Chapter 20
twenty
. . .
“Hi.” Drew stared directly into the camera, making it look like he was making eye contact with anyone who might be watching it. “I’m Drew, and this is Lee, my boyfriend.”
They sat on an old wrought iron loveseat in the part of the garden Mum had dedicated to Dan. Drew had his arm spread out across the back of the seat around Lee. Lee rested one hand on Drew’s thigh. He raised his other hand, smiled tentatively at the camera, and said, “Hi.”
It was the perfect shot. Drew’s phone was propped up on the table, which they’d had to bring closer to the seat and the trellis behind it to get the right background.
The garden was in full summer bloom, filled with flowers and greenery that gave it the perfect English garden feel.
Even the sun had made an appearance through the clouds that gave the moment perfect lighting.
“There have been a lot of rumors and speculation about me in the last few days,” Drew went on, addressing the audience who would watch the video, probably more than a million times before the day was done.
“Lee and I wanted to make this video to set the record straight. Or rather, set the record bi, but that’s a spoiler, so just forget I said that for a second,” Drew added with one of his most charming grins, sending Lee’s heart fluttering.
“A few days ago,” Drew continued more seriously, “a trusted friend of mine posted a video exposing my involvement with a company called Rent-A-Boyfriend. I don’t want to minimize anything she said or contradict any of it outright, because she wasn’t lying.”
Even though it was a video and they weren’t in front of a live audience, Lee’s gut clenched at those words.
Drew went on. “Yes, Jessica Nightingale and I dated. We first met in film school over five years ago. We became good friends, and that led to more. We dated and even lived together up until fairly recently. I’m not going to go into any details of our relationship because it’s none of your business, but that relationship ended.
“Yes, it’s true that after Cooked, accusations of queerbaiting really got to me,” Drew continued, growing more honest by the second.
“I was deeply aware of the responsibility I have toward the fans of the show and of me. I wasn’t able to control the things people said about me, and honestly, it didn’t bother me at all that so many of you assumed, because of my performance, that I was gay.
I’ve always been a staunch ally of the queer community and have done whatever I can to support and advance it.
I always felt somehow a part of it myself, despite only having dated women.
“But I think part of the reason I felt so passionate about the queer community and why I took to the role of James in Cooked so seamlessly was because there were parts of myself that I had never examined, parts that felt too big to explore with everything else going on around me. Parts I wasn’t ready to go public with.
“That’s where Rent-A-Boyfriend and Lee enter the story.
” Drew glanced at Lee and smiled. Lee was so proud of him that he probably looked incredibly soppy as he smiled back.
Drew faced the camera again and continued.
“I’ll admit right now that it wasn’t the best idea to seek out the services of Rent-A-Boyfriend in an attempt to shut the rumors down by appearing to have met a man.
I will own up to my mistakes here and now.
Yes, my connection with Lee began as a way to deceive the public for the sake of my image. I can’t deny that, and I won’t.
“But something happened when I met Lee and the two of us started spending time together.” He turned to smile at Lee again with so much affection that even the most skeptical fan watching the video would have believed his love.
“You charmed the pants off me,” he addressed Lee directly, which wasn’t part of the original game plan.
“You’re so smart and funny and creative.
Your books are hot as hell and helping you with research—” He paused and laughed, remembering that the camera, and millions of people because of it, were watching. “Okay, we won’t go into that.”
He looked at the camera again as he went on.
“I wasn’t supposed to, but I fell in love with Lee.
All the things that had been hiding inside me came rushing to the surface.
I’m bi. I’ve been dealing with that realization, and yes, it actually is a huge thing to come to grips with in myself, for the last several weeks.
I’m learning what that means and how to navigate it in my life.
The important thing is that fate brought me and Lee together against arguably impossible odds, and I couldn’t be happier. ”
He emphasized his point by holding the side of Lee’s face and kissing him, which also wasn’t in the script.
The kiss lasted longer than it should have. When Drew pulled away, he smiled at Lee for even longer before addressing the camera again.
“Look, I wasn’t born yesterday. I know how these things work.
You’re all going to debate endlessly whether I’m being honest now or whether this is all part of the trick.
It’s not. I’m in love with this man, and frankly, I don’t really give a fuck what most people think.
For the first time in a long time, I’m able to be my authentic self. I’m in love and I’m happy.
“But I also want to apologize to all the people I might have hurt along the way as I’ve figured out these things about myself.
I apologize to the fans who feel as if I’ve betrayed them, but that’s as far as it goes.
My life is my own, and the only people whose opinions matter to me are the ones I hold close.
I do want to send out a special apology to Jessica, though.
I’m not going into specifics. Jess, you know what I’m sorry about. ”
That was it. That was the complete message they’d discussed and roughly mapped out for the video.
Lee was satisfied with it and so deeply proud of Drew.
Everything he’d just said could torpedo his career, but as they’d discussed, the trajectory of his career wasn’t half as important as the relationships in his life.
“So that’s it, guys,” Drew said, smiling again. “I’m bi, I’m happy, and I’m in love. Do with that what you will. Peace.”
He blew a kiss at the camera, then Lee jumped up to end the video.
“We’ll probably have to edit that down a little,” Drew said as he got up, too. Lee handed him his phone, and he tapped a few things as he looked at what they’d just recorded. “I went a little off book there.”
“No, I think it was great,” Lee said, moving in close and sliding his arms around Drew’s shoulders, which forced Drew to put his phone away. “You said everything that needed to be said, and I’m so proud of you.”
“Yeah?” Drew grinned and circled his arms around Lee’s waist.
“Very, very proud,” Lee said, arching one eyebrow. “So proud I think you deserve a reward.”
Pink flushed Drew’s face, and heat radiated from his body. “At your mom’s house?”
“Mum is gone for a few days, visiting a big gardening expo up north.”
“Oh! That’s why she hasn’t come around to chew me out for ruining her son’s life.”
Lee tilted his head back and laughed. He was so much happier than he ever would have imagined he could be. “She doesn’t hate you, she’s just very protective.”
“Yeah,” Drew said like he didn’t believe him.
Lee chuckled and shook his head, then gazed longingly into Drew’s eyes. “Shall we take this party inside?”
“Yes, we should.”
He said that, but Drew had to kiss Lee for a few long and lingering seconds before pulling back and caressing the side of his face. “I love you,” he said, straight from the heart.
“And I love you,” Lee told him in return.
After one more kiss, they headed into the house. Unlike a romantic montage in a film, they had to bring in most of the food and tea from the table as they did. Then Lee took a small detour to the bathroom to get ready.
“I sent the video to my agent, Avery, and to Abby,” Drew told him when they met up again in Lee’s old bedroom. “They said they’ll take a look at it, edit it as necessary, and post it.”
“This is really it, then,” Lee said, practically floating across the room and into Drew’s waiting arms. “Are you ready for what happens next?”
“I’m ready for this,” Drew said, hunger in his eyes.
Everything else was forgotten as soon as they pressed into each other and their mouths met.
Lee felt incredibly free as he devoured Drew’s mouth, sucking on his bottom lip and thrusting his tongue against Drew’s.
Drew’s entire body felt loose and uninhibited as they tugged at each other’s clothes and made their way clumsily across the room to the bed.
It was a good thing that Lee had prepared for this exact outcome. He’d brought lube and condoms with him from London, and as they collapsed onto the bed, he grabbed them from the bedside table, where they’d been stashed.
“You knew this would happen?” Drew asked breathlessly as they kicked off the last of their clothes, then tangled up in each other.
“I hoped it would,” Lee said, pressing his fingertips into the impressive muscles of Drew’s back as the man balanced over him.
“I hoped it would, too,” Drew said, smiling like it was the best day of his life.
Nothing had ever felt so good. It wasn’t just the way their bodies fit together so well or the salty taste of Drew’s skin and the delicious scent of his cologne.
It wasn’t even the way Drew was so uninhibited, despite still being inexperienced, as they took turns worshiping each other’s bodies with kisses, touches, and sucking.
Lee was particularly enamored with Drew’s nipples and the way he caught his breath, writhed, and moaned when he gave them attention, like no one had ever played with his nipples before.