By the time they finished the pot of coffee, the only question that remained in the back of Luis’s mind was whether or not Darius was gay. It didn’t matter one way or the other, but he wanted Darius to know what he was getting into if he took this job. With guys like Darius, being gay wasn’t always obvious. So Luis finally asked, choosing his words with care, “Do you feel comfortable working in a gay-friendly atmosphere? My husband and I live like everyone else. But we do have a lot of gay friends over, mostly gay couples. We don’t hide this from anyone, especially not from Hunter. We’re public figures and we learned a long time ago it’s best to be honest and open up front.”

Darius sent him a glance and smiled. “I admire gay couples who have been in long-term relationships. I’m hoping someday I can find the same thing myself.” When he said this, his blue eyes grew wide and innocent, as if he still had so much to learn about life.

So he was gay. Luis tilted his head to the side and nodded. He didn’t care what Cory had said. Darius made Luis feel as though he’d found the most perfect housekeeper in the universe. So he smiled and asked, “When can you start?”

“As soon as you want,” Darius said. “The lease to my studio apartment is up and I can move in tomorrow if you like.”

Luis stood up and shook his hand. “We’ll be here. With a child in the house, we’re always up early. I’ll get your room ready and you can move in tomorrow morning.”

Darius stood and said, “Thank you so much. I promise I won’t disappoint you.”

Then Luis escorted him outside and watched him walk back to Thomas’s house alone so he could retrieve his truck.

As he was crossing the driveway, Cory was getting out of his truck with tile samples for the new swimming pool. When Darius saw Cory, he lifted his arm and said, “See you tomorrow, buddy. I got the job.” He smiled and waved his hand. The next thing Luis saw was Cory’s lugubrious expression coming in his direction.

Cory handed Luis the tile samples and said, “I knew you were going to hire him when I left. I would have bet money on it.”

Luis shrugged. “He’s perfect for the job. And he’s gay.”

Cory frowned. “I could have told you he was gay.”

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Luis sent him a sideways glance. “How did you know?”

“I saw the way he was looking at your ass,” Cory said with a blank expression.

Luis quirked his right eyebrow. “Well, I didn’t notice that, and I can promise you the reason I hired him had nothing to do with that.” He was telling the truth. Although Darius was young and attractive by anyone’s standard, he wasn’t the type of man Luis would ever look at twice. Luis liked his men to be like Jase: a little rough around the edges, and preferably over the age of thirty. Besides, the rules of attraction had always been more emotional for Luis than physical.

“I know that,” Cory said. “I know you. It’s him I don’t trust.”

“Give him a chance,” Luis said. “He’s really a smart guy with good intentions.”

Cory turned and started walking down to the grassy area to the left of the barn that had been staked for the new pool. “We’ll see,” he said. “At least you have me around to make sure you guys are okay.”

“You know, that’s one of the nicest things you’ve ever said, Cory.” Luis bent down, picked up a small pebble, and tossed it at Cory’s back. “Did I ever tell you you’re a sweet guy?”

Cory looked back over his shoulder. He sent Luis a somber glance, and in his driest tone he said, “If you did, it must have been one of those times when I wasn’t paying attention to you.”

Luis laughed. “You’re an asshole, too.”

“I know.”

Chapter Six

Early the following morning, Darius Denby opened his eyes before the alarm on his cell phone sounded. He’d set it for five o’clock so he could arrive at his new job before Jase Nicholas left for work, and it was only quarter to five. He switched on the light beside the bed and rubbed his eyes. He remained in bed for the next half hour, uncovered and stark naked, with his long legs slightly parted and his right hand clutched to his erection.

The dingy motel room outside of Philadelphia he’d been staying in since he’d arrived from Los Angeles had a lumpy, sagging mattress; brown shag carpet that was so ancient it had matted together in high-traffic areas; and chipped, Danish modern furniture that had been haphazardly repaired too many times with duct tape and metal clamps. The old-fashioned television Darius had been using to watch porn had dials and knobs, and the toilet in the white tiled bathroom had so many rust stains a sand blaster wouldn’t have been able to make it shine again. On the cloudy windows that looked out to a row of parked cars, an adult bookstore, and a discount department store in the distance, hung white sheers that had yellowed and turned brittle to the touch over the years. Darius didn’t bother to close them. In fact, he’d purposely switched on the lamp because he was hoping someone would pass by his room and see him spread naked across the bed, stroking his dick. On the cross-country road trip he’d recently taken, he’d learned that in motels like this leaving the curtains open and the door unlocked was the perfect invitation for closeted gay men. Darius needed a little extra cash, just something to tide him over until he received his first paycheck from his new employers, Jase Nicholas and Luis Fortune.

Darius heard the door in the next room slam shut, so he started stroking his erection again and glanced up at the ceiling. When he noticed a shadow pass by his window, he pointed his dick up straight so whoever was passing by wouldn’t be able to miss it. He struck a seductive pose and started playing with himself in a very blatant way. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, wondering how in the world he’d been reduced to living this way again. He hadn’t had to turn a trick or wiggle his jock ass for money since he was sixteen years old, not since he’d been discovered by Leck Schneider ten years earlier. Though Darius had started out at the tender age of sixteen by posing nude and working as a young top stud in Leck’s adult films, it didn’t take Leck long to fall in love with Darius and move him into his home, and his life. They’d spent ten glorious years together, then, thanks to Luis Fortune agreeing to testify against Leck, Darius had lost everything he’d worked so hard for with the click of a gun. When Luis confirmed to the authorities Leck was producing underage porn, and Leck pointed the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger, Leck might as well have been pointing at Darius’s head, too. Leck, the bastard and the love of Darius’s life, had left him high and dry, with nothing but the clothes on his back. If Darius hadn’t been smart enough to locate the pittance of cash Leck kept in their bedroom hidden in the closet wall, Darius would have been so broke he wouldn’t have been able to buy his used pickup truck and pay for the gas on the cross-country trip.




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