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.