Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2016 05:37:11 -0500
From: Kody Boye <boyekody@gmail.com>
Subject: His Touch of Ice - Part 14

DISCLAIMER:

This is a work of fiction, and contains scenes of graphic violence and
explicit male/male sex. If you are not of the legal age to read this, or
are uncomfortable with this sort of content, please turn back now.

HIS TOUCH OF ICE (The Ice Men, Book 1) is copyright © Kody Boye. All
Rights are reserved.

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I spent most of the morning on the phone, arranging forbearance details
with the government and straightening out my living situation with my
former landlord. His thick accent and his frothy foam-at-the-mouth attitude
made it almost impossible to discern what he was saying.

"You left?" he asked, nearly barking the words into the phone.

"Everything I own is gone," I replied. "The furniture was left on the
curb. The apartment's as spotless as I could make it."

"You wish to terminate your lease?"

"Yes sir. I do."

The man on the other end paused. What sounded like a series of shifting
papers, followed by a low string of curses in Spanish echoed into the
receiver before the resounding shift of his mouth entered my ear.

"Look," he said. "You're past due on last month's rent. I can cut you a
deal, seeing as how you haven't given me any problems. But I'll still ask
for last month and what you've stayed for this month's."

"That's fine."

"Total comes out to $952. Pay by Thursday or I retract my offer."

"I will, sir. I'll drop the check off in your box soon."

The call ended without a goodbye.

"Well," I mumbled, looking down at my phone. "At least I have two days to
worry about that."

The doorknob clicked once, then twice to release the deadbolt before it
opened to reveal Guy, dressed immaculately in a finely-tailored gray suit
and a pair of black dress pants. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," I replied.

"Didn't expect you to be up."

"Lunch break?"

Guy nodded. He slipped into the kitchen and began scrounging through the
fridge before he pulled out a carton of what looked like hummus and pita
bread, as well as a soda. "Care if I have one of these?"

"You bought `em."

"I'll take that as a yes," Guy laughed. He dipped the bread into the
mixture and sluiced it about. "You ate?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." He tore a chunk out of the bread. "So," he continued, "what've you
been up to?"

"Student loans. Landlord."

"You get the total we need to pay him?"

"About a thousand dollars." I grimaced even though Guy made no visible
reaction. "Sorry."

"For what? I said I'd help you out."

"I didn't think it would be that much."

"Compared to this place?" he laughed. "Trust me—I pay about that and
more a month for this place."

"You mind if I ask where you work?"

"Advertising—business, mostly, but I do independent work on the
side. Guess I have a way with people."

No kidding, I thought.

I smiled nonetheless and made my way to the window. Parting the curtain, I
looked out at the street and surveyed the steady but not overly-coagulated
stream of traffic below.

"Hope the sound doesn't bother you," Guy said, catching me off-guard. "I
got the place for the view, but... well... it's still downtown."

"The sound's fine," I said. "I used to live near all the city
services—police departments, ambulance depots, fire departments."

"So you're used to it."

"Yeah."

The sound of a trash bin flipping open, then closing radiated throughout
the apartment before a set of jingling keys entered my ears.

"What time do you normally get home?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Uh... four, usually. Unless there's meetings. Then six, seven at the
latest."

"Ok."

"If you need anything, I keep spare change in the urn there." He nodded
toward the black-and-gold fixture seated at the edge of the bar. "You know
your way around." Guy opened the door. "See ya," he said.

"See ya," I replied.

He closed the door and locked it without another word.


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If you enjoyed this installment of HIS TOUCH OF ICE, consider emailing the
author with your thoughts or donating to him via Paypal at
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www.kodyboye.com.