by Dean Cole
‘When I woke up, I’d only been asleep for half an hour. I heard a noise upstairs. I got scared. Richard works days and our cleaner, Madelina, never comes unless it’s a Saturday. I thought it was an intruder. I crept into the hall, ready to run out of the door. But then I saw Richard’s clothes on the stairs, his shirt on the floor, his tie on the stair’s rail. I heard giggling. I crept upstairs and peered through a crack in the bedroom door and that’s when I saw them. Tyler was undressed under the sheets and Richard was in his boxers, straddling him. Tyler was giggling as Richard playfully kissed his neck …’ I trail off, the memory too emotional to bear.
Nathan’s eyes are fixed on mine. ‘What did you do?’
‘Went berserk, of course. I barged into the room and demanded an explanation. Richard was the most surprised to see me. I never miss an appointment at the salon so he would have been certain I’d be out all afternoon. As I’m sure you can imagine, Nathan, looking as good as this takes time.’
Nathan blinks but doesn’t answer.
‘He must have planned the whole thing,’ I say bitterly. ‘Taken the afternoon off work. Picked Tyler up from his boyfriend’s house. Because there’s no way Tyler would have walked. He lives over a mile away and doesn’t drive, and he’s so lazy he orders a taxi just to go to the corner shop.’
‘The conniving buggers,’ mutters Nathan. ‘Tyler has a boyfriend, too?’
‘Mmm hmm,’ I say, secretly liking the fact that Nathan called Tyler a conniving bugger. ‘Tyler’s boyfriend, Emmett, works from home. He’s one of those psychic mediums that have popped up all over the city, reading tarots for champagne socialists and stay-at-home housewives with nothing better to do. I knew he was a fraud. How can he be psychic if he doesn’t even know his boyfriend’s cheating on him? That’s why Richard and Tyler chose to desecrate our place. They didn’t even go to a hotel.’
‘What did you do then?’ asks Nathan.
‘Well, I have a short fuse, so of course it was going to get ugly. Most of it’s a blur I was so angry. But I remember that Tyler ended up with a bottle of aftershave and a can of shaving cream on his head, I slashed two of Richard’s suits with a coat hanger, I broke a three-hundred pound vase and threw my favourite dildo through the conservatory roof.’
Coffee explodes out of Nathan’s mouth.
‘Of course, it could have been much worse. If I hadn’t been so emotional,’ I sigh. ‘Richard and I have a difficult history. He’s cheated before so violence is a part of our life. But it’s usually with guys he meets in clubs or his regular rent-boys. Never my friend. It’s against BFF law!’
Tears threaten to fall out of my eyes again so I grab my coffee and start drinking to quickly distract them.
‘But, why would Richard want to cheat? He has a good looking boyfriend like you.’
‘That’s very kind of you to say, Nathan.’ I smile. ‘And I’ve often wondered the same thing myself. But you have to understand what it’s like in our world.’
‘Our world?’
‘My world. His world. The world of image and money. Richard grew up in a rich household and then inherited most of his wealth, so he hasn’t had to work hard for anything he’s got. Not like most people have to, anyway. The problem with someone who’s had it so easy is that he’s never satisfied. When you’ve never had to fight for the things you’ve got, how can you appreciate them? No matter how many cars or houses he acquires, Richard’s never happy. It’s not enough that he’s forty nine and dating someone half his age. If there’s someone younger, sexier, more attractive on offer, then he wants them. And he can have them. He just buys them. His rent-boys. Sluts like Tyler. But they’re just after money. Deep down I loved Richard. I thought I could make him change. But they’ve betrayed me. All of them.’
And now I am crying. I pull my knees into my chest and sob like the poor baby that I am.
‘But, I don’t understand,’ says Nathan. ‘Why would you be with a man who treats you with such disrespect? Is it for the money?’
I stop crying and sniff as I look over at Nathan in the rocking chair. His eyes are a little less softer and there’s something else in them, too. Is that an accusative stare?
‘You can’t blame me for wanting a better life! I was only nineteen when I met Richard. Naive. Stupid. He flashed his money around and told me I was beautiful and special. He enticed me. He said he would look after me. Anybody that young would have been impressed by that. How was I to know he only wanted a trophy on his arm, someone who’d be there every day when he got home to massage his feet, a thing to keep up the appearance that he was someone who was wanted and adored. You can’t judge me until you’ve been there yourself, been in the predicament I was in.’
‘I didn’t mean—’ says Nathan, but I interrupt him.
‘You don’t know what money’s like. It tricks you, corrupts you. It’s like drugs. Addictive. You buy one thing and get your fix, but after that it just makes you want more. It offers you a sense of security, until you start to see that it’s really just a never-ending trap. You finally accept that it’s never going to make you happy, but you still can’t live without it.’
I’m angry at my sudden outburst, at Nathan for thinking I’m just a money-obsessed doormat. So I ball my fist and thump the bed, hard. But it hurts, and all that does is make me start crying again. The sobs come out harder this time, snotty and unattractive.
‘Hey, hey.’ I hear the creak of the rocking chair and the pad of Nathan’s feet coming towards me. ‘I never meant to upset you.’ He sits down on the mattress and curls his arm around my shoulder. It feels good to have human contact right now. Really good.
‘Ugh!’ I shout, flinging my head back dramatically, my eyes clouded with tears, my nose streaming with snot.
Nathan grabs some tissues off a nearby shelf. ‘Here, use these,’ he says, rubbing my back like he’s burping a baby. Which is exactly what I feel like right now.
I blow my nose and dab my tears. ‘I know you didn’t mean it.’ I look up at him through bleary eyes. ‘Look at you. You’re like a man puppy with your shaggy hair and those big round eyes. You’ve been so kind and helpful, taking me off the road and bringing me up here. Even giving me your socks to put on my feet.’
He smiles. ‘Are they warmer now?’
‘Yes, thanks.’ I straighten up a little. ‘Wait a minute. This hasn’t all been some plan to get me into your bed has it?’
He laughs. ‘Well, if it is I’m doing pretty well so far, seeing as you’re sitting on it.’
This cheers me up a little and I allow myself a smile, wiping my nose with the tissue.
‘Listen, it’s late,’ says Nathan, checking his watch. ‘Why don’t you sleep here tonight and we can call someone about the car tomorrow.’
I glance around the room. ‘But there’s only one bed.’
‘I have a sleeping bag. I’ll kip on the floor, you can have my bed.’
Part of me knows I should protest and offer to sleep on the floor, but this bed is comfortable and it’s been a long day. ‘OK,’ I say.
‘Give me the keys and I’ll make sure the car’s locked up. Best not to take any chances with a flashy motor like that, not even out here.’
I pull the keys from my pocket and hand them to him. He slips into a pair of boots at the door and disappears down the stairs.
As I stay huddled on the bed, hearing the tinkling bell ring downstairs, it occurs to me that Nathan wasn’t uncomfortable at the suggestion he might have been trying to get me in his bed. He’s pretty rugged and masculine, and although there are plenty of gay guys like that, I hadn’t suspected he might be one of them. Until now. What are the chances of being rescued by a gay hero out in the middle of nowhere?
Life does work in mysterious ways, I think, spreading out on the bed. I look up at the beams on the ceiling and close my eyes to the sound of rain drumming against the window.
But it’s interrupted by another noise. Angered voices. Shouting.
I leap
off the bed and run to the open window. That’s when I hear his voice. Loud and full of rage.
‘Charlie!’
My eyes go wide. Richard has found me.
