Heir for Hire

by Jerry Cole

  “Thanks.”

  Basil clicked his tongue. “Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I love your clothes. I just…you don’t want people to think you’re a gold digger, right?”

  Trevor smiled, shaking his head. “Honestly, I have no idea what I want people to think.”

  Basil watched him, suddenly feeling uneasy. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re acting a little weird.”

  “I’m fine,” Trevor replied. “I’m just…would it be okay if we just went to bed? Or, well, you can do whatever you want. This is your house. Would it be okay if I just went to bed?”

  Basil nodded, trying to ignore his quickening heart. Trevor was blowing him off. He was being polite about it but he was definitely blowing him off.

  “Sure,” Basil said, getting off the sectional. “You can sleep here. Or if you want, you can take my bed, and I can sleep here.”

  Trevor shook his head. “No, don’t be ridiculous. I’ll take the sofa.”

  Basil couldn’t be sure, but he thought Trevor looked relieved.

  “I’ll go get you some bedding,” Basil said. He stood up and on his way toward the linen closet, his arm brushed against Trevor’s own. He heard Trevor take a deep, shuddering breath and stopped to look at him, his head cocked.

  “Trevor.”

  “What?” Trevor asked, his tone hard. He looked pale, much paler than Basil had ever seen him.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” Trevor replied. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not acting like you’re fine.”

  “I’m fine,” Trevor said, casting his gaze away from Basil’s and toward the floor. “I’m totally fine. I’m just a bit tired, okay? I would really like to get some sleep before tomorrow. I know tomorrow is important.”

  Basil reached out to touch him, grabbing him by the arm. It was supposed to be a reassuring squeeze, but Trevor winced at his touch, and Basil dropped his hand to his side instantly.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I hurt you?”

  Trevor shook his head. “You didn’t hurt me,” he said. Then he looked straight into Basil’s eyes. “Can you go get that bedding now?”

  “Yeah,” Basil replied. “Yeah, sure.”

  He didn’t look back at Trevor as he went into his bedroom. The linen closet was behind his door, next to the walk-in closet where he kept his clothes and shoes, and the moment Basil closed his door behind him, he hesitated.

  He was just getting him some sheets, but it still felt weird. It felt weird Trevor would be sleeping out there, without him, when he was supposed to be his boyfriend.

  He considered asking him to come into the bedroom and sleep in his bed with him but that felt wrong. Trevor obviously wanted to be left alone. Basil glanced at his double bed and sighed deeply.

  Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Basil was trying to hide his amusement as he watched Trevor decide between a red shirt and a blue shirt that looked exactly the same to Basil. They were the same cut, the same fit—plain, both obviously old though neither one of them were to be thrown out yet—with short sleeves.

  Trevor was holding one up, slightly shaking his head, then holding the other one up. Over and over again. He was still wearing the ridiculous pajamas that made him look like a model in a fashion spread and it was obvious he was sleepy by the disgruntled noises he kept making.

  Basil smiled as he made his way toward the kitchen and past Trevor.

  “Hi,” he said. “Would you like some coffee?”

  Trevor looked up at him and nodded, a small smile on his face when his gaze met Basil’s. As Basil put the coffee on, he continued to watch Trevor trying to make what seemed to be a very important decision.

  “You’re going to look great no matter what,” Basil said.

  Trevor sighed and dropped the red shirt. “I brought two different shirts because I wasn’t sure what your parents were like,” he said, his voice coated with sleep. “However, I didn’t realize they were basically the same fucking shirt. I guess I was a little nervous.”

  “About meeting my parents? They’re harmless,” Basil said while he pressed the on button on the coffee machine.

  “Maybe they’re harmless, but this is my big debut, isn’t it?” Trevor said, winking at him. He seemed a little more awake and Basil was already enjoying his company immensely. “This is when I come out.”

  Trevor laughed at his own joke. Basil just chuckled, shaking his head. “Get out. How do you take your coffee?”

  “Do you have any skim milk? Soy milk, failing that.”

  “I have regular creamer,” Basil said. “And no milk. But if you want to wait, Anita can bring you a latte.”

  Trevor’s eyes widened. “You have an in-house barista?”

  “No,” Basil replied, biting his lips as he tried to stop himself from laughing. “We have a caterer who comes every other Sunday of the month. She has an espresso machine.”

  “She lugs an espresso machine around with her?”

  Basil shrugged. He never really considered how the catering business actually worked. “I guess,” he said. “The point is, they have hot drinks.”

  Trevor shook his head again. “This is so fucking weird.”

  “What is?”

  “This, Basil,” Trevor said, pointing at nothing in particular.

  Basil swallowed. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I understand.”

  “This!” Trevor said. “You have a caterer twice a month, you…you know what? Forget it. Just forget it.”

  Basil scoffed. Trevor seemed extremely irritated and Basil wasn’t sure why, but it was getting on his nerves too. All he had wanted to do was have a pleasant day and include Trevor in the brunch he was going to have with his parents. There was certainly no reason for Trevor to make it as weird as he was making it.

  “What?” Trevor said, his voice softening. “You don’t think this entire thing is really fucking strange?”

  Basil licked his lips. “Yeah,” he said, shrugging. “I guess. A little bit.”

  Trevor raised his eyebrows.

  “Okay,” Basil said. “Considerably weird. Thank you for doing this with me.”

  Trevor shrugged. “Hey, what do you pay me for, if it’s not to be in weird elaborate rich people schemes?”

  Basil smiled. “Maybe that should be the name of my autobiography.”

  Trevor’s expression softened as he watched Basil. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe it should.”

  ***

  Once Trevor was dressed in his red shirt and those jeans that showed off his ass—his most expensive pair and the ones he used to pick up men in clubs, but only when they were fancy clubs, and sometimes for auditions—he walked down the stairs of Basil’s place and into the extensive Walker gardens.

  Basil walked out before him and Trevor was grateful for it. He didn’t think he was going to be able to make a grand entrance with Basil by his side, holding hands as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It wasn’t. They weren’t even supposed to be touching; it was all pretend. Trevor needed to keep reminding himself, because otherwise, he was going to forget it. The moment he forgot it again, the moment things would start to get complicated.

  Too complicated. Too complicated to handle.

  He looked around the grounds to try and find Basil. Basil told him to use the back entrance of the garage to go into the garden. If Trevor hadn’t been as nervous as he was, he might have taken some time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The garden was clearly loved and labored over, the grass lush and beautiful, and lots of flowerbeds made the garden look palatial. Closer to the back entrance of the mansion, there was some garden furniture. Trevor shielded his eyes and set his gaze on them. Other than the people bringing them food, they were the only ones there, and Trevor could tell that was where Basil and his parents were.

  He took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and walked over to the table where his fake-boyfriend and his fake-boyfriend’s family were
sitting as slowly as possible. He still didn’t want to face them. He had a couple of rituals before a performance. Usually he said a prayer but he didn’t feel like praying there. He wondered if that meant he didn’t want it to go well.

  Maybe he didn’t.

  Basil’s parents were facing away from him, both tall and wearing expensive looking clothes. The air around them smelled of coffee, eggs and fruit, and a little whiff of feminine perfume Trevor couldn’t identify by the smell. Basil caught his gaze and waved at him, a goofy grin appearing on his face. Trevor’s heart immediately dropped. Basil looked so delighted to see him and to introduce him to his parents.

  It was a lie. A performance.

  Trevor had to perform. That was what he was paid for.

  He hastened his step, walked around the table, and squeezed Basil’s shoulder. He leaned down and kissed Basil on the top of his head. He was about to move away when Basil craned his neck and wordlessly asked for a mouth kiss, right in front of his parents. Trevor thought about leaving him hanging for just a split second but instantly reconsidered it. He brought his face down and gave Basil a full, soft mouth kiss, appropriate enough for parental company. He pulled away after a couple of seconds, feeling uneasy and turned on.

  He swallowed, ignoring the growing lump in his throat. “Hello,” he said as his gaze darted between Basil’s parents, who appeared to be extremely confused. “My name is Trevor.”

  “He’s my boyfriend,” Basil said, putting his arm around Trevor’s waist and yanking him close to him. Basil had kissed him before quite a few times but this was different, it was intimate but it didn’t just have to do with sex, and it made Trevor dizzy with happiness.

  He closed his eyes, swallowed, and hoped his face was the picture of happiness, even though he didn’t feel happy at all.

  “I hope you don’t mind me joining you for brunch,” Trevor said. “Basil said it would be okay.”

  “Yes,” Basil said. “They don’t mind. Do you?”

  Basil’s parents shook their heads at the same time. There were only three chairs at the round table with the glass top, which was already chock-full of food, and Trevor didn’t think there would be space for him.

  “Let me get you a chair, darling,” Basil said, winking at him.

  Trevor smiled shakily at him.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Walker,” Trevor said as he watched Basil walk away. “I’m so sorry to spring this on you. Basil has…I tried to convince him that he had to speak to you privately.”

  That seemed to crack Mrs. Walker up. “He’s very stubborn, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah,” Trevor replied, smiling at her. “He is a little.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Walker exchanged a brief look Trevor wasn’t sure he was supposed to notice. “This makes sense,” Mr. Walker finally said.

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Mrs. Walker replied, shaking her head. “I can’t believe we didn’t notice it.”

  “Your name is Trevor, right? Mr. Walker said as he nodded. “Of course we’d love to have you join. Thank you so much for coming.”

  Trevor thought if something like this happened, he would feel a ton better. Except he didn’t. It turned out that how uncomfortable he had been had absolutely nothing to do with Basil’s parents’ approval. In fact, if they hadn’t approved, maybe this would have been easier. It would have been easier because he would have been able to focus on something else, not the fact they were having what was supposed to be a perfectly ordinary brunch with his fake-boyfriend’s parents. The worst part of it was that he was enjoying it.

  He wasn’t just enjoying it.

  He wanted it to be real.

  Basil finally dragged a chair across for him, winking at him as he pointed at it as if he was unveiling some sort of prize. Trevor rolled his eyes and Basil laughed, which made Basil’s parents laugh. Trevor tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.

  “Someone will be with us to take your order in a bit,” Basil said as he sat down, winking at him. Trevor nodded. He wasn’t just pretending to be with Basil. He was pretending all of this was perfectly normal, that wait staff brought people food by the pool on a Sunday. He wondered how much he should reveal about his background, a stab of panic in his chest. Was he also supposed to be a rich kid? Fuck, he should have really asked Basil these questions. He had really wanted to prepare but then they started kissing and Trevor had forgotten everything about preparing. He had forgotten everything about everything.

  Trevor smiled at the Walkers, who were watching him curiously. “Thank you so much for letting me stay,” he said. “This smells amazing.”

  “Anita is a treasure,” Mrs. Walker said. “We were so lucky to find her. She’s been an absolute godsend. We don’t like going out to town every weekend, it can get a little bit complicated with our schedule. This seemed like the most sensible solution.”

  “It’s wonderful,” Trevor replied, smiling at her.

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” Mrs. Walker said. “How long have you and my son been seeing each other?”

  “Uh,” Trevor said, casting a panicked look toward Basil.

  “About a year,” Basil said, taking a deep breath. He grabbed Trevor’s hand, his touch sending a surge of electricity all over Trevor’s body, and his voice was shaky when he spoke again. “I really wanted to tell you guys, but I don’t know. You guys seemed so excited about Jennifer Burton and about me having children. I couldn’t bear the idea of disappointing you.”

  Mr. Walker looked as shocked as he did angry. “You thought you’d disappoint us by being gay?”

  “I’m not gay,” Basil automatically replied. He obviously did it without thinking and he started to squeeze Trevor’s hand very hard.

  Trevor was obviously going to have to bail him out, because Basil’s parents were looking at him like he was crazy.

  “Basil is bi,” Trevor said. The lie sounded good enough and it seemed to slightly soften the shock of what Basil had just told them so he kept going with it. “We didn’t expect this to get as serious as it did. Neither one of us.”

  “Right,” Basil said, licking his lips. “We just…we went on a couple of dates and things just kind of developed naturally from there. I still don’t really consider myself gay.”

  Mr. Walker frowned. “You can consider yourself whatever you want,” he said. “You’re still dating a man.”

  Mrs. Walker nodded.

  “Yes,” Basil said. “I just wanna emphasize it’s really serious, okay, guys? I don’t want you two to think it’s not serious only because I didn’t bring it up earlier. I wanted to. I just hadn’t found a way to yet.”

  “So, this isn’t just an experiment,” Mr. Walker said.

  “No, Dad,” Basil replied. “Like I said, we’re serious. Really serious.”

  Basil caught Trevor’s gaze and Trevor flashed him a perfunctory smile. He hoped it looked more sincere than it felt. He knew he wasn’t being a particularly good actor but the longer he stayed in the situation, the harder it was for him.

  “But we haven’t heard a word about you seeing anyone,” Mrs. Walker said. “You have to understand, Trevor, it’s not that we’re against our son dating a man. He’s a grown-up, he can date whomever he wants. We’re just a little surprised, and I’m sure I don’t speak only for myself here, a little hurt he would keep something like that from us. We’d heard rumors but…”

  Trevor had to hold back a smile. This was more like it. While they had been incredibly welcoming at first, he expected a certain amount of family drama. He had been prepared for this. He hadn’t been prepared for how polite they had been at first. Trevor felt a little bad he was gleeful about their cheerful veneer being gone, but he really wanted to think about something else other than how perfect this would have been. If only it were real.

  “I just…I just wasn’t sure how you would react,” Basil said.

  “What you do in your time is your business,” Mr. Walker said. “You’re a young man. You are welcome to explore the world ho
wever you see fit. On the other hand, we do think it’s time you settle down. Like your mother and I were saying, we do want to live to meet our grandchildren.”

  Basil rolled his eyes and groaned. “You’re not even old.”

  “That’s no guarantee nothing is going to happen to us,” Mr. Walker said.

  “Mr. Walker,” Trevor started as he cleared his throat. “I don’t want to speak for Basil, but we’ve had many conversations about how we should tell you regarding our relationship. I’ve tried to reassure Basil, because I’ve heard a lot about you, but ultimately he was scared.”

  Mrs. Walker looked a little offended. “He thought we wouldn’t accept him?”

  “Not necessarily,” Trevor said. “He was just a little worried. I don’t think I made it any easier for him. I was scared too.”

  Basil watched him, his eyes wide.

  Trevor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You have to understand,” he said. “I was afraid too. I don’t…I don’t come from money.”

  He paused for a beat, looked down, and continued his monologue. He hadn’t prepared it but as long as it felt sincere enough, he thought he could probably get away with it.

  “I was worried you would reject me because I don’t have enough to give your son,” he said. “I’m a struggling aspiring actor. I work hard…I’ve been working three jobs up until recently. Still, I probably will only ever make a fraction of what your son makes. I don’t have an expensive car, I don’t have expensive anything. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to impress you, to be honest. If Basil had chosen someone of his own financial standing—”

  “So, you thought we were snobs?”

  Trevor swallowed hard and loud, trying to make sure it was audible. “I guess,” he said. “To be honest, Mrs. Walker, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was worried, though.”

  “You shouldn’t be,” Mrs. Walker replied. “You shouldn’t have been.”

  “So, you’re okay with this?” Basil asked, his voice thick with doubt.

  “Of course we’re okay with this,” Mrs. Walker said. “We just want you to be happy.”

  She exchanged a look with Basil’s father.