by David Horne
"Sorry for your loss," the Jacobs chorused.
"It’s really nothing," Jason said.
After dinner, they helped do the dishes and they sat down to drink wine in the living room.
"Thanks for coming, Jason," Mrs. Jacobs told him, suppressing a yawn.
"Thanks for having me," he said.
Afterward, they retired to their various rooms. Fred and Jason made wild love on the bed and fell into an exhausted sleep.
They spent the following day indoors. The Jacobs took an immediate liking to Jason. He saw them like the family he had lost at a young age.
They sat together, shared stories, laughed and even saw one or two movies.
"Wait until I tell Elena about you," Anna sounded excited.
"Who's Elena?" Jason asked.
"That's my younger sister. She’s a single mother with an adorable daughter," Fred supplied.
Anna tossed back her curly golden colored hair and wondered what was coming between Jason's and Fred's relationship. It was so obvious that the two were madly in love. They had eyes for no one but each other. She was so happy that Fred had finally found love again.
By Sunday, both Anna and Edward already hated the fact that Fred and Jason were leaving.
"How about you spend two more days?" Anna asked hopefully.
"No Mom, please don't be Oliver Twist." Fred teased her.
She laughed. "Will you guys visit us soon? Should we expect you for Thanksgiving?" she asked.
She saw them look uncomfortable and wondered what was wrong, but she didn't press the matter. The men took turns embracing her, then shook hands with Edward before they got in their car and drove off.
She waved at them and Jason waved back.
"I so love your parents," Jason told his lover.
"I told you they are nice people and will take to you. They didn't take to Maurice because they saw right through his wicked and greedy heart. You’re nothing like him."
They returned the car and took the flight back home. They were on their way back to Jason's apartment when Fred's phone began to beep. It was from Ben.
"Hey Ben," he greeted, laughing with good humor.
"Where are you?" Benjamin sounded serious.
"Jason and I went to visit my parents for the weekend. We just landed and are on our way back to his apartment."
"Oh my goodness," Benjamin cried
"What's wrong?" Fred asked.
"Fred..." Ben began.
Fred felt a pang of fear. He sat up. "Ben? Is everything all right? Tell me your wife and kids are all okay?" He heard Ben let out a sigh at the other end of the line. “My wife and kids are all in perfect health."
Fred relaxed. "Then what in the hell is the problem?"
"You don't know, do you?" he asked Fred.
"Know what?" Fred asked him.
"You and Jason are all over the papers and the internet. Your relationship has been leaked."
"What?" Fred was shocked.
"It’s bad. How in the hell did it get leaked?"
"I don't know. Ben, I’ll give you a call once we get home," Fred said and hurriedly pressed the end button.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked.
Fred was quiet for a moment. His hands began to shake as he wondered what his fans would think of him.
"Talk to me," Jason asked in a panic.
"Our relationship has been leaked. We are all over the papers."
"What?" Jason turned white.
"How is this possible?"
Just then, Jason's phone began to ring. He retrieved it and pressed the receive button. He placed the call on speaker and kept it beside him.
"Hello," he greeted.
"Jason, how are you taking it?" He heard Sarah's voice.
"I just heard. I have been out of town and just returned," he explained to her.
"You’re all over the news. There’s even a photo of you and that popular musician, Fred kissing publicly." She sounded worried.
"Damn it." Jason cursed, hitting his hands on the steering.
"Jason..." she began.
"Yes?"
"Are all the things said about you true? I know it’s none of my business and it's your private life but I..."
"What is being said about me?" Jason cut her off.
"You’re having an affair with Fred Jacobs."
It was too much for Jason to bear. He hastily brought the call to an end. Fred who had listened to all the conversation between Jason and Sarah turned his face to hide the disappointment. He would have stood in front of the world and announced his relationship with Jason. It wasn't as if he did anything wrong or broke the law. He was just surprised that Jason had not told Sarah the truth.
The rest of the drive back home was a very quiet one. Once at home, the two men both logged onto their various social media accounts and were shocked to see that they were trending. Jason was so angry he felt like shouting.
"Who did this!" he shouted the room.
One of the news headlines read “The Ruthless Tycoon and the American Sweetheart.”
His life had always been private, but today, he lost it all.
"He made good his threat," Fred whispered.
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked, turning to look at him.
Chapter Fourteen
Fred looked up into Jason's angry eyes.
"A few weeks ago, Maurice appeared at my penthouse in Hawaii."
"So?" Jason asked, his eyes darkening.
"He wanted us to get back together but I wasn't interested."
"He had always wanted to get back with you. I remember the night after your live show at that club in Hawaii. He was trying to coerce you into becoming his lover." Jason chipped in. He remembered the episode vividly well. He had appeared and came to the rescue of Fred even though; it was very obvious that Fred didn't need him. Fred was already taking care of Maurice.
"He kept coming and tailing me until I got tired," Fred revealed.
"You never told me this." Jason accused.
"You never asked."
"Sure I did ask you about Maurice." Jason reminded him.
Fred was too upset already and didn't want to argue.
"On that fateful day, he begged me for money and I refused. Realizing he wasn’t going anywhere with me, the silly man resorted to blackmail."
"What do you mean, blackmail?" Jason asked.
"Maurice threatened to reveal to the world that I was gay. I told him to go ahead. After all, there’s nowhere in the Constitution that states being gay is a crime. Besides, I’m a full grown man and wasn't about to let him betray me again."
"Why in the hell are you just telling me this?" Jason thundered.
"I...I... didn't know he would involve you," Fred explained.
"I was living a perfectly normal life away from the media until you showed up in my life." Jason was angry. He wasn't thinking straight.
"Why would you tell me that?" Fred asked him.
"Why shouldn't I tell you the truth? You had your little issues with Maurice and you thought to drag me into it without even having the decency to tell me beforehand?"
"Why are you angry? What we feel is real. What we share is the best I can ever hope for!" Fred shouted, getting angry.
"What we feel? Do you not have a reputation to protect? If you don’t have a reputation to protect, I do."
"Oh, I see where you're going," Fred told him.
"Good..."
"Jason, you’re scared of commitment. But, who are you scared of? We are two adults with a right to choose how to live our lives. Whoever dares to judge us should rot in hell for all we care."
"Speak for yourself," Jason snapped.
"What do you mean? Aren't you proud of what we share?"
"It was supposed to be private but you went ahead and announced it for the whole world to see."
"Are you ashamed of our love?"
"I can't remember ever telling you that I love you, man. What we had was great but it was defini
tely not love."
As soon as Jason let out those words, Fred felt his heart burst. It was like a knife had been placed in his heart and he was left for dead.
"How could you tell me that!" he shouted, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall down his cheeks. No, he wouldn't cry. He was a man and he had to behave like one. He wouldn't dare give Jason the satisfaction of seeing him cry.
"So what are we, Jason?"
"We had fun with each other. That's all. No more, no less."
"Are you telling me to walk away from your life?"
"No, I’m telling you that we should deny what the media is saying about us. Being secret lovers is the best."
Fred immediately recoiled.
"You want us to publicly deny it all?"
"Yes." Jason walked to Fred and kissed his cheeks and then his brow. "Please do this for me."
"What if I don't want that? What if I want us to publicly expose our relationship?"
Fred couldn't bring himself to tell Jason he loved him. By telling Jason he wanted their relationship exposed to the whole world, he was indirectly telling him he loved him. Surely, he would understand that, wouldn't he?
"Are you kidding me? I have a reputation to protect. Have you stopped to ask yourself what would happen if I accept that we are having an affair?"
"What's wrong with that? Neither one of us is married or engaged to anyone. We are two single people with minds of our own. Why should we be thinking of what people would think about us?"
Jason was furious. He didn't understand why Fred was being a ninny.
"Don't push me," he begged.
"Jason," Fred said in a calmer voice. The voice was so calmed and without emotion.
"Yes?" Jason answered.
"I don't want to be your secret lover anymore. Are you willing to make our relationship public or not?"
Jason shook his head. "I’m not ready for such a commitment!" he shouted.
"I thought as much," Fred said and walked through the connecting door leading to the bedroom. He held his head as high as heaven and began to pack his clothes. He threw shirts, pants, and shoes into his suitcase without even sparing a glance. When he had packed all he thought he had, he took his suitcase and walked to the living room.
Jason was shocked to see Fred packed. Fred had entered the bedroom for less than three minutes. Was he truly leaving?
"Where in the hell are you going?" he asked Fred.
"Do you care?" Fred retorted.
"Of course, I care."
"Since you don't see any reason why people shouldn't know about us, I see no reason why we should remain lovers."
"God, Fred are you giving me an ultimatum?" Jason couldn't believe his ears.
"No, you made your choice and I made mine."
"Fred...please..." Jason began.
"Goodbye, Jason," Fred told him. He picked his suitcase and walked out of the apartment. It wasn't until he was in a taxi heading to a hotel that Fred let the tears he had been holding fall. Even Maurice didn't make him cry.
He was determined to be away from New York first thing in the morning. He needed to be as far away as he could from Jason.
He checked into the Pyramids Hotel and spent the night thinking. He wasn't ready to go through another heartbreak but Fred knew he had no choice. Love comes freely, it isn't forced. He didn't want to ever try to convince Jason to stay by him or to love him. If Jason really loved him, he would seek him out. He retrieved his laptop, booked a flight back to Hawaii. The following morning, Fred checked out. He took a cab to the airport and boarded it.
"Goodbye, Jason," he whispered, sadly.
He slept all through the journey back home because he had not slept a bit the night before. As soon as his plane landed in Hawaii, Fred took a cab back home. He hated the fact that his heart needed mending-again.
"God, please help me through this," he pleaded.
Once home, he made himself a cup of coffee, drank it and didn't even reach for his phone when it began to beep. He glanced at it and saw his sister's name.
She must have heard and is worried about me, he thought.
Fred didn't want anyone to worry about him. He especially didn't want anyone to pity him. He decided this was his own cross to carry.
The phone beeped again and Fred glanced it. It was his mom. Again, he ignored the call. His heart was a mess right now and he wasn't in a mood to talk to anyone. He sat still for a long time. He didn't even make an effort to leave his seat. He hated the fact that his heart had betrayed him once more.
You aren't supposed to fall in love again, why did you? he asked his heart.
There was no answer to his question. The heart seemed to have a mind of its own and there was nothing he could do about. A fat tear rolled down his cheeks and he shifted in his chair
***
Two weeks later.
Jason had become a shadow of himself. Since Fred had walked out of his house and life, he hadn't been himself. He spent days walking around the streets of New York and the nights drinking and sleeping. His phone rang exactly two weeks later.
"Yes?" he said in a calm voice.
"We are through investigating your partner," the voice at the other end of the line said.
Jason sat up. Finally, there was news he had been waiting for. He had hired a private investigator to get to the bottom of all that had happened.
"Your partner, Shane, his sisters were never kidnapped."
"I knew that already," Jason muttered.
"Okay, sir," the investigator said.
"If Alice and Jenny were never kidnapped, how in the hell was Jenny shot?" Jason asked.
The police had dug up her shallow grave after Alice was released. He had attended Jenny's burial and had pitied the parents who couldn't seem to stop grieving. Jason still felt there was something odd about his partner's behavior, which was why he had hired a private investigator.
"From my findings, Alice and Shane had kidnapped their own sister and killed her. It was all a rouse to get you to stop asking questions about your missing money."
"I see." He clutched the phone.
"Your money was used to pay some drug lords Shane stole from about a year ago."
"What do you mean?"
“Alice had introduced Shane to drugs. He was hungry to make money and had joined the drug business. But, things didn't work out well for him when one of his men ran away with millions of dollars’ worth of drugs. He had to pay it off or be killed.”
"I see."
Jason was too shocked. To think that he thought he knew his partner. It was surprising to find out he didn't know him after all.
"What do you want me to do?" the investigator asked.
Jason laughed wickedly. He wasn't about to let Shane go scot-free after stealing from him.
"I want you to tip the police about this. Sooner or later, the truth will come out and he will be arrested. Once that’s done, Shane will have no choice but to fess up."
"Okay, sir." The line went dead.
Jason was supposed to feel happy that he was finally able to find out where his money went to, but he wasn't. All he wanted at the moment was to be somewhere else. He missed Fred so terribly. He wanted nothing more than to be with him.
Everywhere he went, he heard Fred's songs and he felt sadder.
He decided it was time he started all over again. After his discussions with Fred, he realized that he wanted to be a chef.
He hardly slept or ate. All he thought of was Fred. He was so angry at Fred for leaving and very much angry at himself for letting Fred go.
"I shouldn't have let him go," Jason wailed.
"I was a fool," he cried to himself.
"Fred, where are you? Do you know that you took a piece of me with you?" Jason asked.
Try as he might, he couldn't even look at any man without seeing Fred. It was as if he was drunk with Fred. Twice, he tried to call Fred but the call went to voice mail. He had sent Fred countless voice messages but Fred
had not bothered to call back.
All these weeks, Jason had watched the entertainment news for anything on Fred, but was shocked to find nothing. He didn't attend perform concerts, he didn't go to shows, nor did he appear on set. It were as if he never existed.
The media kept speculating why neither Jason nor Fred came out to accept or debunk the rumor about them having an affair.
Whenever he wasn't studying, Jason would walk around New York City. He visited all the places he and Fred had visited. All these seemed so painful he felt like dying.
"I can't live without him," Jason cried one evening.
"All my life, I tried to never let anyone have so much influence over me but I was wrong. Fred is the air I breathe. Without him I’m nothing,” he cried.
"God, please, bring him back to me." Jason realized he was crying and praying.
Chapter Fifteen
"Fred, are you sure?" Benjamin asked Fred.
"Yes, I’m sure." Fred smiled sadly.
Benjamin looked at Fred for a good second. Twice, he had watched Fred gone through heartbreak and twice he was forced to watch and there was nothing he could do to help him.
"How dare he break your heart after you told him about Maurice?" Benjamin had angrily asked Fred as soon as he saw him returned from New York.
"Please, I don't have time for this."
"But your heart is broken. I know it is." Benjamin insisted.
"This time, I did walk away," Fred revealed, sadly.
"How? What do you mean?"
Fred stood at the window of his penthouse. "He didn't want to make our relationship public. I walked away."
Benjamin understood Fred perfectly well. He took a bold step even when it meant his heart would be shattered.
"Here, take it," Fred said, giving Benjamin his phone.
"Why are you giving me your phone?"
"I don't want it." Fred had shrugged.
"Why?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Fred had asked.
Fred..." he began."
"I never want to see it again and never you mention Jason's name to me again."
Fred was too angry. The phone was a reminder of the time and love they had shared with Jason and he didn't want that. Besides, he was scared that he may one day swallow his pride and call Jason back.
