Page 8 of Bazooka

“Sorry to interrupt, Bazooka,” he muttered, fiddling with the folder in his hands. “I just wanted to give you the crime scene report from last night before I go home. From Pete’s.”

He handed me the folder, looking uncomfortable, and I knew exactly why he felt that way.

“Is that all you have to say to me?” I said, cocking my eyebrows.

“Huh?” he mumbled as I took a step toward him instead of a reply. His eyes widened in alarm because I towered over him. I towered over most people, truth be told.

“I didn’t mean to, I swear,” he squeaked.

“Every time Luz asked for your number, I refused to give it to him. I was adamant about it. But he… he, like, tricked me every single time. One time, he invited me for coffee, and while I was in the toilet, he stole the number from my phone. And then, one time, he blackmailed me with—”

I raised my hand to stop him.

“I don’t care about your reasons. But if it happens again, Jordan… if it happens again…”

I left it unsaid and gave him the look—the one that usually made people run away from me. It worked on criminals, corrupt politicians, drug dealers, and dumb rookie detectives.

“It won’t!” Jordan exclaimed. “I swear on my grandma’s ashes.”

That guy. There was something wrong with that guy.

“Incidentally, how is Luz?” Jordan asked me, looking worried. “Is he alright?”

“He looks as if he had been put through a meat grinder, and he probably feels worse,” I replied honestly. “But he will live. What does the report say?”

“Not much. The storm washed away all the evidence, if there even was any.”

“I figured. CCTV?”

Jordan chuckled. “In Smitsville?”

Right.

“I’ll talk to the staff at Pete’s myself,” I said, leafing through the report. “By the way, if you see John Smith, tell him to call me ASAP.”

“‘Kay.”

I didn’t have much to go on, and the bad feeling in my gut increased after I arrived at Pete’s.

“I wish I could tell you more, but I didn’t see what happened,” Ruby, the waitress at Pete’s, told me. “Last night was more crowded than usual because it was karaoke night. Honestly, when I heard what happened to Luz, I was shocked. Poor guy. And it was his birthday of all days. Horrible.”

“Can you describe the foursome who threatened him?”

She made a face. “Oh, you know, the usual jocks. Big, bulky, and loud. They drank a lot, and I noticed they were fixated on Luz and his friends. After they used a few homophobic slurs, which I won’t repeat, I threatened to call the police. It never occurred to me that they would do such a thing.”

“Do you think they were locals?” I asked her.

“I can’t say for sure. I heard them talking about rugby games, but they didn’t mention any particular team or place. Truth be told, I’m not a sports fan, so it all sounded like gibberish to me.”

“Any strange accents?”

“No.”

“Did you see them leave?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

I looked around the bar. “Do you have any cameras installed here?”

“There’s one outside, but someone broke it a few nights ago, so we ordered a new one. Honestly, we don’t have much trouble here because the police station is so close by.”

I nodded and gave her my card.

“Thank you for your help. If you remember anything else or if you see them again, please call me immediately.”

“You bet I will. Those guys deserve to rot in prison for what they did. Will Luz be alright?”

“In time.”

After I left the bar, I made a circle around the block.

A quick survey told me Luz’s attackers probably fled through the park because it was a dimly lit, secluded area.

Behind the park was a busy intersection, which led to four different parts of town.

I made a mental note to check if that road had CCTV, although Smitsville was famous for being allergic to cameras.

It was late in the afternoon when I finally headed home, just as my phone rang.

“John Smith,” I answered. “Thank you for calling back.”

“No problem. I would have called sooner, but I had to give expert testimony at the trial.”

“I understand. What do you have for me?”

“Actually, I just left your apartment. I checked up on Luz, and he seems better, physically at least. Mentally, I’m not sure. He seems too calm to me.”

“Yeah, it’s to be expected,” I said grimly. “Is he in pain?”

“You bet he is, but I gave him something for it, so all he needs now is rest.”

“What about the STD test? Anything to be concerned about?”

“Not on paper,” John Smith replied. “He’s clean, but it doesn’t mean that nothing happened.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“He needs professional help, Bazooka. Someone to talk to him, someone to listen to him. But knowing Luz, he will refuse.”

“I know that too. Thank you, John.”

“No problem. See you tomorrow.”

After he hung up, I stopped by the nearest store.

I figured Luz had to be hungry since it was almost evening and he had lunch around noon.

I bought a bunch of random stuff because I didn’t have any food at home, and my fridge was empty.

When I finally parked in front of my building, the darkness was settling over the city.

I couldn’t see any lights turned on in my apartment, and it got me worried, so I hurried inside.

After I left the groceries on the countertop, I headed to the bedroom, only to find the bed empty.

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw Luz sitting on the window seat.

He was dressed in my clothes as when I left him, but his hair looked damp as if he’d just showered.

He was gazing into the distance, but I knew he was aware of my presence, although he didn’t say anything.

I gave him a quick once-over, scanning the visible wounds on his body. He looked better, just as John Smith had said, but his expression spoke of other kinds of trouble.

“What’s so interesting outside?” I asked him instead of the logical “How are you?”.

He smirked. “I hate this fucking city.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a war zone. You have the Cemetery in the west, which, if you didn’t know, is the most notorious part of town.

Across from it, in the east, is the Loser’s Division with the worst cops in the country, present company excluded.

In the south, outside of town, there’s a military base.

In the north, the prison. And we’re smack in the middle of it. ”

“Why don’t you leave?”

Luz’s smile was bitter. “‘Cause I have no reason to leave? Not the one that counts. Why did you come to this dump of a town, anyway?”

I shrugged. “To do some good.”

“Good,” he murmured, mulling it over.

When his turquoise eyes found mine, they were glowing with the purple light of the sunset behind him.

“You’re nothing like I thought you would be, you know?” Luz said, sounding almost accusatory, as if I’d tricked him somehow.

He wasn’t what I expected either. Not now, not in this room.

His compulsory naughty smile and habitual flirting were gone.

His devil-may-care attitude was buried under what I presumed was a mountain of pain.

He looked sad and seeing him sad was unnaturally hard for me.

It turned him into a person I didn’t recognize, someone hidden under all the bullshit he wore like a shield of armor.

It was so obvious to me that I couldn’t believe I’d never noticed it before.

Looks-wise, Luz was a ten out of ten, and I could say it objectively.

Slim, athletically built, and tall, he was toned but not too skinny.

He had dirty blond hair, short on the sides, and a rumpled mess of waves on top.

The symmetrical bone structure of his face reminded me of the Greek statues from history books.

Ridiculously colored eyes, a mish-mash of green and blue, were a definite standout.

Another standout were his full, pouty lips that had no place on a man’s face.

He was a manly guy, but he had a bratty aura about him that was in contrast with his looks.

“How are you?” I asked him the necessary stupid question.

“Fine.”

“Did you have trouble showering?”

“Not initially, but it became a bitch after a while, and now I can’t walk because my ankle is killing me. And I forgot to pee.” He shifted his foot and hissed in pain. “Fuck! I’m going to kill that toothless bastard when I find him. Fuck him! And fuck my life!”

He was spiraling. All the signs were there.

He was hyperventilating; his face was pale under the bruises, and his eyes roamed wildly.

I could see it all. The panic. The fear.

The pain. It was so unexpected that, for the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to do.

And I found it unacceptable—both him spiraling, and me not knowing what to do.

I walked up to him and took his chin in my hand, making him look at me. He blinked in sudden confusion as I inspected his face.

“You look good,” I said.

He snorted. “I look like shit.”

“Better, then.”

“Ugly.”

“You’re not ugly,” I said, pulling him to his feet. When I lifted him in the air, he squeaked in surprise before wrapping both his arms and legs around me.

“Number one or number two?” I asked him, suppressing a smile as I carried him to the bathroom.

“Fuck off, Bazooka.”

He was still there somewhere… old Luz that I knew … and I could hear it in his voice. The insolence. The disobedience. The pluck. And I wanted him back.

I left him to do his thing and headed to the kitchen to take care of the groceries. When I returned to the bathroom, he’d just finished washing his hands. I lifted him the same as before, but this time his arms and legs wrapped around me readily.

“You smell good,” Luz murmured, drawing a deep breath. “Vanilla.”

I chuckled because his nose against my skin tickled me. “I doubt it. Not after a long day at work.”

“You do,” he insisted, nuzzling his nose against my neck. “Mmm… I could smell you forever.”

He drew another breath and let out a moan that made me realize he was enjoying it too much.

“Luz,” I warned him.

I knew he wasn’t the type to pass on the opportunity, but I had to set some boundaries.