Saddled, chapter 24 (Patreon)

I woke up this morning and thought... WHOA! Absolutely no one has commented on the new chapter.  Damn, and I thought it was good. So I logged in to reread it and see why it was so unpopular, and I realized I hadn't posted it.  Some days.  Sigh....

The door chimed a second time. What hotel room had a doorbell? John jerked it open, irrationally annoyed by the excess. Logan stood on the other side holding a shoebox. “Do I want to know why you needed shoes?” he asked as he pushed past John into the suite.

“Because I only brought the one pair down from Maine and they had evidence all over them or something.” The ‘or something’ part of that was the only honest bit, but John didn’t feel any need to confide in Logan. So he headed to the smaller sitting room on the left. Logan had gone to the right, but he reversed course and followed John. The late afternoon sun came in at a sharp slant from just one window, leaving most of the east-facing windows in shade.

“What happened last night?”

John shrugged. “A woman, a shitty date who turned out to be a violent shitty date, and then a lot of shit.”

“Well that clears it right up.” Logan threw himself at the couch opposite John’s. 

“I’m not going to compromise any legal case by gossiping about stuff that’s not any of your business.” John pulled out the shoes and grimaced. The tie-up loafers were the opposite of anything John would ever wear. When he looked up, Logan smirked at him.

“They’re your size.” Logan’s amusement grated at John’s nerves, but he had to remind himself that Logan had no idea what a bad night John had. Five hours of sleep had not done much to improve it, either, but he wanted to his mom.

The advantage of being a whore was that John knew exactly how the high-end hotels worked. Reaching over, he picked up the phone and rang the front desk. Since he was calling from one of the best suites, he wasn’t surprised when a man with a calm and cultured voice answered after one ring.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“I need a pair of size eleven men’s work books. Carhartt Storm Defender rubber outsole, Cabela’s Roughneck boots, or Wolverine Safety boots,” he added to make sure he didn’t get some three thousand dollar gold engraved version of a work boot that some stupid boutique produced.

“Of course, sir. When do you need them?”

“Tomorrow is fine. Leave them in my room.”

“Of course. Would you like to order dinner?”

“I’m going out, thank you.” John hung up before the concierge could get around to offering anything else. John frowned. A concierge was someone who needed a lot of services. It was possible that Elena wasn’t paying for the room at all, but just playing a game of I’ll wash your back if you wash mine. It still meant she was using up favors to assuage her guilt. He pushed those thoughts aside. Not his circus, not his monkeys. And clearly not his choice.

Logan was not staring at John open-mouthed. John gave him a knowing smirk. “I’m sure these shoes will be fine for the day.” He put them on and tied them as tight as he could. They still felt like slippers. They also looked stupid with his canvas work pants, but he didn’t actually care about that.

Logan shook his head. “Okay, bigger question. How the hell do you afford the Imperial suite?”

“I don’t.”

“Right. Your boyfriend.” Logan’s smirk grew larger.

John’s kneejerk reaction made him blurt out, “He’s not a boyfriend!” He could have slapped himself stupid for saying that.

Logan appeared amused. “Sugar daddy, then?”

John schooled his features into his most fearsome scowl. Prep school kids on his boat had seriously considered jumping overboard and swimming two miles back to shore when faced with his expression. Logan’s smirk grew wider.

“Come on. You can’t expect me to give up the chance for a little fun here. After all, you were dating Clive fucking Davidson, and you never opened your mouth. I mean, I know you’re an emotionally and verbally constipated bastard, but that’s taking it a little far.”

“We are not discussing Clive.” John nearly choked on the name, but after reading Davidson’s notes from the meeting, it was clear that John would have to play along if he wanted to avoid making Logan suspicious. If Logan found out that John was a prostitute, that was only one short jump to their mother finding out. John would kill himself first.

“I can’t believe you’re fucking Clive Davidson.” Logan leaned back and shook his head at the universe.

“I don’t,” John said.

“What, you two are celibate gays?”

John crossed his arms. “I’m not the one that fucks him,” John said with his sweetest smile. Sure enough, Logan started turning red. The man wanted to play the shameless hussy, but John had always been able to embarrass him into silence rather easily.

“TMI. TMI!” Logan dramatically clapped his hands over his ears.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Too much information, as in I really don’t ever want to think about your sexual preferences.”

“Then don’t go assuming what they are.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Is this part two of the bi-erasure lecture because Mr. Davidson already gave me that one. I can’t believe Clive Davidson chewed me out for being a shitty gay man. And you know I’m a director. Why didn’t you ever tell me you knew Clive Davidson?

“Because it’s not any of your business? That would be one guess.” John walked a small circle to try out the footwear. He hated them.

“You just didn’t want me to know you have a sugar daddy.”

John whirled around and glared at Logan. “Enough!”

Logan threw his hands up in surrender. “Fine. Sheesh. Clearly he’s not a sugar daddy so you can chill out. It’s not like anyone would pay to nail that old ass of yours.”

John clenched his teeth and bit back every angry word that wanted to come out of his mouth. Proving Logan wrong by admitting people paid very well for John’s ass would not be the smart move. It would feel good, though.

Logan’s mirth vanished, and he frowned. “Hey, come on. I’m joking. Clearly you two are good for each other, and a sugar daddy would not get up in the middle of the night because you got caught up in something stupid with the police. A sugar daddy definitely wouldn’t deal with annoying family issues, and I’m pretty sure I annoyed him.” Logan grimaced and then shrugged. “Whatever. But you know how the old saying goes. People don’t pay prostitutes for sex. They pay them to go away in the morning. Your Clive appears to still be there in the morning, so…” 

John definitely did not want to have this conversation. He understood Clive’s guilt, but it was still hard for him to separate his feelings from Clive’s. Just because Clive wanted to make up for putting John in danger did not mean he cared about John. His guilt was separate from any feelings he had for John as an individual whose kinks just happened to correlate with his own. And any gratitude John felt was a reaction to having a gun pointed to his head. He had to keep that in mind. John slapped his pocket to check for his wallet and then headed out the door.

“And you’ve fallen hard for Davidson,” Logan said as he chased him.

John mashed the button for the elevator. “Drop it.”

“You have. I haven’t seen you this unsettled since Peggy Vanderheim in high school.”

“You aren’t old enough to remember Peg,” John said as he got in the elevator. He only wished he could get the doors to close fast enough to leave Logan behind. John had been stupid in love with Peg, with the emphasis on stupid. She wanted a date for prom, and he’d wanted a lifetime commitment. It had gone downhill from there.

“I was what? Twelve? Thirteen?” Logan snorted. “Trust me, I was old enough to notice boys and old enough to watch you make a fool out of yourself for a girl.”

John stared at the closed elevator doors and hoped no one on a lower floor called for an elevator because all John wanted was the privacy of his own car. He needed that to mentally prepare to deal with the double trouble that would be Logan and Fawn both visiting the hospital at one time. If he hadn’t felt a bone-deep need to see his mother, he would have avoided the whole drama and gone for a beer. He wondered if they had both been in their mother’s room that morning. If so, John felt sorry for her. 

None of them were close, but Fawn and Logan had a special brand of anger for one another. Logan had resented that little baby Fawn had gotten everything he wanted. Fawn got feathers and lace and ruffles. She got to avoid going out on their father’s boat and gutting fish and hunting. Even when Logan had been a little boy, he had been the gayest thing outside of RuPaul’s Drag Race, not that John had known about RuPaul or gay people back then. He’d just thought Logan was crazy.

“At least this time you managed to fall for someone who loves you back,” Logan said.

“Stop. Just stop.” 

“Oh, am I scaring you by talking about feelings?” Logan mocked him. “He’s cute, though. I mean, when people talk about Clive Davidson, they focus on how he can shred a career in six seconds flat. They don’t describe how he gets a lovesick, mushy expression when talking about what a stubborn asshole you are. I can’t believe you found someone with a kink for stubbornness.”

John glared at his baby brother. “One more word, and I am going to describe in explicit and obscene detail every kink Clive and I share. Every single one.” With each word, John leaned closer. He felt cold satisfaction when Logan lost most of the color out of his face.

“You wouldn’t,” Logan whispered.

John raised his eyebrow.

The elevator doors opened on the lobby level, and Logan practically sprinted out into the crowd. “See you at the hospital!” he called in a sing-songy voice that made it ridiculously clear that he wasn’t about to drop his teasing. For a grown man and a respected professional, he was an immature ass.

John rubbed his forehead and headed for the valet parking. The attendants were probably scandalized about having to put his old piece of junk in the good parking, but at least they wouldn’t be surprised when John didn’t tip them.

As John drove to the hospital, he created a mental checklist. He needed a new phone, and he should touch base with Elena and make sure she knew he still needed to work. He wanted to check on Mia. And most importantly, he had to distract Logan before the man said something embarrassing in front of Fawn or their mother. John might have been an ass when Logan came home and announced he was gay. That would give Logan a reason to want a little revenge. Although John had also dragged a seventeen-year-old Logan out of the house before their father killed him, so that should earn him some gratitude. Hopefully.

By the time John was riding the elevator up to his mother’s floor, his stomach was tied in knots. John wasn’t ashamed of his newly discovered bisexuality, but the topic was too closely related to his job for him to be even a little comfortable with it.

His mother’s door stood propped open, and the curtain around her bed was pushed back. Fawn sat in the visitor’s chair with her iPad propped on one knee, and Logan perched on the edge of the bed with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin.

John chose to ignore him. “Hi, Mom. How are you feeling?” He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She was pale, but then he hadn’t seen her with any color in her face since the diagnosis.

“A little tired,” she said. “How are the boys?”

John’s brain whited out as he tried to figure out what boys she meant. Logan’s eyes widened, and John’s memory finally kicked in. The cover story. “They’re fine,” John said. “Another boat found them before I even got out to open water.” He changed the subject. “So, the doctors said they would have some news today.” Any hope that he’d managed a smooth transition was dashed when Logan gave John an incredulous look. He was clearly unimpressed by John’s ability to lie. Luckily Fawn distracted their mother.

“They were here this morning.” Fawn’s voice had an edge of condemnation. 

“And what did they say?” John asked. He was too emotionally drained to care that she was clearly in a snit.

Fawn didn’t answer, and their mother sighed. “I’m tolerating the treatment well, so they’re going to continue.”

Relief washed through John, and then Loan opened his mouth. “So, Mom, have you met John’s friend, Clive?” Logan kept a perfectly bland smile on his face the whole time.

“Clive?” She frowned and looked toward John. “No, I don’t believe I have.”

“Logan, enough,” John said firmly.

Logan’s smile grew either sweeter or bitchier. John had trouble telling the difference between those two when it involved Logan. “Why?” Logan asked. Now their mother was studying both of them. “I’m just reeling over the fact that my brother knows one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood.

“How would he meet someone in California?” Fawn asked. 

“Oh my God.” Logan rolled his eyes.

“Logan. Language!” Their mother said sharply.

Logan had the good sense to blush. “Sorry, Mom. Clive Davidson doesn’t live in Hollywood. He works in it. Right now he has some big movie project, and he’s working on some Broadway musical. He’s a big deal. No. Correction. He’s a huge deal.”

John internally cringed when his mother gave him a confused look. “And that’s your friend?” she asked.

It was a pretty unlikely relationship, and John hadn’t wanted to talk about it because he didn’t understand it. As far as John knew, clients didn’t offer to pay ransoms, and Elena never allowed them near families, and John was repressing everything Logan had said about Clive looking love sick. He had too many facts that didn’t match. Clive was the client who wanted to whip and fuck someone. He wasn’t a fluffy bunny looking for a boyfriend.

But he had gone out of his way to help cover for John and he had an obsession for taking care of the men he tied up. But John was only one of many he tied up, although he was the only one Clive wanted to tie up on a regular basis. John’s brain was a monkey on crack, running at supersonic speeds.

Rather than deal with any of the confusion bubbles that kept rising to the surface, he focused on the cover story. “He wanted someone to look over a script about fishing. It’s not a big deal.”

“Yeah, and every consultant in Hollywood gets to send producers out to run their errands,” Logan said with a snort.

“He didn’t… You’re being a pain in the butt,” John snapped. He wanted to use all sorts of profanity, but that would have to wait until later. “We’re both blunt men who like to get a beer and complain about the idiots we work with.” John figured that was safe since Clive had a reputation as being hard to please.

“Does this matter?” Fawn asked.

“My brother is friends with one of the biggest producers in the country, and not only does he fail to mention it, but he lets Clive Davidson show up on my doorstep with no warning at all. Yes, it matters.”

Their mother spoke up. “I’m sure John didn’t mean to annoy you.”

“Then he should warn me that he hangs out with millionaires when he goes out for a beer,” Logan said with absolutely no mercy. As soon as hospital visiting hours ended, John was going to shove Logan head first down the bathroom plumbing and flush.

“He’s a millionaire?” Fawn clicked the iPad off and gave them her full attention now. John was in hell.

“My phone died. Clive was the only friend close enough to carry a message. It’s not a big deal.”

“Why didn’t you borrow a phone and call your brother directly?” Beverly asked.

“I didn’t want to wake him up.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, John could have slapped himself. The obviously corollary to that was John was comfortable waking Clive Davidson up in the middle of the night. Shit.

Fawn frowned, but Logan’s expression was utterly triumphant. The moron was probably feeling good about pushing John out of the closet. It was time for verbal napalm. John asked calmly, “So, has anyone heard from Kevin?”

Fawn’s expression turned defensive, Logan’s slitty-eyed glare made an appearance, and their mother sighed. John felt a tiny bit of guilt, but in the end, any drama was all Logan’s fault. If he wanted a war, John was older, meaner, and way more scared about the skeletons hiding in his closet.

Chapter 25: https://www.patreon.com/posts/saddled-chapter-20210420 

Chapter 26: https://www.patreon.com/posts/saddled-chapter-20310403 

Chapter 27: https://www.patreon.com/posts/saddled-chapter-20707456 

Chapter 28: https://www.patreon.com/posts/saddled-chapter-20726684 

Chapter 29: https://www.patreon.com/posts/saddled-chapter-20848455