Pent Up by Damon Suede Read Free Book Online

wouldn’t shave every day. You look meaner this way.”
    “What’s ‘mean’ mean?”
    Bauer thumped his shoulders and kneaded them. “Scary. Powerful. I don’t want you to look like a cop.”
    The elevator slid open silently and they stepped on. Again the car descended in such quiet Ruben felt like an actor standing in a silver box while God changed the set outside.
    “You think I look like a cop?” Better than robber, at least.
    As they crossed the lobby, one of the young doormen nodded at them amiably. “Your car, Mr. Bauer?”
    “A cab’s fine. We could almost walk, but it’s freakin’ hot. Right?” That last question was aimed at Ruben, who didn’t feel like he had any say.
    By the time they reached the curb, the younger Asian doorman was holding open a taxi door.
    When you’re loaded, the world just falls into line.
    Bauer slid across and Ruben followed. The doorman shut the door with a quiet thock and rapped it to signal the driver.
    “It’s only twenty blocks, but this time of day the sidewalks are more crowded than the street.”
    “My first New York taxi.” He hadn’t the money to waste.
    “Yeah? Cool.” Bauer smiled and raised his voice toward the driver. “Barney’s. Madison and Sixty-first.”
    Ruben had heard of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s but apparently this was the classier option. On the way, he couldn’t stop thinking of the goddamn purple dinosaur.
    When the cab stopped, Bauer passed a twenty dollar bill for a seven dollar fare without waiting for change. He stepped through the department store door Ruben swung open for him.
    No dinosaurs. A smattering of white, groomed shoppers like a music video. Most department stores in New York were for working people, but this place was a plush safari.
    Ruben caught a couple people staring at them. Either he really stuck out or Bauer had pissed off a few of his neighbors.
    Oblivious and laser-focused, Bauer navigated the cosmetic counters and hooked left to a bank of elevators. He pressed the button and Ruben stood next to a table of neckties, trying not to feel like his parents were buying him clothes. He picked up a lustrous tangerine tie, cut wide with a thin gold diagonal. Alexander McQueen.
    Bauer gave a nervous laugh and relaxed. “I never know what to buy.” Spoiled rotten.
    Ruben knew plenty about clothes. A hundred, maybe? Hundred-thirty? He paused to lift the tie and flip its tag: one hundred and eighty-five American dollars and no sense. For real. To purchase a seamed strip of tangerine silk that might get worn a half-dozen times. He’d lived in apartments where that was a week’s rent. Keeping his face neutral, he dropped the tie quickly and carefully back to the table.
    “Why not?” Bauer plucked the tie off the table. “You’re gonna need a couple anyways.” What the hell was happening? He grinned. “Sixth floor, I think.”
    The elevator doors glided open and Ruben pressed 6. “What exactly are we buying, here?”
    “Hmm. Hope suggested three suits to start. A blazer. Couple pairs of pants. Some casuals. A tux is overkill, but dress shirts that fit you.”
    Tux?
    “You got an amazing build under there.” Bauer jabbed the 6 button again till the doors closed on them.
    The praise pleased Ruben in an uncomfortable way. “My brother’s packed it on the last year.” He tugged at his collar. “But a lot of my stuff is being shipped from Florida.”
    “Deductible.” For a moment, Ruben could see the number cruncher hidden under all the expensive grooming. Bauer watched the digits climbing on the elevator panel, elaborately polite for no reason. “These boys’ll get you hooked up.”
    Ruben gulped. Boys? Right. ’Cause this was a New York department store; he’d seen makeovers on Bravo. He was embarrassed enough without a bunch of homos scoping his crank in front of his new boss.
    For about two weeks after dropping out of boot, he’d danced in a queer bar, and he knew how aggressive dudes could get when they