Rule 29 - Koi
Iknocked on the unfamiliar door and stepped back with bated breath.
Please, Johnny Blue, don"t let me down.
The lights went on in the large, two-story house and a moment later the door opened and a man stood there, yawning, and grinding the sleep from his eyes.
"You made it." He gave me a tired smile and held the door open for us to cross the threshold. Even completely unconscious, she was light enough for me to carry with little struggle. Georgie followed behind with a happy skip in his step, blissfully unaware of everything that brought us here.
"What happened?" Johnny asked as he took us to his living room, where I placed her carefully on the couch. She barely shifted.
I looked at her friend. While this was our first meeting, having listened to her phone calls and read all the text messages, I felt like I knew him already. Where did I start? I swallowed and tried to rack my brain. There was so much that had happened in the matter of eight hours. Ruth was murdered, the killer chased us through the woods, I hid with Domino where we fooled around, and then...
"Something happened at camp, and her brother wanted to get her out of there for her safety."
Johnny eyed me cautiously. "Is she okay?"
"Yeah, of course. I mean, she was." I glanced back at her. "She was upset. We all were. But she was awake and talking. We got bags packed and grabbed her dog and she climbed into my truck voluntarily. It wasn"t until I told her we were going to a hotel that?—"
"Ah…" He held a finger up. "She lost it, didn"t she?" He hurried to her, crouching, and brushing her hair off her face. "Poor sweetie. You"re safe here." He turned back to me and shook his head. "She doesn"t do hotels."
"Apparently. She started crying, and I didn"t know what to do so I just kept driving, and then she went real quiet, and when I looked over, she was asleep."
Johnny stared at me. His eyes were scrutinizing me as if he knew about the murder, and he was sure it was me.
"And even though she was unconscious and couldn"t make that choice, you still didn"t take her to a hotel."
"No, sir. She had your name in a notebook. You were the first name I called."
He nodded approvingly and clicked his tongue, waving for me to follow him as he turned and headed into the kitchen. "You"re smart. This is always a safe place for my Domino."
My Domino?
I brushed the twinge of jealousy away. He spoke about her like a friend, not a past lover. He set to work brewing coffee and offered me toast. When I politely declined, he shrugged and went about making his breakfast. It was still very early. The moon was still out and the sky was black.
"So, tell me. Who are you?"
"Koi Maitland, sir. I"m her bodyguard."
"Bodyguard?" He raised a curious eyebrow. "I knew that family had money, but needing security money?" He whistled.
"I"m newly promoted. As of earlier tonight."
Johnny paused, but he took enough social cues to know I wasn"t going to share what exactly happened.
"Will you be needing to sleep as well? I have a spare bedroom. I"ll let her stay on the couch and you can stay upstairs."
My nerves were going crazy. It was as if I were meeting a girl"s father for the first time and not her friend. Johnny seemed close to our age, maybe a year or so older, but how he behaved and spoke made him feel so much older. Considering her dad was dead, Johnny was the closest thing she had to a father figure. I wanted to make a good impression.
"We"ll stay together. I"ll bring her upstairs with me if that"s okay." I found my breathing staggered as I waited for his reaction. He spun around with a smile.
"Interesting. You"re her bodyguard and boyfriend?"
I scrunched my nose and found my hand rubbing the back of my neck. "I"m not sure if she"d appreciate labels."
"But you would. Sit," he demanded. I did so, and he brought me a cup of coffee. He sat across from me and grinned. "Tell me everything you can."
I licked my lips and looked at the coffee. A month ago, I"d gladly regale this stranger in how I stripped a chick in the camp showers, turned the lights off, and ate her pussy while my best friend held her legs open, but I found myself wanting to keep that moment private.
"I like her," I admitted. "She"s beautiful, inside and out."
"That she is. I"m surprised she"s let you in enough to share a bed. Many a man and woman have tried to get her to give them a second look, but she only expressed interest once in all the time I"ve known her."
"Only once?" I asked, curiously.
"Oh yes, two boys from before she ran away. It was an unrequited love. That was the only time she spoke of being attracted to anyone. Even if she never outright said it, I still considered her one of us."
"One of us?"
"Queer, darling. Just because she seems to like you doesn"t erase who she is or was before you. Or are you a phobe?"
I laughed, but when he didn"t join me, I grew serious, and a little angry. Growing brave, I revealed more than I should have.
"Just a few hours ago, I had a cock in my mouth right after eating her pussy. I"d tread carefully on who you accuse of something like that."
He blinked and stared for a long time before nodding.
"I apologize. I don"t see a lot of bi-men. Especially ones that look like you."
"I"m a firefighter."
He swore. "No wonder she went for you. Anyway, so you are now her... something. Tell me, did she say anything else about the hotel thing?"
I shook my head. "Not really. Just that she hadn"t been to one since she was twelve, and she wasn"t going to do it again. Did something happen?"
"Yes, sweetie." He stood and went to the counter, pouring himself a second cup of coffee. "Her uncle took her to one and tried to molest her."
"Uncle? You mean the one that runs the park?" Motherfucker. I"d met the bastard a few times. He was a cocky asshole, but I wouldn"t have pegged him for being a child molester.
"I don"t know the full details. Just that the incident is why she ran away. Her stepmother had handed her to him, practically."
I rubbed my eyes, trying to take all of this new information in.
"Is that why she took no interest before?" I asked.
"Hardly. She was only ever triggered when it came to hotels. I asked her that same question once, and she assured me that wasn"t it. She just hadn"t found anyone she found attractive. She did have some crushes when she was in school. She showed me pictures once."
"Pictures?"
He laughed. "Oh yeah. I"m her storage unit. I told her I was going to start charging her. Come," he urged me up, and I followed him to a backroom. "This was meant to be my office, but I use all her boxes as an excuse to not get any of my side businesses up and running." He flicked the lights on, revealing stacks and stacks of comic book boxes.
"It was easier to get these boxes, as they have handles and are all uniform. It helps with stacking them."
They were stacked along all four walls and were labeled with dates.
"I put when she gave them to me rather than when she took them. It"d be impossible to keep up with that. Let"s see. She gave me those photos when she was leaving for the first time so that was... seven years ago? She only stayed here a few months. I"m going to need some help; I"m still healing from surgery." He patted his shirt gently and directed me where to pull the boxes from. I dug through a dozen heavy boxes before I found the one he was looking for.
"Go ahead and dump them on the carpet." He sat down on the floor and I plopped down across from him. Just in this box alone, there had to be a thousand photos. He saw the look of shock on my face and laughed. "I"ve gotten quick at sifting through these. Give me a second." He grabbed a stack and scoured through the photos. I tried to do the same but he took them from my hand.
"You don"t know who you"re looking for," he teased and continued searching. It was almost like being in another world, sitting and talking with Johnny. For a very brief moment, Ruth"s death, the guy with the chainsaw, and everything else waiting for us back at the park didn"t exist. Finally, he exclaimed and tossed the rest of the photos on the floor.
"This! This is the picture she showed me. These were the only boys she ever mentioned were crushes of hers." He handed me the photo, and my stomach dropped.
"What? Do you know them?" Johnny leaned forward.
I blinked and licked my lips, returning to the room.
"Yeah. That"s me and Swayze."