Chapter 18 #2
“Hmm, about that,” Javier said. “You wouldn’t mind coming down to the office, would you? Desmond and I want to see how you are, but we feel like this calls for a face-to-face meeting instead of an impersonal phone call.”
Lee swallowed. It was that bad, was it? “Sure,” he said. “When do you want me to swing by?”
“As soon as you can, really,” Javier said. “We’ll make time for you.”
That sound ominous, for some reason. Lee had visions of their entire business sinking under because of the scandal.
“I’ll get down there as soon as I can,” he said. “Right now, in fact. I need something to get me out of the house and out of my head before I crack.”
“Then, yeah, come over right away,” Javier said, still sounding sympathetic, at least.
They said their goodbyes and ended the call. Lee hurried to take a shower, which he’d been lazy about doing when it felt like his entire world might be falling apart, and to put on clean clothes.
He hadn’t left his apartment for days, not since dragging himself home after his confrontation with Drew.
He’d been too afraid that paparazzi and angry fans would be lining the square outside his home.
Fortunately, no one was there, and he was able to make his way to the Tube without anyone jumping out of the bushes with a knife and misplaced threats against him for ruining Drew’s life or his image.
He didn’t know what he expected to see at Rent-A-Boyfriend’s office, but it certainly wasn’t the small crowd of men sitting in the waiting room, filling out old-fashioned paper applications.
There were almost a dozen of them, and more men were waiting just outside the office, where additional seating had been set up.
“Mr. Cresswell,” Michael greeted him with a bright smile. “It’s so good to see you. Javier and Desmond are expecting you. I’ll just let them know you’re here.”
Lee didn’t have to say a word. Michael jumped right up and headed down the small corridor to the office at the back. As he popped his head in, Lee glanced around. A few of the men glanced up from their applications to look at him, some even smiling.
It was completely surreal.
“Lee, hello,” Javier said, stepping out into the hall as Michael headed back to the front desk. He gestured and said, “Come on in. Let’s talk.”
Lee didn’t know whether to feel impending doom or giddiness as he walked back to the office, then joined Javier and Desmond in the comfortably appointed space.
Aside from a pair of desks at one end, the room also held a comfortable seating area with a sofa and two chairs, almost like a therapist’s office.
Both Javier and Desmond were on their feet, but after a few handshakes in greeting, Desmond gestured for Lee to have a seat on the sofa. “We’ve been worried about you,” he said, fixing Lee with a look of friendly concern. “The way the news has blown up can’t be comfortable for you.”
Lee hesitated before saying anything. Despite appearances, this wasn’t a therapist’s office, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to discuss his well of jumbled feelings with two men he hardly knew. He settled on saying, “It’s been a lot.”
“I can imagine,” Javier said, sitting in one of the chairs but leaning toward Lee.
“And, look, we didn’t bring you in here to spill tea or anything.
It’s just that we feel responsible for putting you in this position, and as a valued client of ours, we want to make sure we give you all the support we can if you need it. ”
Lee’s brow shot up. He was surprised. Most people would have let him twist in the wind at best and goaded him for information at worst. “I don’t know what to say,” he started, then opted for sharing at least some of the truth.
Javier and Desmond were kind, and he never would have met Drew if they hadn’t decided to pair the two of them together.
“The fact of the matter is that our fake relationship turned pretty real. Which makes the accusations against Drew even harder to deal with, because contradicting them would force Drew to come out.”
A knot of uncertainty fisted in Lee’s gut. Even saying that was probably too much. He had no right to out Drew to anyone.
Javier and Desmond exchanged a look. “We figured something like that had happened,” Javier said. “Anyone with eyes who saw all those pictures of the two of you together has to be able to see that not everything about your relationship is fake.”
“We really like each other,” Lee said in a rush, the dam bursting.
“Drew is so accomplished and fun to be around, but he’s also sensitive and deep.
We’ve had the best conversations. I feel honored that I was able to bring something out of him that he had never really considered before.
” And that was as close as he was going to skate to talking about Drew’s sexuality.
Javier and Desmond didn’t push. “I thought the two of you would get along well together,” Javier said, which was his way of saying he understood, Lee was sure. “Having everything go public like this must be hard on you.”
“If there’s anything at all we can do to help, we’d like to,” Desmond added. He exchanged a look with Javier and said, “We feel a bit responsible.”
“And to be frank, I’ve been in high profile situations myself,” Javier said.
That was right. Lee had forgotten that Javier had been a relatively well-known model before starting Rent-A-Boyfriend. “Did you ever have your celebrity romance exposed as a fraud to the world when it actually wasn’t a fraud?” he asked, more than a little wry.
“No,” Javier answered, “but I was once caught in a compromising position with a relatively famous singer backstage at a fashion show, and let me tell you, that was not a fun experience.”
Lee suddenly wanted to laugh. Mostly because Desmond whipped his head to stare at his partner with wide eyes.
“You never told me about that,” Desmond said in a slightly wounded voice.
“Baby doll, you don’t want to know,” Javier said, reaching across to Desmond and placing a hand on his knee.
Desmond melted into an almost silly grin when Javier winked at him.
Javier then turned his attention back to Lee and said, “Needless to say, I do know how things like this can seem insurmountable. But trust me, there is a way through this.”
“And I suppose the good news is that Rent-A-Boyfriend has received a lot of interest over the whole thing,” Desmond said.
“Yes, I saw,” Lee said, glancing toward the door. “Good for you?”
“Everyone thinks they have a chance of getting paired with a celebrity, I guess,” Javier said. “We’ll see how they feel when they end up matched with Joe Nobody.”
“That’s not entirely fair,” Desmond said, resting his hand over Javier’s, which was still on his leg. “We have had a few inquiries from recognized people. They see the value in what we do.”
“I hope so,” Javier said, showing a few seconds of vulnerability to his partner.
He then focused on Lee again. “The point is, we kind of got you into this mess, and we fully intend to work with you to get you out of it, if you need help. We’re working on putting together a legal team, and if you need mediation with anyone, we’ll be there for you. ”
“Thanks,” Lee said. He was surprised that the meeting was actually making him feel better. “The thing I really need right now is to figure out how to reassure my fake boyfriend that I have real feelings for him, and that I’m actually in his corner instead of working against him.”
That was absolutely what he needed, but Javier and Desmond weren’t the ones who could help him with that.
They knew it, too, and although they repeated their intentions to help him in every way they could, it wasn’t their responsibility to sort out his love life. Only he could do that.
All the same, he felt better when he left the office and headed home. Better, but he still didn’t know what to do about Drew.
He crossed the street, heading into a park so he could breathe for a moment instead of going straight home. As luck would have it, there was a free bench in the sunshine, so he took a seat and pulled his phone from his pocket. Instead of just texting Drew, he called him.
The call, of course, went to voicemail, but Lee wasn’t deterred.
“Hey,” he began his message. Then paused for probably too long.
“I don’t really know what to say,” he confessed.
“I miss you. I just want to be with you. I worry about you all the time. Oh, and I should probably tell you that I fired my agent. Well, I couldn’t fire him because I never signed the contract he sent me to begin with.
I cut all ties with him. So there’s that. ”