Free One for the Gods (The Peter & Charlie Trilogy) by Gordon Merrick Page B

don’t happen to me. I don’t let them. That’s the way it’s always been. That’s what I’ve always believed in. If I found out you’d been sleeping around, it would be all over.”
    “You know I feel the same way.” Peter’s heart pounded up with alarm. Charlie spoke with such cold finality. He had to enter a plea for forgiveness in case this thing went any further. He added hesitantly, “Still, if something did happen with you and somebody else, I suppose I’d have to accept it somehow. I can’t imagine life without you.”
    “I can’t imagine life without you so long as you’re the person I’ve always thought you were. If things changed, the hell with it. I need you. You. Not somebody who gets into nasty little messes with hysterical kids. Just don’t forget it.”
    Peter could think of nothing to say. Although he was badly frightened, his mind was rapidly sorting out Charlie’s words, assessing the situation. The main thing was that Charlie still thought he hadn’t been to bed with Jean-Claude. How was he going to silence the boy? Charlie’s threat to beat him wasn’t idle talk; it was just the sort of thing he would do, rushing off to defend their honor. He felt the danger in Jean-Claude like a timebomb ticking away toward the blasting of their lives. He would certainly have to go to him in the morning. He knew he could demonstrate that he was of no use sexually to him any more. Would that be enough? If not, he would have to plead with Anne to intervene. She had some control over her brother.
    They completed what remained of the drive in silence. As soon as they reached the house, all lighted up as Peter had left it, Charlie got out of the car without a word and went straight in and mixed himself a drink in the living room, where bottles and ice had been left out by the cook-maid who was included in the rental. He was still seething. His hand shook as he lifted the glass to his lips. He took it out to the terrace and sat in a canvas chair. He was aware of Peter trailing along behind him. He approached and put his hand on the back of Charlie’s neck and stroked it.
    “I’m sorry. It was awful but we can forget it now. I suppose I could say it’s taught me a lesson, but this sort of thing happens so rarely that I don’t really need any lessons. Beautiful darling. It’s all right now, isn’t it? Please don’t make anything more of it.”
    “I don’t know. Maybe in the morning you can make it sound as if you were telling all of it. I don’t want to go over it all again now.”
    “Would you like me to stay and have a drink with you?”
    “Not particularly.”
    Peter lingered miserably. It was so awful. He was beginning to feel deeply ashamed, but he couldn’t see how any of it, except for tonight, could have been different. Last week, Jean-Claude really had represented a threat to everything he felt for Charlie. This morning before lunch had been proof that he had met the danger and overcome it. He couldn’t allow anything to go wrong now. Perhaps by morning Charlie would have worked it out in his mind and they would be secure and together again; he was completely shut off from him now. Peter touched the back of his head again, longingly. “Well then, I’ll go on up. Come up soon.”
    When he was gone, Charlie finished his drink in several long swallows and got up to get another. He went back to the terrace and sat, his throbbing head resting in one hand. Forget it, he counseled himself as the second drink began to calm him. If Peter had been lying, it could only be because he and Jean-Claude had been having an affair. This quite simply wasn’t possible. Oh, possible. Everything was possible if you set your mind to it. There had been Guy’s innuendoes about the trip back from Paris. Peter was out and about for hours during the day while he was at work. He and Jean-Claude had disappeared long enough this morning for anything to happen, which was one more reason why it was impossible. If