Can We Really Get Away

Chapter 3

Max listened closely, wondering who could elicit such a strong reaction from Iago. He quickly reached for a T-shirt but didn’t have time to put it on before Iago walked back into the room, a grim expression on his face.

“Iago, who was...” Max’s voice faded as he spotted the young man following his partner into their apartment.

“Gonzalo! How?”

Iago stood beside Max, wrapping an arm around his bare waist to support him.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’ve been worried sick about Iago. When he’s with you he makes bad decisions and this one has to top all others.”

Max balled his fists, his T-shirt still in hand. How dare he make such a ridiculous accusation? If he’d thought back, the worst decision Iago made was long behind him, and he would pay for it every day he missed having his mother in his life.

Before Max could lunge at Iago’s offensive ex-boyfriend, Iago grabbed him and spoke up. “Max doesn’t make my decisions. I choose what I want, and who I want. If you had ever paid attention you would know that by now.”

“You chose me; but when things got tough, rather than staying and fighting, you ran... like him!” Gonzalo pointed an accusatory finger at Max. “When his mother was in trouble, in prison, because of him, Max abandoned her -- and you. Did you forget so soon?”

“I don’t have to defend Max’s choices to you. I know why he made them and I understand them. Sometimes family drives us to do things we would never otherwise do.” Iago turned to Max and kissed him hard. “Sometimes love drives us to also do things that go against our plans.”

“But, Iago--”

“No, Gonzalo. There are no buts. I made the decision to come to Mozambique.” Still holding Max in a tight clutch he turned his head to glare at Gonzalo. “I made the choice to spend my life with Max, wherever that leads us.”

“It’s going to lead you to more prison time if you don’t go back to Barcelona. If I figured out where you are, it won’t take the police long to find you.”

Max brushed his hand over Iago’s soft, light brown hair, put on his T-shirt, and then turned toward their uninvited guest. “Do you really think the police will cross two continents for an unarmed thief who avoided a three-year sentence? It’s too damn expensive.”

“So after you desert him and come to this oversized sand dune, you expect him to just give up everyone he’s known and loved and follow you here. Is that the life you want for the man you supposedly love?”

Max waved his hand at Gonzalo, wishing he could make him disappear. “I didn’t coerce Iago.” Although he knew Gonzalo was overdramatizing, his words stung. Max had considered more than once that Iago would never have run away from his sentence if he hadn’t returned to Spain for Clara’s funeral.

“Look at you, Max. You don’t know what love is. You disappear whenever times get tough. When the law comes after Iago, you’ll leave him again -- only this time it’ll be in a country where he has no one else to lean on -- no one who really loves him.”

“I suppose you think you’ll be the only one around to take care of Iago.” Max’s eyes narrowed. He wanted to burn a hole in Gonzalo, make him turn to dust, but that was impossible. He was in their space, in their place, ruining it.

“That’s enough!” Iago raised his arms, turning away. He walked to the edge of the bed, blanket and sheets still ruffled from an afternoon of making love.

Gripping the edge of the blanket, Iago held it up. “Do you see this, Gonzalo?”

Nodding slowly, Gonzalo bit his lower lip.

“This is the place I loved my partner -- for hours. I hoped I wouldn’t have to hurt you again, but you won’t let go.” Iago lowered his head, dropping the blanket. “Nothing in my life is right when Max isn’t with me. I’d go with him anywhere, and if that means leading our lives in a new country, then so be it. I’m not following him; we go together. He’s my lover, my partner, my everything... in a way no one else could ever be.”

Iago approached Gonzalo as he turned his back. Putting his hands on Gonzalo’s shoulders and squeezing, he continued. “You took care of me when I needed someone, but we both know it’s not the same as being in love. I am truly sorry if I hurt you, but you shouldn’t have come. Nothing will ever separate me from Max again. I should have followed him the first time he came here, that’s how much I know we belong together.”

Gonzalo faced Iago, his eyes moist. “They’re going to come for you at sometime. When Sergi gets wind of where you are--”

“We’ll leave if we have to,” Max declared. “Iago comes first.”

Iago’s eyes widened as he gazed at Max.

Max wrapped his arms around Iago, clinging tightly. “I love you and you’ll always come first, from now on.”

“Max, your work.”

“I can help the sick and injured anywhere.” Crashing their lips together, Max felt the comfort of Iago’s fingers tangle in his hair; the intensity of their feelings poured into that one moment, on display and raw.

Gonzalo took a seat at the table, resting his head in hands. “Damn you! You’ll destroy him.”

Max whipped his head around. “No! I’ll love him and let him always know how much he’s loved.”

“Max, you’re too selfish. You don’t know what it is to love.”

Max drew his fist back, seeing represented in Gonzalo’s face all those who had left Max behind over the years, seemingly for his own good. Lali, Quim, and Clara. None of them would ever see the man he had become, happy with the love of his life.

Iago acted quickly, stopping Max before his fist made contact. He whispered, “Max, stop. I won’t leave you, never again. Wherever we go, we go together -- from now on.”

“Did I ruin everything for you? Were you happier, more content, without me?”

Iago placed his hands on either side of Max’s heated face. “You brought me back to life.”

“But, now, with Gonzalo here, the police may track you down.”

Iago glanced toward Gonzalo. He was sitting and watching the lovers, his brow furrowed. “If we need to go elsewhere we will, but from now on it’s always as it should be, side-by-side. If I’d made that decision years ago, it might have saved others.”

“I can’t let you get taken away from me again. It would hurt too much.” Max’s voice choked despite trying to remain in control.

“It won’t happen; we won’t let it.”

The lovers held each other close, unwilling to move apart.

Gonzalo’s voice alerted both men. “You may not get the choice. I don’t know how careful I was when I left Spain.”
 

Return to Can We Really Get Away