.
Brett staggered over to them and fell to his knees. They could hear sirens coming, and he took Brock's hand in his. "Please stay with me." He wheezed. "Don't leave me Brock." Brock's eyes focused a little, and the corner of his mouth moved up just a bit. 'Love you' he mouthed silently, then closed his eyes. Brett sobbed, and screamed an animal yell of agony.
Policemen ran in with their weapons drawn, and Taz was taken outside. They found Dorn dead, and searched for anyone else in the house. Paramedics showed up and immediately went to work on Brock, pushing Brett out of the way.
A tall thin officer in street clothes came over to Brett and squatted down. In a fog, Brett explained what happened, watching as they put Brock on a stretcher and took him out the door. The officer asked more questions, and Brett tried to think, but he couldn't.
The detective stood up and motioned to two of the officers. "Cuff him." He said. They pulled Brett to his feet and put his hands behind his back. "Brett Donovan, you're under arrest for the murder of Dorn Hendricks. You have the right to remain silent.................".
Rimshot@planetaccess.com
Dan