CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN - Bobby Reed 1986-2005
Today's a black day for us all. Eddie's back to himself and we're up-n-runnin' again and Dickie Biggs' manager's comin' to get 'im and we can close this case, but I've just been thinkin' of Bobby. That sweet, sweet kid - tossed himself on all that ammo just so we could make a break for it and escape without a scratch. Well, Eddie and Dickie got out fine, but I'm not so sure about me. I start bawlin'. Eddie comes out and sees me.
"Hey, Boss-man, Dickie's almost ready to....." He sees me in my state and just stops. I try to shut off the waterworks and make like business as usual, ya know, but he catches me in the act, so to speak. "Hey, Mike, ya all right?" "Oh, uh, sure...sure thing, kid. How are you two doin'?" "Well, Dickie's ready to get goin' soon as his boss gets here." "Really good to see ya lookin' like yourself again. I never wanna see ya in that busboy uniform again." Eddie laughed and said, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna give this crap to Goodwill. I hate to do it to 'em, but somebody out there's gotta need this, I guess." He looked long and hard at me, which I don't usually mind, but in this case, what I'm feelin' ain't no concern of his. "Mike, I was standin' in the back for a couple minutes, I heard ya cryin'. Ya ain't gotta hide nothin' like that from me, I thought ya knew that." My mouth starts shakin' and my eyes start waterin' up. I grab Eddie and hug 'im. "That poor kid - the morgue just came and got 'im and now I gotta notify his folks, if there's any. I don't know the first thing about 'im, other than he saved our lives." "Yeah, that's true...but wouldn't his boss at the gym know about 'im? I mean, wasn't he s'posed to be workin' today? Maybe we should go over there. What time's it open?" "9:00, which it ain't right now, it's not even 8 yet. What're we gonna tell 'em over there?" "The truth...he was shot to death and ya found 'im." "WE found 'im, me and you we're like one guy. WE found 'im and we're gonna tell the boss at the gym."
The doorbell rings - it's Dickie's boss. I go take care of 'im while Eddie goes and gets Dickie. "Mr. Batz..." "Uh, it's Detective Batz, but you can call me Mike" "You certainly are a detective and a damned good one, too. I can't thank you enough for what you've done." Dickie shows up, really happy to see this guy, goes to ug 'im, but he don't hug back. I'm wonderin' about this. I look at Eddie, who noticed it, too and was put off, he just shrugs. "Well, I see you're all right, kid, good thing. Go wait for me in the car, I'm just gonna close this deal up." "Yes, sir", he says. "Again, you're a total miracle worker, and I'll see to it you're very well rewarded. That boy waiting in my car is a real hot commodity. Without him, I'd be ruined." "Yeah, I know what ya mean. It's like that with me and Eddie..." "No, offense of course, but has Eddie helped generate over a billion dollars for our studio? I mean, with a face and body like his, he could very well be the next big thing if he chose our line of work, but Dickie is a superstar and I have a contract to ensure that he'll be on every adult DVD shelf across the country, and without him, I'd have to go out and find somebody new, I guess. Your efforts have saved me quite a few steps, which is good because I am a very lazy man." He laughed at his own joke. Geez, I hate a guy that does that. "Yeah, but you must have some feelin' for 'im, after all the time he's been with ya, right? Dontcha care about him personally?" He turns to Eddie and goes on the defense, "Young man, he's very well paid, very well taken care of, he has a roof over his head, food in his stomach, a lifetime membership in a health club and the adoration of millions of DVD purchasers across the country. He gets scads of e-mails." "What about real friends?" "He gets along very well with his co-stars, with whom he spends a lot of time on the set." "Family?" "Eddie, cool it, huh?" I could see my boy's third degree's really gettin' to this guy. I don't wanna piss 'im off, I mean, I took a job from this one. "Dickie's family threw him out of the house when he came out to them at a very tender age. He drifted around with nobody in his life and not a dime in his pocket. I saw his potential and he's worked out very well for my company. Yes, I do care about him and I do love him, in a way. I've gotten to know him very well. but there's just so much to do in our field and not much time. I act like I'm detached to protect the two of us." "From what?" "I mentioned his abandonment. I was abandoned, too. I just happened to catch a couple of good breaks here and there and worked my way up to producing and managing really talented boys for my films. You could say I went into this business just to be near boys like him, but I have to keep it on a professional level." "I know I'm oversteppin' here, but, just be good to 'im, ya know? Tell 'im somethin' nice sometimes. My dad tried to kill me when I was a kid and my mom died pretty soon after and I was on my own, then I met Mike. If it ain't for him, I don't know where I'd be right now." Dickie's boss grins at both of us and says, "if I played my cards right, you might've been sharing top billing with Dickie. Well, anyway, we have to get going here, so let me write you a check and...well...thank you again, for everything, especially you, kid." So the guy pays me off and slips me a check and slips Eddie a card, sayin' if he ever got tired of chasin' bad guys, he could pop up at his studio anytime. Flattered as I think he was, he just smiled it off and thanked him.
We get to the gym and notify the owner of Bobby's murder. "How'd it happen?" "We were bein' shot at by my boy's kidnappers and he stood and took all the ammo for us. We all woulda been wiped out if not for him." "Sounds like somethin' he'd do." "He's got family?" "No, the kid was a drifter, saw a Help Wanted sign and went for it. He was one of our best. Faithful, upright, honest. We made a good team. Good boy. Damn good boy. Always had the makin's of a good cop."
The funeral was the next day. When we were gettin' ready to go, Eddie pops up in them clothes my ex-Boxx-man made 'im wear when he was holdin' 'im hostage. "Eddie, what're ya doin'? I thought you was trashin' that stuff." "It's a funeral, Mike, I figured I'd show some respect is all." All of 'em from the gym came out and paid their respects. Me and 'is boss gave speeches as we were the two guys he worked with the most. His boss started off like, "Bobby Reed wasn't with us very long, maybe a year or so, but I really got to know him very well. He had a heart of gold, really put himself into his job. Got along great with all the customers and the rest of the staff. He will be missed. Detectives Batz and Robinson notified me of his sacrifice of life. While shocked and saddened by his fate, I wasn't really surprised because when he was into something, he threw his whole life into it. Bobby had a great love of life and he cared very deeply about others. he was selfless, upright, moral, always did believe in doing the right thing, no matter the expense....." Then he broke off, see, and took a long pause. He started crying right there. Hopin' to keep up the veneer, but you could tell he was broken up. Finally, he says, he says to us, "God, please excuse me, this boy was like a son to me. I feel like he was one of my own. Detective Batz, Detective Robinson, you didn't know him long, either, but I hope you knew what a ray of sunshine you guys had in him. A real ray of sunshine." He walked away from the stand shaken, then it was announced I'd be talkin' 'bout 'im. I didn't know what to say, but there was plenty I wanted to say, ya get my meanin'.
I stood up there and nodded to the congregation. "How's it goin'. I met Bobby at the gym, was lookin' for a missin' person and two of us got to talkin' and all, said he really liked my work, asked a lot about it and I gave it to 'im straight. He didn't flinch. I guess you could say he liked it even better after that. He wanted to put his life into it, and you could say he did. My partner, Eddie, was kidnapped in the same way another guy was and sure enough both by the same perp. Bobby wanted to help me find both of 'em, and we got 'em. 'Cuz of him, this ended up sooner and better than it might've. All the time I knew he'd make a great gunmshoe, he'd do just as good for somebody out there like he'd done for me. Thanks." I sit back down, starin' straight ahead. Eddie says to me, "good work, Boss-man". I don't respond. I don't know what to say. Maybe there ain't nothin' to say.
Back at the house, Eddie changed, thank God, and we just sat. Didn't feel like doin' nothin'. No tv, no food, not even screwin' around. "Y'all right Mike?" I just looked up at 'im, "no. Not right now. Tell ya what, could ya just sit with me? I just want ya nearby." "Sure", and he parks it by my side, like he's always been. "It'd be one thing if he was caught off guard, but he walked right into it. He coulda run like the rest of us." "They woulda followed us in. Bobby did what he had to do to fend 'em off." "Yeah, but...." I looked in 'is eyes and stopped dead. I knew what I had to say and it wasn't gonna be easy. "I tried to get it goin' with Bobby." "Yeah, I knew ya did." I was shocked. "How long did ya know?" He chuckled, "come on, I'm a detective, I was trained by the best. I was watchin' him strut his stuff in the gym when I was undercover, actin' all like a cop and ev'rything. Then I put two and two together. Saw what he was wearin', the way he was actin' with ya and stuff." "Been meanin' to ask, when did you come out of that trance, or whatever you were in." "It was when the first shots were fired when we were movin'. I shouted out HOLY BLITZKRIEG" "Yeah, I knew that sounded like your old self. I felt like we was back together at that point." "Are we?" "Whaddya talkin' about?" "Did ya go all the way with 'im?" "Nah. I was drinkin', didn't sleep, got confused, saw that he looked like ya a little and I thought it was you." "Ya thinkin' about 'im now?" "Course I am, we just buried 'im..." Then Eddie stopped short, started bawlin'. "I don't believe it. All this time I thought I was your one and only. The minute my back is turned, ya can just go off and get yourself another stud. I didn't know ya was like that, Mike. I didn't know I was just another stud for ya." "Oh, God, Eddie, please." "I can't believe ya'd rather fuck some dead towel boy". I slapped him hard across the face, only because he wasn't thinkin' right and I had to wake 'im up. But then he belted me, and the two of us got into fisticuffs like I never thought we would. "Make ya think you're somethin', huh? Big time gumshoe slappin' around his little studling when the mood gets ya?" I had my hands on 'im, now, not for pleasure, but this time I wanted to break his neck for all the awful stuff he was sayin'. He punches me and sends me flyin'. Then I rebound, only to have 'im kick me back down. This kid was not givin' it up for nothin'. Then I grabbed 'im again, I pinned his arms up against the wall.
EDDIE - The minute he did that, I flashed back to bein' chained up at that pole. I wasn't thinkin' right, I felt like I was back there again. I panicked and started screamin' Mike, Mike, please don't leave, stuff like that.
MIKE - Aw, man he was howlin' almost. I kept sayin' stuff like I ain't leavin', I'm right here and he kept beggin' me to let his arms go and where was I goin', that kinda thing. "Jesus, kid, I'm right here. I ain't goin' nowhere" I kissed 'im softly on the cheek. "ssh, it's all right, you're home now" I pecked 'im again, a few times. Some tears were left on his face, I kissed them, too. I loosened my grip and Eddie and I was both cryin'. I kissed his fingers as he reached up to wipe my tears off. I took his hands in mine, our fingers lockin' tighter together. "Eddie, I'm sorry I ever did anything to hurt ya." "I'm sorry I said all that stuff about you and Bobby. I owe 'im my life, we both do. Too bad I didn't know 'im as well as you did." That really raised an eyebrow up, "uh, what's that again?" Eddie caught what he just said, "OH NO, not like that, I mean, just what a good kid he was, ya know, catchin' bad guys, stuff like that!" I started laughin', "dead towel boy, huh?" Eddie realized he was busted and I couldn't resist teasin' him and he starts laughin', too. "well I didn't say he was an ugly one". "Did ya look at 'im in the gym? Ya said ya was watchin' 'im. Come on, come on, out with it, I'm a gumshoe, I always get my man." "Okay. I confess! Ya got me" He puts his hands out like he's gonna get cuffed, "so are ya gonna take me in, big boy?" I take hold of his wrists, "ya have the right to remain silent, ya give up the right to remain silent, anything ya say as well as any body part of mine'll be held against ya. Ya have the right to a mouthpiece all over ya. Like this" I kiss his neck, he puts his head back and moans. "Ya givin' up the right to remain silent" "You bet your ass I am. I want ya to hear it all" The shirt goes up, my tongue is on his nipples, he's rubbin' my head, kissin' it, really givin' up his right to remain silent, "I missed this - I missed you so much even when I didn't know it", rubbin' his cock, "hey, not so fast, kid, wait for me", and I went down there. He let his fingers do the walkin' back up to his nipples and I went to talkin' on his telephone.
EDDIE - Wow - holy make-up sex. The boss-man goin' down on me was like nothin' ever happened. Aw, we ain't had this in a while. I really missed 'im. I got to thinkin', about how he went for Bobby like that. Anybody woulda done the same thing. He sure was a hunk. I knew about it, didn't hold it against him, but my real feelin's came out when he brought it back up. I swear I didn't know what was next. What if we split up? What if I walked out on 'im that night? Glad it didn't happen. I guess somebody up there likes us. I was lookin' up when Mike was suckin' me off, like I usually do when he turns me on and I was just moanin', but I was lookin' up for another reason, too. Lookin' up to Bobby, I guess. He wanted to get us back together and gave his life to do just that. Now I guess he did it again. Mike was finishin' me off and I felt all my juices shootin' through my veins, straight through the shaft of my cock. It felt so intense, I clenched my teeth at first, then let out a scream, a bunch of 'em, really. Then we heard somethin' rattle. The window blinds were movin'. We went over there and found the window was closed, but we still felt a breeze and it smelled like someone wearin' cologne. I could swear I felt somethin' like someone was kissin' my right cheek and touchin' my shoulder and I jumped a little, looked at Mike. Then it was all gone, the breeze, the smell, ev'rything. "Holy moley, what the heck was that?" Mike said, "did it feel like someone kissed ya and touched ya?" "Yeah" Mike just nodded. "Yeah. Yeah."