35. Will
WILL
Ipried my eyes open when the knocking wouldn’t stop. “Can you go see what they want?” I asked James. He didn’t answer, and when I flung my arm behind me, I hit cold sheets. Was it just a dream? I closed my eyes, trying to get the dream back, but someone had a fucking death wish.
“Hold on.” I threw off the covers and, not sure where my underwear ended up, tugged on one of the white robes from the bathroom.
Miles barreled into the room the moment I opened the door. “Where is he? I’m going to kick his ass. Doesn’t he know you’re a married man?”
Tiffany followed him in. “Good morning, sunshine. Where’s James?”
“How should I know?” I closed the door and headed for the coffee maker. “How was the rest of the night?”
Miles bent over the sheets, looking for evidence. “Fuck that. What happened after you left? Did you use the supplies I gave James?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I tightened my robe and ran my tongue across my teeth. I could still taste the joint James and I had shared in the shower at three a.m.
Tiffany picked up the empty bottle of diamond-infused vodka. “Did he go sleep in Theo’s room?”
“I don’t know. He was here when I fell asleep.” I gave up on coffee and crawled back under the covers.
Miles sat on the edge of the bed. “When you fell asleep naked and covered in jizz, you mean?”
I rolled my eyes but told them everything. Well, almost everything. I refused Miles’s request to sketch an accurate picture of James’s dick like it was on America’s Most Wanted, and I didn’t mention that he fucked like a drummer in a punk band, sweat sliding down his brow.
“I knew this would happen,” I said. I am a pathetic fuckboy. “Sex ruins everything.”
“Why? Was it bad sex?” Miles hopped out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
No, it had been amazing sex, maybe too amazing. James probably thought I hooked up all the time, that I didn’t want his fingers because my ass was a fucking cum dump. “I don’t think so. Doesn’t matter, though. It was never going to last anyway.”
“His toothbrush is still here,” Miles said.
Tiffany lay next to me. “Why do you say that? He’s obviously into you, and he’s not another Derek. He’s not too worried about his image to admit he likes you.”
“He could be, and that was never Derek’s problem.”
Tiffany gave me a bullshit look. “If you say so.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s for the best. Theo doesn’t need the paps ruining his life.”
Miles jumped onto the mattress, bouncing us. “I don’t think he ran away. His suitcase is still here. His toothbrush, too. He probably just went to buy more condoms.”
“Why are you two even here?” It was the question I should’ve asked the moment they stormed in. It was too early for Miles to be up.
“Okay.” Tiffany exhaled, her smile slumping into an I-have-bad-news flat line. “We found something out last night after you left. Nothing for certain, just that Ryan thinks Derek might be the one who leaked those stories about you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Derek would never do that.”
“Maybe not,” Miles said, “but Tony sure as hell would, and Ryan overheard him on the phone saying some shady shit about ‘excessive force.’”
“Ryan thinks Tony saw your karaoke video and assumed you were going for Derek’s part,” Tiffany continued.
“What? That’s ridiculous. I didn’t even know anyone was filming, and the video doesn’t have that many views. Derek gets more views than that standing in line at Starbucks.”
“Yeah, but after your dad’s little speech last—”
“No.” I shook my head. “My dad isn’t trying to replace Derek with me. If he wanted me in the movie, I’d be in the movie.” I hopped out of bed, searching for my pants. “Where’s my phone?”
“Why?” Tiffany’s eyes darted to my charger on the arm of the sofa. James must’ve plugged my phone in before running away. Maybe chivalry wasn’t dead.
I yanked the cord free. “Because I’m going to call Derek and tell him he needs to fire that asshole.”
Tiffany sat up. “Maybe think it through first.”
No, if I thought it through, I wouldn’t call. It was now or never.
Derek answered, his deep, soothing voice the antithesis of the tea kettle screaming in my head. “So, you do still have my number. Guess where I am right now?”
“I don’t know. Where are you?”
The annoyance in my voice must not have registered, because he answered like I gave a fuck. “On the mountain, riding. You wouldn’t believe how foggy it is up here. I feel like I’m King Arthur riding through the mists of Avalon.”
Jesus. Did he have to sound so serene? “Okay, I don’t want to disturb you. Just wondering if you saw the new articles about me.”
Silence. “I did. I’m so sorry, Will.”
Okay, time to rip off the Band-Aid. “Did Tony leak them?”
“What?” Derek’s voice pitched up. “Why would Tony do that?”
“That’s what I want to know. You know I’m not trying to take your part, right? None of this was my idea. I didn’t even want to do it.”
“I know that.” He tried to mask his defensiveness. “And I’m glad you’re doing it. I like seeing you every day.”
“Yeah? And what about Tony? Does he know that?”
“I’ll talk to him, okay?”
He’ll talk to him? Tony had just fucked both of my careers, and Derek would talk to him? “And if he admits it? What then?”
“I know you don’t like Tony, but he’s like family to me. He’s been my manager since I was sixteen.”
“Yeah? And did he run his hand up your leg and tell you how pretty you are?” Tiffany’s eyes bulged, but I didn’t care.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s in love with you.” I switched the phone to my other ear, hoping it was less sweaty.
“Yeah, he loves me, but not like that.”
“Why, because you can grow a beard or because you’re straight?”
“Will, I promise it’s not like that. Plus, you, of all people, should know that no one’s a hundred percent anything, straight or gay.”
Miles did a double take and started pantomiming a blowjob.
I raised an eyebrow. “Why should I, ‘of all people,’ know that?” Jesus, I was letting Derek distract me.
“I kissed a guy once,” he said, “and not for a movie either.”
Jesus, why was he telling me this? “So what? You want a medal?”
“You’re so dense sometimes, you know that?”
That was it. Fuck this. “I have to go, Derek. I’ll see you at the wedding.” I hung up before he could respond and shut my phone off for good measure.
Then, before Miles and Tiffany could tell me I was an idiot for ever trusting Derek, I picked up the hotel phone. “Let’s order lobster and mimosas. Dad’s paying.”