Valley of the Dudes (16 page)

Read Valley of the Dudes Online

Authors: Ryan Field

Tags: #Erotica, #Romance, #Fiction

 

finished with you.”

 

But when they went into the house, Joey took a martini from Harriet and started

 

pacing the room. He took two long swallows and closed his eyes. “They canceled my

 

show this afternoon.”

 

“What do you mean, they canceled the show?” Harriet asked. She folded her arms

 

across her chest and glared at him.

 

Joey took another sip from his drink. “It’s what they do,” he said. “The ratings

 

aren’t as good as they were and they canceled the show. There are two more episodes and

 

then we wrap it up.”

 

Anderson crossed the room and put his arm around Joey’s waist. His heart was

 

breaking for Joey. If Harriet hadn’t been there, he would have pulled down Joey’s pants

 

and given him a blow job in the middle of the living room. He’d been reading that the

 

ratings on Joey’s show had been declining, but he’d never imagined the network would

 

cancel the show this soon. In the beginning, Joey’s show had been a huge hit; the

 

number-one show on TV. It was a singing show about a high school music club, and Joey

 

was the hip, young music teacher who helped his students with their lives and their music.

 

But the storylines were weak and the show was poorly written. It wasn’t believable, and

 

the dramatic scenes were often contrived. The only thing that held the show together was

 

Joey’s singing and the music. Evidently, that hadn’t been enough. There were some

 

critics who were surprised the show had lasted even one year.

 

Harriet frowned. “Don’t worry about it, Joey,” she said. “There will be other

 

shows. You’ll do films.” Joey finished his drink in one swallow. “Yeah, right,” he said. “No one is going to

 

hire me after this debacle. You’re only as good as your last project, Harriet. You know

 

this business as well as I do.”

 

“That’s bullshit,” Harriet said. “People have comebacks all the time. You’ll go

 

back to nightclubs until something else comes along. Lance Sharp knows you have talent.

 

He’ll get something else for you.”

 

Joey took a deep breath and put his hand on the small of Anderson’s back. “If I

 

have to go back to singing in nightclubs, I’ll lose my mind,” he said.

 

Anderson gave Harriet a look. Then he snuggled into Joey’s side and said,

 

“Harriet is right. This will blow over. You’re much too talented and something better will

 

come along.” He’d never seen Joey so down. He only wanted to make him feel better.

 

“Let’s go have dinner. I made something special for you tonight, in honor of Cody

 

winning the music award.”

 

Joey kissed the top of his head and smiled. “I’m not that hungry. My stomach is in

 

knots. Do you mind if I skip dinner tonight?”

 

“Or course not,” Anderson said. “We’ll go into the bedroom and you can soak

 

your feet.” Then he gave Harriet a look and motioned for her to leave the room.

 

“I’m going back to my room,” she said. “I’m reading a good book. I’ll leave you

 

boys alone and you can work this out.” Harriet didn’t always know when it was time to

 

leave a room, but tonigh she got the signal loud and clear. She walked over and kissed

 

Joey on the cheek. “Everything will be okay,” she said.

 

When she was gone, Anderson reached down and unzipped Joey’s pants. He put

 

his hand inside Joey’s underwear and held his penis. He massaged it gently, stroking the tip with his thumb. “Let’s go into the bedroom,” he said. “You’ve had enough stress for

 

one day. You can take off all your clothes, put your feet into a warm tub of water, and I’ll

 

take care of this.” He yanked Joey’s dick a few times. “All you have to do is sit back and

 

close your eyes.”

 

He squeezed Anderson’s ass and said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you,

 

baby. You’re the best.”

 

Anderson smiled. He loved it when Joey called him “baby.” This defined, in one

 

word, what made their relationship as two gay men so special. For a gay man like

 

Anderson, this simple gesture was true gay romance in its purest form. Joey was the

 

strong alpha male, and Anderson was the gentle submissive. They had the perfect

 

unspoken balance, and neither one of them ever felt inferior about their respective roles.

 

Straight men and women took these roles for granted. When a straight man called a

 

straight woman “baby,” it was casual and natural, but not necessarily romantic.

 

Sometimes it could be downright annoying. It didn’t mean the same thing as when a

 

strong gay man like Joey called his submissive gay lover “baby.” Being called “baby”

 

made Anderson feel protected and sexy and loved; it made his heart race and his penis

 

stiffen. Maybe he felt this way because it had always been so taboo for men to call each

 

other “baby.”

 

As they started to leave the room, the telephone rang. Anderson stopped and said,

 

“You go up and take off all our clothes. I know that’s my mother. She said she was going

 

to call tonight. I’ll get her off the phone fast, and I’ll be right up.”

 

Joey kissed him again and said, “Don’t take too long,
baby
. You’ve got me all

 

worked up now.” When he picked up the receiver and said hello, he found it
was
his mother. The

 

first thing she did was ask him for money. She didn’t even say hello or ask how he was

 

doing. She said what he normally sent her every month wasn’t enough anymore and she

 

needed at least two hundred dollars more each month. Anderson told her he was just

 

walking out the door and that he couldn’t talk, that Joey was in the car waiting for him,

 

that they were going out to dinner. When she asked if he had any new modeling jobs, as

 

if she hadn’t heard a word he’d said, he rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll send you a check

 

tomorrow. I have to go. Have a good night, Mother.” Then he slowly hung up the phone.

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

Rush went to the music awards ceremony with Carson Blaine, Cody, and Grayer

 

Crowley. He had been looking forward to seeing Anderson and Joey, but Joey couldn’t

 

get away that night and Anderson never went anywhere without him. Carson and Rush

 

went together, but they were not romantically involved and it wasn’t a date. Rush had not

 

been involved with anyone on a serious level since Lance Sharp had moved to

 

Hollywood. Rush’s relationship with Carson Blaine was strictly business—Carson was

 

his boss. They had a mutual admiration for each other, but they weren’t even close

 

friends. Sometimes Rush thought Carson wanted more from him, but Rush always put

 

out the right signals so Carson wouldn’t get the wrong impression.

 

This made it simple for Cody and Grayer to be seen with Carson and Rush in

 

public. Cody and Grayer were lovers but they didn’t want anyone to know it. Even

 

though they were secretly living together in Cody’s house, and Cody was openly gay,

 

they were rarely seen together in public. And when they were together, Grayer liked to

 

joke about his gay friend, Cody, with silly quips and lame one-liners that always seemed

 

to degrade Cody. Grayer would smile and say, “Look at him. I think he’s
gay for me
,”

 

then laugh it off, trying to imply he wasn’t gay. Poor Grayer had no idea that everyone

 

already was on to him.

 

Grayer worked hard pulling off this butch charade by overcompensating in public.

 

He spoke with a deep voice and called other guys “buddy” and “man.” He talked about

 

sports and flirted with women on purpose. He even punched guys in the shoulder. Rush

 

didn’t know what Cody saw in Grayer, but it was none of Rush’s business. The only reason Rush had decided to fly out to Hollywood for the awards show

 

was to see Cody again. Cody had invited him personally. He’d sent two tickets for the

 

show, first-class airfare, and a car. And Cody had promised him that Lance Sharp would

 

not be at the event. Cody knew Rush wouldn’t come if Lance was going to be there.

 

When Rush invited Carson Blaine to be his guest, Carson was thrilled to accept.

 

Carson knew it would be great free publicity for a fashion designer to be seen at an

 

awards ceremony with big-name celebrities. He knew he’d be at the same table as Cody,

 

Rush, and Grayer Crowley. Rush could have invited anyone. He’d worked hard for

 

Carson Blaine as a model and he wasn’t obligated to Carson for anything. But the thought

 

of dating anyone other than Lance made his stomach tighten. Being with Carson was

 

simple and safe. There would be no sex between them, ever.

 

The evening turned out to be more fun than Rush had imagined. The highlight of

 

the entire ceremony was when Cody grabbed a rapper by the shoulder and started

 

swinging him around. At first, when the rapper tried to ruin Cody’s moment with his own

 

political agenda, Rush felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. The guy was twice Cody’s

 

size. Rush knew how much Cody had been hoping to win, but he never realized the

 

length to which Cody would go.

 

When Cody grabbed the rapper with one hand and practically knocked him off the

 

stage, Rush almost choked on his drink. He was certain Cody would wind up in the

 

hospital. But a moment later, Cody had full control of the large guy and he literally

 

dragged him backwards, never letting go of his award. Rush doubled over, laughing so

 

hard his sides hurt. He knew Cody well, and he should have predicted this. No one was going to ruin Cody’s night or steal his spotlight. Not even a guy who was almost a foot

 

taller and probably weighed a hundred pounds more than he did.

 

After the show, there were fans and photographers waiting outside the theater.

 

Cody answered a few questions and signed a few autographs, but they didn’t linger. They

 

had dinner reservations at an exclusive restaurant, and Rush was so starved he felt light

 

headed. He hadn’t eaten because he always wanted to look thin and well defined in public.

 

On the way to the limo, Cody and Grayer smiled and waved. Rush and Carson followed

 

them down the red carpet with huge smiles on their faces. Rush even heard a few people

 

in the mob shout his name, too. Since he’d done the underwear ad in Times Square,

 

almost everyone knew who he was.

 

When they arrived at a restaurant, they were escorted to the best table in the house

 

and there was already an expensive bottle of champagne waiting for them. It was one of

 

those dark restaurants with booths that had benches covered in dark brown leather. Cody

 

was still carrying his music award, and people kept coming up to the table and

 

congratulating him. Rush had never seen Cody smile so widely or so often. He was more

 

animated than he’d been in years. But he thought about Roy and frowned. He didn’t

 

mention it to Cody, but he was sorry Roy wasn’t there, too.

 

They were only in the restaurant for ten minutes when a friend of Grayer’s walked

 

up to the table and congratulated Cody on his award. Rush smiled and turned his head,

 

then almost fell off his seat. Lance Sharp was sitting in a smaller, darker booth, with a

 

nice-looking young blond man who was leaning into his side.

 

Rush’s heart began to race and his lips parted. His palms started to sweat and his

 

mouth went dry. His entire body froze and he couldn’t stop staring at them. He hadn’t seen Lance since the day Lance had left his home in Connecticut. The blond man looked

 

up at Rush, then poked Lance in the side and whispered something into his ear.

 

When Lance looked up, Rush was still staring at him. Lance smiled and removed

 

his napkin from his lap. He whispered something to the blond guy and stood up from the

 

table. He crossed to Rush’s table and said, “How are you? I saw you earlier tonight

 

leaving the theater, but it was too mobbed to say anything.” Lance was still Cody’s agent.

 

He’d been at the awards ceremony, too.

 

Before Rush could speak, Cody pointed at Lance and lowered his eyebrows. “I

 

thought you said you couldn’t make it tonight. You could have sat with us.” Then he

 

looked at Rush and winked. For some reason Rush didn’t understand, Cody was always

 

trying to get them back together.

 

Rush gave Cody a look. He wanted to disappear. The last person he wanted to see

 

that night was Lance Sharp. Cody had promised him Lance wouldn’t be there. If Rush

 

could have slipped down in his seat and gone under the table, he would have.

 

“I decided to go at the last minute,” Lance said. “I arrived late and I had terrible

 

seats in the back, but at least I got a chance to see you put that rapper in his place during

 

your acceptance speech.”

 

Carson Blaine stood up and shook Lance’s hand. Rush knew he’d met him before

 

with Bart Hasslet. “Good to see you, Lance,” he said. He looked Lance up and down as if

 

he didn’t trust him.

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