by RJ Scott
“You’re fucking mad,” Gabriel said.
Cam’s gaze shifted a little from the wall to him, like he’d zoned in on Gabriel’s voice. “I can assure you I’m not mad. I own this place, I need a date for a family event, and you tick the boxes.”
Cam was a contradiction; he owned a hotel, yet he seemed so hopelessly naïve, hiring a hooker like Gabriel for some kind of expensive event.
“So you hired a complete stranger. How do you know to trust me not to take your wallet and leave you dead in this elevator?”
Cam did his raised eyebrow thing again and shook his head a little. “You’re a businessman. I am too. This is a business transaction, nothing more, and I’m worth a lot more to you than what’s in my wallet right now.” He didn’t seem too worried about being in an elevator with an escort who might or might not be on drugs. If anything, he appeared way too relaxed after making a booking that was a third over what Stefan normally charged for Gabriel’s services.
The elevator creaked a little and began to move downward, and Gabriel scrambled to stand upright, using the rail around the elevator to help him. Cam followed suit a little more slowly, and they stood in opposite corners of the elevator, looking at each other. Or rather he was looking at Cam; Cam was looking past him again. The car stopped, and Gabriel realized with horror that it was on the lobby floor. He never went down that far; preferred to stop a floor above and walk down. When you used the elevators opposite reception, they began to recognize you and any patterns you might have for return bookings. That way lay the cops if a hotel decided to get up in arms about it all.
The fact that Cam admitted security had been watching him left him cold
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. Cam was right, being a hooker was a business, and Stefan had got him cards because he was fucking good at his job of looking after Gabriel.
“My details,” he said as the doors opened. He held out the card, but Cam didn’t take it, so Gabe shook it then pressed it into Cam’s hand. The man might refuse to take it, but he wasn’t getting a single minute of Gabriel’s time without a deposit.
“Friday,” Cam said, and closed his fingers around the embossed ivory card.
Gabriel nodded and left, striding confidently through the lobby and out of the main front door. The prickle on his skin of being watched was enough to have him taking deep breaths as soon as he hit the sidewalk.
He walked away from the hotel shaken as fuck, didn’t even look back, and his usual awareness of the vicinity fled. Which was how he didn’t see the man until he was being guided with a tight grip on his arm into the space between the hotel and the fashion boutique next door.
That same grip pushed him against the wall, and he didn’t have time to shout or yank himself away—whoever had hold of him was too strong.
His chest tightened, his breathing shallow gasps, a million flashbacks searing themselves into his brain.
He wrenched himself free and turned to face his assailant, finding himself faced with salt and pepper hair, a neat beard, and icy eyes.
“I’ve watched you,” the man said, placing a hand around Gabriel’s throat and pressing just enough for Gabriel to bring his hands up to push him away. “And you listen to me, punk. I know who you are, what you are, and you touch Cam Stafford—you even think of stealing from him or hurting him—and believe me when I say I will hunt you down and I will kill you slowly and they will never find your body. Do we understand each other?”
Gabriel tried to get his fingers under his attacker’s grip, but the hold was way too tight. So he kicked into survival mode as every breath became harder to take. Then he nodded as best he could.
With one last shove, Tall, Gray and Intimidating released his hold and stepped back, then crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“My name is Six, you remember that, because I’ll be watching you. Now fuck off,” he snapped.
Gabriel touched his throat then let his hands drop to his sides. “Why don’t you fuck off first?” he asked.
This wasn’t some corner he was being thrown off. This behemoth with the short military hairstyle wasn’t a cop, or anything that meant he got to manhandle Gabriel. God knew why he thought it was a good idea to confront the man, though, and he had every expectation that he would be beaten to a bloody pulp.
What the hell did it matter? He’d survived worse before.
The man shook his head in what Gabriel assumed was disbelief. “I’m watching you,” he said, then turned on his heel and left.
But something inside Gabriel—some stupid, crazy bravery—had him pulling back his shoulders. “If that’s the only way you can get off.”
Big Man didn’t even stop and turn; in fact he gave no indication that he’d even heard Gabriel, but it didn’t matter. Because Gabriel had taken control of that situation. Didn’t matter that the guy he’d fronted looked like a linebacker; Gabriel was never backing down to anyone again.
He headed home, walking the entire way after sending a quick text to Stefan, who responded with a code that meant he was cool, and safe himself.
Gabriel wondered idly if the threesome he had been booked for had gone ahead. If so, had Stefan got one of the others in? Had Gabriel lost the chance of a possible repeat booking?
When he got home, there was no sign of Stefan, not that he’d expected him to be there; he’d be out there wiping up the money that should have been Gabe’s.
Frustrated with himself, with Cam and his booking, and with the thug who’d nearly throttled him, he stripped and walked right into his huge shower.
With the water beating down on his neck, he circled his throat with his hands, feeling the ghost of the other man’s touch, and he winced inwardly, feeling sick. Coming home to his place, behind his door, with the ability and the money to run, didn’t mean anything when the adrenaline subsided. He pressed hard on his throat with one hand, and the other circled his hard cock. He recalled the pain of the man’s hold, the fear, and at the same time he slipped his hand up and down his cock, setting a punishing rhythm even as he tightened the grip around his throat. He knew how far he could push himself as he closed his eyes and felt the pull of orgasm.
The only way he could get off was to feel pain. Didn’t matter what he’d told Cam in the elevator; pain and desperation were the only things that pushed him over the edge. His orgasm was explosive, the first one he’d had at his own hand in months; the first in a very long time.
And all because someone had treated him like shit and forced him back against a wall.
Suddenly exhausted, he turned off the water, wrapped himself in a towel and climbed into bed, hiding away under the covers.
And he cried.
That and sex were the only things he could do really well.
CHAPTER SIX
Six fifty-seven, and Cam knew Gabriel was in the building. Along with his family, all of them. His parents had their usual suite, his sister on her own in the bridal suite even though that was premature, his brothers in executive rooms, not to mention his uncle, assorted aunts, and myriad additional relatives. Getting enough free rooms at this late stage hadn't been easy but they’d managed it with overspill into the hotel next door. Added to that there was chaos in the back rooms organizing a Dallas royalty event.
All he could think was that he was so pleased the wedding itself was being held at the Stafford family home outside the city, because just one night here with all of them was enough for him to have his own private meltdown. Not to mention he had to handle his dad’s sixtieth in a few months’ time. More family. More drama. More fucking stress.
At least no one could pull the pity crap on him this time. He had a boyfriend now. Well, Gabriel, anyway. Much to Six’s concern and obvious disgust.
Cam had spent the entire time since the elevator car telling himself he’d done exactly the right thing. He could cross one more thing off his to-do list. Book for a suit fitting, buy some more dog food for Gidget, get Six to help him find and wrap a gift for t
he not-very-happy couple, hire a hooker. The kind of list any man might have going on.
Didn’t matter that Six wasn’t talking to him, or at least avoiding him when he could, Cam was convinced this was the only way. His dad had already made noises about taking the Stafford Royal away from Cam, and that wasn’t happening. Being blind didn’t make him incapable, and having a solid partner with him would prove he was as far away from abnormal as he could be.
He knew his staff, had a team he trusted, even if Six wasn’t talking to him, and knew this business like the back of his hand, as befitted a kid who’d grown up in a hotel.
Stupid that he needed arm candy to prove he was able to handle it all.
But now, with only a few minutes to go, knowing that Gabriel had already picked up his deposit that morning made everything so real. Cam was apprehensive, uneasy, a sense of foreboding his friend today. His thought processes were erratic, an irrational fear that Gabriel would stand up in front of everyone and explain how poor blind Cam had to pay for a partner. His mind was going to the worst-case scenario, and he had to settle his breathing before Gidget became any more agitated.
Cam wished time would speed up so that it was past the event already, when he’d be back at work and in control of everything again. Some of the engagement party guests would stay longer, he assumed, but he could handle them by hiding away in his office.
No one expected him to be a host.
But he knew how many flower arrangements there were, had liaised with catering, organized things as mundane as table sizes, he’d done all the groundwork, and now he just had to act serene and in charge.
A knock on the door startled him, and Gidget pressed against his side.
“S’okay, girl,” he reassured her. If he was going to do the big reveal, then having his service dog next to him was probably a good start.
He didn’t bother asking who was at the door—no one got to this part of the hotel without Six’s approval. Only Six ever visited, and he didn’t knock.
Cam opened the door and stood back a little so Gabriel could come in.
“Hi,” Gabriel said.
His voice sent prickles of awareness down Cam’s spine. He’d never had such a visceral reaction to a voice before.
“And who are you?” Gabriel said. “Hey, gorgeous puppy,” he added, and there was the noise of Gabriel fussing over Gidget. Cam opened his mouth to explain that Gidget wasn’t a dog who wanted to be petted by anyone other than him and Six, but Gabriel was standing upright again.
“Can I come in?” he asked, and brushed past him, and the scent of him was familiar and as intoxicating as his voice. He sensed it when the shit hit the fan—when Gabriel evidently took a better look at Gidget and the harness Cam was holding—because he heard his sudden, shocked inhalation.
“Yes, I’m blind,” he said without formality. “This is Gidget, my guide dog, and I do still have some vision in the periphery, although that will inevitably disappear. Questions?”
There was a pause, pregnant with a hundred questions. Cam had rehearsed that line so many times, having learned that it was best to take the upper hand so there were no awkward pauses or questions.
“That explains the glasses inside,” Gabriel murmured. “No questions,” he added, although he likely had a lot of things he wanted to ask. Didn’t matter; Cam had a whole mental list of the subjects he needed to cover.
“Please help yourself to a drink.” He gestured to the unit that held the brandy he liked along with other bottles he never touched.
“No thanks.”
“I have bottled water in the fridge, and soft drinks. Help yourself.”
“I’m okay,” Gabriel said. He sounded like he was still in that confused state people often got into when they first realized Cam couldn’t see them.
“Let’s sit, then. We have a lot to cover in the next hour.”
Cam sat in his usual place, sensing that Gabriel took the opposite sofa. Gidget settled next to Cam, leaning on his leg.
“Do you always have to wear the glasses?” Gabriel asked. “Is that, like, a blind thing?”
Cam needed them to sharpen the fuzziness as much as he could. Of course, that was getting harder and harder now, and soon he likely wouldn’t bother at all. After all, no one looking into his eyes would know that he couldn’t see them unless they were in his peripheral vision. His eyes were blue and normal, and Adam, despite being a lying, cheating asshole, had called them pretty. That was all he knew.
“Mostly,” he answered, but didn’t go any deeper. Clearing his throat, he launched into what he needed to say. “So, my sister is having an engagement party. We don’t see each other much, but we do text. She’s my step-sister and she’s marrying my step-brother.” Cam held up a hand. “I know, it’s weird, but I’ll explain.” He gestured to the paper that sat on the coffee table between the sofas, a diagram that Six had drawn up for him.
He waited until he heard the rustle of paper, then proceeded to explain as best he could. “Ann married Sebastian and had me. Sebastian had an affair, Ann left him and married Oscar, and Ann and Oscar had Chloe, who is four years younger and my half-sister. Okay?”
“So she’s your half-sister and you share a mom,” Gabriel said.
“Yes. Anyway, Sebastian married the woman he’d been sleeping with, and they had two children, more half-siblings, Luke and Sophie. Luke is two years younger than me, Sophie four years. Sophie is married to a guy called Mitchell; he’s an idiot, loves spending money, but Sophie seems happy, so I can’t comment. None of the four of us has kids yet, so that’s easy to handle. Now, this is where it gets complicated. My half-sister Chloe and my half-brother Luke are getting married in three weeks on Sebastian’s estate.”
“You mom’s daughter and your dad’s son are marrying.”
“Yeah, and you understand that this is not like siblings marrying.”
“Do I look stupid?” Gabriel snapped, then coughed. “Shit,” he said. “I didn’t mean to say see, I meant to say… jeez.”
“And you can stop worrying about upsetting me with words like ‘look’. You used a turn of phrase. I get that.”
“Okay.”
“Where was I? Right, this means that my mom has to deal with the woman my dad cheated on her with. My mom hates the new wife, blames her for the marriage breaking up, my dad’s new wife tries too hard, blah, blah. Did I mention there are no grandchildren as well? Not to forget the fact that the wedding is in September at Dad’s property outside Dallas. The tension at this engagement party will be intense, but Six assures me you have signed a full non-disclosure agreement, which believe me he would enforce if anything went wrong. Also that the deposit for tonight has been paid.”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said, but he sounded confused, and likely not about the complicated extended Stafford family.
Cam sighed inwardly. Best to deal with the elephant in the room.
“And now to the blind thing. I began to go blind when I was twelve. It wasn’t obvious at first, but it progressed quite quickly. Like I said, though, I do have some peripheral vision.”
There was one of Gabriel’s famous pauses, but that could be because he was nodding and would all of a sudden realize that Cam couldn’t see him.
“Are you nodding at me?” Cam asked.
“Shit. No. Yes,” were the three answers given in quick succession. “My bad.”
“It’s fine,” Cam continued. “A person’s voice communicates personality very effectively, before you start on about not knowing you.”
“What? Where did that come from? I wasn’t going to say—”
“And I don’t need you to lead me around.”
“Okay.” Gabriel sounded almost defensive then, and Cam realized he’d laid everything out in a professional way that had likely come across as confrontational and put Gabriel on edge.
Cam wished he could see people’s expressions. Gabriel had set hard limits but likely hadn’t considered adding “no eating with family members” as
a proviso, and now Cam was adding his own about not leading him around.
But he couldn’t afford to look fragile in any way, because he was strong and determined and bucked the trend.
He thought about his dad and brother and their hotels in Chicago and San Antonio respectively. He thought of his mom, his step-mom, his half-siblings, all wrapped up in their own lives and not the most welcoming bunch. He recalled the judgments they all made about what their brother/son could handle. Then there was the extended family and their pity. He’d heard it all.
Gay? And blind? Poor Cam will never be anything more than a cripple. Have you thought about sending him away? And what if he ever does get a boyfriend? Who’s to say that any man would stay with someone who can’t see?
Poor Cam.
He turned slightly to his side so that he could look at the hazy image of Gabriel in his peripheral vision. Some people made the mistake of thinking he couldn’t see at all, but he could make some things out if he really tried. Gabriel was facing him; that he could ascertain. His expression was less obvious, though, his face nothing but a blur. At least he hadn’t turned and walked out.
“I think that’s it,” Cam said as cheerfully as he could. He was actually waiting for Gabriel to walk, probably with anything of value. Although he wouldn’t get far—Six would lock him down before he got outside the hotel.
“What do you want me to do, to be?”
“Just be there,” Cam asked, aware that was a lame answer.
“I mean, do you want me to tell people I’m in sales or something?”
“Well, I don’t want you to tell them you’re a hooker I pulled in for the night,” he joked.
Cam heard the soft intake of breath and cursed his inability to make a joke without the stress of tonight making his words sound harsh. “I just mean tell them…” He paused. He hadn’t actually thought past introducing Gabriel as his date. What if Six was wrong and Gabriel had a look about him that screamed hooker? What if he handed out business cards at the event? What if this was so fucked up that he ended up being laughed out of the room? Suddenly he felt out of control, and his fingers twitched in his lap to call for Six.
