A Rumored Affair

by Lyn, Viki

  Graham smoothed down Chris’s curls and kissed him. “I love how you taste. I love you.”

  A direct hit to the heart.

  Oh, my God.

  How could Graham say such a thing? They hadn’t known each other that long. He liked Graham. A lot. But love? He opened his mouth but no words came out. Speechless after Graham’s confession, he didn’t know how to answer.

  “Ah, that blurted out.” Graham hesitated. “But I think I mean it.”

  “Graham, I can’t say—”

  “I don’t expect you to say it back.”

  “What am I supposed to do with that?” His anxiety rose. “I like you, but—”

  “Don’t freak out. It’s okay.”

  Chris would miss Graham, but they were not destined for each other, not with hundreds of reasons why they would never work out as a couple. “I feel bad now.”

  “I know. I pressured you and that wasn’t fair.” Graham slipped a towel around Chris’s shoulders. “Let’s enjoy the rest of the time we have left.”

  What they shared had taught Chris that a relationship was possible and something worth pursuing. Having a man in his life made his days all that much better. Graham just couldn’t be that man. Chris sealed up his feelings for Graham and kissed his lover, making the kiss last.

  16

  Chris saw Honda’s name on his phone screen and answered the call. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “We have a problem. I got an alert that there are tweets going out about Secretus. And they are not pretty. Are you at your computer?”

  “Yeah, hold on a sec.” The acid in his stomach roiled at the worried tone in Honda’s voice. Secretus was usually under the social-media radar, and Honda said the tweets were troubling.

  When Chris typed in #Secretus in the Twitter search menu, several tweets popped on the screen. A few had images were attached. The photos were taken at night, shadowy images of the guests and resort grounds, and even the perimeter of the fence. The photos made the resort look like a guarded prison. The tweets were even worse.

  #Secretus Resort for those who crave boys for hire? Read story here. @Gossipy!

  #Secretus special valet service for guests. Read story here. @Gossipy!

  Secrets at #Secretus. What’s going on? Read story here. @Gossipy!

  No fucking way. The fact that the tweets were from Gossipy! knotted his stomach. He refused to believe that Graham was behind these vicious lies. The man he knew was kind, not malicious. Even Graham would not stoop to this level for business. But Graham staying at Secretus when the tweets hit the media stream was more than a coincidence.

  Chris pressed the link to the magazine’s website. The article quoted a section from the Secretus brochure that explained the personal valet services entitled to each guest. Out of context, it sounded dirty and perverted. Like each guest had his callboy. The article used the term “boys” for the staff, making it seem like the valets were underage.

  The thought of a social-media blitz that would paint Secretus as some gay brothel or sex for hire made him ill. He knew how it might look to an outsider, with the resort’s private valets and nude beaches and hot springs. Pete and Bob had insisted on limited Internet access, but in this age of technology, it was near to impossible to keep out of any media buzz.

  “Chris? Are you still there?” Honda’s worried voice snagged Chris’s attention. “Are you okay?”

  “Besides wanting to puke? Can this be pulled?”

  “Not the tweets, but the article can be taken off. Have your lawyer contact Gossipy!. Scream bloody murder if you have to. Slander or libel, always forget which is which. Better yet, ask your lover boy to call off the dogs.”

  Chris flinched at Honda’s reference to Graham. “Those pictures were taken recently. We had a power outage, and a guest named Tom Rance was snooping around, taking pictures. He left the next day. Graham had never heard of him, but he could have been working for Gossipy!.”

  The phone lit up with Josh’s name identified on the second line. “I better take this call. Find out all you can. I need to know who’s behind this. And why.” Chris connected to Josh’s line. “Hey, what’s up?”

  Josh sounded anxious. “I’ve had a rash of cancellations.”

  “You better come over. I have something to show you.”

  Helplessness shot through Chris—the same feeling when he’d faced the burning house and realized he had no way to save his dads. Secretus would go down in flames if he couldn’t douse the media firestorm. The tweets were aimed at tarnishing Secretus’s reputation, but why was the resort suddenly on Gossipy!’s radar? Chris couldn’t shake the dreadful feeling that somehow Graham was inadvertently involved.

  Chris took in full breaths to ease the anxiety tightening his stomach into a gnarly knot. Now wasn’t the time to lose control. If he had any chance of salvaging this mess, he had to keep a cool head. At least none of the guests were exposed or mentioned in the article. Which in a way was strange. He’d thought Gossipy!’s reporter would be all over the celebs.

  Josh rushed into the office, the screen door banging behind him. “It’s been one hellacious morning.” After he had dragged a chair next to Chris, he sat and ran his thumb across his lower lip. “Tell me. What’s going on?”

  “Look at this.” It sickened Chris to reread the tweets. “The only good news is you can’t make out any of the guests in these photos.”

  Josh’s face looked as if he’d bitten into a sour lemon. “This sounds like we’re running a male brothel, not a hotel. How can they get away with this shit? And what are we going to do about it?”

  “Any of the guests checking out?”

  “Not yet, but that could change.”

  “We are not going let Gossipy! get away with this,” Chris said as he punched in his lawyer’s number on his phone. “Do your best at the front desk and warn the staff. We’ll meet in an hour. That will give me time to call my lawyer and talk with Graham.”

  “You think he’s involved?”

  “His company owns Gossipy!. But this was done without his knowledge.”

  Josh nodded, and didn’t say anything more, but he didn’t look convinced.

  “I know him, Josh. He wouldn’t hurt me like this.” Chris truly believed Graham had a good heart. The days he’d spent with him had been some of the best. He hadn’t been this happy since his dads’ deaths, and this was Graham’s doing. Convinced Graham would never smear Secretus’s reputation, he wasn’t going to throw his lover under the bus without knowing the facts.

  Josh went to the door. “I hope he can get this article removed faster than our lawyer. Winter’s ultimately responsible for Gossipy! since he’s the man at the top.”

  Chris’s stomach flared at the reminder that others would accuse Graham before he could prove his lover’s innocent.

  When Josh left, Chris called his lawyer and made arrangements for a meeting. As he set his phone down, Graham appeared at the office door dressed in shorts and a worn T-shirt. By the relaxed look on his face, Chris figured he had no clue what was transpiring across cyberspace.

  “Do you want to go for a run? It’s almost ten.” Graham frowned. “Hey, you look white as a ghost. Are you feeling okay?”

  “There’s something I need to show you. It’s not good.” Chris turned the laptop toward Graham so he could read the screen.

  All color drained from Graham’s face. He lowered the lid of the laptop. “I had no idea that you were on their radar.” Tentatively he touched Chris’s arm as if he expected Chris to swat his hand away. “You know I have nothing to do with this, right?”

  The shock in Graham’s voice was real, and Chris cradled Graham’s hand in solidarity. “Yeah, I do. These tweets link to an article on their website. Can you have it pulled?”

  “I’ll get right on it.”

  Graham rose to leave, but Chris pulled him back down. “There’s something else I want to ask you. Do you have any idea why Gossipy! targeted Secretus? I can’t believe it’s a coin
cidence that this happened while you’re staying here.”

  “I understand your reasoning, but I don’t see how this has anything to do with me.” Panic strained Graham’s voice. “Have I been mentioned?”

  “No, no. Go ahead and use my office phone.” Chris gave his seat to Graham. “I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got to inform my staff so they can handle any complaints or questions from our guests.”

  “Believe me, Chris, I’ll set this right. Whatever I can do. I take full responsibility for Gossipy!’s actions.”

  Chris kissed the top of Graham’s head. The familiar smell of shampoo made his heart spasm. He cared so much for this guy. “Thank you. Your support means a lot to me.”

  Before Chris could step away, Graham pulled him in for a kiss. Not hungry but slow. Gentle but no less enjoyable, and Chris understood this was a kiss asking for forgiveness.

  The first to pull back, Chris felt he had to say something. “I know you had nothing to do with this, but you must see how this got personal.”

  Graham frowned at the phone then set his gaze on Chris. Those green eyes held an emotional fervor he had never seen before.

  “The editor is going to hear from me,” Graham said. “I’ll find out who is behind this. And I will put a stop to it.”

  While Chris’s lawyer was writing up a cease-and-desist order, if Graham pulled rank, he could force Gossipy! to retract the article faster than the court.

  “Thank you.” Chris pointed toward the door. “I better get going. Everyone is waiting.”

  “I’ll do everything in my power to fix this. I promise.”

  With a quick kiss to Graham’s cheek, he said his goodbye. The staff was waiting for him in the conference room.

  Chris hurried down the footpath thinking about how Graham would turn a negative situation to his advantage. Knowing this gave Chris the courage to face this fuck-up head-on, without apology. Secretus would not come to ruin under his watch.

  17

  Graham had never been so scared in his life. He watched Chris leave the office afraid this would be the last time they would kiss, because what if he was inadvertently the cause of these tweets? He had a sinking feeling Chris was right. The Twitter attack while he was staying at Secretus was no coincidence.

  While his father would have turned away from the issue and let Secretus drown under the media storm, he wasn’t his father. He might wear the same suits, and live the same East Coast lifestyle, but damn, he was tired of the charade. Tired of living a lie in order to please a bunch of neo-conservative relatives who hadn’t supported him in the first place.

  Graham took out his phone and called Jillian. “I need the number of the editor for Gossipy!. Jordan Sebastian.” Graham told Jillian about the tweets. “Make it fast. Please.”

  Never trust a man with two first names. That was a running joke in his family, and now it proved to be true.

  “Appreciate the please.” She chuckled. “Hang on.”

  Placed on hold, Graham searched for a pen and notepaper. He tapped the ballpoint on the surface of the desk as he waited.

  “Found it. Here’s the number,” she said.

  Graham wrote down the number and underlined it in bold strokes. “Another thing. Have you heard any rumors about Freedom Press?”

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “I can’t believe this is a coincidence. I’m staying at a gay resort that is now knee-deep in a media storm. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

  “Coincidences happen, Graham. You’re being paranoid, but I’ll check around. What are you going to do?”

  “Let Gossipy! burn.”

  Her voice squeaked, “It’s because of that owner. You like him.”

  “Jillian.” Graham drew out her name as a warning.

  “Fine. But I’ll squeeze it out of you when you return.”

  To his relief, she dropped the subject. He wasn’t ready to spill about Chris and this wonderfully crazy but scary feeling he had for the guy—especially since said guy wanted nothing to do with a long-term arrangement.

  They hung up, and Graham was ready to call the editor when Chris rushed in. He must have run from the lobby because he was panting and tension radiated off him.

  “I’m not going to like this, am I,” Graham said. Suddenly his guilt that he was somehow to blame for all of this shit was coming true.

  Chris shoved his phone in front of Graham. He kept his hand on Graham’s shoulder. Graham could feel Chris trembling. As the tweet came up on the screen, all of his blood rushed down to his feet. He could barely breathe while karma came crashing down on him.

  Chris lowered his voice. “I’m so sorry.”

  Hey #FreedomPress is #Secretus special guest #WinterMedia CEO gay?

  #Secretus owner and #WinterMedia in bed together? What other secrets is he hiding?

  The pictures attached to the tweets left no doubt who was kissing Chris. A few shots showed them at Secretus and another at Nepenthe. The thought that a sleazy journalist had cataloged his romance with Chris made him seethe. “Fuck, someone outed me.”

  “My bet is on Tom Rance.” Chris sat on the edge of the desk and massaged Graham’s back. “Someone wants to ruin you. And I’m accused of running a brothel of underage boys. I wouldn’t be surprised if the FBI comes calling on my doorstep.”

  “What a fuck-up,” Graham said harshly.

  Chris gently squeezed Graham’s hand, and the gesture of comfort almost unhinged him. Despite the blaze behind Chris’s eyes, the anger was not aimed at him.

  Graham was shivering, and it had nothing to do with the temperature. Fate had a way of hitting him over the head with a sledgehammer, forcing him to look at the choices he’d made. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Looks like someone wants to stop the purchase of Freedom Press and hurt me in the process. You got caught in the mess. Sorry doesn’t cut it. I have to fix this.”

  “Stand up,” Chris ordered.

  Slowly, Graham did as asked, trying desperately to read his lover’s expression when he found himself engulfed in a hug. Graham buried his head in Chris’s shoulder, dizzy with relief. The sickening ache in his chest eased a bit.

  “Don’t leave me.” God, he sounded pathetic.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I live here.”

  Chris’s teasing voice made him laugh. “I feel better already.”

  “Glad to be of service.”

  Graham stepped out of Chris’s arms, feeling slightly relieved about being outed. The burden of living a lie was over. It also helped knowing he had Chris’s support.

  “I’m calling that son-of-a-bitch editor.” Graham couldn’t wait to rip into Jordan Sebastian.

  “I’d hate to be on the other end of that call.” Chris bit his lip. “Ah, my lawyer is going to be here soon. I’ll be in the conference room off the main lobby. Come and find me when you’re done. You can tell us what you find out. We’ll help out any way we can.”

  “Why are you so nice about this? I allowed Gossipy! to exploit you. Social bullying is what you called it. Dammit, Chris, it makes me sick to be a part of that.”

  “And that’s why I can’t be angry at you. You didn’t make excuses or back down from taking responsibility for their actions. To be outed in this dirty way makes you a victim as well. And…” Chris looked down at his hands.

  Graham’s heart lodged in his throat. “And what?”

  Please, please, Chris, say the words.

  Chris tugged at the hem of his shirt. “And, well, I care for you.”

  Even with shit raining down on Graham, happiness found a crack in his bruised heart. He held Chris by the waist and nuzzled Chris’s earlobe. “I love you. I don’t want what we have to end. What do you say?”

  There was hope when Chris hugged him back.

  Chris rested his forehead on Graham’s shoulder, and after a kiss to his neck, Chris lifted his head. “Let’s discuss this when things die down. You’ll need to leave soon.”

  “As soon as I can book a flight.
” Graham shook his head. “Freedom Press probably wants my dick on a plate for lying to them.”

  “Not lying, actually, but hiding, yeah.” Something that looked like pain passed through Chris’s eyes. He patted Graham’s chest. “Better make your call. Come and find me afterward.” Chris hesitated at the door. “You sure you’re okay? Want me to stay? I can hold your hand.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Graham said, able to laugh again. “You have things to do. I’m a little shell-shocked, but a part of me is glad to end the charade. Before coming here, I hadn’t realized how much I’ve changed. I was someone I didn’t like very much.”

  “Well, I like you. And even more now,” Chris said, with a bright smile.

  God, that smiled slayed Graham. He loved Chris, no doubt about that but alone with his thoughts was never a good thing for him. Chris said nothing about staying together. He’d avoided the question altogether.

  Did this mean Chris didn’t want a long-distance relationship? Now that Graham was out of the closet, would Chris reconsider? What if being out wasn’t enough for Chris?

  Graham sank into the chair. Now that he didn’t have to hide his sexuality, he felt free, despite the ramifications that faced him. Coming to Secretus had transformed him. He hadn’t realized how much his old life was hurting his heart until he’d met Chris. By hiding his sexuality, he hadn’t been fair to himself, or the people he loved, or helped his community in a positive way.

  He had some critical decisions to make that would change the course of his career. More than anything, he wanted Chris in his life. First, Jordan Sebastian had to be dealt with, and then after that, he would fly home and confront Freedom Press and his family. Once he dealt with all that shit, then he would convince Chris they belonged together.

  18

  Most of Graham’s bags were packed and sitting by the front door for his early morning departure. The afternoon flight time out of San Francisco gave Chris one more night with Graham. While Chris understood Graham’s need to go home, this didn’t make his leaving any easier.