THE ROAD HOME

Chapter 13

Drey sank back into one of the luxury arm chairs in his new office and poured himself a glass of wine. A lot of things had changed since Tisha got arrested.

After Don’s murder, lots of bidders arose for ownership of the casino. Drey had saved money over the years to be able to open his own casino one day so he saw an opportunity and joined in the bidding for Sin City.

He lost to a rich Arabian importer, Zahid Dharka, who wanted to redecorate and put in new staff.  The casino was Drey’s only means of livelihood and he was willing to do anything to keep it that way.
Imagine his delight when he found out that Zahid was bisexual.
He disguised himself as an Arabian immigrant, worked his way up to Zahid’s inner circle of workers and finally got into his bed.
Zahid fell for him so deeply that he decided to marry him. Drey didn’t even have to do much. As a wedding gift, Zahid signed over half of Sin City casino to him, making him co-owner.
He got Don’s office and handled all the operations in the casino, got a fresh batch of eager male and female strippers and made provisions for Zahid to carry out his underground criminal operations.
He scanned the office one more time and let out a loud sigh. He had come a long way from being a poor, malnourished orphan who had spent half of his life in a run down orphanage.
A month had passed since Tisha was arrested and he had not gone to see her. He felt so guilty.

She was his best friend and if he was the one in jail she’d come to see him everyday. He still couldn’t come to terms with the fact that she had a death sentence hanging over her head. She was the closest thing he had to family…and Lord knows he had given up on family a long time ago.

He still had nightmares of the fire once in a while. He remembered watching his dear sister torch their house without blinking, screaming that she was going to purge them, that they needed to be cleansed through fire. He was lucky to have escaped. He hid in the bathroom till the fire fighter's captain found him.

How the bathroom remained untouched, he had no idea. The fireman had taken him in and started caring for him. After a month he changed.
He would call him to his room, lock the door, lay on the bed and ask him to play with his genitals. He was only eight at the time, he had no idea what he was doing even though it made him uncomfortable. He didn’t know how to say he didn’t like it because the fireman kept telling him the Bible said children should obey their elders and that if he didn’t he’d die and go to hell.
He sat up and shook his head. Memories like that ruined his week whenever he allowed them take root. He went downstairs to check on things.

Everything looked good.

Customers were pouring in like rats. His strippers were making huge tips and drink flowed continuously from the bar. At the far end of the VIP section, Zahid sat with two guards, watching everyone with very alert eyes. Drey smiled.
He definitely didn’t feel anything as strong as love for Zahid but the man had been very good to him. He took care of him and gave him whatever he needed. It turned out that Zahid was not just a wealthy business man but also an Arabian prince. By marriage, Drey was now royalty. He chuckled and started moving towards the VIP section when two men blocked him.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked. “See, I told you it was him. This is that scrawny gay bartender” one of the men said. Drey recognized them.

They were the “Happy Brothers”, Charlie and Patrick Happy. They were rich kids who had no idea on what to spend their money on. Their father was the owner of an automobile company before he passed away due to cardiac arrest and their mother followed suit a year later. Charlie and Patrick took over the company and initially almost declared bankruptcy.

They decided to hire someone to oversee the business while they get the proceeds. Rumour had it that they kept tabs on every employee they had and whenever one was performing below standard, or sniffing around where they are not supposed to, they threatened his/her family or totally made them disappear.
The Happy brothers loved to pick on Drey when he was still a bartender.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“What do you think? A drink pretty boy” said Charlie. Drey sighed.

He really wasn’t in the mood for their foolishness today.

“A bar tender will serve you shortly. Excuse me gentlemen” he said.

Patrick pulled him back by the collar and before he could utter a word, two of the guards that were standing by Zahid overpowered them.
Zahid didn’t look so pleased.  He banned the brothers from the club and took back they money they had won from playing poker in the casino. They were thrown out, swearing and cursing.

“Thank you Zahid”  Zahid smiled at him. “Are you alright pumpkin? You look…sad”

“I’m okay my love. Thank you, people hardly stand up for me” he said.

Zahid shook his head and pulled him to the VIP section.
They sat down on a very large couch. “Something troubles your mind Drey. Talk to me” he said.

Drey didn’t really want to talk about Tisha but he knew Zahid would pester till he eventually said something.
“You remember the incident with the previous owner of this casino yeah?” he asked.

“The one that was shot…Don, yes?”

“Yes. The person who shot him was my best friend. Don killed her grandmother. She’s been sentenced to death by the squad. Ever since she went to jail, I haven’t visited her”

Zahid raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Why not? You should be very first to visit. Why you not go?”
Drey chuckled inwardly. Zahid’s accent and the way he spoke English was cute.

“It’s not that I don’t want to go, I don’t know what to say to her. I don’t know how to start. Even if I went to see her now, I can swear she won’t want to see me. She’s going to die soon and the thought of not seeing her anymore kills me every single day. I want to go so bad, but I can’t”

Zahid shook his head. “You wrong, very wrong. She leave this world soon, she need all love she can get from her friends. Go see her, she will be happy, not mad. She need you more than you think” he said. 

“You think so?”

“If I in prison, on death row, no matter what, last thing I want will be to be alone. I will need all company I can get”

Drey sighed. He set a reminder on his cell.
See Tisha this weekend.