Surrendering His Heart

by David Horne

  Ashley leaned back in the chair. Its spring creaked with the shifting weight. She removed a slip of paper from the desk drawer.

  “I spoke to the owners today. They are concerned with the thefts in the hotel. They are very upset about the missing money from the deposit.” She slid the official document toward George across the desk. It was on hotel letterhead and printed from a PDF file. “They want me to make this official.”

  “I’m not signing that,” George said. He read the contents of the reprimand. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Ashley retracted the document and wrote across the face of the letter.

  “Refused to sign,” she read out loud. The document went back into the drawer. “You didn’t have to sign it. They want to make sure your write-up was done officially. They don’t want you to have some discriminatory case against the hotel.”

  It was a harder slap in the face than the accusation of stealing money from the deposit. The shocking development caught George unprepared. Throat too dry to speak immediately, he had to swallow a few times before he tried.

  “What are insinuating? Are you saying because I’m a gay man, you think I’ll have a defamation case against the hotel?”

  Ashley smiled at him. “You said it. Not me. I’m just the messenger here, George.” She began to collect her daily items and the large handbag from the floor by the chair. “You have to admit things are not what they used to be.” She stood up and slung the purse over her shoulder. “You used to be a reliable person, George. Maybe it’s the sale of the hotel to new owners, or something else.”

  She left the office and locked the door. George stood in the hallway watching her.

  “You’re not dressed for work. You’re not even clocked in yet. So, now you’re late.” She moved toward the front desk. George went as far as the counter and watched Ashley waddle toward the door. The lobby was empty of guests, but George knew it didn’t matter to Ashley. “One of the guests said they thought you were even drinking on the job.”

  Only Raymond and Dunlop knew of the small taste of alcohol the night before. He doubted Dunlop said anything. That only left the new guy. And Ashley gave away her lies about not seeing or speaking to Raymond.

  When she finally made it far away from George to face him again, Ashley continued. “You might be stretched a little thin. I thought it was better to bring on Raymond now before the transition, so we have enough coverage in case something happened.”

  “What’s going to happen?” George wanted to know.

  “I don’t know, George, that’s the point. Let's make sure we have enough coverage in case something does happen.”

  “I thought about the guy you hired.”

  “I didn’t hire him,” Ashley corrected him immediately. “They hired him.”

  “You know he used to work here before either of us.”

  “I saw that,” she admitted. “That should make it easier to train Ray.”

  “He worked in the kitchen. It took me a while to remember him. I heard he was fired for stealing.”

  “So, are you saying the reason why your deposit was short this morning is that the new guy took it?” Ashley glared at George. “It’s your responsibility to keep the cash drawer locked at all times. Maybe it’s another reason to write you up.” She turned from George and waddled toward the foyer. “I’ll make a phone call to the owners tomorrow to see if they want to write you up for that too.”

  Instead of engaging Ashley with more ammunition he needed to know, “Is Raymond showing up again tonight?”

  “No, I gave him the night off.”

  George stood wide-eyed and dumbfounded. After a few minutes, expecting Ashley to wander back into the hotel for something, he finally grabbed his backpack and wandered into the men’s room. The raw edges of Ashley’s words cut deep. Every part of him ached with the frustration and anguish. Somehow Ashley managed to crawl inside him, and her presence began to metastasize.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The evening wore into the night like a slow miserable death. The Comfort Hill Hotel stopped feeling like a home and more like a soul-sucking environment. Feeling his employment at the hotel was finite, it was impossible to feel any joy with checking in new overnight guests.

  After eleven in the evening, Dunlop wandered into the lobby. He waited for another guest to leave before approaching the front desk.

  “I was thinking about you today.” George knew Dunlop wanted another rendezvous so he could pull on George’s cock.

  “I’m swamped tonight, John.” He tried to smile at him.

  “Something wrong?” Dunlop asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No, not at all,” he assured the man. “I have inventory tonight, and it can take hours. I have to get it done before housekeeping gets here.” While Dunlop might understand the real estate side of hotels, he didn’t understand the minutiae of handling the business.

  “Oh,” Dunlop appeared momentarily hurt. “I’m sorry.” He leaned over the counter and whispered, “Maybe I can help.”

  George did his best to find the inner strength that allowed him to smile politely. “I appreciate you trying to help. But I have to work tonight.”

  Crestfallen, Dunlop sulked from the lobby. He didn’t look back.

  George retreated to the backroom. He placed the courtesy bell on the front desk and left open the storage room door. There was nothing left to inventory. He had no agenda except trying to understand how he managed to make a $100 mistake on the closing ledgers. It was impossible. Only now Ashley planted the seed. He began to doubt his daily routine.

  The bell on the front desk rang, and George peeked out the door.

  “Miss me?”

  Duncan Chambers was an impressive man. He wore a business suit with a silk tie loose around his neck as if ready to end a day George was glad to see a man who had some reasoning powers.

  “Good to see you’ve returned.” George went to the counter and waited. “How was your trip?” But the question was empty.

  Duncan frowned. “You look a little sad. Is there something wrong?”

  George smiled through the observation but the concierge effervescence had diminished too much to bring back. “I’m okay.”

  Duncan didn’t take George’s delivery for something that was honest. He looked around the lobby and glanced down the hall. “We’re all alone. What’s going on?”

  George stood in the entryway to the hall behind the front desk. He pointed up. From his vantage point, the camera was unable to see him. But it recorded Duncan’s every movement and possibly recorded his voice. “I see,” he said with a nod. And he disappeared from view.

  Momentarily, George heard the bell of the elevator arrive. Duncan abandoned him knowing there was an issue and it wasn’t for George to involve guests with more dirty laundry.

  Fifteen minutes later the phone rang.

  “Front desk,” George answered. He knew it was Duncan’s room.

  “I think you should come up here. I think someone’s been in my room.”

  On top of everything that’s happened the last few days. The potential for someone getting into a guest room while he’s away was a sure line to termination. When he arrived on the third floor and rapped on the door for room 305, he hoped Dunlop was either too high or drunk to notice George on the third floor.

  “What’s missing?” he asked. He went into the room when Duncan opened the door expecting the worst.

  Duncan gave George a sincere smile. “Nothing at all,” he said. “I thought it was the easiest way to get you away from the front desk.”

  “I should be getting back.” But he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stay and drink in Duncan, breathe in the man, and finally feel close to someone.

  Duncan’s face showed sincerity. The expression came with levity and confidence. “I assume you’ve secured the front doors?” he asked.

  George only nodded.

  Duncan had changed from the business suit into a pair of loose nylon
shorts and a tank top. He had defined shoulders. His stomach was flat, and Duncan had the legs of a runner. He sat on the couch, his legs open casually. But George was too distracted to appreciate the modest view between the man’s legs.

  “Then you have time to talk.”

  “What’s on your mind?”

  Duncan leaned back against the cushions and laced his fingers behind his head. It was an impressive image of a man who had no idea how sexy he looked while staring up at George waiting for an opening to a conversation.

  “Things have been a little off the last few days.”

  “You said the hotel was in the middle of changing owners. What more have you heard about it?” Duncan gave George an opportunity to drop his defensives. It was something he sorely needed.

  George slumped in the nearby bar stool against the breakfast bar. “It hasn’t been good, actually.”

  “What’s going on? Didn’t you say the new owner was staying at the hotel?”

  George nodded. It didn’t make sense to keep secrets when he was in the middle of losing his job. Even if it didn’t mean anything, at least he could have a friend out of it before Ashley terminated him.

  “He’s one of the guests here. He hasn’t been open about the purchase. But I don’t know enough about hotel sales to know if it’s something new owners talk about.”

  Duncan waited a moment and nodded. “Can I ask you something?”

  It felt like welcomed opening and George refused to allow himself the fantasy of this handsome man wanting something more than talk. He nodded timidly.

  “What do you think will happen once the sale goes through?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I thought it was a good thing. I thought I was open to change. But Ashley makes it feel like she’s the only one who will keep the job once everything happens.”

  “Well, Ashley has no filters.”

  George didn’t talk about other employees. He wasn’t one to put down anyone. But Ashley showed him something that hurt George to the core. He was replaceable. It was hard to feel loyalty when someone had a knife turning in his back.

  “I don’t know where she gets a lot of her information. I’ve never really gotten that close to her.”

  “Don’t spend a lot of time worrying about Ashley. You have to keep you head up.” Duncan appeared thoughtful and distant. George had nothing to say so the man switched topics.

  “I wanted to ask you about a door I found at the end of the hall. I assume it leads up to the roof. It looks like from the outside of the building there’s an open space.”

  George nodded. He had a list of ideas that included the roof and its access to the public. “I have a key.” It was forbidden to allow guests to the roof, but George had nothing left to fear.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The evening sky was clear. It was warm. A sweltering summer through most of New York spilled over to Vermont. On the roof of the Comfort Hill Hotel, the town of Vergennes spread out before them. George took a deep breath. He stared out at the sleeping town.

  “I come up here sometimes.”

  “It’s great up here.” Duncan walked to the edge of the building. The architecture allowed access to the entire area. While the roof had access, it also had a four-foot high wall that kept anyone from falling off. “I think this place has a lot of potential.”

  George nodded. “I’ve had this idea that giving access to the roof might bring in more people from the town and tourists can enjoy a view of the city from the highest point on the hill.”

  “Is that Lake Champlain over there?” Duncan asked pointing.

  George took the opportunity to step closer to Duncan, to breathe in his clean scent, and look down the end of his arm where the man pointed. “It’s a good view sometimes. When it’s not too foggy, you can see it.”

  “I think you could secure the air handling system over there from guests. You could get some tables up here and maybe offer coffee or dinner service.”

  Duncan appeared to read George’s mind when he got too close. George slid down the wall and leaned against it.

  “What about the kitchen in this place?” Duncan continued to walk around the roof. “Why did they close it?”

  “It wasn’t doing any business. We can’t even rent out the conference room to guests or open it to the outside because Ashley said the current owners wouldn’t allow it.”

  Duncan shook his head. “If a guest wanted to get in touch with the current owners do you know if there’s any way to do that without involving Ashley?”

  George shrugged. In the limited lighting above the street lamps, it was dark and at Duncan’s distance across the roof, it was unclear if he saw George’s movements. Duncan strolled across the roof. The breeze was light and warm. He stood close to George, still leaning against the roof wall.

  He looked at Duncan and then out across the small city. “Sometimes I come up here to watch the sunrise.”

  Duncan was quiet for a long moment, trying to see what George saw as he looked out at the horizon. “What’s going on with youHe turned slightly to face George more directly. “I noticed the last few weeks you’ve changed a little. And since I got back today, things seem to be worse for you.”

  George felt a tugging in his heart. He loved the Comfort Hill Hotel. But instead of a place he enjoyed, it turned into a job he despised.

  “I feel like I’m losing my job very soon.” And he went into the last few days’ worth of Ashley’s drastic changes. “I’m not usually one to complain.” He wanted to let Duncan know he had a stronger nature. “But she’s made it impossible to feel safe in my job.”

  “She’s doing you a disservice by getting you involved with the sale of the hotel. And the way she is? It’s immoral, and I think it might even be illegal.”

  George turned entirely to Duncan. He took the man’s hand. “Please don’t say anything to her. I already feel like I’m going to lose this job in a few days. Maybe I can start looking at other hotels.”

  “With just a bicycle? Are you supposed to ride across the state to get a new job?”

  George chuckled mildly. “Someone stole my bike. Ashley said the new owners didn’t want me parking my bicycle inside the hotel anymore, so someone had the whole night to cut my chain and ride off with it.”

  He realized he still held Duncan’s hand and let it go slowly. “I’m sorry.”

  “Look, George, you’re a great guy. You need to stand up for yourself.”

  “At the cost of losing my job?” George shook his head. “I know someone needs to stand up to her. But I don’t know how my confronting Ashley would solve anything.”

  Duncan took in everything George said over the last half hour. The two of them enjoying the warm summer breeze and chitter of summer insects. Duncan put his hand on George’s shoulder. His strong fingers squeezed.

  Duncan was a kind man who had a big heart. It was impossible not to notice his kind gestures. George didn’t want to misinterpret kindness for sexual advances. He’d never crossed the barrier between guests and his concierge services until Dunlop. And he didn’t want to assume Duncan’s friendship extended to the bedroom.

  They walked back down the stairwell, and Duncan stopped and turned, blocking George from descending.

  “You need to have a little faith.” It felt cryptic. But he elaborated with, “I know everything will work out for the better.”

  Duncan gave half a smile. It was sly, and his eyes narrowed. “I'll put in a word for you where I work if you lose your job.”

  “What is it you do again?”

  Duncan shrugged. “It’s mostly acquisitions.”

  “I don’t have a college education. I think that’s important to put right up front.”

  Duncan shook his head. “Remember what I said before? Sometimes it’s character that goes further than education. You keep your chin up.” He pressed a hand against George’s chest. His strong fingers traced the edge of the black vest. He tapped lightly and turned to continue downstairs. He
exited the third floor while George continued to the ground floor.

  “You are not yourself,” Angel told him when she arrived. Since she knew of the harpy and the demon’s ways, it was easy to explain the situation to her.

  “You need to be careful around Ashley,” George warned. “I feel like she’s eliminating anyone who she thinks isn’t worthy of the hotel in the new owner’s hands.”

  “I don’t want you upset, but I got another job.”

  It wasn’t surprising. She was efficient and had the keen attention to detail. If the hotel had inspections, Angel’s crew would win awards. He smiled and hugged her. It was better to leave gracefully than whimpering.

  Chapter Eighteen

  When the paradigm shifts it feels as if the world is tilting off its axis. That’s how it seemed to George, anyway.

  His walks to work began even earlier now that he also had to account for stopping by the convenience store on the way. It was a major inconvenience. The store was further away from the apartment. But since Ashley didn’t want George using the bathroom to change, he’d had to figure out somewhere else. Walking to work in full uniform wouldn’t work until the weather cooled off more.

  “You’re looking grim,” someone pointed out from the car rolling along the street. George was unfamiliar with anyone taking time to speak to him, other than Mary from her perch. “Why not get into the car?”

  The offer was alarming. George glanced over but it was difficult to see the man behind the wheel because the setting sun was in his eyes and the man wore sunglasses. He stepped off the sidewalk to get a better look.

  “Oh.” George smiled at Duncan. “Sure.” A grand ride with a wonderful person made George excited.

  He slid into the passenger seat of the luxury car. A Lexus with leather seats and chilly air-conditioning was better than the eighty degrees outside the car.

  “How much time do you have before you need to be at work?” Duncan asked.

  “I have to be there by six.”

  “Does that mean you have time to have dinner with me?”