Chapter 15

Lyle decided not to go home. For all he knew, Reed Silver could show up at any moment and continue his torment. After seeing a different and sinister side to Reed earlier, Lyle was beginning to think that he had no idea what his boss was truly capable of.

Instead of going home, Lyle had instructed the Uber driver to drop him off a few blocks away from his apartment. After taking a moment to get his bearings, Lyle had found a late-night café that he knew served hot chocolate and pancakes with syrup. It was far from a fancy fine dining place, but Lyle wasn’t with Antonio now… he was dining for one.

With its retro décor and comfortable booths, the café offered Lyle some respite from the rainy city outside. The privacy of a booth was good too. Lyle was usually a talkative person who liked striking conversations up with strangers. But not tonight. What Lyle wanted was to sit alone and try to get his head around what had just happened.

With the sound of rain lashing against the large café windows, Lyle began to think about how Antonio had been so callous…

Antonio didn’t even let me speak.

It was like he didn’t care that I was so upset.

That’s not what a real Dom should be like…

Lyle was brought back into the real world as the waitress put down a plate of very mediocre looking pancakes on Lyle’s table. It was hardly service with a smile, but Lyle thanked her anyway and took a bite of the pancake and then sipped on the lukewarm hot chocolate.

‘Pffft,’ Lyle said, unable to hide his disappointment. ‘This is… not great.’

The evening really wasn’t looking like it was going to turn around for the better any time soon. With his mind raging with thoughts of Reed Silver and how things had played out with Antonio, Lyle practically wolfed down the rest of the mediocre pancakes and ordered another plate.

‘Hopefully the next batch will be better,’ Lyle said under his breath as he stared out onto the street and watched as couples ran arm in arm to find shelter from the inclement weather.

Just as Lyle was about to replay his final moments at Antonio’s house for what felt like the hundredth time, he saw his phone flash with a message from his friend Jake…

JAKE: Lyle, are you okay? Damian got a message from Antonio saying that you two had a difficult night. Please tell me that you’re safe?

LYLE: Maybe Antonio should have been a bit nicer to me! And you can tell Damian to tell Antonio that too. But yes, I am okay. I’m in a café. I’m going to go and stay at Tommy’s place, although I don’t know how I’ll be able to sleep tonight.

Lyle knew that Jake was only looking out for him, but Lyle was annoyed that Antonio had gone behind his back and told his brother about what had happened. That said, Lyle didn’t want Jake to think he was angry with him personally, so quickly sent another message confirming that everything between them was all good…

LYLE: Sorry if my message sounded a bit on the snappy side. I’m just mega bummed-out. I thought me and Antonio might have been… forever. But maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully you, me and Tommy can all hang out soon and have some fun.

Jake responded swiftly to Lyle’s message and there was no problem at all between the two good friends. Lyle’s new plate of pancakes had arrived and in truth, it was even more mediocre than the first one.

‘At least the first plate was warm!’ Lyle lamented, pushing the plate away and getting up from the booth.

Tommy should have been back from his date now, and the truth was that Lyle couldn’t wait to get into the warmth, snuggle up in front of the TV screen and have some old-fashioned fun with one of his best friends.

It was time to brave the weather once more and head over to Tommy’s place.

Tommy’s apartment was one of Lyle’s favorite places. It was unusually big, and would have definitely been expensive were it not for the fact that it was Tommy’s old aunt’s apartment. With three bedrooms to choose from, Tommy had even been able to convert one of them into a special playroom where he could keep all his kinky toys and cosplay outfits out and not have to pack them away at the end of every day.

The apartment was on the fourth floor and had a great view too. With its colorful furniture and super-cozy couch, it really was a fun place to hang out.

‘Thank you for letting me stay,’ Lyle said, plunging his hand into the big bowl of sweet and salty popcorn that Tommy had freshly prepared. ‘Antonio was so mean to me.’

‘Hey, there’s always a place for you here,’ Tommy replied, his extra-warm thermal pajamas fitting him snugly. ‘Do my PJ’s fit you okay?’

‘Perfect!’ Lyle replied, grateful that Tommy had let him use a spare pair of his thermal pajamas. ‘I think I might need to order a pair or three of these myself!’

The two friends laughed together.

Lyle felt better for the distraction from the situation with Antonio. Even Reed Silver wasn’t on his mind. As Tommy and Lyle kept it light and talked about music, films, and binge watching a new series, everything seemed a little less dramatic.

But every so often, Lyle would find his mind wandering. No matter how hard he tried, the image of Antonio’s cold and emotionless face kept flashing up.

‘Okay, I think we need to talk,’ Tommy said, noticing that Lyle was distracted. ‘If it’s bad enough for you to lose focus on The Office, then I know it’s real bad.’

Lyle knew that Tommy had a good point. The Office was usually the one guaranteed way that Lyle could escape from anything that was going on in his day-to-day life. However this time, even that wasn’t enough.

‘I… I… I thought Antonio was my forever love, a real Master I could see myself with in the long run,’ Lyle said, tears filling up in his eyes. ‘But… he obviously didn’t see it that way.’

‘Urgh. That’s horrible, I’m so sorry,’ Tommy replied, bringing Lyle in for a hug. ‘You never know how things will turn out though. All hope isn’t lost yet.’

‘But you don’t know what Antonio’s like,’ Lyle said, his bottom lip trembling as he spoke. ‘Once he makes his mind up, that’s it. There’s no turning back. It’s how he’s gone so far in his… business.’

‘Hmmm, I hear you,’ Tommy said, reaching over and grabbing the popcorn to hand to Lyle. ‘Start munching on this. That’ll help a little bit at least.’

The two of them cuddled for a bit longer in between handfuls of popcorn, and Lyle truly felt grateful for having such a good friend in Tommy. They had been through good times and bad together, but Lyle couldn’t ever remember feeling as low as this. It was like his heart had been ripped right out of his chest.

Lyle had truly started to think that him and Antonio would be together forever. Maybe it was crazy to have thought that after spending such a short amount of time together, but such was the strength of Lyle’s feelings that he truly thought it was the real thing.

After getting back into the movie, Lyle and Tommy decided to have a sugary-cereal party. The two boys got out all of Tommy’s favorite fun cereals and began to create big bowls, each one with a different combination of cereal in it.

‘Deeeelish!’ Tommy laughed, dunking his large spoon into his bowl and taking a huge mouthful of colorful cereal.

‘I don’t think I could fit something so big in my mouth!’ Lyle giggled, refilling his bowl with some Frosted Flakes.

But just as Lyle was about to take his first spoonful from the fresh bowl, he heard the message alert on his phone. Lyle picked it up super-fast, just in case it was Antonio messaging. Lyle knew it was a longshot, but even if there was a tiny chance that Antonio had experienced a change of heart…

‘What… the…’ Lyle said, his face draining of all color and a look of horror coming over him. ‘It’s… Reed Silver…’

‘Yuck! What does that creep want?’ Tommy said, shaking his head in disgust.

Lyle couldn’t bring himself to speak the words, so simply turned the phone screen in Tommy’s direction…

REED: Lyle… just a nightly reminder that you’re every move can be tracked. You really should NEVER have got into bed with such an unfortunate character as Antonio Sorrento. You can’t run, and you certainly cannot hide. If I was you, I would tread very carefully from now on. Your watchful boss, RS.

Tommy immediately jumped up from his seat and gave Lyle a big hug. But this wasn’t going to cut it. As nice as it was to have genuine support from a true friend, Lyle knew that the situation had clearly escalated.

He could no longer stay at Tommy’s place. It simply wasn’t fair to in any way implicate Tommy in all of the drama that was going on. Even if Lyle knew that his safety was at risk, he wasn’t going to get Tommy involved and potentially jeopardize him too. That wasn’t what a good friend would do.

‘I can’t stay here,’ Lyle said, standing up from the kitchen table. ‘But I can’t contact Antonio either.’

‘Come on, don’t be crazy, you can stay here!’ Tommy objected. ‘I’ll keep you stocked up with food and drink, plus you know I have Prime Video and about a million other streaming services!’

‘But Reed might know I’m here already,’ Lyle said, a glum look on his face. ‘As fun as it would be to hide out at your place, I’m not going to risk it. I just can’t. If I’ve got any chance, it’s if I can get ahead of the game. And standing still just won’t do that for me.’

Tommy nodded, but Lyle could tell that his friend had his doubts.

‘Well… you do need to contact Antonio!’ Tommy said, a look of desperation in his eyes. ‘He will know what to do better than anyone. He’s your Master!’

‘No, he isn’t,’ Lyle replied. ‘He made that clear. My best chance is by myself. And I’m not going to stick around for another second either.’

Lyle’s mind was made up.

Although he didn’t know where he was going to go or what his plan was, Lyle quickly changed out of his pajamas and back into his still-damp clothes. After a brief but heartfelt hug with Tommy, Lyle left the apartment.

The big bad world awaited Lyle and in many ways he felt like this was the bravest he had ever been in his life. He was tackling his problems and taking the world on himself.

But what Lyle didn’t know was precisely how difficult the road ahead for him would be. Only time would tell on that front. The one thing that Lyle was certain of though was that if he was going to come out of this alive, he would need to use every trick in the book.

However Lyle wasn’t simply planning on running away and disappearing into the dark city night forever. No, Lyle was going to do what he did best. Lyle was a natural born reporter, and he still had an investigation open that he was determined to get to the bottom of.

I’m smart, and sharp as a knife too.

I’m not afraid of anyone or anything.

And I think it’s time I showed the world that…