by Rachel Kane
Dalton tried so hard to break out of that, to be real, but it was hard, when everyone around you changed their tones and appearance to please you. The worst part of this great wealth wasn’t the taxes, it was the way people wouldn’t be honest around you…and the way you couldn’t be honest around them.
One thing was clear: Noah and his friends didn’t understand what they had here. They didn’t understand the money it would take to run the place…the money it would take to attract men like Dalton to stay here.
You’ve got stars in your eyes, kid, but the world is colder than you realize.
“Not to burst anyone’s bubble,” he said, “but there must be a story here, if your town council won’t sign off on this project. What’s the catch? What’s the problem?”
Noah gasped with frustration, and Dalton thought it was the first honest sound he’d heard out of the man since he’d gotten here.
“There are…certain…people, in this town, who…” He pressed his lips together until they were a white, angry line.
Interesting.
Liam put his hand on Noah’s arm, as though to steady him.
“One thing we didn’t anticipate,” said Liam, the voice of reason, “was running into small-town politics. There are some personalities here—”
“Homophobia isn’t a personality,” muttered Noah, almost too quietly to hear. Liam tightened his grip on his arm.
“Some personalities that have old-fashioned ideas, that don’t support us. The Superbia Beautification League in particular.”
Colby snorted. “Beautification League? What the hell kind of Mayberry did you drag me to, Dalton?”
“I’m sure we can work it out,” said Dalton. “It’s obvious you’ve done a lot of work on the place…and there’s still plenty left to do.”
Except those words were as hollow as Noah’s marketing-speak had been.
Because now that he had seen the spring-house, he understood in full the thought that had occurred to him back on the stairs.
This would be a perfect gift for Dad.
It would get him out of those doldrums he has been in since the surgery.
I could deliver this house to him wrapped up in a pretty red bow.
Sorry, guys. You don’t realize it yet, but this house will be mine.
5
Noah
He should have known that things were going too well. Hadn’t life taught him over and over that the minute you get comfortable, the minute you let your guard down, that’s when you get trapped?
But no. There was something about the aura of wealth and ease around Dalton that let Noah drop his guard.
“We got an application for a tavern once,” the billionaire was saying. “Dated from the early 1800s, needed a ton of restoration, but you could see the potential. I was on the fence. It was going to take a good bit of work to get it museum-quality. But you have to know Dad. Once he gets an idea in his head, he won’t let it go. So we approved the grant. Six months later, we get the news, the project has been shut down. Someone in the county thought that a restored tavern would be a bad influence on the kids. Said it would send the wrong message. We sent in the lawyers, but the judge was married to someone on the zoning commission, and we got slapped down. All that money, all that effort, for nothing. The place ended up being bulldozed for an office park. Dad yelled for a month.”
His strange green eyes lit up when he told the story. He was only a few years older than Noah, but he had laugh-lines around his eyes.
If you’re rich, apparently it’s okay to have lines. The moment a crow’s foot appeared on Noah, he would go into retirement.
Are you really just going to sit here silently and let them do all the talking?
Maybe?
Noah had never been the shy one of their circle. If anything, he was the sociable one, the one always poking his nose in where it didn’t belong. That’s why they’d given him the job of speaking before the town council, because he was so good at people.
So why, when there was a billionaire literally across the table from him, was he unable to join the conversation? His mouth was as dry as it had been right before his speech the other night.
The guy made him nervous. Maybe it was his eyes, the way they studied and searched and seemed to penetrate into everyone’s deepest secrets. Maybe it was the way he lounged in the chair, as though everything in the room belonged to him.
Maybe it’s the billions of dollars.
He had to cut in to the conversation. He’d never forgive himself if he didn’t. What was the use of being Outreach Director if you didn’t…reach out?
“That’s exactly our problem!” he blurted. “We’re a bad influence. This mean old biddy, Violet Mulgrew, wants the whole town to be as straight and boring as her.”
Yes, he noticed the slight tick of Dalton’s eyebrow when he said straight.
We’re communicating here, right? You see what I’m saying? You’re rich and beautiful, I’m single and enjoy men who can supply fine liquors and clothes…
“Wait, you’re opening a gay resort?” asked Colby.
Colby should have been attractive, with all that scowling and disapproval. But there was something too petulant in the set of his mouth, something about the way his dark-eyed gaze scuttled around, like being judged by a particularly wealthy beetle. He’d already made up his mind about this place, and wanted everyone to hear his opinion.
But Dalton? Dalton was the opposite. He wasn’t judging. He was genuinely interested. He seemed interested in everything. “Now that’s something you didn’t put on the application,” he said with a grin.
“It’s bad enough you’re asking for charity for what is essentially a business,” Colby continued, “when you could’ve gotten a loan, or investors, but now you’re telling us that this is just going to be a big gay sex hotel? That’s what you want our money for? A…a brothel?”
Why does everyone think we’re opening a brothel?
“It’s not a gay resort,” said Liam, glaring at Noah for having brought it up. “It’s open to everyone.”
“So a bi resort,” suggested Dalton, his eyes still not leaving Noah.
“It’ll be pan-tastic,” said Noah.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” muttered Colby.
“It’s not the resort itself that the council objects to,” said Noah. “It’s us. Like that judge you were talking about, married to someone on the zoning commission. That’s how it is here. Everyone knows everyone. And if you cross the wrong people…”
“You’ll have to tell me more about these people,” said Dalton.
“Gladly,” said Noah.
Wait…did you just ask me out?
No, of course not. That was silly. Just because someone mentions a conversation that could happen in the future, doesn’t mean they’re asking you out.
But…interesting.
Back in Atlanta, he’d been in a dating rut. Anyone who looked like Noah naturally attracted a certain kind of guy. A guy who thought what you wanted was to be bought, to be showered in gifts. Not that Noah had anything against gifts, but their casual assumption that all he cared about was jewelry and clothes always ended up rankling him. He’d try to talk about anything deeper, and they just wouldn’t care, they’d stare at him like he was speaking a foreign language. Why don’t you quit worrying, and let me take you out to dinner.
Guys like that were only interested in one thing: Control. And they all saw Noah as someone it was easy to control. Gifts if he was docile and good, anger if he talked back.
Would someone like Dalton be any different?
Life was complicated.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to work it out,” insisted Liam. “The Mulgrews and the Coopers have had some…tension…for several generations.”
“Christ, a feud,” said Colby. “You’re talking about a damned redneck feud. Shootin’ irons and whiskey stills. Dalton, will you please let us escape from here?”
“I have a suggestion,” said Dal
ton. “One that I think will make everyone in the room happy. One that will bypass the Mulgrews, the approvals, the paperwork.”
All three of them, Noah, Liam and Judah, leaned forward to hear. “We’re listening,” Noah said.
“Look, the thing you need to know is, my father is in poor health. He’s given the day-to-day running of the company over to me and my brother, while he convalesces after his surgery.”
Colby’s scowl grew even deeper as he glared at his brother. Noah sensed this wasn’t a topic Colby thought strangers should hear about.
“Does that complicate the foundation’s approval process, or…?” Liam asked.
“He would love this house. It’s everything he likes best about architecture, it’s big, it’s daring, it has a long history.”
“He’s welcome to visit,” said Noah.
“What if I made you an offer on the place?”
Every sound ceased, every molecule of air stood still.
Dalton looked from man to man. “I know, it may come as a surprise. But I’m serious. Let me buy this house. I’ll handle the repairs and restorations, and then my father can spend his recovery time here.”
Colby’s face broke into a smile for the first time since they’d arrived. “Now you’re talking.”
“I’m…I’m sorry, buy the house?” asked Noah.
“But it’s not for sale,” said Liam.
“It’s ours,” said Judah.
“I’m prepared to start the process today,” Dalton said. “I will write you a check for a generous deposit right now.”
Noah looked around in a panic. This wasn’t just unexpected…it was the most terrible possible news.
Liam had grown pale. Judah’s eyes were as wide as his open mouth. The two brothers were in shock.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” said Noah. “We really aren’t interested in selling.”
Now Dalton cocked an eyebrow at him. “Does the house belong to you, Mr. Turnstock?”
“Well, no, technically it’s Liam’s—”
“Then I’m afraid this part of the conversation is not directed at you. Liam, Judah, should we speak in private?”
“What a bastard!” said Noah.
He threw off his suit jacket, letting it land in a heap on the floor. “Self-absorbed son of a bitch!”
Judah watched from the doorway. “Self-absorbed?”
“Look, you have no experience with men. That…that…dick, was judging us the whole time! Judging me! Surely you saw that.” The tie landed next to the pants, the shirt falling softly to cover the tie. He dug through his closet. He needed to get as far away from business-wear as possible. Something with flowers, something gaudy and bright and full of life. He grabbed a silky top, his black lace shrug, and the tightest leather pants he owned, the ones that hung low on the hips, the one that made the boys at the bar look up when he walked by. “To think, I gave him my entire tour speech, treated him like an honored guest, and all along he just wanted to buy the place? That’s all he cared about?”
“It’s weird to me that you’re angry about it. It’s not your house.”
Noah inhaled, buttoning the pants. God, they fit him like skin. He looked at himself in the mirror. This was how he should’ve dressed. That would’ve shown Mr. Dalton Raines what kind of guy he was dealing with. “Not my house? Not my house? Judah, I gave up everything to come down here and work on this place with you and Liam. I gave up my job, my apartment, a horde of admiring men, all so I could be part of Superbia Springs. Not my house? You’re as bad as him!”
Judah held up his hands in surrender. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. We’re as surprised as you are. And, just so you know, Liam’s calling a family meeting.”
“Oh, sure, a family meeting. Have fun there without me, just you and your family. Never mind the sacrifices I’ve made!”
His best friend rolled his eyes. “I’m telling you, because you’re family. You’re supposed to come to the meeting. Quit being so angry.”
“God, haven’t we done enough for one day? I want to get over to Toady’s and drink.”
“It’s not even noon.”
“Day-drinking is a perfectly valid response to stress, Judah. I’d think the Great Mimosa Adventure of 2018 would’ve taught you that.”
“I still have a headache, two years later. Would you just finish putting your…your…sex-pants on, and get downstairs?”
“Oh hell, you are in a mood,” said Liam, when he saw Noah descend the stairs in his full glory.
“First of all—”
“You always know it’s going to be bad when he has to make a numbered list,” said Mason, Liam’s fiancé. The big handyman was holding Liam’s daughter Roo, but the minute she saw Noah her face broke into a huge smile and she put her chubby arms out for him.
“No’h!” she laughed.
“Lord, boy, how do you breathe in those trousers?” said Mrs. Cooper, Liam and Judah’s mom. She was by the broad window overlooking the drive; the noonday sun was playing off the water jetting up from the fountain in the center of the driveway circle. The place might not be running yet, but Liam had been insistent they get the waterworks in order for their guests.
“I’ll breathe when I’m dead, Mrs. C.” He stopped to give her a kiss on the cheek, then went over to his favorite chair, the big Louis XIV-style seat with the golden upholstery, totally out of place with the Deco lines of the room, but so nice to sink into…and the arms gave Roo something to perch on while she played with his hair. “So I have to assume we’re meeting about that absolute disaster from earlier.”
Liam nodded. “I don’t think any of us expected a visit from the actual Raines family today. Not that we could have prepared any better than we did. Mason, you should’ve seen their eyes light up when we showed them the spring-house. I think it made a good impression.”
“Good impression?” interrupted Noah. “Liam, they want to buy the house!”
His friend sighed. “We’re all aware. Thanks.”
He looked from person to person. “We’re going to refuse them, right? We’re not going to sell?”
Liam bit his lip. Oh no. “Here’s the thing.”
“No way. You can’t. Not after all the work you’ve done here!”
“Mr. Raines named the price, after you left.”
“After I was kicked out of the meeting for not being a blood relative, you mean.”
“It was…substantial.”
“No, Liam. No matter how much he offered, it’s not enough.”
Judah cleared his throat. “You didn’t hear the offer. It’s… We’d almost be millionaires.”
“What did you tell him?” asked Noah, with a rising sense of dread.
“Nothing,” said Liam. “I’m not making any decisions on this by myself. All of you are part of this. All of you have a say. This is my family’s house, it has been in my family for generations. You get a vote.”
“How can we even be talking about this?” asked Judah. “It’s so much money! More money than any of us have ever seen!”
“Money’s not the only thing that matters in life,” said Mason. “Besides, you’ll make plenty of money once this place opens.”
“If it opens,” said Judah. “Assuming Violet Mulgrew doesn’t shut us down forever. Assuming we do a good enough job marketing, to get people to stay here. Assuming there isn’t a natural disaster that keeps people from taking vacations. I mean, there are a lot of assumptions, people! So on the one hand, you’ve got all this risk, and on the other, you’ve got a big fat check with Dalton Raines’ signature on it! Isn’t it obvious what we should do? Noah, come on, back me up on this.”
Everyone turned to look at Noah.
It was as bad as the town council meeting. He wasn’t used to people counting on him. Wasn’t used to responsibility.
Besides, it was hard to untangle his confused feelings about the whole thing. Dalton Raines had had him eating out of his hand, up until he’d kicked him o
ut of the conversation. That still stung. It had a whole go away and let the grown-ups talk feeling. As though it was fine for Noah to be around when they were making little quips about the queerness of the place, but once money came into the conversation, it was time for all the twinks to go to bed, so the adults could do business.
Who did he think he was, casting Noah out like that?
And it had bothered him how easily Judah and Liam had agreed. His two best friends, the friends he’d abandoned his entire life to help.
Nobody kicked that fucking Colby out of the room. Even Roo was more mature than that ass, with his stupid pout and his grumpiness that he had to sit in a fucking glorious mansion instead of being back at work.
All the while, Dalton had been looking at him with those strange eyes. Had Noah fooled himself into thinking there had been a little sliver of humanity in those eyes? Impossible. Men like that didn’t have any humanity.
“We came here with a purpose, a dream,” Noah said. “Right? Every one of us stepped into this house and thought, This is where I want to be. We all felt it. It’s like the place had been sitting empty so long, it was desperate for people, and it chose us. For you guys, for Mrs. Cooper, it was like having a piece of your dad back. For Mason, it was getting involved in part of his hometown’s deep, complicated history. For me…”
That was the hard part.
Everyone assumed that Noah was just along for the ride. That he’d had nothing particularly keeping him back in Atlanta. A shallow life of clubs and men and shopping.
Even his best friends didn’t understand.
“What does this place mean to you?” asked Liam, his eyes searching Noah’s face.
But it wasn’t something he could put into words, not with everyone watching, not with everyone listening.
“You can’t sell it,” he said finally. “You can’t. Liam, you understand that, right? I know you do.”
Liam nodded, but it was impossible to miss the worry that tightened his features. “Here’s the problem. If we don’t sell, it’s not like we can go back to the Raines Foundation and ask for that grant money. It’s off the table now.”