by Pandora Pine
“So you moved to California?”
“Yeah, right after graduation. I worked as a waiter at night and tried to get auditions during the day. Then one night Donovan Charles and Galen Roberts came into the restaurant. Donovan owns Nasty Boys Productions and Galen was his biggest star. They were both interested in me. Told me I had a lot of potential. Donovan gave me his card and said to call him if I wanted to work.” Drake sighed. He hated telling this story. To make matters worse, he couldn’t tell what Gregor was thinking. He was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest with an intense look on his face, but with no hint of emotion.
“When did you call him?”
“The next day. I thought about calling my foster mother, Cindy, for advice, but I knew she’d tell me I was going down the wrong path.”
“She would have been right.”
Drake nodded. He knew that. He’d known it all along. “I figured I could work with Donovan and Nasty Boys for a little while and keep looking for other gigs on the side, but that didn’t happen. Once Donovan got a sample of my talents, he put me right to work. It was kind of like the mafia. Once I was in, I couldn’t get out.”
“Until you did.” Gregor raised an eyebrow.
This was the touchy part of the story. The part that could get him put in intensive care. “I need you to listen to the rest of the story without interrupting me or killing me, okay?”
Gregor inclined his head to the side and gave a small shrug.
“Back in December, I got a letter from the film company saying one of the performers had tested HIV positive.”
Gregor sat up straighter in his seat, but stayed silent.
“Actors are tested every two weeks by industry standard, but we all know it can take up to four months for a positive test to show up. We never wore condoms.” Drake shook his head. He couldn’t believe how stupid he was. “I broke my contract that day and kept going for bi-monthly HIV tests for six months, just to be sure I really was negative. When the results of the twelfth test came back negative, I bought a map and threw a dart that hit Cape Cod. I sold my house and most of my things and hit the road. You know what happened next.”
“Your car broke down and you knocked on Presley’s door.” Gregor sighed before draining what was left in his glass.
Drake quietly swirled the liquid around in his glass without taking a sip.
“I’m glad you’re negative. What about other diseases?”
“I was tested for all of them every two weeks along with the HIV. I wasn’t with anyone else between those tests and Pres. I know you won’t believe me, but I would never put Presley’s life in danger. I love him, Gregor. He’s the first man I’ve ever truly loved.”
“I do believe you.” Gregor refilled his glass. “Why didn’t you tell Presley from the beginning?”
“I was nothing more than a glorified whore. I fucked men on camera and cashed the checks. Pres is a good man. Hell, he’s got two degrees from Harvard. What I did in my past is nothing to be proud of. I got caught up in falling in love with him and finding a family in the rest of you. Everyone trusted me and I finally had a job worth holding my head high over. I didn’t want that to end. I was scared to tell Pres.”
“What you were doing in California was a job to hold your head high for. You weren’t doing anything illegal. You weren’t hurting anyone. Come on, Drake, we both know every man watches porn. I’m shocked that no one recognized you sooner, especially Noble and more especially the day we went to Provincetown.”
Drake found his first smile in what felt like hours. “I was pretty shocked too, but I look different in those movies than I do walking down the street.”
“You’re saying no one recognized you because you were wearing pants?”
Drake nodded.
Gregor burst out laughing.
Drake drained his glass, now that he knew Gregor wasn’t going to knock him into next week. Not that he didn’t deserve a good pounding for hurting Presley.
“You wanna know what I think?” Gregor grinned at Drake.
“No, but hit me with it all the same.” Drake held his breath, praying that what Gregor had to say would help him, rather than make him feel like a worthless piece of shit.
“I think you were a selfish prick.”
“Thanks,” Drake mumbled. Gregor’s opinion was just about what he thought it would be.
“But, you love our Presley. We’ve all seen just how much. You need to give Pres a little time to come to his senses. It also might take some time for Griff to come around too. He was seriously pissed. Wanted to fire you on the spot. I managed to get him calmed down enough to reconsider. Spend the night in my guest room. Cry, sleep, watch television. Do what you need to do to get through the night. Tomorrow morning, go to work like you always do. Be patient with Presley.”
It sounded like good advice to Drake. He knew he wasn’t going to get a wink of sleep without Presley at his side. “Are you going to tell him any of this?”
Gregor lifted his left shoulder. “Do you want me to?”
“Only as a last resort. I’m hoping he’ll want to talk to me again at some point, but if he doesn’t, I need you to tell him the part about my HIV tests. All of the test results are in the front pouch of my suitcase.”
“He needs to know that stuff sooner rather than later,” Gregor agreed.
“I’m gonna hop in the shower and then try to get some sleep. Thank you for being there for me, Gregor, even though you’re Presley’s friend.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re my friend too. I know I’m a grumpy bastard sometimes, but you’ve been there for me. Wanted me to teach you how to cook. I’m not saying that I’m not pissed as hell for you lying to Pres like you did, but I’m sure as fuck not gonna leave you out in the rain all night and neither would any of the others.” Gregor got up from his seat and pulled Drake into a clumsy hug. “I’m down the hall if you need a shoulder.” Gregor grabbed the bottle of Southern Comfort and headed off to toward his room.
In the midst of the worst night of his life, Drake realized he had a real friend in Gregor. He just hoped to hell he would be able to stay around and watch that friendship grow.
XX
Presley didn’t want to go to work. He stood outside his cabin, staring up at the hotel. He’d only gotten about fifteen minutes of sleep total all night.
He’d managed to drift off to sleep a few times, but he’d startle awake out of the blue, reaching for Drake only to find the bed was empty. Worse than the empty bed was his empty heart. He’d loved Drake with his entire soul. Presley had been convinced Drake was the man he’d been destined to marry and now he was alone, back at square one.
The real reason he didn’t want to pull up his big boy pants and go to work was that he was bound to run into Drake at some point during the day. He still wasn’t ready to talk to his ex-lover yet. Pres shivered in the warm morning sunshine. Calling Drake his ex hurt in a way he wasn’t expecting.
Knowing he had work to do, he trudged over to the hotel. Today was going to be a big day for Sand Dollar Shoal with all of their new guests checking in. Presley needed to focus on that instead of on Damien Lovecock.
When he walked into the hotel dining room, Drake wasn’t there. Presley breathed a sigh of relief. Griff was sitting at one table with Leo who was wearing a bow tie. It was orange with blue polka dots. Pres couldn’t help smiling. “Morning, guys.”
“You look like shit, Pres,” Griff said, matter-of-factly.
“He does not!” Leo hopped up out of his chair and took Presley’s elbow, guiding him to the table. “What you need is a good strong cup of tea.”
“Jesus, Leo, he’s heartbroken, not British.” Griff rolled his eyes and went back to reading from his tablet.
“Tea makes everything better,” Leo said, as if his opinion decided things. “Now, Presley, I’m told that you’re the resident historian at Sand Dollar Shoal.”
“I know a lot about the hotel, but the person you real
ly want to talk to is Drake.” Presley’s lower lip trembled. He needed to cut that shit out. Now wasn’t the time to start bawling again. He’d done enough of that last night to last a lifetime. “He took a real shine to this old girl and learned as much as he could.”
“Speaking of Drake, how is the poor little lamb this morning?” Leo looked broken up over a man he’d met for five minutes.
Leo thought Drake was the poor little lamb? Presley felt a headache coming on. “I have no idea. I haven’t spoken to him since the big reveal. Hell, I don’t even know where he slept last night.”
“With Gregor.” Griff didn’t bother to look up from his iPad.
“What?” Had Drake hopped right into bed with Gregor? Not that he cared. Gregor could have Drake if he wanted him.
Griff shrugged. “Didn’t think you wanted to know.”
Leo reached out to pat Presley’s hand. “Gregor found him on the beach last night, soaked to the skin and half-frozen. I’ll go get you a cup of tea.” He hurried off toward the kitchen.
“Shit, I didn’t even ask him how his night was in the Hiraeth room.”
“I think you’ve got more to worry about than how Leo’s night in the hotel went.” Griff set down his iPad. “I know you’re angry, but you can’t let this thing with Drake end without talking to him first.”
“I’m so fucking angry, Griff.” Actually, Pres was a lot of things. Angry was just the easiest to communicate. He felt cheated and scared too, but he didn’t want to get into that with Griff.
“I know you are. I was too, but Leo helped me with that.” A small smile played on Griff’s lips.
“Leo?” Griff hadn’t even known the history writer for twelve hours and he was already taking advice from the man?
“You know how angry I was last night when I left your cottage. I was ready to rip Drake a new one and fire his lying ass. Instead of going home, I came back to the hotel. Landon had started a fire in the hearth last night before we all left in case Leo wanted to sit in front of it before he went to bed. That’s where I found him.”
“What happened?” Pres was curious to know Leo’s take on things since he really didn’t know any of them.
“We sat and talked for a bit. He said that I shouldn’t fire Drake.”
“I figured as much.” Pres knew the kind of temper Griff had and what it would have taken to calm him back down enough to think rationally.
“Drake was a piece in the puzzle of running this hotel that I didn’t even know we needed. Thanks to his suggestion about social media, we’ve gotten fifty room reservations for the summer that we might not have had otherwise.” Griff took a deep breath. “I know what you’re thinking, that I want to keep Drake because of the money his ideas can bring in to the hotel, but that’s not the reason. God knows I want this hotel to succeed, not just for us, but to shut my father up about me not being good enough to shine his shoes.”
“We all know that isn’t true, Griff. He’s just pissed that he lost his best man when you told him to stick Costa Rica up his ass.”
“God, that was a good day!” Griff’s bright smile turned serious. “Over the last month, Drake became part of our family, Pres, and not because he was your boyfriend. Find the strength to talk to him. I know your heart is broken, but hear him out. You might still be mad as hell when the conversation is over, but at least you’ll have all the facts.”
“I don’t know if I can trust him after this.” That had been the one thought spinning through his mind as he stared up at the ceiling.
“In my opinion, a lie of omission isn’t the same thing as lying.”
“Don’t play semantics with me, Griff.”
“You know what I mean. He didn’t lie about his past, he just didn’t tell you about it. To be honest, can you blame him?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? That I would have shut him out or turned my back on him if he’d tried to tell me?”
Instead of answering, Griff lifted an eyebrow. “What I meant was that he must be really ashamed to have been working in the sex trade. He wanted to be a real actor and obviously got in over his head. He had a dream, Pres, and instead of it coming true, he ended up living a nightmare.”
“Do you know why he got out of it?”
Griff nodded. “I do, but it’s not my story to tell.”
“Jesus Christ, Griff!”
“Talk to him, Pres, before it’s too late.”
“Stop being so fucking dramatic, Griff, you’re not Hamlet.”
Griff stood up and grabbed his iPad. “Drake came to me this morning offering to leave the hotel if I thought that was best for you and the hotel.”
“What did you tell him?” Was Drake actually thinking about leaving?
“I told him that decision should be in his hands. I’m not going to make this decision for either one of you. All I’ll say is that he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you, Pres. For that reason alone, Drake deserves a conversation and not one where you’re telling him to fuck off.” Griff slapped a hand on Presley’s shoulder and headed in the direction of his office.
What the fuck was he going to do?
Gregor came out of the kitchen dressed in his chef jacket, his red do-rag covering his bald head. “Family meeting at my house, 8pm. Don’t make me drag your ass there.” Not waiting for an answer, he turned and went back into the kitchen.
With the question of what he was going to do out of the way, Presley needed to figure out what he was going to say when he saw Drake again.
20
Aside from the pain and anger warring in his body, it had been a successful day for Presley. All of the guests scheduled to check in had done so and were enjoying the hotel. Housekeeping and meal service had gone off without a hitch.
He’d seen Drake twice during the day and thanks to his easy manner with the guests, he had managed to sign quite a few of them up for the in-room amenities like the romance package which included chocolate-dipped strawberries and a bottle of champagne. Others had been interested in the midnight snack package with some of Gregor’s homemade whoopee pies and glasses of ice-cold milk.
Presley trudged out of his cottage at 8:00pm on the dot. He’d made himself sit in his empty living room and wait until the clock on the cable box hit the meeting time. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but the house was so cold and lonely without Drake.
“Well it’s about time, Princess Presley. Grab a seat,” Gregor half-growled when Presley walked into the kitchen.
Looking around the cramped kitchen, Pres saw all of his friends were all there, even Leo, who was sitting near the kitchen cabinets next to where Drake was standing. The others were gathered around the kitchen table.
“So,” Gregor started. “By a show of hands, how many of you have watched porn?”
Noble snorted and stuck his hand up high. “Talk about starting things off with a bang!”
Landon’s hand joined Noble’s in the air, as did Gregor’s and Griff’s. Presley noticed Drake’s hand was in the air too and he begrudgingly put his hand up as well. The only man in the room who didn’t have his hand up was Leo.
“Come on, Napoleon, put your hand in the air. You’re not fooling anyone.” Gregor arched an eyebrow at the young writer.
Leo huffed and raised his hand.
“That’s a good man. I’m betting our ‘little corporal’ over there is into kinky shit like dungeon porn with whips and chains.” Gregor made a movement with his hand like cracking a whip.
Leo blushed hard, yanking his hand down.
“So now we’ve established the fact that we’ve all watched porn.” Gregor smiled up at Drake. “The point of this meeting is that we’re a family and when one of us is hurt, we’re all hurt.”
Leo stuck his hand back up in the air. “Um, in that case, I don’t think I should be here.” He stood up and started toward the kitchen door.
Gregor pointed to the seat Leo had just vacated. “Have a seat, Boney. You’re going to be living her
e with us all summer. Since none of us have any boundaries, that makes you family.”
“If you’ll pardon my French, Gregor, you’re quite bossy.” Leo rolled his eyes dramatically and took his seat.
“Duly noted, now park it.” Gregor watched Leo get settled with a smile playing on his lips. “What happened last night was FUBAR.”
Everyone, with the exception of Presley laughed. “FUBAR?”
“Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition,” they all chorused back, even Leo.
“You know I hate that Navy slang.” Pres shook his head, not really sure what the hell he was doing sitting here. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and try to get some sleep.
“FUBAR isn’t just Navy slang. All of the armed services use it, but that’s beside the point. I got everyone together to talk about what happened last night.”
“This is really between me and Drake,” Pres mumbled. He still wasn’t ready to talk to his ex-lover, but, as Gregor said, that was beside the point.
“Wrong, Pres. The one thing the four of us have always been is one solid unit. We might disagree from time to time, but we’re a family. Right now, that family is divided. The problem is magnified with us all working together as well. I know you’re angry at Drake and going through a world of hurt, but he deserves a chance to talk to you about what happened.”
Presley felt his nostrils flare out like an angry bull. “I’ll talk to him when and if I’m ever ready.”
“Not good enough.” Gregor looked around the room at everyone before his eyes landed on Pres. “If you guys think I’ve told you everything that happened when I was overseas serving with the SEALs, you’re wrong.” Gregor looked around the table at all of his friends. “Yes, Drake lied to all of us about his background and we all turned on him like a rabid dog. So, what the situation with Drake has taught me is that you’re all fair weather friends.”
Griff half-stood. “Jesus, Gregor, I-”
“Shut up, Griff. “ Gregor’s voice brooked no argument. “I heard you telling Pres we should fire Drake over this. You didn’t mind when Drake’s kick ass ideas where landing us hotel guests, but now that we find out his past isn’t so squeaky clean, you turned on him.”