The gala was in a real ballroom, dazzling with colored lights, men in their tuxes, women in gowns. There was even dancing, another nod from the universe that Owen thought unfair and all too tempting.
Since the event was buzzing with Nye and Walker employees, every time someone’s eyes landed on Owen, he wondered if their whispers were those same rumors circulating. He’d been thinking hard about that problem too.
“As your publicist, I advise you to get ahead of these rumors… by admitting to them,” Cal whispered after another group of people kept staring.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Owen said. “Not about you. I’d never—”
“Preferably, you’ll avoid breaking the contract you signed with Nick of Time, but if you ever needed to…,” he trailed, giving Owen an out he never intended to use.
“That’s not what I meant. I think—”
“Owen!” Keri’s voice cut through the crowd, and seeing as how she—and Adam trailing beside her—were the guests of honor, everyone parted to let them through. Somehow, even though the two CEOs weren’t touching each other, there was an air of Keri having dragged Adam by the ear.
“Everything okay?” Owen asked.
“Adam would like to apologize,” Keri said.
“Umm….” Owen blinked in confusion. “…okay. What did—”
“I never would have agreed to meet with Marsh if I knew you used to date him,” Adam blurted.
Oh God. The rumors had reached Adam? Or was it just that Keri had always known? The look on her face said she had, whether from long before or because Frank was, well, Frank.
“I know this looks bad,” Owen said, keeping the small circle of him, Cal, Adam, and Keri close-quartered, “that I slept with an executive even if he wasn’t my boss, but I swear we started dating before I worked at Orion Labs. Which… actually looks worse….” He realized with a grimace.
“Owen,” Keri said, “I’m married to the mayor. You think they haven’t tried crucifying us for nepotism on occasion. People will always talk. I couldn’t care less—”
“Same here!” Adam said emphatically. “We know you earned your place. Your work proves that and so does your integrity. Exes can be a messy business, especially office romances. Was it messy?” He dropped his voice lower. “Is he trying to make trouble for you?”
“Because if he’s threatened you in any way—” Keri jumped in.
“No. He hasn’t.” The pair of them were very sweet, but Owen had to end this. “It was messy, but he hasn’t done anything to warrant ignoring the proposal. We should move forward with Orion Labs.”
“Are you sure?” Keri questioned.
“This is a huge endeavor. I can’t let my love life get in the way of that.”
The two CEOs seemed assuaged, but Keri still crossed her arms with prominent authority. “Just remember my husband is the mayor if you need someone killed.”
Owen chuckled. “I don’t want Harry dead.” Much as he might have fantasized about some horrible accident befalling him.
“I meant Adam.” She glared at her counterpart.
Hunched in on himself from his usually towering height, Adam looked like a scolded child. “There are several social cues I’ve been told I need to work on. I’m really sorry, Owen.”
So many people were looking out for him. Owen had always had people looking out for him, and he appreciated that more than he’d ever be able to tell them, but now it was time to look out for himself.
“Thank you. All of you. But actually, I was about to get Cal’s opinion on something. I have an interview at your offices on Monday,” he said to Keri. “I think I should tell the truth about dating Harrison. Publicly. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and it’s the only way to avoid more rumors—by owning them.”
Owen didn’t expect Cal to argue the point, but Adam and Keri surprised him by not countering either.
“Whatever you want, Owen.”
“We’ll support you.”
It reminded him why he’d wanted to work with their companies in the first place.
When the pair finally headed back into the crowd to continue playing hosts, Cal asked him, “Are you also going to admit what he did to you?”
“No,” Owen said. “Maybe he is a snake, but if he means all this about making it up to me, I don’t want to ruin him. Admitting we dated looks bad enough, but most people won’t care after a week. I have another chance here in Atlas City. Part of me hopes he can find that too.”
The look Cal gave Owen was both amazed and adoring, causing a fresh blush to creep up his neck. “And another part of you wouldn’t mind setting him on fire?”
Owen laughed. “Do you think any of the mob bosses my program hasn’t caught yet do the whole cement-shoe thing?”
Cal snickered with him. It was nice to make light of something that had so recently haunted him. He didn’t want any ghosts from his past hovering over his future. He just wanted to move on.
Naturally, it was right then, while noticing Lorelei and Tommy across the room with Frank and Paul, that Owen also spotted Harrison headed toward them. He clutched Cal’s arm so tightly, the other man knew instantly what had spooked him.
“That’s him?”
“Yeah.”
Harrison’s tux was simple too, classic and flattering at every angle. Still several yards away, his eyes were focused right on them.
“I don’t think he’s too happy about me,” Cal said.
“Really? Maybe it’s not so bad. He’s smiling.”
“A dangerous smile. I know how to read people. If you want to steer clear—”
“No.” Owen held his ground, waiting for Harrison to come to them. “I won’t run scared anymore. That’s the whole point. He says he wants to make things up to me, so I want to let him. If he’s an asshole, then we can set him on fire.”
Cal snorted but didn’t dissent, allowing this decision to be Owen’s.
It felt like one of those moments in a disaster movie, when the meteor headed toward Earth was just about to make impact.
“Owen,” Harrison said as he reached them, eyes dragging openly down Owen’s body, though not crudely so. “You wear a tux well. Never thought I’d see you in one. You hate ties.”
Four years together meant Harrison knew him, but that didn’t change anything that had happened. “A good tailor makes a big difference.”
“Is that who’s on your arm?” Harrison’s attention strayed to Cal with a tighter pull on his jaw. “Your tailor?”
Cal smiled cordially while offering his hand. “Cal White. Owen’s publicist.”
“Of course. I’ve heard so much about you.” The meteor collided with the touch of their skin, but no explosions erupted. Owen wondered if either of them fell prey to that old trick of trying to crush the other person’s hand, and if they did, he hoped Cal won.
Wait, Harrison had heard about Cal? He’d just gotten here. “From who?”
“People talk.” Harrison shrugged before shifting his gaze to Cal once more. “Quite a bit actually. He must pay you well to attend all his events like this.”
“Owen is an ideal client but also a friend. And I hate to leave my friends alone in distasteful situations.”
Oh, Owen loved Cal. He really did.
“Good thing it’s such a lovely party,” Harrison said, then snapped his gaze to Owen. “Would it be too distasteful to speak with you in private? It’s important or I wouldn’t ask.”
That old shred of panic returned, but Owen knew the only reason Harrison continued to have power over him was because he allowed it.
“We’re still making the rounds, actually, so I’m afraid—” Cal stepped in to Owen’s rescue, but he couldn’t keep letting people do that.
“Cal. It’s okay.” Meeting Cal’s concerned expression, he pulled in close to whisper, “Five minutes, so he stops hounding me. Better here than some corner at the office. But if he tries anything…. Fire.”
That garnered the appropriate resp
onse, because Cal smiled back but still said quite seriously, “Five minutes,” before letting him go.
Owen put his foot down when Harrison tried leading him out of the ballroom. He was not stepping into any dark hallways with him, ever, but he compromised by ducking into an alcove that gave them the privacy Harrison wanted while still allowing Owen an easy getaway back into the throng.
“What do you want?” Owen asked.
Without pause or an attempt at small talk, Harrison dropped his serene expression for a look of desperation. “You can’t trust that man.”
Unbelievable. “I came with you because I thought you were serious about being better, about not trying to manipulate me, and you immediately—”
“It’s dangerous,” Harrison insisted. “You can’t trust him. Do you even know what he is?”
“What he is? You—”
“Because I do. Check your email.”
That caught Owen up short, because what game did Harrison think he was playing? Owen had planned to warn him that he was going to admit the truth about their relationship, and right away, Harrison was back to old tricks.
Still, out of morbid curiosity, Owen pulled his phone from his pocket to take a look. Unsurprisingly, he had a new email from Harrison. But it wasn’t a message. It was a video.
“What is this?” There was no revealing thumbnail, so all Owen saw was a black screen and a Play button.
“Watch it. Then you’ll see.”
Maybe there were more meteors headed Owen’s way. He didn’t want to give in to Harrison, but he pressed Play anyway if only to prove whatever the man hoped to achieve here wrong.
The black screen brightened to show a bed from a wide angle. Then, moments later…. Cal dropped down on top of it. He was half dressed and being swiftly removed of remaining clothing by another man climbing after him.
For one horrible, heart-stopping moment, Owen thought the man was Harry, but even though Owen could only see the man from behind, he knew he was too broad to be Harrison, just strangely familiar.
The audio came through as breathless panting and plaintive whines like no noises Owen had ever heard from Cal. Then the other man started giving… commands, and Cal obeyed every one without question.
Hands above your head.
Arch your neck.
Yes….
Like that.
Such a beauty you are, Calvin.
So well behaved.
Owen wanted to throw his phone down, because he shouldn’t be watching this—why did it even exist, and why was that man so familiar, especially his profile when he turned toward the camera that Cal obviously didn’t know about—but Owen couldn’t stop staring at the footage.
CAL tried to keep an eye on Owen when he disappeared into the crowd, but he lost him to the throng and constant movement of black tuxes and flowing dresses. He debated his options. If he followed, he’d be ignoring Owen’s wishes. The last thing he wanted was to alienate Owen now.
After all, he’d quit that morning.
Checking his watch, Cal decided to do exactly as they’d agreed. Give him five minutes, then go looking. Maybe in the meantime he could find Lorelei or—
“Hello, Calvin.”
Merlin.
Slowly turning to stare at the man who’d snuck up on him while his mind was on Owen, Cal discovered his former client looking dapper and snide as always. “Sterling. What a displeasure to see you again. Still sore about your cold bed?”
“Not for long,” he said cryptically. “I just wanted to say hello. Though I’m fairly certain soon it will be… goodbye.” Tilting his head in the direction Owen had gone, he added, “That boy of yours is exquisite. Pity he ran off.”
The threat was easy to interpret, but Merlin didn’t head Owen’s direction—he moved for the exit. Clearly, like he’d said weeks ago, he wasn’t the one Owen had to watch out for.
Cal needed to find him. Now.
“WHY do you have this?” Owen asked, nauseated even as he continued watching the video on his phone. He felt lewd seeing Cal stripped bare and on display, unaware of the camera as he played a more submissive role to suit this client—moaning, begging.
“Do you see what he is now?” Harrison’s voice filtered into the tiny bubble Owen was trapped in. “I didn’t want to show you this, but I needed you to understand the truth once I realized how much trust you’d put in someone who is only playing a role.”
Owen barely heard him, too focused on the video, because he knew that other man from somewhere….
“Owen,” Harrison prompted louder, as a hand took hold of his chin to tilt it upward. Harrison was too close, and Owen had a wall at his back from keeping the phone pointed away from the ballroom. “I wish I could stay away, that I could give you the space you’ve asked for, but you are everything to me. Don’t you understand that? I haven’t let anyone else touch me all these months waiting for you to come home.”
Trying to back out of his hold, Owen only ended up deeper into the alcove away from the crowd, and Harrison pursued him. The sound of the video, the thoughts plaguing Owen that he knew the other man’s face, disrupted his focus when his instincts should have been to push Harrison away.
“I miss you.” He crowded in closer. “Don’t you miss me? Don’t you miss being with someone worthy of you?” And he descended to steal a kiss.
Owen froze and hated himself for freezing because he’d come so far. He was starved for the feeling of another’s lips on his, and for a brief flash of memory, he recalled why these lips were ones he’d longed for.
But now the only ones he wanted were Cal’s.
He didn’t care about the roles Cal played in the past, because he knew the man he was with tonight was the real Cal, even wearing glasses and sporting a fake name. Cal wasn’t defined by his job. No one was, no matter what their livelihood. Having seen that footage didn’t change anything in Owen’s mind about his friend other than stir up jealousy because he wanted to be the one causing Cal to make noises like that.
The hand with the phone dropped to Owen’s side, but the other came up to grip Harrison’s tux, ready to shove him away… just as he remembered why that other face looked familiar.
It was Cal’s former client. In footage that shouldn’t exist. And Harrison had the footage.
The snake. The no-good, rotten—
“Always knew there was something off about Merlin.” Cal’s voice interrupted before Owen could heave Harrison off him. He pushed him away now and turned toward the ballroom where Cal stood—staring at the phone in Owen’s hand that was turned outward to reveal the blatant footage of—
“No.” Owen pulled the screen to him to hide the telling image. But it wasn’t telling! Owen wasn’t in cahoots with Harrison, watching that footage out of some sick gratification. “Cal—”
“Who’d guess it was a camera in the bedroom? Which is against the contract he signed, by the way.” Cal smiled, empty and awful like the other night—worse. “Same as the one you signed. But then you only hired me for Merlin’s payback, didn’t you? Have a good rest of your evening, Owen,” he said, and with a cold nod, he turned on his heels and fled.
“Cal, wait! Please!” Owen lurched to move around Harrison, but the other man gripped his shoulders to hold him in place.
“Let him go. Listen to me.”
“This is your fault!” Owen knocked him back, only for Harrison to raise his hands in surrender, as if, once again, Owen was the one being unreasonable.
“This is not how I planned for things to go, but all the better if it rids you of that man.”
Planned?
Owen stared at the video, paused now but easily displaying the face of Cal’s client, Merlin, as the truth rushed through calculations in his brain and the patterns fell into place—so obvious now, all the way back to the beginning.
“You know him. You used Cal’s client to start those rumors to make me think I needed you. You started them weeks ago when I wouldn’t email you back. It just took t
his long for them to pick up steam. And you only started emailing me because you saw I was moving on without you.”
Shaking his head, Harrison wore such an earnest lie of an expression, but his words didn’t deny what Owen had said. “None of this was to hurt you. I was trying to protect you.”
“Screw you, Harry,” Owen snarled as he shoved his phone into his pocket.
A twitch of malicious truth flickered across Harrison’s face. “You’re the one screwing a prostitute. Do you know how that could ruin your career? Ruin everything you think you’ve built here? Yes, I know Sterling. He has friends in many places, including at Walker Tech and Nye Industries. When we realized our interests connected, we saw an opportunity—”
“Because you’re a snake!” Owen shouted, unable to think of Harrison as anything else. “Because using people is all you know how to do. But I’m not yours anymore, Harry, and I am never going to be yours again.”
Pivoting to move out of the alcove—Owen had time, he could still catch Cal—he was ready to leave Harrison and any thoughts of “benefit of the doubt” behind.
“You don’t know what you’re saying. You do need me,” Harrison said, and before Owen could clear the corner, firm fingers wrapped around his left arm.
Instinct took over in place of panic, and with a twist and inward pull to whirl Harrison around, Owen rushed back into the alcove and slammed him face-first into the wall. His heart beat wildly, but he wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t afraid.
“No, Harry. I don’t.”
Pushing forward once more to leave Harrison against the wall, Owen used the momentum to spring out of the alcove and move at a near-run along the edge of the ballroom. He couldn’t let things end like this. He wouldn’t.
There was no sign of Cal at the door or by the coat check, but if he had stopped to retrieve his coat, he couldn’t have gotten much of a head start. Leaving his own jacket behind, Owen escaped into the night to find Cal no matter how long it took.
Chapter Nine
A Model Escort Page 16
