Building Us: A Gay Romantic Comedy and Adventure (Marketing Beef Gay Romance Book 2)

by Rick Bettencourt

  I stopped. “I’m not a commodity.”

  “The scout snapped pictures of the area. You showed up in one, and Vilhelm became obsessed. I’m telling you all this so you understand, so you can help him.”

  “You act as if I should be flattered.”

  “You should.”

  I slammed my hand down on the island. The perfume bottle teetered. “I’m a married man! And, I don’t like anyone spying on me.”

  Darlene sighed. “Dillon, you just made a hefty chunk of change for your little marketing firm. In fact, Patty is wiring the advance into your account probably as we speak.”

  I raked a hand through my hair and returned to pacing. “I won’t sell out. I’m not leaving Evan.” I leaned against the kitchen sink, a few yards across from her.

  “No one said you had to.” A sly grin hitched the corner of her mouth. “He might just leave you.”

  I dashed back to the island, took the perfume bottle, and held it to her face. “Two can play at this.” I smelled her stench.

  “I have a high tolerance for ether.”

  I tilted my head. “Really? Been toking the gas lately?”

  “I use it to sleep.” She breathed it in. “I love its sweet fragrance. I’ve been using it for years. We have it for the dogs, sometimes to knock ’em out for traveling or a quick snip-snip.”

  “That’s cruel.”

  “I know better than you.” She pushed my hand away. “I’ve been raising those dogs since before the mutt you call Detritus was born.”

  I put the bottle down. “You raised them?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ve bred a very successful line. In fact, Detritus would fit in nicely.”

  “You’re not getting our dog, no matter what the contract says.”

  “Our dog. Ha! They’ll be no our, Dillon. After Evan finds out what you’ve been doing with Vilhelm and Adam.”

  “I haven’t done anything!” I got in her face, but her odor held me back.

  “Evan may have received some suspicious text messages.” She grinned, fiddling with her phone.

  “What?” My heart raced.

  “I’m sure Evan is worried. Why don’t you call him?” She handed me her phone.

  I took it without taking my eyes off her. “You’re a very strange woman.” I unlocked the phone with a swipe, and a picture of me in bed with Vilhelm appeared. “What the fuck is this?”

  Darlene laughed.

  I paged through to another of me naked in the shower and dropped the phone. “How’d you get these?”

  “Technology these days. Security cameras fit anywhere. Dillon”—she clutched her hands across her chest—“just do it.”

  I leaped forward, snatched the perfume bottle, and sprayed it in her face.

  She fell back. “Aw, Gawd!” She landed on the floor, wiping her eyes. “It stings.”

  “I know!”

  She got up on her hands and knees, and I sprayed another under her nostrils

  “Jesus! You asshole!”

  I looked for something to tie her down. I needed out of there. The landline on the wall caught my eye, and as she grabbed for my foot, I stepped on her fingers.

  She hollered.

  I wrapped her wrists with the phone cord.

  “Don’t you dare leave me!” Darlene struggled with the cord behind her.

  I took the perfume bottle and sprayed it into her nose. Her head wobbled. She muttered, grunted, and her body went limp. I left her on the linoleum floor and bolted out the back door.

  In the barn out back, I ripped the cover off a snowmobile. The engine coughed a few turns, but it started. I opened the bay and sped off.

  Chapter 35

  Evan

  Javier lugged a tank of gasoline out from an area beside the cottage. Inside, I peered out the bathroom window. My deep-breathing exercises weren’t relaxing me.

  The blue-green walls were the color Dillon and I planned to paint the kitchen someday. I pissed in the bowl. Was my marriage over? I fumed over the pictures. Who the fuck would…? Anger, sadness, guilt, and more ran amuck in my head. The flirting with Adam…Dillon had been acting weird. “He was sleeping with another man, for Christ’s sake.”

  I flushed the toilet, and it emitted a loud hollow gurgle. Stunned, I watched what looked like bloody water spiral down. My body numbed.

  “No, no, no.” I recalled the time I’d first found blood in my urine. “This can’t be.” I rushed to the sink to see if the cottage’s water was rusty.

  Nothing came out either of the taps.

  “Evan?” I hadn’t heard Javier reenter the cottage. “The water’s been turned off for the winter to prevent the pipes from freezing.”

  I caught his reflection in the mirror. I’d never bothered to shut the door.

  “Don’t worry.” He placed a hand on my back. “We’ll get to the bottom of the pictures.”

  When I straightened, I saw myself in the mirror. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

  Javier hugged me, and I sobbed in his arms. He patted my back. “Shh. It’s going to be all right.”

  My pants slid down. In my haste, I hadn’t bothered to pull them back up. I continued sobbing, and he held me tight for a few moments.

  “Um, Evan.…your pants.” He let go of me.

  “Is there blood in my underwear?”

  “What?”

  I couldn’t bear to see if I’d spotted, like before. “Do you see… you know, blood?”

  He spun me around to look at my ass. “Why would—”

  “No.” I chuckled at his folly. The amusement diverted my attention. “Not my butt.” I faced him and wiped the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand.

  He looked down at my crotch and stepped back some. “Um, I wouldn’t say that’s blood.”

  I looked down. My underwear tented with an erection, and a bead of pre-excitement seeped through. “Oh my God!” I yanked my jeans up. “Oh my God.” I turned my back to him. “You must think I’m a pervert or something.”

  Chapter 36

  Dillon

  Around noon, I arrived at the Settlement Inn. “Do you know where my…where the guy I checked in with is? My husband.” I asked the front-desk clerk—an old man with dark circles under his eyes and a wrinkled shirt. “He’s not in the room,” I added, having already checked.

  “Evan? Evan McCormick?”

  Deet heeled at my foot. I held his lead in my hand. “Yes. Have you seen him?”

  “Why, just last night. He came down. I gave him…. Oh, come to think of it, an officer dropped off this package for you both.” The old man removed a FedEx box from one of the cubbies in the wall behind him. It was simply addressed to Evan and Dillon Deiss, Settlement Inn—no postage. “She left it a few hours ago.”

  “Thank you.” I shook the box. Wallets. “As for Evan’s whereabouts? Have you seen him?”

  A female clerk appeared behind him. “The blond man?” The lanyard around her neck hit the counter as she sat and smiled at Deet. “He was having breakfast here earlier this morning. He left with the dog caretaker about an hour or so ago.”

  Adam and Patty, from NEFO, exited a room to my left.

  “Adam!” I hobbled over to them. My ankle stung, and I pulled out another Tylenol from my pocket. “Where’s Evan?” I popped the pill in my mouth and swallowed.

  “Isn’t he here?” Sheepishly Adam tucked a manila folder into a leather bag with metal straps hanging off his shoulder.

  “He left with the dogs’ caretaker, I guess.” I looked to the front desk for verification, but the duo had moved on to reviewing paperwork and room keys.

  Patty slipped her arm into a sky-blue wool coat. “He’s off with that hot Venezuelan who manages the kennel?”

  “Javier,” Adam said.

  “Hot Venezuelan?” I slid the FedEx box off the counter, and the three of us walked toward the front entrance.

  “We’re off to the set,” Adam said to me. “We’re filming this afternoon in downtown Settlement. The sun�
�s starting to melt everything. It should make for a brilliant scene. Vilhelm’s in Makeup. You’re up too.”

  “I don’t give a damn about my upcoming performance, Adam. A word in private please.”

  Adam pecked Patty on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Patty turned my way. “Nice to see you again, Dillon. After I check out the set, I’m off to Boston to meet with a talent agency. They’ll be pleased you’re onboard.”

  “Onboard?” I restrained Deet, who yanked his chain toward the opening.

  She didn’t acknowledge the dog tugging toward the door she held ajar. “The contract…to help us bring—”

  Adam put a hand on my shoulder, eyes on Patty. “I think Dillon’s a little more concerned about his hubby right now. I’m sure he’s already working the NEFO contract.”

  I didn’t know enough about Patty to concern me. “Worked on it this morning as a matter of fact.” I cleared my throat.

  “Great.” She stepped back inward and shook my hand in her large, firm grip.

  “Thank you again for the opportunity,” I said.

  She slipped a fur-lined hood over her head and left.

  As the door shut, I spun Adam toward me. “We need to talk.”

  “Geez!” He tripped some as I dragged him toward the room where Patty and he had exited. Deet trotted after us.

  “Dillon, relax.” He pulled his flannel-covered shoulder from my grip and followed me. “Whatever happened between you and Vilhelm, it’s not my doing.”

  We entered a conference room with a long table with several chairs around it. I shut the door behind us, making sure Deet came too. “Who the fuck is this Darlene woman?”

  Adam rolled his eyes and sat at head of the table. “What did she do now?”

  I plopped into a chair and put my aching foot up on the one between us.

  “Dude,” he said, “you look like shit.”

  “Thank you.” I opened the FedEx box, tipped it, and the wallets tumbled out.

  Adam crinkled his brow.

  “Long story.” I placed Evan’s wallet back in the box for safekeeping. “This hasn’t been the best trip.”

  He leaned across to touch my face, but I smacked his hand away. “You’ve got,” he said, “a rash.” He leaned back. “Did she ether you?”

  I tsked and pointed at him. “Bingo.”

  “She’s addicted to the shit.”

  “Well, she’s passed out on the kitchen floor right now from it.”

  “What?” He straightened.

  “I gave her a dose of her own medicine, tied her up, and left.” My wallet still had the money I’d won on the scratch ticket. All of it. “Hmm.”

  “You tied her up?”

  “With the phone cord.” I rubbed Deet’s ears and he let out a sigh with his head on my lap.

  “Shit.” He dug his cell phone out from his bag. “I’ll send someone over.”

  “I wouldn’t rush. The old biddy is napping.” I rubbed my ankle. “Can we get me some ice, you think?”

  After Adam’s phone calls to rescue Darlene and get a status on Javier—who didn’t pick up—an attractive blonde with brightly painted fingernails set down a coffee, pastries, and a bag of ice.

  “I’m not hungry but thanks for the ice.” I took the plastic bag and placed it on my ankle. “American muffins? Is that all everyone has around here?”

  Adam caught my eye. “Had your fill already?”

  The cute waitress removed the pastry from the conference table. “I can get you some eggs.”

  I raised a hand. “I’m good, sweetie. The coffee’s fine, and the ice rocks.”

  Adam watched her leave. “Darlene Jonas, the old lady you tied up, has been Vilhelm’s nanny since he was seven or eight, when his mother died of cancer.”

  “Poor kid.” My affect held little sympathy. “So what is this guy? Some sort of socially stunted man-child who needs the help of his babysitter to get laid?”

  Adam’s head fell back on the chair. “That’s a strong way of saying it but—”

  “But it’s true?”

  He shrugged his left shoulder.

  Deet rose from his nap—having curled up in the corner a while ago—and shuffled over to the door.

  “You need to go out?” I lifted my sore leg off the chair.

  “Don’t.” Adam rose. “I’ll take care of him for you.” He checked his phone. “Where the hell is Javier?”

  “I’m not sure I trust you. Or anyone here, for that matter. They want my dog when all is this is done.”

  “Who does?”

  “The studio. Darlene!”

  “Please.” He put his bag on the table. “I told you my story. I do what I need to survive around here. I don’t have anything to do with that.” He paced and read his phone with interest.

  “You gave me the contra—”

  Someone knocked on the door. The waitress entered with a sandwich plate. “We just made fresh tuna,” she said in an inviting tone. “There’s plenty.”

  My stomach rumbled. “Sure. I am a little hungry after all.” I slid the wallets aside, and she set the plate in front of me.

  Deet nosed over to her. “Cute dog,” she said.

  “Apparently, he looks like all the rest.” I took a big bite out of the sandwich.

  “Nah, he’s special.” She bent to his level. “I can tell.” She scratched his neck, and he cocked his head into her. “Aren’t you a special boy?” she asked in a baby-talk like Evan and I use.

  “Say.” I wiped my mouth and opened my wallet. “He needs to water a tree out front. Would you mind letting him out for a second?”

  “I’d love to.” She waved off the twenty I offered. “It’s my break, anyway.”

  Adam hung up his phone, hip-checked his chair, and returned his man-bag to his shoulder.

  Deet galloped after the waitress.

  “Be a good boy now.” I gobbled another bite as she and Deet left.

  Adam followed them. “I need to get back to the—”

  “I’m not done with you.” I kicked his chair for him to sit back down and it spun away from its tucked-in position. I leaned back and licked a smidge of tuna from my thumb.

  Adam sat.

  Chapter 37

  Evan

  With my spontaneous erection at bay, Javier and I loped back to the snowmobile. The kid could be my younger brother, and I felt guilty for being so, obviously, attracted to him. But if one were to have an affair, he’d be ideal—a young man with the chiseled good looks of a model from one of those athleticwear websites where Dillon orders all his underwear. And if Dillon was banging the lumberjack, why shouldn’t I have a little fun? My mind swam in confusion.

  “You ready?” Javier’s pale blue eyes dazzled with a mesmerizing ring, like insight into an astral body photographed from a powerful telescope and plastered on magazine covers when I was a kid. “Evan?”

  “Oh, yeah.” I yanked myself from my reverie. “I’m ready.”

  He lowered the helmet’s visor, blocking my view into his brilliant cosmos. “Don’t be ashamed about what happened. It’s probably the medication, like you said.”

  Humiliated after my stickup, I confided in him about my cancer and the testosterone meds. Even Dillon didn’t know I took hormones.

  “Forget about it.” He kick-started the engine. Its roar echoed across the frozen lake and fell to a murmur as he adjusted the choke.

  An affair with Javier Rodriguez? I covered my desire with a layer of guilt and topped it off with a pound of timidity. As I swallowed my shame, an eerie ping sounded and fear consumed me.

  Snap!

  The snowmobile lurched sideward. A crackling sound resonated louder, and the vehicle pitched upward as if teetering on a seesaw or reeling in a fun house.

  “Get off!” Javier rose. The rear of the snowmobile slammed lower, and he leaped into the air.

  I propelled myself upward but the ice-cold pond snapped at my heels and stunned me. My pant legs wicked wate
r and it filled my boots. The submerging vehicle slid out from under me and tugged me down with it. Its engine billowed a frothy mix of smoke and ice chunks behind me and stalled. Javier rose upon a sheet of ice a few feet away. It, too, cracked, and he plummeted underwater. I climbed up the front of the snowmobile, pushing it deeper into the abyss with my frantic kicks and punches at the water.

  “Oh, God!” It happened too quickly for me to inhale an adequate amount of air, and I sunk.

  Chapter 38

  Dillon

  Adam opened the conference room’s door and let the waitress and Deet in. The dog, with crisp air trailing off his fur and that cool-to-the-touch feel, licked me as if joyful I hadn’t deserted him. The waitress asked if we needed anything further, to which Adam and I replied we didn’t, and she left.

  “I really need to get to the set, Dillon.” Adam checked his phone for the umpteenth time. “In fact, you do too.” He looked at his watch. “Where is Javier?”

  “The hot Venezuelan?”

  Adam snickered. “He’s not that hot.”

  “Patty thought he was.”

  “She doesn’t know any better.” Adam had his cell phone to his ear. “It goes right to voice mail. He probably didn’t charge his phone with the electricity being out.” He grabbed his bag from the table. “C’mon, forget all the shit that’s gone down, and let’s go make a movie. Isn’t that what you came here for? To be part of Hollywood?”

  I sighed. “All right. Maybe Ev is there.”

  “They could be.”

  We left.

  Deet followed me back to the room. I scratched out a note for Evan—just in case—and left it on his side of the bed. I threw a bone to Deet to distract him. “You’ll be safer here, boy.” I left him huddled by the fire, chewing on the bone.

  Chapter 39

  Evan

  Fortunately when the ice broke, we weren’t far from the shore. Atop the sunken snowmobile, water lapped at my chest. I clung to an ice chunk. My hands ached. My core numbed. I hoisted myself as best I could onto a frozen sheet, but it broke apart as I pushed down. Face first, I submerged.