Fascination Series Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by Sky McCoy

  Phillip slanted his head and tried to place his hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off and walked ahead of him.

  Phillip caught up with me and we wandered to the front entrance, dressed in our best dark suits, white shirts, and silk ties. He glanced over at me. “You look so handsome tonight.”

  “Fuck you Phillip and don’t get any ideas. I’ve always looked like this, but not having me to fuck anymore has suddenly gotten your dick hard for me again. Your misfortune. So, get it out of your mind that you will ever come this way again.”

  “But there were so many things we never got a chance to do—”

  “And never will.”

  Phillip and I moved through a crowd to get to the banqueting room, handed the invitation at the entrance of the large room where there were a number of people dressed in black and white. Then I saw a picture of a man with blue eyes and dark hair. And the name came back to haunt me. Thomas fucking Westbrook.

  “Did you know that Thomas Westbrook is Jeremy’s brother?” I groaned.

  “Not really. He’s not the only man named Westbrook in this town,” Phillip said. By the way his voice quivered, he had to be lying.

  “He may as well be. There are five of those Westbrook men running around Seattle and you just happened to bring me to the one I don’t want to meet. He’s a homophobe.”

  “Who said that?” Phillip growled. “Look at him,” Phillip said, and pointed to a large poster of the future governor of Washington State. “Those sexy eyes, that body. I could die now with his cock in my mouth.”

  “The only way you’d get his cock in your mouth, is if he cut it off after you winked at him, and stuffed it down your throat, if he thought you said he was gay. He’s married. Did you forget that the woman standing next to him, looking up at him with those doe eyes, worshipping the ground he walks on, is his wife?”

  “Dorian, you really know how to fuck up a wet dream and a fantasy. I’ve had this dream I could find a straight guy, fuck him and turn him.”

  “Welcome to my nightmare. Look at that picture.” I walked closer to the poster, they had the same eyes, only Thomas’s were serious and absorbed, Jeremy’s had been that way once, but now they were a mixture of cheerful and gloomy. “Your chances of turning an uptight, homophobic prick like him is slim to none. Inconceivable.”

  Phillip stared at the poster until I pulled him away, then he returned to our initial conversation about gay men. “Look around you. There are gay men everywhere. If you’re certain that he’s a homophobe, then why would he surround himself with only gay men tonight?”

  “A number of reasons. And at the top of the list, he knows that gay men, if they’re a couple and have partners, have a lot of disposable income. My guess is he needs donors, and all he has to do is pretend that once he’s in office he’s going to champion our cause. This won’t be the first time we’ve been fucked over.”

  “Do you think we’re as gullible as that?” Phillip said.

  “The fault, dear Brutus, lies but in ourselves.” Phillip glared at me, then he closed his eyes for a second and smiled. He got it. “Jeremy is the one who said he’s homophobic. You think he would know his brother better than you. They were raised in the same house.”

  We strolled to the entrance and shared our thoughts about Jeremy and his homophobic brother Thomas, who just happened to be running for the governor of Washington State. I noticed that at this semi-expensive dinner, we followed the signs down the hall, and standing around were men and women dressed in black suits and white shirts giving out directions and checking invitations.

  “How much did you pay for this dinner?” I wasn’t supposed to ask him, I reminded myself, but I finally gave in to my prying nature. It had gotten me in trouble with Phillip when I suspected that he’d fooled around on me. I vowed that I’d never do that again. Nature would have to take a hand in that, and I wouldn’t force it by going around looking for things I didn’t want to find.

  “I can’t tell you because we’ll be arguing all night and I’m not in the mood. Besides, Eric paid for it.”

  “With your money. In that case I will eat everything on the menu, and ask for a doggy bag. I don’t have to watch my weight because I won’t be dating for a while.”

  “You wouldn’t embarrass me would you?”

  “Just watch me.” We stood in a slow moving line waiting to get into the banqueting room when I heard someone shout, “Phil. Phil.” We both turned to see Eric rushing down the hall and across the floor to push me out of the way, and stand beside Phillip, giving him a hug and a small kiss. He brushed his lips tenderly across Phillip’s mouth.”

  “Well, Phil,” I joked, “You didn’t tell me Eric would be coming with us. I guess it’s time for me to go home.” Eric had finally done me a favor by showing up.

  “No, you can’t,” Eric warned. “Aren’t you dating our future governor’s brother?” I knew he had to have gotten that from Phil. I aimed an accusing glance at Phil, and Phil quickly looked down at his shoes. With Phil, that was a dead giveaway. He’d been discussing my love life with Eric, especially since I told him never to do that. From this day, I had to watch what I said to Phillip, or I’d have to threaten him with what I knew about him.

  “I wouldn’t say I’m dating him. We hooked up once.”

  “Don’t believe, Dorian, they’re seeing each other,” Phillip said to Eric as we strolled closer to the entrance, and I lightly punched Phillip in the back.

  Leaning over Eric’s shoulder, I whispered in his ear when we came to a stop. “No, Jeremy Westbrook and I aren’t dating, and if you agreed for Phillip to bring me here, it’s because you’re a social-climbing prick. Well, I know you pride yourself in climbing on dicks, but you’ve climbed up the wrong one. It’s time for me to leave. There are only two tickets. Two is company—”

  “No. You can’t leave, Dorian. A customer gave me his invitation. I came because I didn’t want to disappoint Phil.”

  I turned to Phil, narrowing my eyes, and tightened my jaw. “Well, Phil, you certainly won’t be disappointed. You’ll have someone to keep you company, and I’ll have the privilege of seeing both of you kiss and talk about how much you love each other. Something I thought I’d never have to see, but somehow, Eric, you’ve gotten your wish. Can I go home and spare myself this evening of being around a bunch of selfish, narcissistic phony asses? Present company included.”

  As we reached the entrance to the banqueting hall, and Eric and Phillip handed the man the invitations, I saw a different version of Jeremy. An older man matured, in his late forties, handsome and notable. There was no mistaking him for anyone but a Westbrook. Tall, distinguished looking in a dark blue suit that fitted perfectly. I spotted his bright blue eyes before I noticed anything. He wore a fake smile as if he preferred being around anyone except a room full of gay men and their partners, laughing and holding hands.

  It was the same tight smile I’d seen on Jeremy’s face when I first met him.

  Finally into the ballroom, we handed off our invitations and met Thomas Westbrook as he held out his hand to shake ours. His wife intervened just as I was ready to reach for his hand. She walked up and grabbed my hand to shake it. Her picture was far more attractive than the real thing.

  You wouldn’t have guessed that they were a couple on first sight. Thomas was a handsome man even for forty-something, and she looked plain wearing an expensive suit. It had to be true. Opposites did attract. She wore her hair short and blonde, the usual when a woman wanted to hide grey hair. I didn’t get the feeling that she wanted to hide anything. She was who she was and she’d been proud of it, especially since she’d bagged a good-looking successful man like Thomas Westbrook.

  She appeared to be the woman behind the man, more outgoing than Thomas. A woman who had married a handsome man, and stuck with him through betrayals and god knew what else, and she wasn’t going anywhere soon, because she looked like she had goals to meet, and her ambitions were boundless.

  It appe
ared the way she worked the crowd, all smiles, hugs, and taking pictures with whoever wanted one, that she wasn’t going to settle on him just being a governor. Oh no, she wanted to go to the top of the food chain, and everyone be damned who stood in her way.

  As Eric and Phillip laughed and talked to Thomas, his wife turned to me. I wore my usual sour face that appeared to be like a uniform whenever Eric was around. “Are you alone? Or are you a threesome? We can seat you at a table with men looking for partners if you’re not with those two—I hear—”

  I had to cut her off before she traveled down a road she knew little about, or did she? “No, and I think you have it all wrong. I’m a guest of the Walker party.” I pointed to Phillip who wouldn’t let go of Thomas’s hand. It had gotten embarrassing for Eric the way Phillip was fawning over Thomas. I saw Thomas’s face turned beet red and sweat had dripped along the sides of his perfect thick dark curls.

  “We’re gay men Mrs. Westbrook. We don’t go to dinners like this to pick up men. We have more than enough places for that.” She narrowed her eyes. Not insulted, but surprised. “We’re here to contribute to a worthy cause—rights for all human beings. If you and your husband are here not to just get our vote, but to help the gay rights cause, then I think your husband is worth voting for. If he isn’t, then we’re all wasting our time and money.”

  And then to make me feel comfortable, she blurted out, “Thomas is committed to the LGBTQ community because he has a gay brother. Isn’t that so, Thomas?”

  I didn’t know when Eric and Phillip had gone to their seats, and when I searched around for them, they weren’t there. I stood between Thomas and his wife with her outing him around a crowd of gay men. Their smiles grew wider, perhaps they thought that was why he’d been at ease with them. If they had taken a closer notice like I had, they’d realize that was far from the truth.

  Thomas turned to me, as I stood near his wife and I saw that glare he aimed at her. “Are you referring to Jack? Jack is—”

  “Jack is gay and so is Jeremy,” I released that explosive front-page headline.

  “You must be mistaken.” Thomas’s voice dropped a couple of octaves and the sound of it was a cross between pain and anger, all aimed at me.

  “Mistaken about Jack, or Jeremy? They are twins.”

  Thomas glanced at me as if I’d stabbed him with a dull knife, but I wasn’t about to take it out of him just yet. “I think you’re wrong about Jeremy. How do you know that anyway?”

  “I used to date both of them.” After dropping that roadside bomb, as Jack had once said to me, I turned and sauntered in the direction of the tables where the happy couple were enjoying their meal, and now I couldn’t.

  Rolling my eyes, I leaned between Phillip and Eric. “Look you two lovebirds, I’d like to sit and watch you two kiss and cuddle, stalk the bathroom stalls for an unsuspecting boy tonight, but I’ve just made the host uneasy, so now it’s time to make my escape. I’ll take a cab home so don’t look for me.”

  “We weren’t going to anyway,” Eric snorted, and turned to Phillip placing his arm behind his chair and Phillip placing his palm over Eric’s hand. “See, baby, I told you he was bad news. You’re always taking in stray dogs.”

  “You say one more word, Eric, and this stray dog will castrate you once and for all.”

  “Please, Dorian, leave. I don’t want any trouble. We’re trying to make a good impression and get some contacts for our business.”

  “Is that what Dr. Kevorkian told you, and you believed him? He just wants to get a boy. He’s not interested in anything that has to do with gay rights, or he wouldn’t have dragged you to Thomas Westbrook’s fundraiser. They don’t care about you as a person and a man, and neither does that mutt you fell in love with.”

  Eric stood. “And what are you going to do if I bitch-slapped you?” I fumed. We stood eye to eye with Phillip begging me to leave. I saw in Eric’s eyes that he was intimidated by me, not because he was afraid of me. He had height and weight over me, and I probably would have gotten my ass beat if I was anywhere else.

  Eric didn’t like to make a scene, and he knew I didn’t have anything to lose. I’d lost everything I had and cared about, so what was left? Having my name in the papers for fighting in the aspiring governor’s exclusive party for gay men.

  “Only for you, Phillip, would I do this. I’m leaving and you can collar your dog next time. He’s out of control.” I walked away with a smile on my face. However, before I could escape, Mrs. Westbrook grabbed my arm.

  “Are you leaving so soon, Mr.—”

  “Hart. Dorian Hart.”

  “Mr. Hart, please call me and we can discuss some things that may affect your community.” I took her card and looked back at her, wondering if she’d been for real. If she did want to hear from me.

  Chapter 6

  Jeremy

  I didn’t know how long it had been since I’d had a good night’s sleep. Maybe it was the last time I’d seen Dorian. Thank God the weekend was here and I didn’t have to go in to work. Jack had been eager to go to Los Angeles to work for Max and Jami, and he’d left me to my thoughts and my regrets.

  After a shower, I threw my clothes into the laundry basket ready for my housekeeper to wash. When I looked, there was a tee that I’d given Dorian. He’d placed it in the basket. I pulled it out and brought it to my nose. It was Dorian alright. I couldn’t forget his scent. What the fuck was I to do when my cock was aroused just from the smell of Dorian’s musk? I had to find my way back to him.

  But how? I needed coffee to get me going. I had too much to do today to be dwelling on what I couldn’t control. Jacqueline’s nurse should be arriving today, and tomorrow I had to bring my little girl home and maybe I could have some time to find out about Carter. Carter had been left in the air since Jack left to help out Max, and the nurse had called to postpone coming until today.

  I’d almost filled my cup of coffee when security called. “Mr. Westbrook. There’s another Mr. Westbrook on his way up. I looked at his credentials and it’s your brother.”

  “I thought I’d cleared Jack.”

  “It’s not Jack, Mr. Westbrook. He said his name is Thomas and I recognized him from the papers. Did you know that he’s high in the polls, and slated to win the governor’s race? You have a celebrity in the family.” The young security guy’s face beamed.

  “No shit. I have to go. The celebrity is at my door. Next time, tell him I’m not home.” I hit the screen, and ambled to the door taking my time. I thought at first not to answer, but then security had said that I was in. What the fuck did Thomas want? He didn’t come around when I’d told him about Carter.

  Too busy.

  He didn’t come to offer to help find Carter when I needed him.

  Too busy.

  Now he was here to fuck with me and with all the problems I had going on in my life. I opened the door.

  “Come in, Thomas. And good morning to you.”

  “I smell coffee.” He followed behind me. When I didn’t hear his footsteps, I turned to see if he was there. He’d stopped and looked at the pictures on my wall. “You know this is the first time I’ve been to your apartment.”

  Yes, and I hope it’s the last.

  Pouring him a cup and then myself, I turned, “You’re going to stand the entire time you’re here?”

  “I hadn’t planned on staying long.” Thank God. “I just came over to ask you to keep that guy quiet.”

  “Who are you talking about?”

  “I don’t know his name, but he has these green eyes. You can’t miss him. I think he’s one of Jack’s men and he must have mistaken you for Jack. He seems to have the notion that you’re gay too.”

  “I swallowed my coffee and almost choked. Now was the best time to own up to it. I’d thrown Jack under the bus enough and got out of the way, but I had to face my older straight brother and confess.”

  “But I am gay.”

  He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “I thou
ght I heard you say that you were gay too. Are you shitting me, because I didn’t want to believe that man when he’d said that he’d dated both of you?”

  “That part is a lie. He only dated me.”

  “He said it was a hookup and it was over. Maybe you can deny that you even knew him.”

  “Why would I do that? I’m in love with him. His name is Dorian Hart and I plan on seeing him again if he’ll forgive me.”

  Thomas almost fell off the stool. He rose from the counter and dropped his cup on it and faced me. “You are going to ruin my chances of becoming governor. Alice had her heart set on me being governor of this state, and now you’ve fucked that up with your shit. Can’t you just go and fuck that Annalisa and get over it. You have a child for fuck’s sake.”

  “If that’s what you’ve come here for, then leave, Thomas. You have a brother out there somewhere that needs our help and I have a baby. You don’t have any children. The least you can do is try to help me with Carter, and right now, there is nothing more important than that little girl and Carter. She’s coming home Monday and I have to get dressed because the nurse is coming today. So please do me a favor, and leave.”

  Thomas turned around and his face sank. I didn’t know if I’d reached him, but I tried my best. There were more important things in the world than his running for governor because Alice had her heart set on being in that mansion.

  “What are you doing besides running for office? I haven’t seen anything that points to you doing anything for the people of Washington State except promises. You promised me to help take care of Carter, but the moment you and Jarrett were old enough to help out, you went out of state to college, and left me and Jack to care for him. You even utilized the money designated for him. You could have stayed in the state, why didn’t you?”

  “I see talking to you is a waste of time Jeremy. You’ve changed so much.”

  “I haven’t changed at all. I’m just not the boy and man you used to know. I grew up. Try to grow up and not be as selfish as you are. And don’t ever suggest that I go back into the closet ever again. I like who I am and if Dorian Hart wants to marry me—and I can’t think of a reason why he’d want to be part of this family—I’d marry him in a heartbeat. Now go back and tell Alice if you dare. If you have the balls, however, after listening to you, you have none.”