Chapter 25 #2
He helped me dress in brown trousers and a dark green and white plaid shirt.
Before we walked out the door, I pulled him close.
Needing one more small dose of my honey before walking out into the world, even though it won’t be for too long.
I was excited, and I hoped he loved where we were going, and the people he was going to meet.
After taking the incline down the mountain side, we jumped on the trolley to cross the river into the city where it pulled into the main station on Fourth Avenue.
Instead of walking like last time, we jumped onto an inner-city trolley, one that traveled in the middle of the street, taking us the nine blocks to Liberty Avenue, which runs the whole length of the triangle-shaped city.
Thankfully we didn't have to go far once we turned on Stanwix Street.
I pulled the cord to ring the driver to stop and we got off.
We walked up Liberty Avenue five blocks, just past the Stanley Theatre where David and I saw the movie and where he noticed those men together.
It was the end row-building in a long line of eight in total stretching to the end of the block.
A sign that said, Stewart’s Hotel on the front, above the two separated red doors.
Above the sign were two floors with three windows each, with some of the lights on, meaning there were guests checked in for the night already.
The side of the building went all the way back to the alley behind, half a block in depth, with two layers of black fire escape catwalks and stairs to the ground.
There were four windows for each of the second and third floors along the walks.
We came to the front of the black marble exterior framed by exposed brick, with the two red doors, the left one with a little window, the other one solid.
There were also two thin rectangle windows high above your head that you couldn’t see into unless you climbed on someone’s back or got something to step on.
We walked into the hotel where there was a little desk to the right with a doorway to the stairs that lead up to the rooms. Behind the desk was Stewie, the owner, who is a very good-looking guy, borderline pretty.
He is four years younger than me, putting him at twenty-five, but looks a little older.
No one dares tell him that, though. And if anyone asks, he is twenty-two.
His parents gave him the hotel to give him somewhere to work when no one else would give him a chance, because, well, he was on the obvious side of things, even when he tries to pull back and not be so…
loud. They arrest men like him just for walking down the street.
It’s horrible really because he is such a sweet southern boy, with the biggest heart and a very thick accent.
Stewie looked up with the most sparkling smile, brows up, “Well, I’ll be damned, Baby, where the hell have you been!” He came around the desk and slammed into me, making me whelp out loud from the spike in pain.
He pulled back in regret, “Sorry, Baby. I didn’t hurt you, did I?
I didn’t mean to slam you so hard.” He swiped his hands on my shoulders and down my chest like he was wiping lint or dandruff off me, always overly affectionate.
“You are looking nice, Baby. I mean, you always look good but you’re more dressed than normal.
What’s the occasion?” Then he caught a glimpse of Charlie behind me, eyes as big as teacup saucers.
“Well, I’ll be double damned,” looking back at me, “Baby! Do you have your own BABY!?” He got so loud, I think the top floor heard him.
I turned to Charlie who was cowering, attempting to make himself half the size from the attention, I’m sure.
I reached out my hand to him and gave him a reassuring look, so he knew it was safe here.
He took it and clasped our fingers together, palm to palm.
Technically, it wasn’t really safe to hold hands or be that close in this room because the door opens out into the street and it can open at any time but, my honey needed comfort so I was going to give it.
“Stewie, this is Charlie. Charlie, Stewie. The savor in our community,” I smiled at them both.
Charlie tentatively held his hand out to Stewie, but he was yanked from my grasp with a yelp and squeezed to an inch of his life which Stewie rocked back and forth with utter excitement, saying “Oh my God, Oh my God!”
Stewie pulled back and put his hands up to frame Charlie’s face in a smush, “You are fucking adorable! Baby, where did you find this one, you know what, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you brought him here!”
“Where is here, exactly,” Charlie asked but it came out all weird because his mouth wouldn’t move while being smashed in Stewie’s hands.
“Stew, let him at least talk normally,” laughing. I probably should have warned Charlie about Stewie, but I didn’t want to give away the surprise.
“You’re home, Darlin’,” Stewie said with all the endearment he had within himself, moving his hand to hold Charlie’s. “This is your Oz, over the rainbow. You’ll see, Baby will show you.”
I took Charlie back, I was starting to feel territorial, but I should probably get used to it now before I take him to the next room. With a finger pointing and jiggling between us, Stewie says, “So, how long has this been happening? And seriously, where did you find him? I want to know now.”
“Um, well–,” I didn’t think this through.
We haven’t even talked about this ourselves, so I started with the obvious, “We met at the mine.” Stewie’s mouth dropped open so wide, he could fit two dicks in easily, which wasn’t a stretch, I walked in on him once pleasuring two gentlemen at the same time.
Charlie reached and pushed his mouth closed, making me laugh and happy with how he comes out of his shell, even if it’s slow.
But Charlie really surprised me when he answered the question I was avoiding.
“And we’ve known each other for a week and a half and been together for six days.
” He leaned back against me lightly, so I wrapped one of my arms around his waist. Stewie was stunned silent, which I think was a first, and he hadn’t blinked once. His eyes must be drying out.
“Okay Stewie, we will leave you to work through that, but if you are able to come hang out, come find us,” clapping his arm before guiding Charlie to the hall that was straight ahead of the door we came in.
We passed a door on the right which is where Stewie lives in an apartment that takes up ninety percent of the ground floor.
As we were getting closer to the end where it oddly dead ends, Charlie asks, “Where are we going?” He looked back at me up over his shoulder, clear worry and confusion on his face, but trying to come across as brave.
I made him look forward again at the end of the hall and pushed open the wall that was a hidden door, “Like Stewie said,” Charlie turned back at me, imitating Stewie where we left him, jaw dropped.
“Oz.”
Before we even made it down the stairs, we could hear the ruckus. It sounded busy already. The black hidden staircase that traveled downward with two landings to turn us to the right after four steps each before going straight down.
The cellar was exposed brick with scuffed up wood floors, like any old cellar, but there was a beautiful wooden bar constructed on the left side with ten stools with a mirror on the wall and bottles of liquor displayed.
Another five round tables and a small area to dance to the music that came from an old record player sitting at the end of the bar where anyone could change the music, shelves of records under the bar top.
‘Rock Around The Clock’ was currently spinning on the needle.
We were halfway down the stairs, still holding hands and now exposed to the floor when I heard a shout, “Oh fuck! Look at the jackass that just walked in?”
I laughed, shaking my head. It’d been a while since I had made an appearance.
Waiting at the bottom, the culprit that called me a jackass made himself known, standing there with one of his hands on a hip, leg extended out with attitude.
He was the one that took me under his wing when I first started coming here and helped me understand myself.
“Where the fuck have you been, huh? Another week, I would have sent a search party into the mine, and we know how that would have ended.”
I smiled at the man, who was mid-thirties with a soft frame but not completely out of shape. He had reddish hair that made him stand out easily, even if he didn’t talk. I stepped around Charlie to hug him, making sure to guide his hand to my upper back, “Hi, Mickie. How have you been?”