Free Mark Me by Shawn Bailey Page A

*

    After dinner they decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. And when they returned to the apartment, Eli noticed a familiar-looking car parked in front of the apartment complex . Justin!
    Eli released Dimitri’s hand.
    “Is something wrong?” Dimitri asked.
    The car doors opened and Justin, Henry and Trey stepped out.
    “Oh!” Dimitri said. “Busted.”
    “So not funny,” Eli said as the three approached. “What are you guys doing here?”
    Trey walked around Dimitri. “We came to check out your new digs. What is he doing here?”
    “Isn’t he the guy from the tattoo parlor?” Justin asked.
    “Yes,” Trey answered. “He’s the one who worked on Eli’s tattoo and looks like they’re best buds now. They’re holding hands and strolling around the neighborhood in broad daylight.”
    “Mind your business,” Dimitri told Trey.
    Trey braced up to Dimitri. “Eli is my business.” Dimitri stared him down and Trey stepped back.
    “Can we see your place?” Henry asked nervously.
    “Sure,” Eli said, running a mental sweep of his bedroom and bathroom to make sure they’d left it presentable. He led the way, and Dimitri followed.
    “How come he’s seen the place before us?” Justin asked Trey.
    Trey just chuckled.
    Eli opened the front door and allowed his friends to enter. They walked through his place without him while he stayed in the kitchen and talked to Dimitri.
    “I think I need a beer,” Dimitri told him.
    Eli smiled weakly. “I’ll get rid of them.” They were still there an hour later checking out Eli’s music room.
    “Where’s the nearest store?” Dimitri asked.
    “Around the corner. Why?” Eli asked.
    “I need more beer.” He rose and left the music room, leaving Eli alone with his friends.
    “What’s he doing here?” Henry asked. “I thought you said you were meeting Randall.”
    “No, you assumed I was meeting Randall,” Eli said. “Dimitri also plays the violin.”
    “Is he your new main squeeze?” Trey asked.
    Eli glared at him. Trey had been quite annoying since he arrived, making nasty comments and just being a bitch to Dimitri. “He’s a friend.”
    “I’m your friend, but I don’t ever remember you holding my hand.”
    Eli ignored him.
    “I always thought you were a little sweet,” Trey continued. “Does he screw you or do you screw him?”
    “That’s not any of your business,” Justin said in Eli’s defense.
    “Of course not. I don’t want it known that I associate with fags.” Eli grimaced. Trey was in for a rude awakening when he went to the military and found out that kind of talk wouldn’t be considered acceptable.
    “What will your parents say when they find out? Dimitri is not exactly Harvard material.”
    “My parents love me,” Eli said. “And they won’t care.”
    “Sure they will,” Trey insisted. “What parent in their right mind wants a fag for a son?”
    Eli glanced at the clock. When is this evening going to end? He and Dimitri planned a quiet evening on the man’s only day off and his friends had ruined it.
    Dimitri entered the apartment using the key Eli had given him.
    Trey glanced at him and smirked. “Has he moved in?”
    “No,” Dimitri said, entering the music room with the beer. “Not yet. I don’t know if I like the neighborhood yet. I have a feeling this area is swarming with snobs.” He sat down next to Eli.
    “Aren’t you going to give Eli a beer?” Trey asked, still kicking up mess.
    Dimitri shook his head. “He’s not old enough to drink.”
    “You seem to know a lot about Eli. Do you know that his father is a judge?”
    “Yes,” Dimitri said.
    Eli frowned. One of his parents must have given his friends his new address.
    “So what do your folks do?”
    “Both my parents are deceased,” Dimitri answered.
    Eli sighed. He didn’t know that. There was still so much about Dimitri he didn’t know.
    “Eli is going to be a concert violinist and travel around the world,” Trey continued.