by Pandora Pine
"Jesus Christ, Noble!" Griff rubbed his temples like he felt a headache coming on. "Please don't fucking call him Nappy when he gets here tomorrow for the ball."
"What?" Gregor shouted from the kitchen door. The tray of sandwiches he was holding shook in his hands.
"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Griff’s voice dripped with surprise.
Gregor set the tray down with a clatter. "No! You didn't tell us Napoleon was coming here."
"You all knew he was coming, Gregor." Griff rolled his eyes.
"Tell us all the details, Griff." Landon rubbed his hands together.
"I thought it would be better for Leo's story if he were here for the grand re-opening of the hotel. That way he could witness our story from the beginning."
Noble snickered, but Landon gave him a dirty look. "Leo? That's a cute nickname for him. I think that's a great idea. What good is telling only part of the story when you could tell the whole thing?"
"Thank you, Landon." Griff looked relieved.
"When does he get here?" Pres asked. He hadn't seen Griff this excited about another man since Les Bowman back at Harvard. He could only hope Leo wasn't a total asshat like Les had been.
"Tomorrow morning. He's flying in from his mother's vacation house up in Bar Harbor, Maine."
"Bah Hah-bah!" Noble crowed with a thick New England accent. "If his mother can afford a house on that island, Nappy must be filthy rich."
Griff rolled his eyes. "He's bringing his own tux and a mask for the ball so he can blend in with the other guests and get the inside scoop on the ball."
"Is he your date?" Landon sighed, sinking his chin into the cup of his hands.
Noble stood up quickly, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor. "May I have the pleasure of this dance, Napoleon?" He bowed and held his hand out to Landon, who took it. Noble yanked his lover to his feet and swept him into a waltz. "You dance divinely, Napoleon. Oh how different history would have been if you'd moved like this when you invaded Russia!"
"Why are we friends with that asshole?" Griff asked, shaking his head.
"Kiss me, Nappy!" Noble dipped Landon and kissed him hard until Landon started to giggle.
Gregor burst out laughing. He slapped his hand against the table and reached for a sandwich. "Because that asshole makes us laugh."
"I'm really happy for you, Griff," Pres said softly.
"Happy for what? He's just coming to write about the hotel. It's not like he's coming here to see me." Griff shrugged.
"Of course he is." Pres shook his head. "You were the one he got in touch with."
"Because I’m listed as the hotel owner." Griff frowned and grabbed a sandwich for himself.
"Right and it had absolutely nothing to do with those gorgeous pictures Drake took of you running on the beach with your blond hair blowing in the wind. I saw that you uploaded them to Facebook."
"He looked like Bo Derek, but with bigger muscles and no dread locks." Noble laughed.
"Christ, Noble. Griff could have been a GQ cover boy with those pics." Landon rolled his eyes heavenward.
"Don't give him a bigger head than he already has..." Noble waggled his eyebrows.
"That's Nappy's job!" Everyone chimed in.
"I still need my mask for the party. Does anyone else?" Griff seemed desperate to change the subject.
"We don't have them either,” Drake said.
"Us either." Still out of breath, Noble grabbed two sandwiches, setting one on Landon’s plate.
"What about you, Gregor?" Griff’s tone had lightened again.
Gregor sighed, staring down at his hands."I don't want to wear a fucking mask, Griff."
"Why not? It's a great opportunity to check out the men without them knowing who you are. Might even give you the chance to be someone else for the night."
"Like who?" Gregor scoffed.
"A charming, but mysterious stranger who sweeps men off their feet without ever giving his name." Landon reached for a napkin and the ever-present pen behind his right ear.
"Jesus, Landon. You should write books for a living..." Gregor snorted.
Presley didn’t like the way this conversation was going. It wasn’t like his friends to act this way toward each other."There's a place in P-Town that sells supplies for fancy parties. Why don't we all go and have a last guy’s night out before the hotel opens and we're too all too busy?"
"Fine." Gregor sighed. "It’s a long ass ride, maybe Landon can give me lessons on how to be charming?"
“Can do, man!” Noble slapped a hand on his shoulder.
"We call the back row of the Pilot." Pres waggled his eyes at Drake.
“Christ, I don’t want to spend the entire ride to this place listening to the two of you sucking face.” Gregor’s frown deepened.
“Hey, look at that! You’re a poet and you didn’t even know it!” Landon crowed with obvious delight.
Pres took a big bite of his sandwich. Gregor was right, it was a long ride and he had a feeling he was going to need all the strength, not to mention patience, he could get.
XX
As much fun as the hour long car ride to Provincetown had been, Drake felt like he was going to throw up. He’d gone through all the motions of playing the guys version of Carpool Karaoke, singing Spice Girls’ songs in high-pitched falsettos, which, for whatever reason, made Gregor laugh like a loon. Drake figured that was why the guys were doing it.
What was turning his stomach, aside from the thought of Gregor dressed as Scary Spice, was the fact that with each passing day, Drake’s secret got heavier to carry. There had been at least five times in the last two weeks it had been on the tip of his tongue to just tell Presley, but he’d chickened out at the last minute, using the upcoming ball as his excuse.
He was having the time of his life with Presley and their friends and he didn’t want that feeling to end. For the first time in his life, Drake felt like he belonged somewhere, like he had a family.
“Hey, are you okay?” Presley asked from behind him.
Drake jumped a little and spun around to see Pres dressed in an ice blue mask, decorated with glittery swirls. There was a bit of a metallic lace flourish and crystals on the right side of the mask, which came up higher on his face than the left side. Pres looked gorgeous and would have been unrecognizable if Drake weren’t so tuned in to him. “You look amazing!” Drake pressed a quick kiss to his lips, hoping to distract Presley from his question.
“I grabbed two matching masks for you to try. Do you want to see them?”
Thank god Presley let the matter of how he was drop. “I do. I haven’t seen anything in this store that tickled my fancy except you.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Presley laughed. “Be honest. If you don’t like these, tell me, okay?”
Drake nodded, anxious to see what Pres had picked out for him.
Reaching into his basket, Pres pulled out masks that were identical to his in style. One was half black and half gold with white lace on the black side of the mask. “What do you think?”
It was okay, but the black and gold reminded him of the New Orleans Saints colors and Mardi Gras. “It’s nice, but I’m not really sure about the colors. I think pure black might be more my style.”
“Ha!” Presley crowed. “That’s exactly what I thought you’d say.” He set the black and gold mask down in his basket and took one out that was solid black. It had black lacework up the right side and sparkling crystals that followed the rim of the upper eye hole like eye shadow.
“Pres, that’s gorgeous!” Drake took the mask from his hand, fitting it to his face and attaching the strap to the matching dot of Velcro. “What do you think?”
“You take my breath away.” Pres stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
Wrapping his arms around his lover, Drake held him tight. “I can’t wait to spend the entire night dancing with you.”
“Why wait until tomorrow night?” Pres pulled away from his embrace and set his left hand on Dra
ke’s right shoulder, while picking up Drake’s left hand in his right. “Let’s dance.”
“We can’t dance in the store.” Or could they?
“Why not?” Pres took half a step closer. “Dance with me, Drake.”
Unable to refuse his lover anything, Drake slipped his arm around Presley’s back and he started to sway back and forth.
Pres laughed. “Drake, this isn’t a high school dance. Do you know how to waltz?”
Drake nibbled his bottom lip and shook his head no.
“It’s okay. I’ll teach you. There’s nothing to it.” Pres waggled his eyebrows and started to move, speaking the steps out loud as he was making them.
Drake followed along easily with the simple steps, loving every moment of this with Presley.
“You never answered my question,” Pres whispered.
“What question?” Drake damn well knew what question.
“About what’s bothering you?” Pres sounded concerned.
I’m a retired porn star… Shit, he couldn’t just say it like that and not here. The last twenty-four hours of keeping this secret were going to be the death of him. “I’m just tired and a little nervous about the hotel opening.”
“I think we’re all tired. I still can’t believe we got everything done. All we have to do tomorrow is decorate for the ball and maybe help Gregor out in the kitchen.”
Thank Christ Presley bought his line. He hated lying to his lover about his past, but what was worse, in his mind, were the other lies he’d had to tell to keep the big one secret. Once he told Presley about his former career, he was going to feel a million pounds lighter. Right now, he felt like a modern version of Jacob Marley, chained down by all of his lies.
“This isn’t Dancing With The Stars, guys!” Gregor called from the end of the aisle, not sounding as annoyed as he typically would.
“Why can’t it be?” Noble spun Gregor around and waltzed him toward Presley and Drake. “Great mask, Drake. I love how your masks match.” Noble dropped Gregor’s hand and bowed dramatically. “I want to match with Landon.” He took off down the aisle, his sneakers squeaking on the tile floor.
“Did you find a mask, Gregor?” Pres asked gently.
Gregor shook his head. “I’m a Navy SEAL, not a debutante.”
Pres took Gregor’s arm. “I know the perfect mask for you.”
Gregor raised an eyebrow. “You do?”
“You’re always wearing that red do-rag in the kitchen. Stay here.” Pres took off running in the same direction as Noble.
Drake could hear his slapping footfalls. “He’s in his element planning this party and playing dress up.”
Gregor cleared his throat. “I’ve known him for sixteen years and I think this is the happiest I’ve ever seen him in all of that time. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank you for loving him, Drake.”
Drake nodded. He felt his emotions bubbling to the surface. Gregor had been the toughest nut to crack out of all of Presley’s friends and his gratitude in this moment was like a knife to his heart. Here was Gregor thanking him for loving Pres, when all he’d done was lie to him for the last month about who he really was. He should have just told Pres the truth from the very beginning.
“Here we go!” Presley ran down the aisle. He skidded to a stop in front of Gregor and held up a red mask for him to see. The mask was entirely covered in red glitter.
“Isn’t that sort of bold?” Gregor sounded unsure.
“No one’s going to know who you are under the mask, with the exception of us. I say go for it.” Drake was one to talk. He should have gone for it and told Pres the truth weeks ago.
“Who’s ready to get a drink and some dinner?” Griff trudged toward them looking worn out.
“Why do you look like you just ran the Boston Marathon?” Now that Griff was closer, Drake could see Griff’s hair was damp with sweat and looked like he needed a nap.
“I want to pick out the perfect mask for Leo.” Griff’s eyes popped open wide. “I mean for the party. Not for Leo. Definitely not for Leo.”
Pres burst out laughing. “That’s why you’re sweating like we’re about to sit for a calculus exam. You want to look nice for him.”
Griff shrugged, and pulled a white and silver mask out of his basket. “What do you think?”
“Wow!” Pres gasped. “The silver makes your blue eyes pop like the White Walkers on Game of Thrones.”
“They don’t pop, they glow.” Gregor looked impressed.
“Leo’s not going to be able to resist you.” Drake elbowed Griff, who managed a weak smile.
“It’s not like I’m going to have time to spend with him anyway. I’ve got to make sure the hotel is running smoothly.”
Pres rolled his eyes. “You know damn well we don’t open to guests until Friday. We planned the ball for Thursday so we’d be able to enjoy the party instead of worrying about guests.”
Griff snorted. “There’s no way out of this, is there?”
“If you mean a way out of opening the hotel, no!” Pres grinned. “But if you mean Leo, that’s up to you.”
“It’s one magical night. We all deserve that.” Drake plastered a smile on his face. Depending how Presley took the news of his secret, it might be all they had left.
17
He couldn’t get his bowtie right. Pres sighed and yanked the uneven ends apart again. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart. The masquerade ball started in less than an hour and he was terrified.
Presley had spent months planning this party. It was hard to believe today was finally the day. He was always a nervous wreck when it came to big events, so Pres had the housekeeping staff come in that morning for a final review of how the guest rooms were to be cleaned and turned over. His favorite part of the run-through was seeing how excited his new staff was to start work.
Once all of the guest rooms were perfect, he’d headed down to the kitchen to see what Gregor needed help with. There had been a few occasions over the years that Gregor had catered and watching his friend in his element like this never failed to impress him.
He’d done what he could in the kitchen until Noble and Landon had shown up to help and then he was off to see Griffin. His best friend had been sitting at his desk in his office staring at Facebook. According to Griff, they’d gotten several reservation requests just that morning. It seemed Drake’s ideas to utilize social media were already starting to pay off.
“Hey, you look like you could use a little help there.” Drake stepped into Presley’s room wearing his black tux pants and a crisp, unbuttoned white dress shirt.
Seeing Drake half-dressed like that made his anxiety over the party vanish in an instant. “I could definitely use a little help.” Pres stalked toward Drake, running his hands up Drake’s bare stomach and chest. “God, you’re fucking gorgeous like this.”
Drake laughed. “As much as I want to see where you’re going with this, we’ve got to get up to the hotel. Griff wants us there in twenty minutes.”
“What I have in mind will only take five minutes.” Pres went for the button of Drake’s pants.
“Tonight, sweetheart. I promise.” Drake cupped the side of Presley’s face and kissed him.
As much as he wanted to sink to his knees and suck Drake’s cock until his lover was screaming his name, he knew having the whole night with Drake was better than a quickie. “When we get back here tonight, I want to ride you again.”
Drake’s eyes darkened and he took half a step forward. “I love you so much, Pres.”
“I love you too! Now fix my tie before I have my wicked way with you.”
Fifteen minutes later, Pres and Drake walked into the hotel dining room which was decorated with large vases filled with white ostrich feathers. Strings of fairy lights crisscrossed the open beams of the ceiling. Large candelabras were set up around the room with the candles blazing. “Man, Griff really out did himself.” Presley was absolutely amazed.
The str
ing orchestra was tuning up in the far corner of the room. Each member of the group was wearing a black tuxedo and a matching black masquerade mask. Pres loved the anonymity the masks provided.
“Hey guys! Glad you finally made it.” Griff was wringing his hands together.
“I couldn’t get my tie straight.” Pres grinned up at Drake who was smiling.
“That’s a euphemism I’ve never heard before.” Noble rolled his eyes.
“It’s true. If Pres and I were doing what you think we were doing, we wouldn’t be here.” Drake bent forward to kiss the side of Presley’s neck.
“Jesus Christ, not in public, huh?” Gregor was walking toward them trying to put his mask on.
“Turn around, let me do it.” Pres took the glittery red mask from Gregor and managed to secure it. His hands were loaded with red glitter. “Shit, looks like I spent the night in the VIP room.” Pres held his hand up to show the others.
“Glitter is the herpes of the craft world.” Landon grinned, his eyebrows shooting up over his mask.
“Hey, where’s Napoleon? I haven’t met him yet.” Pres looked around the empty dining room and only saw his friends and the orchestra.
“He’s not here yet.” Griff shrugged. “I don’t think he’s coming.”
“What do you mean? Why not?” Griff had been looking so forward to meeting the magazine writer and it had sounded like Leo was just as anxious to meet him.
“He texted this morning and said there was an emergency and he’d be late. I’ve been stood up on enough dates to know that emergency,” Griff made finger quotes, “is just a way of cancelling.”
