by Lynn VanDorn
“I didn't know,” Josh said, his voice soft. “I'm sorry.”
Tyler shrugged. “I don't need him. I'm better off without him in my life.”
“And your mother?”
“I love my mother,” Tyler said. “She was as much his victim as I was. He had something on her, I have no idea what, but she couldn't leave him. Not until he sent me back to that place. At that point, whatever he was holding over her mattered less than getting me out. Luckily my California grandparents took us in. My trust fund didn't start until I was twenty-one, and we literally had nothing but clothes when we left Illinois.” Tyler shivered, even though the afternoon was unseasonably warm.
“Did your dad hit your mom and your brothers?”
“My mom, sometimes, when he got really angry, especially after Brad moved out. Never my brothers, as far as I know, but Ryan was always the perfect heir and Brad the extraneous yet inoffensive spare. I was the whipping boy.”
“And your mom allowed it?”
Tyler clutched his knees tighter. “I asked her once why we didn't leave after I came out. Everything got exponentially worse then, and both Brad and Ryan were off at college by that point, leaving zero buffer between me and Dad.”
“What did she say?”
“Pretty much the typical Chadwick response: she couldn't talk about it.”
“Do you have any guesses?”
Tyler shook his head. “No. I figure it had to be a good reason, though. Right?”
Josh rubbed Tyler’s leg and encountered the burn scar. “Sure. How did you get this, anyway? It's one hell of a burn.”
“I don't want to talk about it.”
“Being a typical Chadwick, Tyler?”
Tyler gave him a small, unhappy smile. “You know how you said Rachel is the family rebel against the Rosen passive-aggressiveness? Well, Brad is the only one in the family who talks about shit. I think that's his form of rebellion. It's probably why he and Rachel get along so well. They really are soul mates.”
“You can talk about things with me, if you need to. Unlike Rachel and Brad, I can keep a secret. Anything you tell me won't go anywhere.”
“Thanks, but talking about the past doesn't help. It's over and done with. Dad no longer has any power over me. That's all that matters. I appreciate you trying to help, really, but this isn't something you can fix. This is not your dragon to slay.”
“I don't think I'm the knight in shining armor type,” Josh said, feeling hopelessly inadequate.
“Yes, you are. I bet you even have a shiny white lab coat.”
Josh shook his head. “Nope. No coats at work and no ties. They spread germs. I'm just a dermatologist in a nice Oxford shirt. I don't think I'm up to dragon slaying.”
“Then it's lucky I'm not asking for dragon murder, isn't it?” Tyler smiled but it didn't reach his eyes, which were blue today, the same color as the sky reflected in the lake, and as chilly as the water despite the heat of the day.
“Yeah, that’s good, because I'm pretty sure dragon murder isn't something I can comfortably condone.”
Josh rubbed Tyler’s burn scar again. Brad would tell him, if he asked, but Josh wanted Tyler to give him the story, not Brad, so Josh let it go, at least for the moment.
–—
Monday, September 19th, 7:23 p.m.
Living Room in an unnecessarily large rental house
Blue Lake, WI
Later that evening Josh was back in the recliner reading when Tyler came in and climbed up to sit on him, his back to Josh’s chest.
“Can I help you?” Josh asked. He opened his legs and bent his knees so his thighs cradled Tyler’s narrow hips.
“I'm trending on Twitter,” Tyler said, twisting his neck to look at Josh. He was flushed and excited.
“I take it that’s a good thing.”
“In this case, it's fucking fantastic. You need to see this.” Tyler took Josh’s phone and laid it aside so they could both look at Tyler's phone. “Check out this trending hashtag.”
It was #threesomesareoverrated. “That’s you?”
Tyler nodded. “That is indeed a reference to me. There's also some discussion about me in #fuckcyberbullies, and #tylerchadwick is trending, too. Some of these conversations are nuts. You’re in here, too. There's a lot of weighing in on the hotness of my boyfriend.”
“You’re making that up.”
Tyler grinned at him. “No, I'm not. Strangers on Twitter are drooling over you. There's ugliness, too, but you'll get that. Trolls, obligatory gay bashers, the holy rollers. But there’s a lot of people who are saying that I'm a victim of cyberbullying and are rallying behind me. You don't even want to know how many people heard something somewhere about me being in Chicago for a wedding and now think you and I are getting married.”
“That’s great,” Josh said. “Well, except for the wedding thing. That's just weird.”
“Yeah,” Tyler said absently, looking at the phone again. “Weird.” Then he looked up and turned around again, a dazzling smile back on his face. “But mostly this is more than great. It's amazing. A damn miracle. My bacon might be saved.”
“That’s great, Tyler. This is really good news.”
“Yeah, it is.” Tyler thrummed with excitement as he went back to staring at his phone.
“We should celebrate,” Josh said and kissed Tyler’s neck, then licked a trail to his ear and bit the lobe.
“Hey, I'm trying to read this,” Tyler said, engrossed now in the same phone that yesterday he couldn't look at without flinching.
“Too bad. If I can't read, then you shouldn't be able to either.” Josh’s hands slipped under Tyler’s shirt. He ran his hands over his skin, loving how it felt under his fingers.
“What do think you are? A cat?” Tyler squirmed under Josh’s touch. “The role of my cat is already being played by Oliver, and he's on the couch napping.”
“Shut up, Tyler. Let's finish what we started before lunch.” Josh brushed his thumbs over Tyler’s nipples, then pinched them. Tyler hummed his approval in response.
“Oh, I suppose. If we must.”
“It's imperative,” Josh murmured into Tyler’s ear, his lips grazing it.
“You’re doing a fine job so far,” Tyler said, a little breathless.
Josh plucked the phone from Tyler's slack hand and put it on top of his own, then he undid the button on Tyler’s jeans and lowered the zipper. He ran his hands over Tyler’s abdomen from just under his ribs down to his navel, where there was a line of hair that ran down into Tyler’s briefs. Josh ran his fingers up and down through the hair, loving the little sounds of enjoyment Tyler made. Gone for the moment was his bossy elf. Right now, Tyler was pliant and almost soft under Josh’s hands, or at least as soft as Tyler ever seemed to get.
Josh slipped a hand under the elastic of his briefs and found Tyler’s more than half-erect cock. He groaned and bucked his hips when Josh’s hand encircled him, his ass rubbing against Josh’s own erection. Under his firm strokes Tyler became hot and fully hard as well as desperate, based on the sounds he was making.
Tyler felt perfect in his arms, fitting him just right. All the things he'd never thought he wanted in a man—a pretty face, a slender form, blue hair, and an over-the-top attitude—he now found irresistible in Tyler. He couldn't have explained why, but decided explanations were unimportant. The only thing that mattered in that moment was the desire he felt and Tyler's enthusiastic response to it.
Josh stroked Tyler’s cock with one hand and his chest with the other. He bit at Tyler’s neck and shoulder. Under his attention, Tyler came undone. He arched his back and his hands sought purchase, eventually reaching back to grip Josh’s hair. Tyler pulled on it and they both moaned. With his arms above his head, Tyler’s torso lengthened and further tightened, making him into one sweet long line of silky skin over muscle and bone. Josh wished he had more hands to touch him with.
What am I going to do when this is over?
The answer was o
bvious, of course. Find someone like Tyler and fuck him until he got it out of his system. Well, maybe not exactly like Tyler. That might be mission impossible, but he wasn't the only slim, pretty man in existence. Josh would find someone else who fit him like this, even if he had to go through every single one in Chicagoland.
And how well did that work out for you with Ryan? How many tall, muscular blonds did you fall into bed with? How many made you forget Ryan?
Too many, and none, really.
Told you.
Josh ordered the rational part of his brain to shut up.
Don't say you weren't warned.
Tyler started pleading with him, and Josh’s heart gave a lurch. With Josh’s rationality silenced, his desire started chanting: Mine mine mine.
He needed to step back from the precipice. He was edging into dangerous territory.
Josh’s hands and lips and dick begged to differ. Mine.
Josh gave up arguing with himself. I'll make him come, then I'm going to drag him to the shower and—
Tyler’s phone suddenly played some song Josh didn't recognize. “Fuck,” Tyler groaned. “Fuck my fucking phone.”
“Make it stop,” Josh demanded.
Tyler let go of his death grip on Josh’s hair and picked up his phone. “Hell,” he said. “It's Tom. I should take this.”
He pulled away from Josh’s arms and hopped out of the recliner. Tyler put the phone between his ear and shoulder so he could pull up his underwear and jeans. Something fell out of his pocket as he was struggling, but he didn't notice. He walked out of the living room, talking as he went.
If that wasn't proof positive that Tyler wasn't his, Josh didn't know what was. He wondered how much more time he'd have. He'd thought months, but now Josh was beginning to wonder if everything was as big a disaster as they'd feared. Maybe all Josh would have was weeks.
Most of Josh’s relationships only lasted a few weeks before he got bored. Maybe that's all he'd need to get Tyler out of his system. Infatuation was all this was and infatuation, in his experience, was a fleeting thing.
Somewhat reassured but still feeling more than a bit thwarted, Josh got out of the recliner so he could go to the bathroom and jerk off. Otherwise he was likely to do something stupid, like take Tyler’s brand-new phone and throw it in the lake.
When Josh stood he saw something glint on the floor. It must have been the thing he saw fall out of Tyler’s pocket. He bent and picked it up, and the bottom fell out of his stomach.
It was a razor blade, thankfully still wrapped in its cardboard sleeve, but it had no business being in Tyler’s pocket. Looking at it was enough to kill Josh’s erection.
Josh wrapped his fingers around it and followed Tyler down the hall. He found him in one of the bedrooms. Not the one Josh had claimed and the two of them had slept in the past two nights.
“No, of course we can be in New York on Thursday… I'll talk to my PA and have her buy tickets… yeah, that's fine… no, he's free until next Monday, so as long as we're back by then… oh, that would be great. Tom, thanks so much… yeah, I guess, but I couldn't do this by myself… okay… okay… All right. It'll be good to finally meet you… okay, bye.”
Tyler turned to Josh, stars shining in his eyes. “Guess what?”
“What?” Josh turned the blade over and over in his hand.
“Tom’s got me booked on Late Night with Seth Meyers. I mean, it's not The Tonight Show, but it's still awesome. We’re going to New York! I'm going to be on the show on Thursday, so we can drive into Chicago tomorrow, meet with Ryan, then fly to New York out of O’Hare. I just need to tell Purvi and have her arrange everything.”
“Purvi, your PA, right?” Josh wasn't sure what to do about the blade. He'd come in here ready to accuse Tyler of… what, exactly? Premeditated mutilation? Now he couldn't say anything. He didn't have the heart to piss on Tyler’s happy little parade. He stuck the blade in his own pocket. They could discuss it later. Or not. Tyler had already warned him that Chadwicks didn't talk about things, and Josh was worried that pushing him might trigger the very thing he wanted to avoid. He'd just keep an eye on Tyler, hope for the best, and brace for the worst.
“Yep. Technically she's on vacation, but she won't mind. You okay getting dragged to New York, aren’t you?”
Josh shook his head. “I was a mopey teenager the last time I was in New York, depressed because my parents made me go with them and Rachel instead of letting me stay home by myself, which is what I wanted. The only thing I enjoyed was going to the Met. I’d love to go see it again.”
At the time, he'd been pissed off that he'd had to spend an entire week away from Ryan. If he'd been able to stay home, he and Ryan would have had an unprecedented opportunity to fuck with impunity. Being horny, sexually frustrated, and unable to explain why he was so unhappy to his parents, he'd made the trip miserable for everyone, and he had few pleasant memories of the city or that vacation. At least on this visit he was probably going to get laid.
“Okay. We can spend the weekend and do touristy shit or visit some museums, then fly home Sunday. If you’re okay with that.”
Josh thought about it. “Sure, but let’s plan on heading back Saturday. That gives me another day before going back to work.”
“No problem,” Tyler said. “Whatever you want.”
“Oh, really? Anything I want?”
Tyler stood up and walked over to Josh. He reached up and curled his fingers into Josh’s hair. He pulled Josh’s ear down to his lips and said, “Anything you want. I am in a particularly generous mood.”
Josh ran his hands down Tyler’s sides. He thought about making good on what they had started earlier, but lunch was a distant memory and getting Tyler to eat was higher on Josh’s priority list than getting into his pants. “Good, because what I want,” he paused, then bent to whisper in Tyler’s ear, “is pizza.”
Tyler pulled back. “Pizza?”
“Yes, Tyler. Pizza. Food needs to occur.”
Tyler made a face. “I could cook. We have a ton of food here.”
“Can you make me pizza?”
“Probably not with the stuff we have on hand,” Tyler said.
“Then let me find someone who can, and who also delivers. You can call Purvi in the meantime.”
–—
Monday, September 19th, 8:40 p.m.
The immaculately clean kitchen of an unnecessarily large rental house
Blue Lake, WI
“I’d almost forgotten about it being cut into squares,” Tyler said, grabbing an edge piece. “Pizza in California is great, but it's not the same as this. And pizza in New Zealand is weird. Not terrible, I guess, unless you count the shit with Marmite on it.” He took a bite of sausage and mushroom and sighed. “Okay, Rosen, you win. Pizza was a good idea.”
“So, we’re going to see Ryan before we fly to New York?” Josh asked. He grabbed one of the middle pieces, which were his favorite.
“Yeah, we need to, or at least I do. I have to talk to him about the video.”
“The threesome one, I assume,” Josh said.
“Of course, that video. It's not like there are multiple incriminating videos of me out there. As far as I know.” Tyler grabbed another piece and hummed with pleasure as he ate it.
Watching Tyler Chadwick eat pizza should not be turning me on, but it kinda is.
“Well, what about it? Or are you going to keep me in suspense?”
Tyler dropped the narrow crust onto his plate. “It’s been altered. The video I saw when they made me watch it in front of my parents in the principal’s office is not the same version that was leaked to the internet. While you can see who I am, the other two guys either have had their faces cropped out or they're blurred so you can't make them out. Not that it helped—they've been outed—but someone thought they could hurt me and keep those two out of it.”
“So, you think whoever did this has a personal axe to grind.”
Tyler shrugged. “That makes the
most sense to me. Ryan wants to investigate it. He's got some flunky at the firm he wants to put on it. He figures that while we can't stop people from seeing the video at this point, at least if we find out who released it then Ryan can see about getting criminal charges filed. At the very least we can sue the pants off him. Or her, I guess.”
“Okay,” Josh said. “Works for me. I'm just along for the ride, anyway.”
Tyler frowned. “Are you sure you're okay going with me to see Ryan? You don't have to go. I need to return Ryan’s car to him, but I can get a taxi to your place.”
“No, unless you don't want me there, I'll tag along. When are we meeting the infamous Tom?”
“He's flying to Chicago to meet up with me and Ryan to discuss strategy, and he'll be joining us in New York with Sydney.”
“And Sydney is?” asked Josh around a bite of pizza.
“My stylist. I have a whole entourage. Ryan’s my lawyer, Alicia’s my agent, Purvi’s my PA, Sydney’s my stylist, and now Tom’s my publicist. And you, too, of course.”
“Your arm candy.”
Tyler gave him a salacious grin. “Among other things.”
“When are we leaving tomorrow? I have to do a few things to close up the place, since we're not coming back.”
“In the morning after we've packed our stuff, I think. It's a long drive back.”
Josh stood and went to Tyler, holding out his hand.
“What?” Tyler asked, but he put his hand in Josh’s and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
“If we're leaving in the morning, then tonight is my last opportunity to fuck you in the shower. That white marble calls to me.”