Poor Man's Son - 33. Chapter 32

July 31, 2000

Malibu, CA

Will

“I’m Patrick,” he said, introducing himself. “You can call me Pat.”

“I’m Will,” I said, as I shook his hand. My other guard had decided to fall in love and get married. I was kind of bummed out, because he’d been real easy-going and we’d gotten along well, but I was happy for him. Only now, I had to break in a whole new guy. “My last guard was named Pat too.”

“Maybe they’re trying to keep things easy for you,” he joked. It was a good move; I was warming up to him.

“Yeah,” I said chuckling. “I can see it in the job description. 'Must be named Pat’,” I joked back.

“That must be how I got the job.”

“So you’re my new warden?”

He laughed. “I am so not your warden.”

“No? Isn’t that what guards do? Spy on us?” I asked, giving him shit.

He was really handsome, a bonus for me. He had to be Irish; he had a ruddy complexion with reddish brown hair and bright blue eyes. He actually reminded me of a much hipper version of Father Tim. “Dude, my job is not to spy on you. My job is to keep you safe.”

“So you don’t have to report back every day on what we do and where we go?”

“I report back if they ask me to, and I tell them what I want to tell them.”

“What are you saying?” I demanded.

“I’m saying that if you don’t do anything freakishly outrageous and cause me problems, I’m not going to talk about what you do.” That was a totally cool approach. My previous Pat hadn’t been a snitch, but he’d definitely been a conduit of information to my parents. Even he’d been better than JJ’s guard though, some guy named Michael, who all but logged down JJ’s every move and word and forwarded it to my parents.

“How old are you?”

“I’m twice your age,” he said.

“I’m almost 14,” I told him.

“And I’m almost 26,” he said.

“That’s not twice,” I told him. “I’m good at math.”

“I’m not,” he joked. “Anything you want to tell me about yourself?”

“What did they already tell you?” I asked.

“They said you were almost 14, a total pain in the ass, and you liked to hang out at strip clubs.”

“They told you that?” I demanded, pissed off. What the fuck?

“Dude, I made up the part about you being a pain in the ass and you hanging out at strip clubs,” he said, concerned. “Do you hang out there?”

“It’s a long story. Maybe I’ll tell you sometime,” I told him.

“That should be interesting. So if that’s true, does that mean you’re a pain in the ass as well?”

“Most definitely,” I replied.

He responded to my original question, this time seriously. “They told me that you’re an excellent student, that you’re starting at Harvard-Westlake in the fall, and that your passion is surfing.”

“That’s one of them,” I joked.

“And the other one would be?” he asked. “You’re a handsome dude. I would have pegged you for at least 16. Women?”

“Wrong gender,” I said, wondering how he’d react. It was funny to see his eyes kind of glaze over as he recalculated all of his pre-conceived notions about me.

“You’re gay?” he asked.

“Yeah. You’d think they’d tell you that when they hired you,” I said, wondering who the fuck was screening these guys.

“Why would they? Doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

“Are you straight?” I asked.

“You’re all into labels, aren’t you?” he teased.

“Whatever,” I said. “You ever suck a dick?”

“Oh yeah. All the time,” he said, being a smartass.

“Cool. Me too,” I said with a straight face. “I’m good at it.”

He frowned at me, and that cracked me up. “So what are we doing today?”

“Well, first I thought you could drive me down to the office to see Pop. I can give you directions. You seem like the kind of guy who gets lost all the time.”

“Anders-Hayes,” he said smugly. “I know where that is.”

“Bonus points for you,” I joked. I was having fun with him. “Then later you can watch me surf.”

“You any good?”

“I’m really good,” I said. “You surf?”

“I surf,” he said. “I’m not all that good.”

“Maybe you can join me. Could make for some comic relief.”

“I don’t know if they’ll let me,” he said.

“So who do you work for?” I asked.

“Your father,” he said, and then because of our strange family dynamic, he added another word. “Brad.”

“Cool. He loves to surf. He’ll be OK with it.”

“So are you going to Anders-Hayes dressed like that?” he asked, eying me up and down, taking in my baggy shorts that sagged down, and my T-shirt.

“It’s my uniform,” I said. “Just like you have to wear those lame-ass polo shirts and khakis. Was there a sale at Mervyns?”

“At least you get to choose your own uniform,” he groused. “Yours looks more comfortable.”

“We’ll have to take you shopping sometime,” I said. Then I got an evil smile. “We’ll have my grandfather go with us. You’ll love him. We’re going up to Palo Alto for a while. They tell you that?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Looks like when I’m babysitting you I won’t have a life.” He was starting to relax with me. I ignored the part about his babysitting me. It really pissed me off when our guards used that term.

“Dude, this is the career you’ve chosen,” I said. “Stupid move, if you ask me.”

“You ready to go?” We walked out front and I found the limo waiting for us.

“Dude, next time just grab one of the SUVs,” I said. We had a limo and a couple of big SUVs these guys used to drive us around. They were parked at a garage a couple of miles away from here, since parking was at a premium in Malibu.

“I didn’t know if you were one of those guys who liked to ride around in style or not.”

“Look,” I told him. “When people see us together, I want them to think I’m just hanging out with some hot guy, not that I’m being watched by some official guard.”

“Hot guy? Dude, you cannot hit on me,” he said seriously.

“Dude, I am going to hit on you all the time,” I said, and winked at him. He freaked out and that made me laugh my ass off. I spent most of the drive to Anders-Hayes giving him shit about the way he was going, telling him his directions were all wrong. He had to be relieved when we got there.

We walked into the lobby and got stopped at the reception desk, just as I had expected. “Hey Pat,” the guard there said. “You got a new gig?”

“Yeah. I switched to babysitting,” he said, just to piss me off. It worked.

“Might want to keep your resume up to date, asshole,” I said. I breezed past the guard, more because of Pat than because I knew him, and hopped in the elevator to go to Robbie’s office. “How do you know that guy?”

“We’re a tight group, us security guards,” he said.

“Just so you know, next time you tell people you’re babysitting me, I’m going to grab your dick,” I said. He stared at me, and as the elevator opened and I walked off, I reached out and grabbed his groin playfully. He slapped my hand away while I cracked up. I’m normally a pretty reserved guy, and pretty laid back, but my brothers and I had learned a long time ago that it was a lot of fun to give our guards crap. This guy would be a blast.

“Well hello, Will!” Evelyn said when I walked into Robbie’s office suite. “What brings you here today?”

“I just wanted to stop in and see Pop,” I told her, even as I gave her a kiss on the cheek and a brief hug. We all loved Evelyn.

“He’s in a meeting, but I’ll squeeze you in after that. You can be lunch.”

“Cool. This is Pat,” I said, introducing them. “Tell them what your job is, Pat.”

“I’m his guard,” he said, pretending to be sullen. I laughed. He could learn.

We sat on the couch, waiting for Robbie. “Don’t do that again, alright,” he admonished.

“Introduce you to people?” I asked.

“No. Don’t grab me.”

I got serious. “Respect is a two-way street. You’re not babysitting me. Got it?”

“I got it if you got it,” he said, being bitchy.

“Then we’re on the same page.” I ignored him after that, happy that I got my point across.

A group of people came walking out of Robbie’s office and I got a glimpse of him as he said goodbye to them. I jumped up and he smiled big when he saw me.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in a friendly way.

“I’m your lunch date,” I said.

“This a new child prodigy star?” one of the people who’d been with him asked.

“This is my son,” Robbie said coldly, making the guy shit a brick.

“Oh,” the guy said sheepishly. “Well have a good lunch.”

Robbie ignored him. “So we’re doing lunch?” Evelyn gave him a slight nod. “Let’s get out of here.”

“This is Pat,” I said, introducing him.

“I already met Pat. He used to work here, but he wanted a more challenging assignment.”

“I think I found it,” he said, but smiled at me, trying to keep me from being pissed off at him.

“He’s a track star. After your stint in Paris, we figured you needed someone fast,” Robbie said. That really cracked me up. Pat drove us to some chic restaurant where I was totally underdressed, which made me seem even cooler.

“So why did you come to take me out to lunch?” Robbie asked as we sat down.

“I’m buying? What kind of rip-off is this?” I joked. “I wanted to talk to you about Paris.”

His whole mood changed, and he got really glum. “I’m so sorry about that.”

“I don’t want you to be sorry. I don’t want you to take the blame for any of that.”

“It’s hard not to,” he said.

“Here’s the deal,” I said, being very serious and very severe. “If you dwell on this, and make it an issue, I can’t move on and put it behind me. We have to do this together.”

He looked at me, really thoughtfully, and seemed to ponder that. “You sounded just like your father when you said that.”

“Good. You usually listen to him,” I joked.

“Usually,” he said. “Are you doing OK?”

“What happened in Paris was healed in Rome.”

“I heard what happened in Rome. I hope you’re not going to go out stripping again, and make this a habit.”

“I won,” I said, and raised my eyebrow to show him I was joking.

“No surprise there. Stef says you take after your father.”

“Yeah, that part was kind of a turn off,” I laughed. “Seeing him at the, uh, end.”

“Don’t tell him you said that,” Robbie scolded. “Most guys don’t have that reaction after they cum and look up and see Stef.” I laughed so hard I had to stop myself; I was worried I was making a scene.

“It was just a thing of the moment,” I said.

“You know, people have video cameras. That could haunt you in the future.” I hadn’t really thought about that before.

“I guess you’re right,” I said thoughtfully. “I kind of cut loose when I was there. It was a good thing for me.”

“I was really worried about you, and how you’d handle this. You amaze me.”

I smiled to thank him. “I’m really worried about you, and how you’ll handle this.”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“And we both know that’s bullshit.” He poked his food with a fork in a disinterested fashion. “Look at you. You’re not even eating. You keep this up, and you won’t be fat anymore.”

“I am not fat,” he said. I snickered.

“I’m doing fine,” I told him firmly, being serious again. “But like I said, if you let this thing bother you, it’s going to bother me, then I’ll think about it, and then it will haunt me. I need you to forget about it. I need you to do this for me.”

“I don’t think I can forget about it.”

“Fine, that’s fine,” I said, irritated. “But at least don’t take responsibility for it. It’s not your fault that those psychos are after you after all these years.”

“It’s not that easy,” he said, “but I’ll do my best.”

“Not good enough,” I said. “I want a commitment from you that you won’t carry this baggage around with you.”

“Not that easy,” he said, mimicking me. He looked around and lowered his voice. “I killed him.”

I stared at him, shocked. “Neil? You killed him?” I asked quietly. He nodded. “Why?”

“He threatened your dad.” I’d watched he and my Dad go through some major contortions last year when they broke up, and I’d wondered at times, why Dad put up with his shit, but now I got it. This was love. This was total commitment.

“How did he do that?”

“He took pictures of him all over Paris, and told me they were going to kidnap him if I didn’t pay them a bunch of cash. I didn’t have the money anyway, but I knew that even if I did, they’d just come back for more. And in the end, they could hurt him. They told me all the horrible shit they’d do to him. I couldn’t let that happen.”

I held up my hand and he looked at me oddly. He held his hand up like mine and I high-fived him. “Good job.” No one threatened my dad and got away with it. I’d fight to the gates of hell for him.

“What?”

“I hope I can find a guy someday who loves me that much,” I told him sincerely. “You know, if you wouldn’t have done that, I might not have been here. Dad might have been killed.”

“Actually, that’s truer than you know. You were conceived when I was in jail in Paris,” he said, chuckling at that.

“So I’m your trade-off? No wonder you’re still upset about it,” I joked.

“I never thought about it that way,” he said. He paused to ponder that, the fact that all the shit that had happened to him in Paris had ended up leading to my conception and birth.

“So do we have a deal?”

“Deal?”

“We both put this behind us,” I stated firmly.

He held out his hand. “Deal.” I shook his hand, but that wasn’t good enough for him. He got up and pulled me out of my chair, and in the middle of this stylin’ restaurant, he gave me one of his massive hugs. “I’ve had a great lunch,” he said, then looked at his watch apologetically, “but I have to get back.”

“That’s fine. I have to spend my afternoon breaking Pat in.”

“Poor Pat,” he said sympathetically.

“No shit,” I agreed.

 

August 1, 2000

The Grapevine

Tejon Pass, CA

Will

 

“Dude, this is so much more comfortable than the Ferrari,” I told Darius, trying to take the sting out of us not being able to drive that kick-ass car. Instead, he was driving Mom’s brand new Lexus LX-470; it still had that new-car smell.

“Right,” he said dubiously. “We look like suburban dorks.”

“You do, anyway,” I teased. “You’re driving.”

“This entertainment system is the beast!” JJ said. He’d gotten stuck in the back seat, but it was starting to look like he got the better end of the deal. This thing was smooth, quiet, and luxurious; that made it the perfect vehicle to watch movies in. To do that it had this amazing entertainment system in the back seat.

“This thing just rolls over the Grapevine,” Darius said, gunning it as we tooled over the Tejon Pass.

“Mom likes it,” I told him. “But Tiffany likes it better.”

“So it’s Tiffany’s car?” he asked, joking. Mom usually did whatever it took to make Tiffany happy.

“She deserves it. She has to deal with his ass all the time,” I said, pointing at JJ.

“What did you say?” JJ demanded, pulling off his headphones. Darius reached for the console and turned off the sound system. “Hey!” JJ bitched when his power went off.

“I want to talk to you guys before we get to Bakersfield,” he said.

“Turn it back on. I was almost finished with that movie,” JJ whined.

“Shut the fuck up, you can watch it later,” I snapped at him. He glared at me but I didn’t give a shit. This was important; this was why we were on this trip to this God-forsaken part of California. I don’t think he realized what a big deal this was, so I turned around to look at him so he could see my expression. He got it.

“Whatever,” he said, blowing it off. “It was a dumb-ass movie anyway.”

“So talk,” I prompted Darius.

“I have a big decision to make on schools,” he said. “I pretty much made it, but I wanted you guys to understand why I did it.”

“I thought you were going to Annapolis,” I said. “Grand and Stef pulled a bunch of strings and got you an appointment. That’s what I heard.”

“I got into Annapolis, but I’m not going there,” he said.

“You’re not going to Annapolis?” JJ asked, stunned. “What, did you get into Harvard instead?”

“No, I didn’t get into Harvard instead,” Darius said, being snippy. “I’m going to go to Santa Clara University.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I demanded. “A Catholic school? The whole place will explode when you walk in, you sinner.” I’d made it a joke at the end, because I didn’t want to bust his balls, but this really seemed like a stupid idea.

“You’re turning down Annapolis to go to some second-rate Catholic school just so you can be near Ella,” JJ said.

“That’s not the reason, asshole,” Darius said, really pissed off, so pissed off that he’d turned to look at JJ when he said it. We swerved a little bit as he got out of his lane.

“Watch the fucking road,” I snapped. “JJ’s not trying to be an asshole, even if he is.” JJ kicked the back of my seat.

“Well I’m not going to Santa Clara just to be close to Ella,” he said.

I wasn’t getting why he did this, so I tried a different approach. “Did you tell Dad and Pop why you were doing this?” I asked. They’d have never approved if he were just doing this to be around Ella.

“Yeah,” he said.

“And what did they say?”

“They said I made a good decision,” he said. “So did Grand.” What the fuck? They thought it was a good decision?

“Dude, are you freaking kidding me?” JJ chimed in. “They all thought it was a good decision? To go to Santa Clara instead of Annapolis? Is everyone crazy? What did Mom say?”

“Mom wasn’t as thrilled about it,” Darius said reluctantly, because he knew what kind of reaction that would get.

JJ immediately jumped onto her side, using that as validation that it was a bad idea. “Maybe she’s right.”

“Darius, dude,” I said, getting his attention and making this between us. “There’s more to this than just a choice between two schools. What is it?”

“That’s why we’re going to Bakersfield,” he said. “I want you guys to understand this, so you’ll know why I made this decision, and so you won’t blame El.” He glared into the rear-view mirror as he said that, firing that look at JJ.

“That’s cool,” I said, shutting JJ down before he could say anything else to piss off Darius. “We’re just along for the ride, right JJ?”

“Right,” JJ agreed grudgingly.

We got to Bakersfield and went east, into East Bakersfield, naturally enough. “This looks like a shitty neighborhood,” JJ said.

“No shit,” I agreed. It looked like East LA. Well, not that bad, but pretty bad. “You lost?”

“I’ll protect you, you pussies,” Darius said, ignoring us. We drove up to East Bakersfield High School and Darius parked next to the gym. It was an old school, one of those California high schools that had been built back in the 30’s or 40’s. “Let’s go.”

“We’re getting out?” I asked. This did not look like a place we’d hang out. He just looked at me, so I shrugged and got out. He clicked on the lock button and the Lexus ‘chirped’ as the doors locked, and I jumped a bit, startled by the noise. Darius chuckled at me, and that was all it took. This was bullshit; I was done being a pussy. There was almost no one around here in the summer, and they sure as shit weren’t going to cause me any problems in the daytime.

“Come on,” I said, walking away from the car. Darius led us into the gym where some guys were playing basketball.

“You brought us here to watch basketball?” JJ asked. “I don’t like basketball.”

Darius ignored him. “See that guy,” he said. “The one with the yellow shirt on.” He was gesturing toward a Latino guy, who looked to be about average height for a basketball player, which meant he’d be taller than any of us. He had a really handsome face, framed by his black hair that was cut almost exactly like mine.

“He’s hot,” I said.

JJ giggled. “Whatever,” Darius said.

“Can you fix me up with him?” I joked.

“His name is Paul Fernandez,” he said. “His parents were both born in Mexico and immigrated here in the 70s. He has seven brothers and sisters. He’s the youngest.”

“How do you know so much about this dude?” I asked. He ignored me and continued his recitation of the guy’s life story.

“His oldest brother is in jail for armed robbery, and his second-oldest brother has been arrested for gang-related activity. His mom works as a maid, and his dad is a gardener.”

“Hard to see that in him,” I said. He didn’t look like a gang banger.

“That’s the deal,” he said. “That guy has a perfect GPA, kicked ass on the SAT, and is an all-American athlete.”

“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “That guy? And his brothers are both in jail, or headed there?”

“Yeah,” Darius said. “You know what his one dream is?”

“No,” I said. “But I hope it involves me,” I joked.

Darius just rolled his eyes. “He wants to go to Annapolis.” And then I got it, and so did JJ. We just stared at our older brother, in awe of the decision he’d made.

“And if you go there, you take his place?” I asked.

“Yeah. I got in because one of the Senators was willing to make me their pick. If they had, this guy wouldn’t make it.”

“So how’d you find out all about him?” JJ asked.

“I had Grand make some inquiries,” he said cryptically.

“Dude, you are my hero,” I said. He’d basically given up a golden opportunity to go to Annapolis because this kid deserved it more.

“Way to go, Darius,” JJ said, and patted him on the back.

“Thanks,” Darius said. “I just wanted you guys to understand.” He led us back to the Lexus and we said nothing. This was so like Darius, to do something noble. He liked that, he liked to be a hero. He certainly was mine.