Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [134]
“Do it yourself.”
“I don’t have my computer.”
“Then I guess she’ll just have to wait.”
“You’re such a bastard!”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
Gabe glanced at his father’s face, then looked down. He was too damn sore even to be nervous. “Let me ask you something, Chris. What if the bullet would have, like, gone through my hand and shattered it.” He made eye contact with his dad. “I mean, what would you have done?”
“It’s not what I would have done, Gabe, it’s what you would have done.”
“Would you still let me live with you?”
Donatti gave him a hard look. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
“I mean, I couldn’t be a pianist anymore.”
“And . . .”
“And I know how important that is to you . . . my career.”
“You think that’s important to me? That you become a pianist.”
“You’ve always pushed me.”
“Yeah, I pushed you. ’Cause you wanted to be pushed. But if you want to give it up, that’s your decision. You don’t want to go to Juilliard, go to Harvard. You don’t want to go to college, come to Nevada and I’ll teach you how to run whorehouses. You want to just fuck around and be a total washout, I’ll support you. Just do what you want to do and if you don’t know what you want to do, that’s okay, too.”
Neither one spoke for a minute. Gabe was still looking at his lap. “I do want it, you know. Music is my life.”
“You have the talent to go all the way, Gabriel. Now it’s just a matter of fortitude.”
Gabe sighed, which made him wince. His heart was so heavy. He muttered, “I didn’t even get a chance to say good-bye to her.”
“What?”
“Yasmine. I didn’t get to say good-bye. Her mom just yanked her away from me.” His father remained stone-faced. “Forget it.”
“What would you like me to say?”
“How about, ‘That really sucks.’ ”
Donatti shrugged. “You get shot and you lose your girlfriend in a single day. That really does suck.”
Strangely his father’s words made him feel better. “I know you think I’m just a stupid kid, but I really, really liked her.”
Donatti said, “I believe you. I wish I could make you feel better. If you weren’t underage, I’d set you up with my whores. But I can’t take the chance. Once you turn eighteen, I’ll get you any girl you want—any body type, any hair color, any eye color, any race, any ethnicity, anything you want. Custom-made pussy. In the meantime, you’re a good-looking dude. You shouldn’t have any problems attracting twat. Once you get to college, you’ll be fine.”
Gabe stared at his father but didn’t say anything.
Donatti shrugged. “Don’t look so stunned. You should know me by now. I can’t relate to anything I can’t fuck. It’s not that I don’t have feelings. I do. But they’re intertwined with sex and that’s just the way I’m wired. Yes, it does suck that you lost your girlfriend. But my take on it would be: I’m pissed because I can’t have sex with her anymore. So if I can’t have sex with her, I’ll find someone else. So I’m talking to you like I’d like to be talked to if I were in the situation. And that would be, ‘Chris, you can’t have A, so here’s B.’ ”
Gabe glanced at his father. Then he said, “Can you pass me the hamburger?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.” Gabe ate in silence. Then he realized he was starving, and ate the Jell-O and the bread. He said, “Are you sure you’re okay with me living with you?”
“You know you could have moved in with me after your mom left. I thought you were better off with the Deckers. But now you’re not. If Decker is saying get out of town, I take him seriously. And that’s the end of the story. Just mind your manners and keep out of my way when I’m in a mood and we’ll be fine.”
“You’re nothing if not honest.”
“I’m not even honest. I’m a pathological liar.”
Gabe laughed. “Yes, you are.”
“Watch it. I can say it. You can’t. And as long as we’re having this heart-to-heart, let me tell you something. In the future, if you ever endanger your life when you don’t have to, I’ll take you out myself. I don’t ever want to get that kind of phone call again. If it’s a choice between her and you, it’s her. No pussy