Page 102 of Play Dirty

“That’s why he didn’t want me to buy the old Turning Point building?”

“That’s why. You already had a club. He didn’t want you to have an alternative. That’s why he bought it back when it went on the market. I always knew he did. I saw this coming because I was the one who made him sell the old club. The one your friend’s bought. I’ve heard they ran it well. I’ve heard it was a nice place. Your father’s clubs? They were… not so nice. So Chella didn’t talk me into anything, she was just… a perfectly-timed catalyst. Please don’t blame her.”

“And Augustine? And Alexander? What—”

“Blackmail,” she says. “He saw Ixion come home and was afraid the two of you would become close again. Not that way, Jordan. He was afraid the two of you would figure out the part he played in Ixion’s family’s death. So he looked up Augustine and Alexander and blackmailed them. Oh, they don’t know anything about Ixion. They had no part in that. But your father knew the moment Ixion returned you two would grow close again. He wasn’t worried about you being bisexual. I’ll give him that credit. He was worried about you finding out he had them killed.”

“But why did he do it?”

“Because Ixion’s father found out that Ix took the blame for you. That’s why. Your father couldn’t— wouldn’t—let that happen. He was a sick, sick man. So he brought your other friends back and used them to get to you.”

“Alexander’s family,” I say, putting the final piece into place.

“They are as dirty as they are old. He was the only one to make a clean break. And your father threatened to take it all away.”

“So they…”

“So they came. And they tried to tell you so many times. Augustine is a lovely woman, Jordan. We’ve talked extensively since she came to Denver. I reached out to her that very first week I discovered she was here. She loves you still. I don’t know what you feel for her, but she did this for you. And Alexander didn’t just go along. He was invested not only for himself, but for what you were to them. They didn’t want to lie to you. They were sick over this whole thing. But I told them to do it. And I told them to trust me. And I told them to be patient. And they did. So please don’t blame them either.”

“Jesus. Fucking. Christ,” I say.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” she repeats. “I am a goddamned game player.”

I just look at her and laugh. I can’t help it, I laugh. Because my fucking mother is the genius in this game. She is the game master. Not me. Not my father. Her.

“And if there’s one thing your father taught me over these last thirty-odd years, Jordan… it’s how to play dirty.”

EPILOGUE

So… weird.

Turning Point was finally mine. It was all I could think about for the past six months. And hell, if I’m being totally honest with myself, for the past year and a half since it closed down.

And then that day came when my inheritance was truly mine. That building was truly mine.

So ironic… that when all that finally happened, when I’d finally gotten the only thing I thought I wanted… I didn’t want it anymore.

I gave the house to Ixion and Evangeline as an engagement present. And then I threw in the building as a bonus. Signed the whole thing over to them.

Ixion was always a good guy. He just never knew it. When he told me that story of why he was in jail up in Wyoming—that day I bailed him out and brought him back home—well, that sealed his fate, I think.

He’s just a guy who wants to help. Just a guy who wants to do the right thing.

And he did, I knew he would

Turning Point is now called Safe Place. They partnered with Smith and Chella and combined their gyms for troubled teens with the six-floor building that is now sort of a foster home, I guess.

And looking back, I don’t even recognize myself back then. Don’t have any clue why I was so consumed with the idea of that club. Don’t know why I’d ever want to go back and have sex with strangers.

Because the two people I belong with were always there in my past, waiting for me to forgive myself and come home.

I found them in LA.

I went to the Cheeseman Park condo, but they were gone. The leasing agent told me that the condo was under my father’s name, and so it actually belonged to me. He even gave me their address.

So I found them in LA.

I was surprised to find them in the old Westwood condo, the very same one we all lived in together all those years ago. They told me they sold it, but it was a lie. Just in case shit went askew in Denver and they needed to lie low.