sixteen #2
At first David, while he was walking up to the stables that night, had thought, OK, I’ll get him his tools, but then I’ll split town.
If he can’t find me, my secret’s worthless to him.
But once he was standing there, feeling Boira’s warm breath on his cheek, talking to her, saying goodbye, he knew he wouldn’t steal from Carme, not even tools.
If he could get back to his rooming house and grab his stuff without running into Ned, who was now also staying there, he’d leave tonight, take the metro to the outskirts, sleep somewhere, under a bridge, wherever he found, and then start hitching in the morning.
Then the copper had appeared. Ramon. What the heck was he doing in the stables at midnight!
He might have asked David the same thing.
But he didn’t. The way David’s luck worked was like a tragic movie, one blow after another.
And he’d been helpless to resist. Ramon’s presence, those eyes, like a tractor beam locking onto him, and he was the Millennium Falcon, being drawn into the Death Star’s maw.
Except instead of Darth Vader, he had Ramon, with his light saber made of flesh, hypnotizing David, and pulling him over to the dark side, making him choke on his dick, hooking him so there was no escape.
There’d been a moment. They’d got in Ramon’s car, a big four-wheel-drive like his dad’s, and driven down the mountain.
Ramon had parked up on one side of the Rambla and propped his police permit on the dash.
David had gone to grab his stuff. Standing in his room, shoving his clothes in his pack, he’d thought, I don’t have to go back down there, to his car.
I leave this hostel, leave the city tonight, and that’s it, I’m done.
Gone. It would have been the bright thing to do.
Why hadn’t he done that? Retracing his steps down to the cop’s car, at every point, he’d been like, turn around, get out of here!
Are you crazy? And then he’d got back into Ramon’s big tank.
Coming down to spend the weekend with a cop might be a terrible idea, but at least it was getting him away from Ned.
He’d have to play things one moment at a time.
At some point he’d break away and go his own way.
Then this whole adventure would be behind him.
Maybe he could start again, find some stables down in Andalusia, somewhere rural, well away from Marbella, where there’d be no danger of running into Ned.
If not there, then who knew where… Serbia? Romania?
All these thoughts were going through his mind as he stared out the window at the dark, watching the orange lights of villages slowly drifting past the freeway.
But he couldn’t ignore Ramon’s presence in the driving seat beside him, his calm hands on the wheel, those same firm hands that had grabbed him, hugged him tight, and manhandled him into the Feed Room.
Ramon’s smell filled the cabin, a mixture of his cologne, a slight tang of beer, and under it all his particular note of sweat and pheromones.
The same strong presence of Ramon that David had tasted in his mouth already.
A smell, a taste, that drove him crazy, one he loved, wanted more of.
And when Ramon’s voice commanded, he obeyed; he couldn’t help himself.
The man’s deep, quiet tone brooked no dissent, told him what he should do, got him to strip, wait on his bed almost naked, whatever he asked.
And David just did it, compliant. Obedient.
There was the problem. He’d asked for the name.
Ravenscragg. And David had told him, like an automaton with no willpower of its own.
Stupid. All he had to do was search it, and it’d all be over.
So he couldn’t stick around. He’d bide his time.
As soon as he saw a chance, he’d be gone.
At least, he hoped they’d get more time together, let him discover more about who he was.
But he mustn’t give in, not totally. He had to be set to leave when he got the chance. His survival depended on it.
“Not much further,” Ramon said, breaking into his thoughts. “That’s the closest village, L’Ametlla de Mar.” He nodded at a cluster of orange lights clinging to the coast on their left. “Our turnoff’s up here a little way.”
They looked at each other for a moment, before Ramon had to turn his eyes back to the road.
David was unsure what they communicated, but he realized Ramon was nervous, and he saw hope.
Perhaps… could they… make this work in some way?
Of course it wasn’t going to work. David was just using him to get out of Barcelona.
He had to keep that in mind, mustn’t be soft.
Ramon was indicating, taking an off-ramp, and their speed was slowing as they came off the freeway, through a roundabout, and onto a smaller highway, just one lane each way, heading away from the coast. Low scrub and brush gave way to pines and other trees as the terrain got a bit hillier inland.
The road twisted and turned up a low hill range.
Then with little warning, Ramon was indicating again and they were crunching onto a loose metal trail.
Seeing the headlamps lighting up the pines, next to the path, everything else in between black as pitch, David realized they were now out in some isolated place, far from any towns.
It wouldn’t be like he could just walk to the nearest station and hop on a train.
The trail wound through that grove of pines up a hillside, before coming out into a huge clearing at the top of the hill.
There was an old stone farmhouse before them, and a corral to the left.
A horse was standing there expectantly, its eyes shining yellow-green in the car’s headlights.
“That’s Ferro. Come and meet him,” Ramon said as he parked, turned off the engine but leaving the lights on so they could see their way.
They got out of the four-wheel-drive, David grabbing his pack from the back seat.
“Don’t bother locking it. There’s no one around for miles.”
He was already halfway across to Ferro, who David could now see was a big-boned chestnut gelding.
The horse was whinnying excitedly at Ramon’s arrival.
Ramon pulled some horse treats from his pocket, handing some to David as they came up.
The horse was animated, butting Ramon with his head as he devoured the treats, interested in David only for as long as he had treats, before his attention reverted to Ramon.
“He’s beautiful,” David said. “And massive. What is he, seventeen hands?”
“Sixteen and a half, but he’s big in the shoulders. A total warhorse.”
“Would have been a good police horse.”
“He was the best. I wish I could get down to ride him more. Tomorrow we’ll take him out. There’s a horse of the neighbors’ you can borrow.”
David nodded. It seemed so easy, the way they were slotting into this routine. He’d never felt this with anyone before. Ramon walked back to the car and retrieved a torch from the glove box. Then he turned off the car’s lights.
Except for a smudge of orange in the direction of L’Ametlla de Mar, the entire sky was deepest black.
But across it, the Milky Way pulsated above them like the greatest light show in the universe, which it was.
Here, far from the light contamination of the city, its full three-dimensional majesty was on show.
David was stunned by its sensation of depth.
He had the feeling he could have reached his hands up into it and started flying between the stars.
They stood there for a couple of minutes in silence, looking up in awe.
“One of the reasons I like coming down here,” said Ramon. “You don’t see stars like that in the city.”
“It’s amazing,” breathed David. “We don’t often get to see them like that where I’m from either. Too much cloud generally.”
“In Ravenscragg?”
“Yeah,” he swallowed. Ramon had remembered the name. “We sometimes see the Aurora Borealis, though, when it isn’t cloudy. That’s amazing too.”
They watched it for a minute or so more, each shut in their thoughts. Then Ramon switched on the torch, lighting their way to the house.
“Come on.”
David followed him, feeling deeply nervous. How would this go? Ramon was scrabbling under a flowerpot and produced a large iron key.
“I leave it here as it’s too big to carry around.”
“Really? Key under a flowerpot? I thought a policeman would be more security-conscious.”
“If someone wants to get in, I prefer them to do so without breaking a window. I don’t keep much that’s valuable here, and it’s all insured. Ferro’s saddle and tack is all that’s really worth anything, and I keep them locked away.”
David shrugged. It wasn’t his business. As Ramon was dealing with the farmhouse’s big oak door, he looked around at the dark.
It was so peaceful and quiet. Though he was nervous at being with Ramon, another part of him was relaxing in a way he hadn’t done since leaving Ravenscragg.
Cities got him on edge. He was a country boy at heart.
He had been dazzled by the Rambla’s endless bustle twenty-four hours a day, but it had also been tiring in a way that he wasn’t used to.
Here in the countryside’s deep dark calm, crickets and cicadas, or Ferro’s odd stamp as he expressed his annoyance at being left alone so soon, were the loudest sounds around.
Ramon had finally got the door, and he pushed it open, the thick wooden planks creaking heavily on their hinges like the gate to Count Dracula’s castle. David followed him inside.