Facade

attention to the dark, bundled up figure they were still carrying. Quickly she spread some of the towels she’d taken out onto a worn leather couch and gestured for the men to drop him there.
    Nicky made himself even smaller, if that was at all possible.
    He was clutching his right arm and held his right leg rather strangely as well.
    “Come on you two, get dry and put on some clothes. I’ll take care of him.”
    Jonas and Scott each took a towel from the stack and retreated upstairs to the bathroom.

    “I CAN’T believe he was stalking me,” Jonas sighed, breaking an unusual and rather uncomfortable silence between him and Scott.
    They were both getting dressed after drying themselves off.

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    “Don’t know if it was stalking,” Scott soothed him, sensing Jonas was quite angry with the young man.
    “Well, what do you call following someone to another country and climbing onto his balcony, then?”
    “Jonas, calm down.” Scott put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “He didn’t call you, send you threatening e-mails, didn’t try to hurt you in any way.”
    “He made me feel like I was losing it, Scott!” Jonas threw down the sweater he’d taken out of his closet, deciding it was too hot to wear it anyway and not having the patience to fold it again.
    “This isn’t the first time, either. The other times I put it down to the wind or my imagination. And he did call.” Scott’s eyebrows rose.
    “It wasn’t his number and I didn’t immediately connect the dots.” Jonas squared his jaw. “I’m going to give him a good piece of my mind, though! Who does he think he is?”
    “Jonas!” Scott tried to hold him back, but he was out the door and down the stairs in no time.
    Ally was closing the door to the living room behind her when she saw Jonas approaching. She’d known the American long enough to see he was mad as hell. “Oh, no, you’re not going in there!”
    “And why not? This is my house and I go where I please.”
    “Jonas.” Ally held him back by softly putting her delicate hand on his chest. “He’s upset, tired, and in pain.”
    “And how do you think I feel?”
    “You didn’t fall off a balcony,” Ally answered sternly.
    Jonas looked at her. Usually he admired her coolness, how she could hide her emotions so well when he knew there was a bubbling volcano underneath those icy features. Today she was standing in his way, though, and because of his own emotions, he couldn’t quite understand her lack of them.

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    “I won’t let you go in there if you’re that explosive,” she told him determinedly. “Why don’t you run back upstairs and find him some dry clothes? He’s soaked and not feeling too proud of himself right now. The least we can do is make him a little more comfortable before we interrogate him.”
    “Right,” Jonas answered arrogantly.
    “I’ll get the clothes,” Scott offered, not waiting for an answer before making his way back upstairs.
    As soon as Scott was out of earshot, Ally grabbed Jonas by the shoulders. “Listen, buster, as soon as we get him into dry clothes you can go talk to him, but you two really need to sort this out together. Alone. And right now, I’m afraid to leave you alone with him! What’s got into you, Jonas?”
    “I’m no more than a paid fuck to Nicky. He made that abundantly clear last time I was in Paris.” Jonas was straining to keep his voice down.
    “Your clients don’t usually show up on your balcony, do they?
    The only people who know about this house are Eduardo, Scott, and I.”
    Jonas nodded. “He had me followed. The week I arrived here, there was a car with darkened windows parked at the corner. My first impression was that it was paparazzi. Eduardo was hanging around here, and they’re always trying to snap his picture these days, but no photos showed up anywhere, so now I’m thinking it was something else.”
    “Now that doesn’t sound like just a client, Jonas,” Ally tried.
    “That sounds like a jilted lover. Did you push him away?” Jonas shook his head. “He pushed me away.”
    “Does he know how you feel about him?” Jonas shrugged.
    “Did you tell him you love him?”

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    For a moment Jonas looked like he got caught; then he composed himself and looked away from her. “It’s not that simple.
    He paid me to have sex with him, Ally.”
    “And as usual he got more than he bargained for,” Scott interrupted. “I think you should tell