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EIGHT
Mario first stepped into Ted's office and then Tommy's, followed by a visit to Berniece as well. He invited them all to the engagement party, and each of them had to give him a hug and a kiss. "I am so happy for you" Tommy said, and Ted told him "You know we have been concerned about you."
"Yes, I realize, seven years is a long time."
Berniece asked him about Peter, and he demurred, saying everyone would get a chance to view his new eye-candy at the engagement party. And Peter was truly a stunning example of manhood; it was entirely fair to call him eye-candy.
A few days later, Mario was deeply disturbed, and then grew more and more angry by the second, after opening an email from an unknown source. The email had come to his law firm address, which was available on the web-site for the firm. The email contained three photos, all of Peter with a young man. In the photos they were kissing and hugging, with big smiles. Mario had no idea who the young man was, and there was an un-deliverable return email address. He got up and left the office and went for a walk outside toward the Santa Monica pier.
Late that day when he was driving home, his cell phone rang. It showed Peter's number on the caller ID, but Mario refused to answer. After he got home and fixed himself a gin and tonic, unusual for a Monday night, his cell phone rang again, with Peter's number once more. Mario let the phone buzz away on the bar; he walked out to the patio and cursed loudly.
"Fuck! I knew it! Fuck fuck fuck!"
Within a half hour the doorbell rang. He knew it would be Peter, and very reluctantly and still angry, he went to the door. Peter looked very confused.
"Babe? What's going on?"
"I think you should be explaining that to me," Mario said, with anger dripping from him.
"What are you talking about?"
"Let me show you some photos that were emailed to my office today" Mario explained. He opened his cell phone and accessed the three photos which he had forwarded to his phone from his office email.
"Oh God" Peter said. He sat down on the wide sofa in the great room.
"Let me explain" he said.
"Please do" Mario replied, icily.
"Apparently my stalker is still after me, and somehow I guess he heard about us from one of my staff members. I mentioned you in conversation to a young man who is now working with my staff as the new maître d'.
"Is he the one in these photos?"
"No; that guy is the former maître d', whom I fired a year ago. He has been stalking me ever since." Peter sighed deeply and sagged down into the sofa.
"So how did it get this far? I don't understand." Mario was still upset.
"Apparently the two guys are still in contact, I guess, I'm not sure. But somehow the prior maître d' -- the stalker- got your name and email address from the new guy and decided to cause trouble."
"Well it worked. I have been upset all day. I had to take a couple hours out of the office just to try to cool off."
"Did that work?"
"Hell no."
Peter said, "Let's try this and see if it helps" and he took Mario gently by the shoulders and kissed him. It was the same quality and passion of the Famous First Kiss; Mario tried to push away at first and then began kissing Peter back and grew more relaxed.
Mario stood and said, "I'm sorry, I just got so upset, at first I was angry at you and then I was angry at myself for moving too fast and then I was angry at the asshole who emailed me those photos."
"I completely understand, Babe. Is there anything we can do legally to stop this guy?"
"Yes, but you will have to file a complaint with the authorities and show documentation. Luckily this email can be a part of that documentation."
"Oh, I have plenty of documentation. I have notes, letters, emails, photos, and damage reports on my office and my car. When I say this nut-bag has been stalking me, I am not exaggerating."
"I'm sorry you had to suffer through all of that, Peter, and I want to warn you that these psychos don't go away easily or quickly. Once we file against him you better be prepared for a reaction."
"OK, Love, I will depend on you to get this started and I will rely on your strength to help me get through this." Peter sighed.
In the next two weeks, work for both Peter and Mario was intense, as was the atmosphere surrounding the filing against the stalker. Devon Tracey had started working for a nightclub in Beverly Hills and so was easy to find and to serve with the subpoena from the court; he somehow did not seem surprised at all by this development. The court hearing was in Santa Monica five days later, and both Mario and Peter were there. Devon showed up but did not have a lawyer with him.
When asked by the judge to speak, Devon began shouting that Peter had manufactured all of "this shit" against him, that in fact Peter was the actual stalker, and that his own life had become a living Hell since trying to run away from Peter. Mario was calm and relaxed, and Peter was furious. Mario asked for permission to approach the judge and produced photos of Peter's Jeep with deep scratch marks, the repair bills, and photocopies of all of the notes, emails, letters, and threats from Devon, including a photo of the front windshield of the Jeep scrawled with lipstick. The lipstick spelled out `D heart P'.
The judge said that there was enough evidence to set a trial date and allowed Devon to remain out of jail on his own recognizance and assigned him a public defender. The judge also granted Mario's motion for a temporary restraining order, to be in effect immediately and lasting until the trial date. Leaving the courthouse, Devon shouted at Peter, "Faggot, you better be careful!"
Mario grabbed Peter's elbow and steered him away from the angry man, and they waited until Devon had disappeared into the elevator before going to the parking lot. Mario asked if Peter wanted to go back to work, or home; Peter said, "Let's go to the beach; I need to walk this off."
Mario drove north on PCH to the home and refuge he had enjoyed for so many years; parking in the front court, he grabbed Peter and kissed him briefly before opening the door. They threw their suit coats on the sofa and kicked off their shoes and went out through the back directly to the beach. After more than an hour of silence walking along the beach, Peter stopped and said, "What's next?"
"Well, the trial date, and then producing evidence, and depositions, and we should be hearing from his attorney in a week or so."
"What do you think the outcome will be?" Peter was still upset.
Mario was silent for a long moment; he finally replied "I think you had better be prepared for a rocky road. Nut-bags like Devon do not give up easily. I think we better think about security."
"Do you know someone?"
"Yes; you might remember that sheriff's deputy who came to a few parties, the guy with the really big guns?"
"Oh, Hell yeah, the really big cock you mean?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
Peter laughed. "Is he in security now?"
"Yes, he works for the best security firm in Santa Monica, and we use him once in a while at the law firm. I'll give him a call tomorrow."
Peter kissed Mario, climbed into his Jeep Cherokee, and roared off up PCH to his catering kitchen and apartment. When Mario had not heard from Peter that evening at the usual time, when they were accustomed to calling each other at the end of the day to say good-night, Mario became increasingly uneasy. He walked outside to the patio, and thought he heard some sirens in the far distance. He called Peter's cell phone, and it went immediately to voice-mail.
Mario did not wait; he called the former deputy sheriff with the giant cock, brought him up to speed, and climbed into the Lamborghini and sped north toward Peter's apartment. He was stopped by traffic and police cruisers and firetrucks with red and blue lights flashing, and suddenly became agitated and sweaty. A police officer approached him, and Mario began shouting through the window, asking what had happened and who was involved. When he was told to be calm, Mario shouted "I am not going to be fucking calm, my fiancé is in an apartment up there and I have to find him!"
The officer told Mario to park his car over on the right side of the highway, and he would walk Mario up to the officer in charge; Mario wanted to run all of the distance, but the officer made him try to be calm. They reached the officer in charge, who was chatting with the fire department captain in charge of their operation; Mario could not see Peter anywhere.
Mario began shouting "Let me in there! I have to find Peter!"
Both the police officer in charge and the fire captain turned to Mario and asked him who he was talking about, and Mario tried to explain as calmly as possible, about Peter, the stalker, and the court case. Both of the officers appeared deeply concerned, and the police officer took Mario aside and told him no one was in the apartment or the business.
"Oh, thank God" Mario breathed, while the officer made a call on a cell phone. In a couple more minutes, another officer came up with a bedraggled and dirty Peter wrapped in a blanket; Mario nearly broke down.
"Oh my God, Babe, what happened?"
Peter tried to explain that he had come home to find Devon outside the business, pacing back and forth, and tried to talk to him but Devon kept shouting and finally drove away. A couple hours later, Peter said, apparently Devon came back and tried to set the place on fire, throwing gas on the door and the wall. Peter got out in time before the place exploded; the main gas line to the building was next to the entry door, and as the wall caught fire, it quickly heated up the gas main which then led to an explosion and the whole building erupted into flame. By then, Peter said, he had already called 911, and was running toward the highway to get away from the heat and the danger.
Mario was shaking; "I'll kill that faggot" he muttered.
"Better not say that in front of these cops" Peter warned him.
"Are you sure it was Devon?"
"Yes; in addition, there are various security cameras around, so I am
certain he is already on tape. There was one over the door of my business, which is gone now of course, but there is also one across the street, and one on the business next door."
Mario said "Let's go home and try to get some sleep and see if we can begin to address these challenges in the morning. I'm sure everything will look better by daylight."
"I know one thing that does not need daylight; I can see it already very clearly."
"What is that, Babe?"
"You love me."
Mario sighed, and grabbed Peter and pulled him in close. "Yes, I do. God yes. How do you know?"
"Because you came here to get me, to see me, to respond to a feeling you had, which you would not have done if you did not love me. You could have been sleeping or swimming or reading or watching TV or something, but you were tuned in to me and you came here to find me."
Peter climbed into his Jeep Cherokee and followed Mario back south on PCH after checking with the police, who promised to call him tomorrow for a follow-up. When they arrived home, they went directly to the bedroom, and crawled into bed naked and clung to each other. Mario was shaking.
"What's wrong, Babe? Why are you shaking?"
"Peter I was just so scared that something awful had happened, and that I could not find you. It was a horrible feeling."
Peter kissed him, and said "I'm here, thank God, and thanks to you, and we are together, so we will figure some way through this mess. Go to sleep Babe. I love you."
"I love you too."
"I loved you first."
"Shut up. I said it first."
"Goodnight Mario. I love you." Peter giggled.
The first morning rays of sun had just barely crested the hills to the east of them, when Peter's cell phone began buzzing; it was barely 7 AM. It was the police investigator, who had an update for them. The security cameras adjacent to Peter's business clearly showed Devon Tracey ranting at Peter, as he had related, and then later throwing some kind of liquid on the building and lighting it on fire. The cop told Peter that they had been searching for Devon, but he had run; they had several agencies trying to find him but did not have any hope that he would show up soon.
While they were enjoying the first pot of coffee in the kitchen, Mario's cell phone buzzed; it was the security officer/former deputy sheriff with the big cock. He asked Mario for a report on what had happened overnight, and Mario handed his phone to Peter who provided the details.
During the middle of that call, Peter's phone buzzed again; it was the insurance agent responsible for the business policy Peter had for the catering business. Mario answered the call for Peter and explained partially what was going on and promised to have Peter call back in a few minutes. Within an hour, they had answered about fifteen calls, including two from catering clients who were in a panic about their events since hearing the news about the fire and explosion.
By noon, Peter and Mario had made some decisions: Peter was moving into the house with Mario, Mario was taking two days off from the law firm to help Peter find a new business space, and rather than back away from the challenge of the catering business being burned to the ground, Peter was going to double the capacity and size and take his inheritance from his grandparents out of savings and buy all new equipment. By the end of the second business day, they had found an empty restaurant space which was in a building owned by Peter's landlord and had measured it for ordering and installing new walk-in refrigerators and freezers. Peter called all of his staff and asked them to meet the following day at the new location for a staff meeting.
Sitting on the patio of Mario's house with glasses of wine, Peter looked at Mario and said "You are my savior. I'm so glad I have you to lean on."
"I am nobody's savior, Babe. I'm just trying to be calm and rational and help you pick up the pieces, and otherwise stay out of the way. You are the expert; this is your business, and I am very proud of you and how efficient you are at getting things organized so quickly."
Within the week, three other major events occurred: the police called and notified Peter that Devon Tracey had been found. Some hikers had seen his car sitting in a deep ravine east of the former catering business, near Topanga Canyon, with Devon in the driver's seat and a bullet hole in his head. He had apparently shot himself, and still had the gun in his hand.
Second, the insurance agent had called and told Peter that his coverage for the business as well as his personal apartment upstairs, was being paid in full: one hundred thousand dollars for the business and fifteen thousand for the apartment. In either case, the building damage was a separate issue, and would be discussed with the landlord.
Last, Peter had taken out a full-page ad in the local weekly neighborhood newspaper, advertising a "new and improved" catering business with additional staff, new facilities, upgraded equipment and a coupon for first-time clients for a twenty-percent "fire sale" discount. His phone began ringing with new business the same afternoon the paper hit the stands. Mario remarked "You better hire a PA."
Mario also said "I want to post-pone selling this house. I think you need some stability and we can both benefit from less stress if we wait a while to start that process."
Peter said, "As you wish." Mario laughed out loud, kissing the man who every day meant more and more to him.