Bollywood Bodyguard

by Lavinia Lewis

  “All night?” Brent repeated, surprised.

  Raj nodded. “We played until we were exhausted then fell asleep. In the morning, when the tide was low again we waded back. Our parents were sick with worry. They’d called the police but no one thought to come looking for us there. My mother was so angry.”

  Raj shook his head, smiling wryly. “I couldn’t sit down for a week.”

  Brent chuckled. “Did your brother get punished too?”

  “No. He was a couple of years younger than me so of course I was supposed to be the responsible one. I was meant to look after him.”

  “Where is your brother now?”

  “New Delhi. He’s a doctor. He has his own surgery there.”

  “Is he married?”

  “Yes. They have three children. Spawns of the devil.”

  Brent threw his head back and laughed. “You don’t mean that.”

  Raj raised his eyebrows and his mouth curved up into a smirk. “You haven’t met them. How many brothers and sisters do you have?”

  “Just my sister but she’s ten years younger than me so we were never close. She’s married but doesn’t have any children yet.”

  Raj turned into a quiet, tree-lined street and pulled up in front of a modest but immaculately-kept house.

  “This is where you grew up?”

  Raj nodded. “This is it. Home, sweet home. I offered to buy my parents something bigger dozens of times, but they always refused. Said there was no place better to live in the world.

  “I tried again after my dad passed, but my mother wouldn’t hear of it. She said there were too many memories here that she didn’t want to let go of.”

  Switching off the engine, Raj sighed, staring at the facade of the house. Brent knew how difficult this was going to be for him. Raj was a good and decent man and he wouldn’t want to disappoint his mother.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

  Raj turned to Brent and smiled. “We both know that I do.”

  “Do you want me to wait in the car?”

  “No. Come in with me, please. I’ll feel stronger if you’re standing at my side.”

  Brent nodded and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

  Brent and Raj exited the car and walked up the short garden path that led to the front of the property. The temperature was still in the nineties but the air was drier here than in Mumbai—less sticky.

  Raj pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the front door with a shaky hand.

  “Maatajee!” he called out.

  A moment later, Raj’s mother appeared in the hall. Brent knew instantly that something was wrong. The woman had been crying, but when she lifted her eyes to meet Raj’s, she didn’t look sad. She looked angry.

  “Maa? What’s wrong?” Raj asked, rushing to his mother’s side.

  He tried to put an arm around her shoulder but she shrugged it away.

  “How could you do this to me, Rajkumar?” Her eyes flickered to Brent and she scowled. “And how dare you bring that man into my house. I want you to leave, now. And take him with you! You’re not welcome in my house, ever again!”

  Chapter Thirty One

  “Maa?”

  “I said out, now! How could you do this to me?” she repeated hoarsely.

  “What are you talking about? Do what to you?”

  She turned on her heel and marched into the living room.

  Raj followed closely behind. “Maa, tell me what’s wrong.”

  His mother picked up a large brown envelope from the coffee table and thrust it into his hands. “I know.”

  Raj turned to Brent, who was hovering in the doorway looking just as confused as Raj had to have looked. He turned the envelope over in his hand and his stomach lurched, bile rising in his chest when he saw the familiar handwriting on the front. It was in the same script as the threatening letters Raj had been receiving at his house.

  His hands shook as he opened the envelope and pulled out the contents—a letter and a photograph.

  Raj looked at the photo first.

  It was of him and Brent, standing on the porch of his house on the night of the charity benefit. Brent had one hand on his shoulder and the other cupped his chin. The angle of the picture made them look as though they were nose to nose and about to kiss.

  “What is it?” Brent asked.

  “It’s us.” Raj reached out and handed the photo to Brent.

  “Is it true?” his mother asked.

  When he met his mother’s gaze, her eyes filled with a world of pain so sharp it was like a knife straight through his own heart. He wanted to take away the hurt but he knew he wouldn’t be able to.

  His first instinct was to deny everything, but to what end?

  This was the reason he was here, after all.

  It was time she knew the truth about her son.

  The time for lies and denials was over. This was something significant, something monumental—a huge part of who he was—and it was something he should have manned up and done many years ago. Raj only wished his mother hadn’t found out this way—it should have come from him.

  He glanced at Brent, thankful for his presence and for the confidence it gave him to finally say the words aloud.

  “It’s true, Maa, I’m gay.”

  “Get out!”

  “Maa…”

  “I said get out! I never want to see you again!”

  Raj swallowed down the lump in his throat and lowered his gaze. It was too painful to see the hatred in his mother’s eyes as she glared at him—the mother who had always loved him and whom he’d taken for granted would always love him, no matter what.

  Brent put a hand on his shoulder. The fury radiating from his mother hit Raj full force, sucking all the air out of his lungs. He was rarely at a loss words for but, as his mother stared at him with absolute hatred in her eyes, Raj couldn’t think of single thing to say.

  “Come on, Raj, let’s go. Give her some time.”

  Raj nodded but he couldn’t move.

  His legs didn’t seem to be cooperating with his mind.

  Eventually, Brent grabbed hold of his arm and tugged him from the room. He looked back at his mother as he was pulled out of the door. She was sitting on the sofa with her head in her hands. Her loud, mournful sobs were the last thing he heard as he was led through the front door.

  As soon as they stepped outside, Brent wrapped his arms around Raj and pulled him close.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into Raj’s ear.

  Raj couldn’t reply.

  He didn’t trust his voice.

  He just stood there, stock still, and let Brent hold him for the longest time.

  “Come on, let’s get you home. I’ll drive.”

  Brent placed a tender kiss on Raj’s forehead, his nose and then his lips.

  At the same time he stroked his hand over the top of Raj’s head.

  It soothed him.

  Reluctantly Raj nodded and pulled out of the embrace.

  He fished his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Brent. They walked to the car and, before they got in, Raj took one last look at the house in which he’d spent the biggest part of his life.

  He hoped it wouldn’t be the last time he’d see it, prayed his mother could find it in her heart to forgive him and, in time, accept him.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  “Here, drink this.” Brent handed Raj a small tumbler containing a finger of whisky.

  Lifting the glass to his mouth, Raj quickly tossed the contents down his throat. He grimaced and handed back the glass. “Thanks. And thank you for letting me come to your apartment. I couldn’t face going home. I don’t feel safe there anymore.”

  “It’s no problem. Can I get you another?”

  Raj shook his head. “No, thanks. I was never very good at drowning my sorrows.”

  Brent smiled. “Me either. Come, take a seat.”

  “Thanks.”

  Brent chuckled. �
��Will you stop saying that? You don’t have to thank me. I haven’t done anything.”

  Raj lifted the corners of his mouth but he didn’t manage a full smile. “You have. Just being here for me is enough.”

  “Things will get better. Your mother will come around, I’m sure of it.”

  Raj shook his head. “You don’t know her. She’s stubborn as hell. And, unfortunately, she was never very liberal. She never spoke a lot about her views on homosexuality but I don’t think it’s something she’ll ever be able to accept.”

  “You don’t know that. Give her time. She might surprise you.”

  Brent took a seat on the sofa and motioned for Raj to join him. After a moment or two of looking lost, Raj sat down beside him. His head fell back on the cushions and he closed his eyes, letting out a long, heavy sigh. Brent didn’t want to disturb their first quiet moment together after so much drama but there was something they needed to discuss.

  He reached out and placed a hand on Raj’s knee.

  “Can I take a look at the letter?”

  Raj opened his eyes and met Brent’s gaze. “Of course.”

  Brent took the envelope from the coffee table and reached inside. He threw the photograph on his lap, opened the letter and read it aloud.

  ‘I don’t like being the bearer of bad news, but I felt you had a right to know about your son. He’s gay. It is easy to ignore words and to disbelieve, so I have enclosed a photograph of him with his lover. You cannot disbelieve something when you have seen it with your own eyes. Rajkumar has been lying to you all along. He has been lying to us all. His fans have a right to know he is not who or what he says he is. In the end, the truth will out.’

  Brent frowned.

  He was tired of this shit, and they were no closer to finding the culprit than they’d been in the beginning.

  “I still don’t understand. Why would they do this? What do they have to gain?” Raj stared at his lap and picked at a stray thread of cotton on his pants.

  “It’s a threat,” Brent said absently.

  He picked up the photograph and studied it.

  “A threat? They’ve gone further than simply making a threat. They’ve carried out on one.”

  Brent shook his head, thinking of how best to explain this to Raj. “Whoever is doing this is showing you what they are capable of.

  “I think they want you to know that, if they can tell your mother, they can tell the press…the world. They want you to know they’ve got the best pieces on the board and at any time they can call check.”

  “But why would they do that? What do they want from me?”

  “That, I can’t answer, I’m afraid. I can’t think of a reason for any of this, not when they haven’t demanded money or asked for anything else.

  “That’s why I believe this is some sort of personal vendetta. Someone is hurting you because they can.”

  Raj sighed and once again leaned his head on the back of the sofa. He closed his eyes. “I don’t know anyone who hates me enough to do this to me.”

  “Raj, I think it might be time to take this to the police. I know you said the fewer people who find out about you the better, but I’m beginning to think you don’t have much of a choice.

  “We have no idea who is doing this and no way of finding out. There might not have been any physical threats in this last letter but it does threaten to go public about your sexuality. To do nothing would be a great risk. Surely the police would be the lesser of two evils.”

  “You’re right. I know you’re right and besides, I can’t go on like this any longer. I can’t stand not knowing what this person is going to do next.

  “I’ll go and speak to them first thing in the morning. Will you come with me?”

  “Of course.”

  Raj’s mouth curved up and this time the smile was full and genuine. “Thanks.”

  Brent chuckled. “Anytime. Are you ready for bed?”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Brent realized that what he’d asked could be misinterpreted.

  He hadn’t meant to make Raj such an offer but that was exactly what his question had implied. He’d only invited Raj back to his apartment in the first place because Raj had been so upset about his mother and hadn’t wanted to go back to an empty house.

  He’d wanted company and Brent had obliged.

  He had offered Raj his spare bedroom for the night and Raj had accepted, but the way he’d worded his last question made it sound as though Brent had been inviting him into his own bed.

  Raj didn’t speak for a long moment, just stared at Brent, eyes wide and full of something that looked like hope.

  The more Brent looked into those beautiful brown eyes, the more he realized he wanted his question to be misinterpreted. He wanted Raj and he was tired of denying it—to Raj and to himself. Raj had gone to great lengths to prove himself today, to prove he was a man Brent could trust. Of course, Brent wasn’t vain enough to believe he was the only reason Raj had finally chosen to tell his mother the truth about himself, but he liked to think he was a large part of Raj’s decision.

  “Are you making me an offer I can’t refuse, Mr. Hawthorne?” Raj raised an eyebrow and his mouth curved up into a teasing smirk.

  Was this what Brent really wanted?

  He tried to think of all the reasons they shouldn’t do this but, as he leant forwards and pressed his lips against Raj’s, he couldn’t remember a single one.

  “I’m certainly hoping you won’t refuse,” Brent said when he pulled away from the soft press of their lips.

  Raj’s expression changed to one of uncertainty.

  He suddenly looked much younger than his years.

  The doubt and insecurity that played on his face made Brent’s heart melt.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “No.” Brent thought it best to be honest about his feelings. “But I don’t care anymore because I want you, and I think you’re worth taking a chance on.”

  Raj slid his hand around Brent’s neck and pulled him close for another kiss. It was hot, sweet and incredibly intense. Brent knew he was done for when Raj whimpered into his mouth, the sound like a symphony to his ears. It made him forget about his previous reservations and filled him with excitement and desire.

  “Come with me.”

  Brent got up off the sofa then reached down to pull Raj up. He led him to the bedroom. His heart pounded heavily in his chest.

  Once they were inside, Brent finally let go of Raj’s hand and then smoothed his hands up Raj’s chest and slid them over his shoulders. He snaked his fingers through Raj’s thick, black hair.

  It felt wonderful to finally allow himself to touch Raj in this way, to give himself over to the desire that had been burning inside him for so long.

  He leaned in close and whispered into Raj’s ear. “I’ve been dreaming about this since the day we met.”

  Even if he hadn’t heard Raj’s sharp intake of breath, Brent felt the shudder that passed over Raj’s body. He groaned when Raj snaked his arms around Brent’s waist and pulled him close so their straining erections came into contact.

  “Damn you for making me wait this long.”

  They came together fiercely and without restraint, without fear of interruption. Brent devoured Raj’s mouth like a starving man consuming his first meal in weeks and his kiss was met with equal fervor. Brent loved the way Raj always gave all of himself, holding nothing back. This time there would be no holding back from Brent either, no doubt or second guessing.

  He would accept everything that Raj offered and return it tenfold.

  Their kiss quickly built in intensity until Brent was gasping into Raj’s mouth, insane with need for the man in his arms. They tore at each other’s clothes, their mouths parting long enough to pull off their shirts and throw them carelessly to the floor. The moment their bare chests came into contact Brent was in heaven. Their bodies were hot and damp with sweat and Raj’s pleasant, masculine aroma was so enticing it made B
rent’s dick even harder than before.

  Reaching his hands down, he slipped them into the waistband of Raj’s pants and squeezed his ass, pulling him closer so that their unyielding erections were squashed together.

  “Fuck… I need.” Raj released Brent’s mouth and looked down. He fumbled with the button on Brent’s pants. “I want you.”

  “Here, let me.” Brent covered Raj’s shaky hands and moved them aside.

  He undid the button and slid down the zip, pushing the material out of the way. His erect cock strained at the thin material of his briefs—the head, red and swollen, just visible out of the top.

  He looked up.

  “Get undressed, Raj. I can’t wait.”

  Raj removed his clothes until they stood before each other, naked and wanting.

  Brent reached out and palmed Raj’s cock—feeling its heavy weight, the incredible firmness and silky smoothness. Pre-cum beaded at the slit and Brent couldn’t resist rubbing his thumb over the wet, sticky substance and spreading it over the head then down the thick vein underneath.

  Raj hissed and his cock jerked in Brent’s hand.

  “You like that?”

  With an erotic groan, Raj leaned his head back and closed his eyes, his jaw slack. Brent was enthralled by the sight. He slid his hand up and down Raj’s cock, squeezing it a little more tightly with every pass. Raj’s eyes flew open and he looked down to watch Brent stroke him.

  He grabbed Brent’s hand and stilled it.

  “Please. If you don’t stop, I’ll…”

  Brent chuckled. “We don’t want that, now, do we? At least, not yet.”

  He removed his hand, grabbed Raj’s arm and pulled him close for what could only be described as a mind-numbing kiss. While their tongues danced and their cocks slid together, Brent walked backwards, pulling Raj along with him. He sat Raj down on the edge of the bed then rummaged around in one of the bedside drawers. When he found what he was looking for, he placed everything within reach on the bedside cabinet.

  “Are you sure this is what you want?” Raj asked around a gasp as Brent took hold of his cock again and stroked him gently.