Learning to Love | ✓

Chapter 11

[LAMBERT]

I tsked, shaking my head as I took a sip of my coffee and laughed.

"Shut up, Lambert!" Diablo snapped from the other side of the room. He was raiding the bookshelves by the wall with determination. His short hair plastered to his dark Mexican skin.

"What?" I asked in mock innocence before shrugging my shoulders. I can't believe he was even sweating over this. Well, whatever this was.

"What exactly are you looking for?" I asked Diablo as he moved to the next bookshelf. If he continued this way my library would be upside down by night-time.

"You said Zeus kept a diary while he was still living with you. Since you haven't moved, it's probably here somewhere," Diablo said, rubbing his brows in frustration.

"Isn't that called, I don't know, invading someone's privacy?" I asked in a sarcastic tone. I frowned. It was bad enough he didn't want Zeus to know he talked to me or that he even existed here in L.A., but checking his diary? That was going too far.

"I just wanted to know how Zeus felt about me, okay?" Diablo said almost choking on his words as he slipped down to the floor.

"What happened?" I asked sitting beside him on the floor abandoning my coffee cup on the reading table I had been leaning on.

"I think — I think I saw Julian," Diablo choked.

"You couldn't have..." I trailed, not knowing what to say. Of course, he could have. He worked in a fringing supermarket for God's sake.

"Blue eyes, blonde hair..." Diablo trailed, breaking into sobs.

"Don't cry," I said, rubbing his back. God, I'm too old for all this.

"And the worst part was I felt insecure, jealous. Heck, a whole lot of things," Diablo sobbed, leaning on my shoulder. I felt a sudden uneasiness. It was at times like this I wondered if Diablo was just messing with my head. How could he cry over Zeus when the one that cared about him the most was sitting right here?

Diablo sniffed his eyes closing before flicking half open again.

"Go on. I'll drop you off later," I said, smoothing out the loose curly strands from his forehead.

"Thanks," Diablo murmured smiling as his eyes flicked back closed.

I sighed. Why in the world had I promised not to tell Zeus about Diablo? His pills. I remembered sighing again. I had promised not to tell Zeus about him if he took his pills but I'm beginning to find the deal useless since he rarely took them anyway. He was suffering a bad case of depression and so was Zeus more or less. I think I was sent to stabilize depressed humans on earth. I thought, chuckling.

God. I thought, looking down at Diablo who was now sound asleep. My expression softened in pity. He must have been over tasking himself today. Poor guy, he was still in love with Zeus. Poor me. I thought, grimacing.

I can still remember meeting Zeus on the streets of Paris. I had wondered how such a young boy who looked obviously out of place had gotten there.

"Come with me," I had told him holding out my hand to him. He must have been roughly eighteen by then. He had stared at me as if I was some sort of rapist. I would have stared at myself like that too. I had a reason to act that way. Zeus hadn't looked like a street boy, I don't know how to explain it but he looked untainted — polished — if that makes sense.

I remembered how he had burst into tears after I had asked. "You won't want me near your house am disgusting," he had cried. I had taken him with me anyway. He didn't look like somebody who could fend for himself on the streets.