Deviant(8)

Me being me, I wrote the only thing I could think of on the note.

Do you like cookies?

How fucked up am I? Of all the things I could ask him, I ask him if he liked cookies? The only reason that even came into my head was because I bought some on a two-for-one deal down at the local supermarket yesterday when I went to get my Chinese food. I must be going mad!



*****



The very next day was even more exciting. The next morning, I left that note, along with a plate of three cookies, for him. Once I got home, the cookies were gone, the plate was cleaned and put back in its place, and there was a note from him.

Yes. Thank you.

Every day these past few days, I had been coming home and would pull into my space and, every morning, my car would be parked the other way. It was becoming a regular thing.

The other great thing that happened was submitting my story to Andrew Walker. He read it thoroughly and loved it. It was displayed on page five in the following day’s edition. Things were certainly looking up for me. Everyone loved the article. Suzie, once she realised I had gone over her head, was another story. I didn’t mind. Everyone said it was a great article, and the best thing about it was when Mr. Walker patted me on the back and gave me a huge smile. I didn’t care about anything else.

It did, however, start me thinking about a column for the newspaper. I got the idea and asked if I could see Mr. Walker about it. It was my stranger that made me come up with the idea.

The suggestion was I could head a column full of messages and poems from secret admirers. People could post names and little messages in the hopes that special someone they’d been harbouring feelings for would read it. Mr. Walker thought it was a fantastic idea and told me to set it up straight away.

The minute I got back to my desk, I set up a column called From Afar, asking people to get in touch with me at work with any messages of love and devotion for their secret crush. I didn’t know why I called it that. I guess my stranger had something to do with it. He seemed to be bringing out the creative devil in me, I guess.

Once I got home, I saw another note on the table.

Need more cookies.

After laughing for several minutes, I decided to get myself some dinner and start working on my laptop.





Chapter 4



Dean



Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate.

Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.

Euripides





I was so pumped tonight, I couldn’t seem to focus. In the end, I went down to my basement and took it out on my punching bag. I punished that thing every day but, for some reason, it needed more punishing today. Maybe it was because I was now starting to communicate with Tyler. I knew the day would come when I had to push things a little. I just always thought it would be me acting first.

After a gruelling half-hour, I decided to call it quits. I was in the middle of unwinding the tape on my knuckles when my uncle Humphrey appeared.

“What’s up, Deany boy? You look a little out of sorts today. Are you not getting enough pussy?” My uncle smiled, but I huffed in his direction. He always knew how to wind me up further than I already was.

“Don’t worry about me, old man. You just concentrate on your own love life. I haven’t seen you get any action in months.”

Humphrey shook his head with an unamused grin. “Hey, less of the ‘old man’, you fucking jumpstart. Just remember who’s lived longer and has more experience dealing with little chumps like you.”

I smiled. I had to give my uncle his due. He was right. He had been at this game a lot longer than me. He was in his fifties, now had greying hair, but still looked every bit the bad boy on the street that he used to be. We Scozzari’s had a bad name. My parents tried to hide me from their way of life, but then they fucking died on me. Who else, besides me, was going to carry on their empire? I had to learn a lot since their death, but it turned me into the man I was now. Actually, Tyler turned me into the man I was now.

“What have you come down here for anyway? Do you want to get in on a little one-to-one action with me? I can show you how a real man boxes, if you like.” I swiped the air with a couple of punches for good measure, but all Humphrey did was shake his head.

“I have no desire to put you out on the floor.” I rolled my eyes, but didn’t challenge him. “I just came to tell you that Jimmy called. He told me to tell you that the little errand you sent him on was done.”

I nodded with a smile. “Good. I’ll wire the money to him as soon as I’m done showering.”





Chapter 5



Tyler





Buckinghamshire, 1993





“You can never escape me, Tyler. You know I’ll always find you.”