Green Eyes Cry, You Die, page 9
part #2 of Layton Shayne Mystery Series
“Try and behave out there,” I said.
“I’m not making any promises,” Buck said, then walked out the door.
-12-
Spending Time Together—Just the Three of Us
A paper tacked on the wall caught my eye, and I stood.
“I’ll be back, babe. I just saw a sign saying they have free Wi-Fi in here; I’m going to get my laptop and take advantage. Should I bring yours?”
“Yes, please.”
I left my towel on the seat, kissed Alex on the lips, and left. Walking past the pool area, I saw Buck trying to read a magazine while shooing away an elderly admirer.
“The crowd will be younger tomorrow,” Carl said to me, from where he was straightening some magazines on a table. “You seem to like them younger.”
“That’s just the way it worked out, pal. You don’t seem too worried about the zombie attacks scaring people away.”
“Your boy Buck told you about that, huh.”
I nodded my head.
“It was pretty damn wild—and terrifying, let me tell you. But if anything, the zombie crap will bring even more people out—not that it’s a huge crowd, mind you. You and your boys will be popular, because you’re the newbies.”
“We won’t be bothered by people coming around looking for the green-eyed lady statue, will we?” I said.
Carl gave me a look, which let me know he was trying to figure out my intentions, and I had to think quickly to respond.
“Angie at the bakery in Ramard told us about the statue, and I was concerned our peaceful weekend might be ruined by people looking around for it.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Carl said. “Like I said, it will mostly be a bunch of the regulars attending the festival. Even the guys in the room next to yours are regulars here. There was another guy, who used to come here all the time, who was convinced the statue was on the premises, no matter how many times I told him it wasn’t. All he wanted was to get his hands on those emerald eyes. But if the original owner ever had the real thing, he didn’t show it to the guests.”
I smiled. “That statue and the emeralds make for a good advertising gimmick, but it can’t be for real… can it? C’mon—statues crying emerald tears… that’s unbelievable.”
“The few old timers still around say it happened, and their stories are pretty consistent, but no one has ever come forward with the statue to prove the legend’s real.”
“I’d better let you get back to work,” I said. “The boys and I are looking forward to the festivities tomorrow.”
“Some of the stuff will be kind of out there, but it’s all in fun. There will be good food and good company at the dance.”
“What do you mean by ‘out there?’ Should I be worried about this Cult of the Green-Eyed Lady? They don’t sacrifice virgins, do they?” I said with a smile.
“People used to be scared of the original cult, but all they do at the festival is dance around a little, eat, then recreate some sort of ancient ritual. The ritual really just amounts to being a big orgy. A little after that, things break up to give people time to get ready for the dance party. As to your other comment—they’d be hard pressed to find a virgin in this place. Although, if Bucky-boy wasn’t with you, I wouldn’t be surprised if he qualified. How the hell do you put up with that guy?”
“He’s hot,” I said, trying to keep from cringing.
“Nobody’s that hot, but to each their own. Hopefully, the sex is good enough to make up for having to deal with him.”
“It is. Besides, I don’t let him talk during sex.”
“Good idea. My partner didn’t even believe he was gay at first. He said nobody that annoying and clueless could possibly be gay.”
“Oh, he is—believe me,” I said.
Carl and I said good-bye, and I continued on to my room. That dumb-ass Buck was dangerously close to blowing our cover, and I wasn’t pleased.
* * * *
“You were gone a while,” Alex said, when I entered the clubhouse.
“Sorry, I was talking with Carl. Weren’t there any good-looking guys keeping you company while I was away?”
“I made them all leave before you got back.” Alex smiled, and so did I.
I handed Alex his case, then sat down and got my laptop out of its carrying bag, along with a pad and pen. We set up our laptops, logged onto the Internet, and checked our e-mail accounts.
“You look dejected,” Alex said. “Can I help you look up something?”
“I was hoping for something from Noelle, but there’s nada—zilch. Can you look up green-eyed statues for me or—what’s another word for statue? Something that a missionary might find.”
“A fetish? I just found the word on-line. Basically a fetish is an object people are in awe of because of it’s possibly having magical qualities.”
“That’s the word,” I said. “Thank you.”
“No problem. What will you be working on?”
“I’m going to research the founders of this area a bit more.”
“Isn’t that going back too far?” Alex said.
I looked up, gave him my full attention, and he continued with his line of thinking.
“Billy said his partner bought this place with emeralds. We’re also assuming that same man may have actually owned the statue. So, we only need to look at people from about the time this land was bought. And the campground’s history must be on their website somewhere, which would give you the date you need.”
“Great idea, I’ll check it out.”
The website gave me the pertinent dates I needed for both the year the land was purchased and the year the campground opened. After that, I looked up other buildings in the nearby area. The bed and breakfast—mentioned by the friendly bakery owner Angie, came up. It was owned by Prudence Bailey, whom Angie had also mentioned to us. The interesting thing was Prudence’s mother was around during the time of the emerald tears. While looking at pictures on that site, I discovered that the mother was often escorted to events by Billy’s now-deceased partner Philip Marks. We’d definitely need to pay Mrs. Bailey a visit.
“Layton, I found something that may help,” Alex said.
“What?” I said.
“The place that Angie mentioned: The Green Lady Hotel and Treasure Trove is actually still in operation. The store specializes in unique antiques, some of which go way back. If that missionary really did sell them the statue then they might still have a record of it, or something else that might help.”
“That African-American church that Miss Lucy mentioned also has a museum of some sort,” I said. “Since she was going to be paying them a visit, I need to touch base with her and see what she finds out.”
I shut down my laptop, closed it, and stretched back. Alex also shut his down, and was putting it away when I walked over to him, put my arm around him, and whispered in his ear.
“Because of our friend Buck, the folks in this place are a tiny bit suspicious about why we’re here. Apparently, they find it hard to believe that anyone could get cozy with Buck.” I kissed his cheek; then walked back, put my laptop’s carrying case strap over my shoulder, and picked up my towel.
“How cozy are we going to have to get with the guy?” Alex said.
“Only enough to convince the people here, and to buy ourselves time to snoop around some more. The hard part is gonna be keeping Buck in line.”
“Leave that to me,” Alex said. “I’ve just about finalized my idea about how to deal with him—at least, in my head.”
* * * *
We returned to our room and put the laptops away, then went to look for Buck. I had no idea, whatsoever, what Alex was up to.
Buck was still by the pool, except now he was reclining face down and ass up on a lounge chair. Alex and I walked up to him and, without looking up, Buck tried to wave us away with his hand. That’s when Alex bent down and smacked Buck’s ass hard enough to make a noise anyone nearby could hear. Buck tried to sit up, but Alex pushed him back down and slapped his ass again.
“I thought I told you to wait for us in the room,” Alex said. “Now I’m gonna have to show you what happens to boys who don’t listen.”
“What?” Buck said, in a daze.
“Shut it, and get that sweet ass up,” Alex said. “Don’t make me get the paddle. Layton, help him up and get him to the room,” he said in a commanding voice.
I grabbed hold of Buck’s arm to help him up. The idiot was still clueless, and I had to half drag him back to the room. Once the three of us were inside our room and I’d closed the door behind us, Alex went back into his act.
“Lay on your stomach,” Alex said, still using that man in charge voice. “The correct reply is ‘yes, Sir.’”
“Yes, Sir,” Buck said, lying stomach down on the bed.
Alex winked at me, then while holding his cock and balls out of the way, sat on top of Buck, straddling his ass. He began bouncing hard up and down on top of Buck while pushing the bed with his hands, so the springs made noise.
“What the—” Buck started to say.
“Just groan like you’re enjoying it,” I said in a whisper.
Buck didn’t say anything, just looked up at me confused. Alex slapped him hard with both hands… Buck finally got the message and started groaning loudly.
“That’s a good boy,” Alex said.
I wanted to laugh, but covered my mouth instead. Alex was good at improvising, and I was sure the folks outside were getting an earful, but the performance wasn’t over.
“Suck his cock, boy,” Alex said.
“Yes, Sir!” Buck said too happily, reaching for my cock.
“Touch it, and I’ll rip your balls out through your throat,” Alex whispered in Buck’s ear. Buck backed off.
“Oh, yeah,” Alex said. “Take it, baby, take all of it, uuuugh!”
He rolled over to the side of Buck. I thought I heard something, so I put my finger to my mouth as a sign for Buck and Alex to hush, then listened at the door.
“Finish Layton off!” Alex said.
“Yes, Sir,” Buck, who was now lying on his back, said.
I began groaning. “I’m close, Buck! Yeah, boy!” I saw Buck’s hand make its way to his cock before Alex slapped it away. To keep from laughing, I groaned loudly, “I’m cumming. Yeahhh!”
There was the sound of footsteps walking away from our door, so I turned to smile at Buck and Alex, then gave them two thumbs up. When I was sure there was nobody outside our door, I joined my ‘boys’ on the bed and lay down.
“Why do I feel sleepy all of a sudden?” I said yawning.
“It was all the good sex,” Buck said, then grinned.
“More likely, it’s all the sugar you’ve had today,” Alex said. “Why don’t you take a nap? We need to stay up late anyway to wait for Noelle, so you might as well rest while you can.”
“That sounds like something I’d say, but I think I will nap,” I said, rolling over Buck, so that I could lie next to Alex and hold him.
“Ow,” Buck said. “What am I, a log?”
Before I could think of a good answer to his question, I’d fallen asleep.
* * * *
I woke up with two strong arms around my waist, and someone huddled close behind me; then I realized I was holding Alex, and quickly pushed Buck off me. I pushed him too hard—he rolled off the bed and hit his head against the wall.
“Ow! What gives?” Buck said.
Alex woke up and turned to me. “He was asleep too. Layton, that was mean. Help him up.”
I sat up and looked down at the idiot on the floor, who was rubbing his head. He looked like a wounded puppy, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Sorry, Buck. That was an instinctive move on my part. I didn’t mean to push you so hard.” I got out of bed, crouched down on the floor in front of him, and checked his head. “You’ve got a small bump there, buddy… I’m sorry.”
“Why are you guys picking on me so much, and being such teases?” Buck said.
“Teases?” I said.
“He doesn’t completely get what happened earlier,” Alex said.
I sat down next to him with my back to the wall, and he put his head on my shoulder like a small child. I’d seen soldiers like him that reverted to an almost childlike state after a severe trauma, so I spoke gently as a parent or big brother would. Although, for the life of me, I didn’t know what trauma he’d just endured to be so unnerved. I put my arm around him and kissed the bump on top of his head that was caused by the fall. Having him close gave me a chance to whisper in his ear in case anyone was listening.
“The people here thought we might’ve been pretending to be a couple… or threesome, I should say. So we had to try and fool them—understand?”
“Yeah, but why did Alex have to slap my butt so hard.”
I rolled my eyes upward. “Are you awake, Buck?”
“Yeah. He didn’t have to slap me so hard, and you didn’t have to be so mean either. I’m trying to do my best here, so I don’t mess up again and have to retrain with Miss Lucy. And you guys aren’t making it easy.”
“This is your best?” Alex said, as he sat on the floor in front of us.
“Yes!” Buck said.
“But we haven’t done anything on the case yet,” I said. “We only just got here.”
“I know, but I’ve helped by questioning people, and this time nobody got shot,” Buck said.
“Oh, my God!” I said. It was taking everything within me not to shake the guy by the shoulders.
“Who got shot the last time?” Alex said.
“Well… umm, the agent I was working with—but he’s OK now. And he said he believed me when I told him I thought the safety on my gun was on. It was an honest accident when the gun fell out of my pocket and shot him in the shoulder.”
“This is a joke, right?” I said.
“No,” Buck said. “Miss Lucy said that you were just the guy to take me in hand and help me out. If I screw up again, I’m going to have to retrain with—”
“Why am I not surprised?” I said. “Of course, Miss Lucy did this on purpose—the woman gets her jollies by torturing me.”
“Huh,” Buck said.
I looked into his eyes, which were a pretty blue, but also completely vacant with no sign of intelligence behind them at all. I kissed his cheek—you can’t blame someone for who they are, but it wasn’t going to make things easy on this case. Gently, I took my arm away from his shoulder and stood, offering him one hand and Alex the other.
“Let’s all try to be nicer to one another. We’ll hit the showers, then see what’s going on around this place at night.”
“Your butt’s still a little red,” Alex said, then gently touched the red spot on Buck’s ass. “Sorry about getting too carried away.”
“You can kiss it and make it better,” Buck said.
“I can also slap it again and make your whole ass red,” Alex said.
“OK, children,” I said. “I’ll kiss both your asses, if you promise to behave.” I gave Buck’s red spot a demure kiss, then gave Alex’s a kiss with a bite. Looking up, I smiled, proud of myself; but was rewarded with a scowl from Alex.
“Come on… in my defense, the guy was ready to start crying,” I said. “Besides, you were sitting on his ass earlier, if I’m not mistaken.”
“And he was slapping my butt too,” Buck said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Hang on—I don’t need your help, Buck.”
“I think you do, before he starts slapping your butt,” Buck said. “And I was not starting to cry, I just had something in my eye.”
“Let’s just go, damn it!” Alex said. “And I think it’ll be cold showers for everyone.”
As we headed to the showers, I wondered exactly how crazy things were going to get on this case.
-13-
Taking Things in Hand
The community showers consisted of a large open room with various showerheads. Thankfully, Alex didn’t insist on the cold showers. Buck had started walking toward a far showerhead, but I told him to stick close by, in case anyone walked in—we were supposed to be a threesome, after all. That whole setup was not one of my better ideas, but how was I to know Buck would be such a pain in the ass, man-child—whoa—looks like I’d been forgiven by Alex, who was soaping up my back and kissing my neck.
“Sorry about earlier,” he said, nipping at my ear.
“I thought I heard folks in the shower,” A familiar voice said from the doorway.
Billy entered and walked our way.
“And here’s my poor Buck pushed to the side again,” Billy said, reaching out toward Buck’s ass.
Buck reacted by jumping and recoiling away from him… closer to us.
“Uugh,” Buck said.
“Sorry there, boy,” Billy said, looking at Buck’s red ass. “You haven’t been ignored as much as I thought.
“I was kind of rough on him earlier,” Alex said, putting an arm around Buck’s waist and pulling him in, so we were all huddled close under the spray.
“Such a sweet and handsome group,” Billy said, washing off next to us. I told Jacob—Carl’s partner that y’all were the real thing. He thought you were just being nosy, and trying to do some sort of nasty exposé on the cult.”
The three of us were rinsing off, and I quickly tried to change the subject with Billy.
“So, Billy, what happens around here at night?”
“Not much tonight, especially since most people are getting ready for tomorrow. The nature trail can be fun, except the bugs are out tonight. I figure most people are in the movie room. Have you guys been there yet?”
“Not yet,” I said.
“Well, it’s right behind the room you’re staying in. It’s nothing fancy—used to be an old screened in room, but we added blackout curtains, a TV, and some benches. I’ll take you fellas there once we’re done in here.”
He looked over at Buck again, who’d been trying to sandwich himself between Alex and me to get away from Billy, who was clearly taken with him.
