Kiss Me

by Joseph James Hunt

“What?”

  “Well, it’s no secret you’re a hot piece, your advice columns are infamous.”

  Blake choked and patted his chest. “They are?”

  “We all read them, I mean, mainly the advice to parents with gay children, it’s a perfect angle.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So, if you were having a dinner party, and you could invite three people, dead or alive, who would you invite?”

  Blake squinted in thought. “Firstly, I’d say Britney Spears, because she was my first love, and I thought, when I grow up, I’ll marry her. Second, Zac Efron, for obvious reasons, and the last one would be RuPaul, in full drag.”

  Gareth strained his lips into a smile. “Okay, maybe something a little bit more for a creative mind. So, how would you hide a dead body?”

  “I’m sorry—what? Is there a dead body somewhere?”

  He chuckled. “Depends on if you wow me or not.”

  Blake thought on the topic for a moment. He’d watched Dexter, he’d seen Breaking Bad, but he never thought he’d have to answer for it.

  “Okay, okay, well, assuming I’m over my sight of blood and I have a lot of time on my hands, I would cut the body up into small pieces, then I’d wrap each piece in plastic and slowly dispose of it, like in bins around the area, probably not the same bin, and definitely nowhere near where I live.”

  Gareth tipped his head in a nod and smiled. “Not going to use the dissolve them in a vat of acid technique?”

  Blake shook his head. “I saw how well that panned out on Breaking Bad, I’d rather not.”

  “Okay, and final question, how will you control yourself around so many attractive models?”

  “I wouldn’t—I mean, I’d admire them, but that’s about it. I think I might swear off men, nothing good seems to come of it.”

  “Well, we wouldn’t want that to happen, but you’ll find yourself around men, sometimes in their underwear, sometimes naked.”

  He waved a hand at them. “I can control myself, I mean, I’ll have to. But, how hot are we talking, GQ hot, or Instagram model hot?”

  He laughed. “A mix, we’re all about equal opportunities.”

  “Great. More questions?”

  “That’s it, Blake. How does thirty a year sound?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Thirty is the highest we can go.”

  “Wait. That’s how much you’re offering me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Sure, I mean, I thought it’d be starting from the bottom, you know, submitting pieces, etc.”

  Gareth shook his head. “God no, you’re established. I’ll send for a full contract from HR, but we can offer you a two-page monthly spread, an office, thirty-thousand a year, a personal assistant, and a share in the online ad revenue.”

  “Why all of that?”

  “Because readers want you, Blake. And we’re a company that gives back. We’re not here to keep all the money, we’re here to give back to our employees, and we think they’re better for it.”

  Blake relaxed back in his chair, pressing a hand against his bag. “I brought a portfolio as well.”

  “Pssh. What do you need that for? We know what you can do, we’ve seen it online.”

  “And you said something about a personal assistant.”

  “You can choose, but you have a budget, or, we can hire someone for you, but usually we find if you’re friends with someone and they’re looking for work and you have a great relationship, we can trial it out, but we don’t encourage it, mainly because work can sometimes take a backseat with friends.”

  Blake nodded along to everything, his eyes brighter, the groggy feeling of despair, vanished from the frontal cortex of his mind. “Great. I think I have the perfect person in mind, she was my assistant at the previous place.”

  Gareth clapped his hands together. “So, it’s a done deal. When can you start?”

  He shrugged. “Whenever.”

  “We’ll let the ink dry first,” he chuckled. “Let’s say next week, we have to get your office fixed up and tell your readers about your new home.”

  He nodded. “I’ll tweet and post right now.”

  Gareth grabbed the receiver of his phone. “Maybe we’ll wait until after we’ve signed the contract.” He punched in three numbers on the keypad. “Lori, it’s Gareth, can you bring the paperwork for Blake.”

  Blake tried to listen in, but it was quiet on the opposite end.

  “Great. I’ll see you in five.” Gareth placed the receiver back. “So, just need to go over a few things, we can’t keep the same name of Ask Blake for the feature online or in the magazine, we’ll need to change it, and I’m thinking something along the lines of Blake’s Corner or Take a Blake.” He chuckled to himself. “I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

  Blake continued, nodding along like the dog in the bag of a car with a bobble head.

  Once Lori provided the documents, Gareth went over what was expected of Blake, but it wasn’t his first job, and they knew just as much. He signed away NDAs, mentioning he was strictly prohibited from mentioning any celebrities who walked through the door, unless told otherwise, and keeping everything under strict confidentiality, including salary, which was to be expected, nobody wanted to know how much anyone else was making, especially when it was more for the same job.

  “We’ll post about you joining the team, then feel free to do what you do.” Gareth stood and shook Blake’s hand once again.

  “Thank you.” Blake’s grasp of Gareth’s hand was firm. “I can’t thank you enough.”

  “And, you start on Monday. We’ll set up a company email etcetera but in the meantime, you can email me with your personal email, and if you have your previous assistant give us an email, or call into the reception, we’ll be happy to offer them the position.” He pulled a card from a stack on his desk. “My business card, email, office number, just in case you need anything.”

  “I didn’t think it would be like this, honestly, I thought I’d come out of here with you thinking about hiring me.”

  Gareth chuckled. “We already spoke with Vague, they said you had fire, and I’ll admit, they tried to turn us off on you, but we’d already made our mind up.”

  “Shit, really?”

  He nodded. “I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, or the dying, but they were on to something great then they announced cutting pages, more ad space, they’re a bit of a joke right now in the publishing world.”

  Blake hadn’t ventured. He was handed one job, and while he was collecting a wage at the end of every month, he didn’t care much for the industry he worked in, he wrote, and submitted to his editor on time, he did everything that was asked. He started out giving advice online, not trying to pursue a career in publishing.

  On the walk back to his apartment, he texted Dannika about getting the job, and she replied with several random emojis to express her excitement, and while his Twitter notifications blew up from the company, congratulating him on his new job, he texted Ava, telling her the news.

  “Blake!” she screamed.

  “Yeah?”

  “We can work together again?”

  “Yup. And they basically gave me the job on the spot.”

  “Holy crap. That’s amazing.”

  “So, are you going to come and work as my personal assistant?”

  “Duh! Of course. I’m basically a female, born in the body of a gay man, of course I’m going to come and work with you. Surrounded by all those gay men, duh, sound like heaven.”

  “Right. That’s what I thought.”

  “So, how much are you on?”

  “Thirty, a year!”

  “Better than here then.” She laughed.

  “I’m on my way home now, but once I’m home, I’ll send you all the information about what you need to do, and they said the job is yours. I mean, it’s closer to where you live as well, I think, the Millennium Quarter.”

  “Oh, alright.”

 
“Even if I didn’t get this, I could probably find myself back in one of those women’s weekly magazines.”

  Ava pretended to gag. “You’re better than that. Ugh, shit. Okay, I have to go.”

  “Ciao.”

  Blake paused on the spot and stared at the sky. A drizzle of rain scattered the cobbled walkway, reaching and hitting his face. The grey in the sky faded out into baby blue. He smiled, carrying the portfolio on his arm.

  A text came through on his phone from Chris. Congratulations on the job. I’m glad you were able to find something. We should go for coffee to celebrate.

  Followed by a text from Dannika. We’ll have to celebrate tonight. Manhattan?

  Yes! His reply was instant.

  NINETEEN

  Coffee with cream

  Manhattan was the perfect place to be if you were celebrating a birthday or a promotion. They were perfect for every occasion and for everyone, they had mocktails, for those who didn’t drink, or if you were with children, because during the day, Manhattan was a nice place to unwind, without a queue or people guarding the door, it was a great place to experience famed cocktails and soft jazz music.

  Blake invited a few select friends; Dannika and Ava, a school friend in the area, Jane and her boyfriend, Tim, and Wendy, Dannika’s friend from work. Mostly, when you grow up, you don’t seem to gain friends who stick around, people seem to leave you, to go off on their own and grow apart.

  “I’m buying the first round,” Dannika said, approaching the table on the second floor. They all sat around, clinking glasses. “We’re not only celebrating my baby, Blakey, as he got a new job, but also Ava, as she leaves Vague, and joins him.”

  They cheered and saluted, clinging glasses some more.

  Dannika coddled Blake’s head against her chest. “I can’t believe they just gave you a job like that.”

  He smiled. “Me either.” He stood and gave her a hug. “I’m going to go and check on the champagne. I told them I was celebrating.”

  She laughed. “Okay, if they do, make sure to bring enough glasses.”

  “Sure!” Blake skittered off down the stairs.

  At the bottom, like a reflection of a past, Chris stood looking at Blake, a wry smile on his face, there was something about him standing there that set Blake’s heart racing. He stopped midway before being pushed forward by people as they passed.

  “What do you want?” he asked, reaching the last step.

  Chris sighed. “A chance to talk.”

  “A chance to talk?” Blake scoffed. “No, I wanted to talk at the Christmas party.”

  Chris took Blake’s arm. “Well, let’s go somewhere private then.”

  Blake pulled away his arm. “No. I’m celebrating.”

  “I know, you didn’t reply.”

  He tssked his teeth together. “You’ve said you’re sorry before, now, I’m saying I’m sorry. A new start, a new year, can’t we both agree on that?”

  A man, equal in height to Chris approached them. He had an all-over crew cut hair and clean-shaven face, with a muscular body, almost ripping through his tight t-shirt. He looked Chris once over. “Is he bothering you?” he asked Blake,

  “Back off,” Chris said, scowling.

  “If the boy doesn’t want to be disturbed, I think you should leave.”

  “Right, whatever.” Chris sighed and left.

  Blake watched as Chris left, he made a side-eyed glance to the man. “I’m Blake,” he said, holding out his hand to shake it.

  “I’m Harry, and I’d like to buy you a drink.”

  Blake didn’t let it get that far, he pulled him in at his arm and attached his lips to Harry’s face, kissing them. They made out for several moments until Dannika tugged on his arms and pulled him away.

  “Did you get the champagne, or—” she looked at the tall beefcake of a man to her side. “Decided he was going to eat up all your time?”

  Blake grinned, but as he turned, he noticed Harry leave. “I was gonna get laid.” He jabbed Dannika’s arm gently.

  “You can get laid some other time, tonight we’re celebrating your new job, so you best celebrate with your friends.”

  “Fine, I will, you grab the champagne, I need to text someone.” He left her side without confirmation.

  Tomorrow. At the Italian place. He texted Chris.

  Great. Don’t bring your new boyfriend.

  He rolled his eyes at the comment. I won’t.

  2:35 P.M. the next day, Blake was late to meeting Chris for coffee. He stood outside the window and saw Chris sat with two cups at his table. He dipped his finger in the foam and licked it. Blake smiled to himself before walking in.

  He approached Chris and gave him a hug.

  “I didn’t think you’d come,” Chris said. “I’ve been stood up before.”

  “Nope, just late, as usual.”

  He gestured to the seat. “Well, I got us both lattes.”

  “Thanks.” Blake sat and stared across at Chris, he stared and smiled at him.

  Chris outstretched his hand and reached for Blake’s. They held hands for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling. “I’m sorry.” He squeezed gently.

  “What for?”

  “Everything, the way I was around you, and for telling you I thought you were immature, I didn’t mean it, really, I didn’t think.”

  Blake sipped the coffee, it was lukewarm. “I’m sorry for overreacting, being melodramatic, and I was being immature. I was going through some shit, and I kind of just tried to get away from it. I pushed you away.”

  “I rubbed it in your face that I was seeing my ex, on purpose,” he said, he stroked at the back of Blake’s hand. “And I realised some things, like, I’ve realised how everything I saw in you, I was afraid to be in myself.”

  “And it took you how long to figure that?” he laughed.

  “I didn’t mean to be a dick.”

  “Me either, I know I was horrible, but I’m going through some stuff, like, paying off credit cards bills and other debt, I had an ex who liked expensive things, and everything went on the card, so, when I lost my job, it was a hit to me.”

  “Shit, I didn’t realise.”

  “Nobody did.” He shrugged. “My own stupid fault really, for letting a guy spend my money.”

  Chris smiled. “Being a dick isn’t always the best, I know, but I guess letting someone into your life openly means letting your guard down.”

  “My guard is well and truly up now.”

  Chris leaned forward across the table, and Blake met him halfway. They kissed. The butterflies fought each other, and while the coffee shop wasn’t crowded, people watched and people saw what was happening.

  “I thought you ha—” Blake began, cut off by Chris as he pressed his lips against his once again, and again, kissing him quiet.

  “We don’t speak about that.”

  “But you—” Chris continued to kiss him.

  “I want to kiss you.”

  “Everyone’s watching.”

  “Let them.”

  It moved swiftly to Chris’ apartment. As they undressed each other in the elevator, dragging their clothes from each other. Chris only stopped briefly to open the front door. They threw their clothes across the floor and headed to the bedroom.

  Chris’ thick erection was released, pulsing and standing to attention as Blake laid back. it had been a while since he’d seen it, a while since he’d felt the warmth from the tip of his cock. He reached over Blake for a condom in his drawer.

  “Sex with you feels different,” Chris said, extending a hand across Blake’s body for his nipples.

  “Do you have a Blake-shaped hole inside you?”

  Chris pressed his teeth to Blake’s skin, softly biting him. “I missed your touch. The way your skin is perfectly soft.”

  Blake moaned. “I miss waking up to your dick digging me in the back.”

  “That can be arranged.” Chris worked his way up Blake’s body.

 
He pulled Chris to his face, where they stared with their noses touching. “If I do anything stupid again or act dramatic, punch me.”

  “Kinky.”

  “I’m being serious.”

  Chris kissed him. “I know. You self-destruct, a little time bomb.”

  Blake moved his head to nuzzle at Chris’ neck. “Don’t let go of me.”

  After sex, Blake’s favourite position was sleep, there was something soothing about the exercise of sex, followed by intimate snuggling, both naked and in each other’s arms, it was only natural the urge to sleep.

  “Do you need to be back at work?” Blake asked, turning his head to Chris as he snuggled his face into Blake’s back.

  “It can wait. Work will be there tomorrow.” He kissed.

  He turned his head and in the corner of Blake’s eye, he caught a picture frame. He hadn’t seen it before. He twisted the frame around on the bedside, and took a closer look; it was a picture of them together, Chris and Blake. Blake in Chris’ arms, looking up into Chris’ eyes.

  “When’s this from?”

  Chris looked over Blake’s shoulder and chuckled. “That’s from the secret Santa.”

  “I don’t even remember.”

  “Yeah, well, I had to grab it from Ava.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He tssked. “We kinda stopped speaking after that.”

  Blake nodded. “But you kept it up.”

  “I liked it, I mean, it was in the drawer for a few weeks, but I figured, it’d give me something pretty to look at.” He kissed Blake’s neck again. “Now, I’ve got the real deal.”

  Blake turned his head to kiss Chris. “You’re so sweet.”

  “You know, it’s hard for me, expressing myself, and being all touchy feely with anyone, but.”

  “But?”

  “But with you, I don’t know, it comes easy. Like, you’re bringing it right out of me, and I love that, in fact, it’s what I want, I want you to be different, I don’t need someone who’s the same as me, someone who likes everything I like, I realised that’s boring. I need someone who keeps me in check, someone who tells it like it is.”

  Blake snuggled his back against Chris’ dick. “I can do that.”

  “And someone who doesn’t only eat kale.”