Weary, Hardesty let himself into the fifteenth-floor apartment in Crystal City, across the Potomac from Washington, D.C., in Alexandria, Virginia. The apartment had spectacular views from all rooms across the Ronald Reagan Airport runways to the national memorials and the Mall. He was happy to see that the warning light by the door wasn't on. He needed some down time at home.
It hadn't been his decision to move across the river. Housing was expensive, to be sure, in D.C., but he'd inherited a small fifties-style rambler in the Northwest section that had done him well for a decade. But he couldn't argue with the view from here, which was magnificent and reminded him every morning that he worked in one of the world's major power cities. It was a splashy apartment, which was the impression it was supposed to give and the service it was meant to provide. Two large bedrooms, each with its own bath, and a living-dining-kitchen great room sheathed on two sides by plate glass windows with an extraordinary view. He hadn't picked out the furniture either. He'd never feel like this was home, but he was weary enough tonightâafter midnightânot to care about that. It was all part of an effort to keep his life together and not lose Toby.
If the warning light had been on, he'd have known that Toby was entertaining a client and that he should find someplace else to crash. Luckily, there was an old maid of a guy, Paul, down the hall in a smaller apartment who would be happy to take him in on short notice for the night in exchange for a cuddle and a quick fuck. Paul had been a male model and kept himself in trim, so it wasn't an onerous taskâit just was milder than Hardesty turned on to.
The apartment was part of Toby's escort service set up, with neither Hardesty nor Toby paying the whole fare. The service paid more than half the rent, but you could bet that the money came out of Toby's earnings. Except when he was an escort, he was Todd, not Toby. That's how Hardesty had first met him, as Todd, and it was the name under which he'd first fucked and fallen for him. He had picked him up in much the same way he'd encountered Raul earlier in the evening, but he'd kept Tobyâto the extent that he could claim to have any control over the relationship. When he'd told Raul he already had his whore he gave some protection to, he was being literally truthful.
Even as Todd, though, he was Hardesty's ideal matchâstill young, at twenty-four, small, blond, fun to be with, movie-star handsome, with a channel that fit Hardesty's shaft like a glove, and fine with Hardesty's style that could get rough when he was unleashed. The two of them had been together for nearly four years nowâif both of them having a separate, active fuck life could be considered "together." It was as close as Hardesty could demand, though, and there always was hope for something closer. Inevitably, Todd would age out of the escort business, and Hardesty hoped to be there then to begin a new phase of their relationship. He would age out of the life of a vice cop who could get whatever he wanted however he wanted in the not-too-far-distant future himself.
Hardesty went almost directly to the refrigerator for a cold beer. He applied the butt of the bottle to the back of his neck before opening it and walked around the living area, looking for someplace to light. Inevitably, a headache was coming on. Nothing in the room beckoned him, though. All of the furniture was sleek and modernâand covered with easily mopped-down leather. As usual, he wound up at the window, watching the Washington, D.C., skyline.
The city at nightâthat's what he could relate to. Glittery, mysterious, the center of powerâand imbued with every vice known to man. The streets were kept immaculate and bordered by parkland dotted with memorials to greatnessâor audacityâwhile, in the alleys, the homeless were sleeping in cardboard boxes and around them others shot up with heroin or fucked prostitutes, both male and female, up against sooty walls. Reminded of what paid his bills in this city of excess, his gaze landed on the Washington Monument obelisk. A gigantic cock, overlooking the center of the city. A phallic symbolâa hugely erect oneâalways seemed such a natural one to him of the city in which he worked vice. Another symbol of the power of a city existing to serve desire.
The phone on the kitchen island rang. But it was Toby's work phone. Hardesty gave it a listen as the answering service switched over. "Tomorrow's 1:00 p.m. United flight to LaGuardia. A Brazilian, attending a meeting at the UN. Dinner at eight, clubbing afterward, and then whatever he wants. Aaron will meet you at security at the airport at eleven thirty with the packet and details. Take a tux and a sexy jock strap."
So, Toby would be gone for the next couple of days. Hardesty would miss him. Nothing special on this weekend, so they could have done something together. Oh, well, as tired as he was, maybe it was for the best. And he had weekend duty anyway. Looking around the living room and deciding once more that it was cold in dĂŠcor and not the least bit inviting to him, he retired to his bedroom, which was furnished with stuff he'd brought from his own houseâstuff his parents had owned before him. So much more like home, down to the brass bed with the tired mattress and box springs.
He took a shower. As he was coming out of the shower, he heard the warning buzzer. They'd had that installed down in the lobby, by their mailbox. TobyâTodd nowâwas bringing a client up and had signaled Hardesty to disappear if he was in the apartment. Hardesty went over to his bedroom door and took a peek through the fish lens peephole that took in the full sweep of the living and dining area of the apartment. The fact that his bedroom door opened out into the living room, as the room could also be used as a study, while Toby's was down a hallway and behind Hardesty's room was to incorporate this feature. Toby brought clients home for sex. Part of what Hardesty did for Toby was to watch over him when he and the client were in the living area to give Toby some protection. Toby didn't take a client back to his bedroom without the understanding that he wasn't a crazy guy.
They had been to the theater or some other formal occasion. They were both in tuxes and both looked good. Todd, of course, always looked like a million dollars. The other guy, though, older and Oriental, also looked good. He was probably older than Hardesty, in his late forties maybe. He was elegantly dressed, though, with the flash of a huge diamond ring on the middle finger of one hand. He'd had to be wealthy or being treated by someone wealthy to afford Toby. He had black hair slicked back, and an inscrutable, slightly foxy, appearance to him. The client was tall and slender. He looked confident and experienced and like he could be cruel. Hardesty would have to keep a check on the peephole. Knowing that, Toby wouldn't take the man into his bedroom until and unless he was sure of him.
They paused to kiss beside the kitchen island, which was just barely in Hardesty's field of vision, and Toby must have said he'd fix drinks and then get into something more comfortable. The windowless kitchen area was off the corridor back to Toby's room and across the hall from Hardesty's bedroom. In Toby's absence, the man walked around the room, swilling drink in hand, taking a good look at it, and winding up by the window. The view drew the attention of everyone who came into this apartment.