Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:41:29 -0500 From: Mark Arsenault Subject: 721 Anderson Avenue 13 721 Anderson Avenue-13 by M.P. Arsent Copyright to this story remains strictly that of the author. No other publication or use of this story is allowed without the consent of the author. This story contains male-on-male sexual content both implied and explicit. If this offends you please do not continue. All characters and implied situations are strictly those of the author and are not based on any real-life events or characters. If you are under 18 years of age please exit this story now. I welcome all responses to my stories. Please ensure you list the story's name in the email line. If your email is to alert me of misspelled words or improper punctuation or grammar save your time because it will be deleted. I hope you enjoy my vivid imagination. Please let me know what you think at mparsent@gmail.com and don't forget to donate to Nifty as they do an amazing job. So I made my way to the roof and naturally, the first one I saw was Dana. "You forget to duck?" "Hey it was straight-up boxing, not my strongest suit to begin with and the guy had me in both height and reach. He however was still trying to walk straight when I left the gym. I got lucky and I've watched him box for a couple of years now. I kinda knew what to watch for, where he had never seen me fight before." Several of the guys had heard at that point and a few of them went to the same gym I did. "Let me guess, Greg Wilkins?" "Yeah, it was Todd. Has he been trying to get your goat too?" "He has and I'm not about to step into a ring with him. At one time, if rumor is true, he was a Golden Gloves contender." "I hadn't heard that. Regardless the rounds were over and I had beat him fair and square. He charged at me. I didn't feel bound by the rules of boxing at that point and I laid him out with a roundhouse kick. I didn't hang around for any repeats of that action." "Can't say as I blame you there Jeff." Things settled into routine after that for the next couple of weeks. It finally came time for Andrew to move out. There was a moving van parked in the street and with the front door being left open for the moving guys, I parked myself out front. I wasn't concerned with Andrew trying to make off with anything as I was somebody getting into the building who didn't belong. Along about mid-afternoon, Andrew came down to see me. "Here are your keys Jeff." "You take care of yourself, Andrew. You have a forwarding address just in case?" "Yeah." He handed me a slip of paper. "I've already filed a change of address at the post office, so there shouldn't be anything." "You should see your security deposit back by the end of the month." "Not too worried about that Jeff. You take care." "You too." Andrew was then on his way as the moving van moved out. "Guess that means I can breathe a little easier now." "Yeah, I guess so Dana. Any word from the lawyers yet?" "Yeah I should have the settlement check in about 10 days, then I can pay you back everything I owe." "Like I said before Dana, there's no hurry." "So you ever coming to see me dance?" "One of these nights." "So, when you putting the apartment up for rent?" "Just as soon as the cleaning crew gives me the all clear, and they're coming in the morning. Why you know somebody interested?" "I know one of the guys at the club is looking, but he is straight." "Doesn't necessarily disqualify him. If he doesn't have a problem working with you guys, I doubt he would have a problem living here." "I'll mention it to him and see if he is interested." "Tell him not to wait too long if he is. I don't expect it to be available for very long." "Will do." I knew it wouldn't take the crew more than a day to get through the apartment, and they were coming tomorrow, so I went and dug out the apartment for rent sign just to have it handy. I didn't even need to put the sign up before somebody was ringing my bell. I went to the front door and it was the officer who had expressed interest before dressed in his "civies". "I've been keeping track, and unless I got it wrong you should have an apartment for rent." "He is gone, but the place isn't really available yet. It still needs to be gone through and anything wrong taken care of." "Yeah, well I didn't want to take the chance of it going without I at least get a try at it." "I'll give you the application and you can fill it out and submit it to the management agency. They and the owner have the final say. But you know the makeup of the building, why are you so hot to get in here?" "It's 15 blocks closer to the precinct, a better building than I'm in now and it is more reasonably priced. Three of the best reasons I can think of." "Well as long as the rest of the guys aren't going to be a problem for you. I'm telling you now though, you will get hit on." "So I just politely tell them thank you, but no thank you. I'm sure the word will get around quickly enough if I should get the place. I'll drop this off tomorrow." The rest of the day was uneventful. The cleaning crew showed up the next morning and they were gone by midafternoon. I put the sign up in the window and had several people stop and ask but when they learned the makeup of the building only one of them took an application. The police officer did drop off his application, as did a couple of others, and I forwarded them to the management company to do the background checks and to verify employment. By the end of the week, I had 4 possibles to choose from as to who was going to get the apartment. The first was Officer Ken Jenkins. His references and employment status were both impeccable. Next was a guy by the name of Alphonse DeMarco. His references were only so so but his employment was secure as he was a lawyer with a reputable firm. Third came Bruce Connely. Good references but his employment history was rather spotty. And finally Dana's friend from work. He had no references to speak of. Not even his current landlord had anything nice to say about him. I had spoken to Julius as well and the guy was doing his job, but was a little surly with the customers. Of course, some of the customers liked that, but it did leave the guy open to being let go. It was no contest as far as I was concerned, and it was my choice. I gave Officer Jenkins a call and let him know he could move in whenever he was ready, once the lease was signed. It wasn't even 48 hours later that the management company sent me the verification and the following weekend Ken was moving in. "Best time to make your intentions known is on the roof anytime of the weekend." "Yeah, I figured it would be. I'll take care of that tonight. If I were to get.....curious, who would you suggest?" "Ken, I'm not even going to make a suggestion. If, and I know that is a big if, you get curious, I'm sure there will be no shortage of volunteers, even given that you are an officer." "Fair enough. I'm sure I'll have a good read on these guys before or if that ever happens." "They're a good bunch of guys Ken, and they all know what goes on in the building stays in the building." "I should hope so." It was a few hours later that I made my way up to the roof. Just about everybody was there, including Ken. As the new tenant, he was the center of attention tonight. Ken finally made his way over to me. "Well, you were right. I was hit on almost as soon as I got up here. There were quite a few disappointed looks when I told them all I was straight." "But none of them pushed the point did they?" "Nope, they all seemed to accept it. I noticed that one young man who first got me here wasn't up here tonight." "It's Saturday. Dana is working. You will usually find him up here on Sunday or Monday nights." "Waiter?" "Dancer." Ken got a thoughtful look for a second. "Club Man on Hobart?" "Yeah." "Don't think I've ever had to answer a call there." "Julius runs a pretty tight ship over there." "You know this how?" "I used to dance there before I got this job. Julius, on those rare occasions that I see him, wants me to come back. I'd need to think hard and get in better shape before I would ever do it." "Yeah, I imagine that has to be pretty exhausting even if it is only a couple of hours a night." "More than that with rehearsals and everything. It's a full-time job all by itself, never mind running this place to boot." "Never thought of that, but I suppose no show of any type goes on without a lot of rehearsal." "Especially with somebody as 'hands-on' as Julius. He wants to do a quality show. Anybody can take their clothes off, but to be entertaining doing so takes some talent and Julius likes to take that talent and mold it into something special." "I'll have to take your word for that. Well, I'm calling it a night." Which didn't sound like a bad idea to me.