Boystown Season Three Read online

  “I will,” Marco said as he watched his man leave the room.

  Then he walked over to the wall and removed the sheet covering the painting. He paused a moment and looked at the painting, which had hung on the wall of David and Tyler’s apartment only moments earlier.

  He turned the painting around and examined its back. He walked over to the desk and picked up a pocket knife. He carefully used it to cut open the back of the painting. Gently, he removed the layers of brown paper and matting. Then he found what he was looking for -- a small manila envelope.

  He opened the envelope and carefully removed its contents. He quickly looked through the documents, skimming them one at a time. “My God, it’s you.” He looked back at the papers in his hand. Then he began to laugh. “Who would have guessed that Emmett Mancini is his missing brother’s landlord?”

  While Marco savored his discovery, Emmett was in his bedroom above the club pulling clothes out of his closet and throwing them around the room. Carrying some papers in his hand, Jensen cautiously entered the room and watched Emmett in his frenzied state.

  “Are you okay?” Jensen asked softly.

  “What are you doing up here?”

  “I came looking for you. We couldn’t find you downstairs and they need your signature on these documents for the performers.”

  “Give me those,” Emmett said, tearing the papers from Jensen’s hand. He threw them onto the nearby desk, tore through the desk drawer to find a pen, and quickly signed them.

  “Here,” Emmet said, throwing the papers at Jensen.

  Jensen knelt down to gather the documents. “I also wanted to see if you were okay.”

  “Does it look like I’m okay?” Emmett asked, throwing more clothes around the room. “I can’t find it. I can’t find it.”

  “What?” Jensen asked. “What are you looking for?”

  “I can’t find it!”

  Jensen walked over to Emmett and gently grabbed his arm. “Emmett, you’re not well.”

  “I’m fine,” Emmett said, stopping and facing Jensen. “I just -- I just--” Emmett stopped his rant and looked into Jensen’s eyes. He put his hands on Jensen’s shoulders and kissed him.

  Stunned, Jensen stood still as Emmett continued to kiss him. Then Jensen slowly folded his arms around Emmett and kissed him back. Their lips pressed against each other as Emmett ran his fingers through Jensen’s hair. Jensen massaged Emmett’s back and lowered his hands to Emmett’s firm ass.

  Suddenly, Emmett collapsed in Jensen’s arms. Jensen momentarily held the dead weight of Emmett’s body in his arms and then let go, Emmett’s body crashing into the floor. Jensen looked at the unconscious body at his feet and then pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

  “It’s me. I’m with him now. We may have a problem.”

  Derek walked out onto the back deck of his condo. As he began walking down the two flights of stairs to the ground level, a person watched him from the bottom of the stairs. Hiding in the shadows created by the moonlight hitting the stairs, the person remained unseen by Derek.

  As Derek made the turn on the stairs and continued to descend the final flight, the person stepped forward. Raising a gun into the air, the person fired two shots directly at Derek. Blood splattered onto the stairs as well as the concrete below. While the shooter fled, Derek’s body collapsed, falling over the railing and onto the ground. Motionless, his body rested at the foot of the stairwell, blood slowly spreading over the pavement.

  Downstairs in the club, Jesse was thanking and saying goodbye to the entertainers. Jacqueline, Tyler, Joyelle were standing nearby as the members of Whiskey and Cherries as well as Amy Armstrong left the club.

  “Thanks again,” Jesse told Steve Grand. “You were amazing.”

  “My pleasure,” Steve said. “This was an amazing night. I was I could stay longer but I have to catch a flight in the morning.”

  “No problem,” Jesse said.

  “You really were amazing,” Joyelle added. “I think you made a bunch of new fans tonight.”

  “Thank you,” Steve said with a smile as he left the club.

  “What a sweetheart,” Joyelle stated.

  “You sure are,” Tyler added, jokingly.

  “I should be heading out, too,” Jacqueline said to Jesse.

  “Thanks so much for coming,” Jesse said, hugging his mother. “You have no idea how much it means to me.”

  “I’m so proud of you,” Jacqueline declared. “This was really a great event.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Jesse said.

  “Good night,” Jacqueline said to Tyler and Joyelle as she left the party.

  Joyelle’s phone began to ring. “Excuse me,” she said as she removed it from her purse and walked away from the others.

  From a distance, Ben watched Jacqueline leave the party. He smiled and mumbled, “Perfect. It’s show time.”

  As Ben headed toward the basement, Joyelle answered her call.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, Joyelle. It’s Dr. MacMahon.”

  “Hello, Doctor.”

  “I’m sorry to bother you at night but we got the results of your tests back and I wanted to share them with you right away.”

  “Is anything wrong?”

  “On the contrary,” the doctor explained. “It’s really good news.”

  “What news?”

  “Congratulations, Joyelle. You’re pregnant.”

  While Joyelle absorbed the doctor’s information, Keith discreetly approached Rachel at the far end of the club.

  “We need to talk,” Keith said.

  “Not here,” Rachel said. “Do you want someone to see us talking?”

  “Have you seen Emmett tonight? He looks terrible and is completely out of it. I’m done. I’m not doing this anymore.

  “You know the consequences of that choice.”

  “I don’t care anymore,” Keith said. “I was engaged to Emmett once. I can’t do this to him. I’m going to tell Michael my secret myself.”

  “Don’t double-cross me, Keith. You’ll wish you hadn’t.”

  Keith left Rachel and searched for Michael in the crowd. As he did, he passed Gino and Justin.

  “This is a special night,” Justin said.

  “It is,” Gino agreed. “And you only got into one fight.”

  Justin smiled. “You’re a very special man.”

  “Well, I won’t argue with that.”

  “You are the one person in my life who always has my back. You see the good in me and overlook the bad.”

  “I try,” Gino added. “You don’t always make it easy.”

  “And I have come to realize lately just how much I really do love you.”

  “I love you, too, Justin.”

  Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. “So I was wondering, Gino...” Justin opened the box revealing a diamond and platinum ring. “I was wondering if you’d do me the honor of marrying me?”

  While Justin waited for Gino’s reply to his marriage proposal, Keith found Michael in the crowd.

  “There you are, Stormy,” Michael said with a smile. “Where have you been?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Are you okay? You’re trembling.”

  “There is just something important that I need to talk to you about.”

  “Okay.”

  All of a sudden, all the lights in the restaurant and club went out. In the darkness, some people began to scream and panic while others tried to calm those around them and wait for the lights to come back on. Max and Dustin tried to make their way toward the back of the club to head into the basement.

  Suddenly, a huge burst of fiery flames shot out of the vents in the floor at the front of the club, blocking the windows and door. Window coverings and tablecloths immediately caught fire as people jumped back from the flames, which illuminated the room.

  In the basement, Ben worked quickly. He opened the valves on the barrels that he
had installed earlier so that when someone upstairs pulled the fire alarm, the flammable fluid spewed from the ceiling sprinklers in the club. Immediately catching fire as it emerged from the sprinklers, the liquid rained fire down on the guests as they chaotically rushed toward the back exits of the club, which Ben had locked from the outside.

  Hearing the screams of the guests upstairs, Ben hurried to leave the basement. When he reached the door, it was stuck. He tried the handle, but the door wouldn’t open. He pounded on it and tried to shove it open, but he was trapped. Looking down at the base of the door, he saw smoke entering the room. “Help me! Let me out of here!”

  Ben’s screams couldn’t be heard over the loud yells of the guests upstairs. Fire spewing in every direction, guests scrambled to find a way out of the inferno Ben had created. Thick smoke filled the room, working its way up into the bedroom where Emmett’s unconscious body lay on the floor.

  From outside the building, flames could be seen and yells could be heard. In the distance, the sound of fire truck sirens gradually grew louder. As the club windows shattered, fire and smoke emerged, working their way up into the sky. The wind pushed the smoke across nearby blocks quickly and it soon passed over the area where Derek’s bloody body rested on the ground. The moon hung high over the city of Chicago, casting its warm glow on everything beneath it.