Stripped Bare (18 page)

Shane contemplated the idea. He wanted to see Timmy and better still, he wanted to introduce Matthew to a really good friend. “I guess you could come over here to my place about seven. Then I can introduce you to my significant other. I’d love you two to meet. Maybe we hit a club or something together afterwards?”

“You have a new lover?” Timmy sounded wickedly satisfied. “I thought you were still doing the whole escort thing?”

“Nope, I gave that up when I met Matty. You’ll realise why when you meet him.”

“Well, I am suitably impressed. You sound very serious about this man.”

Shane laughed. “I am serious about him. He’s trying not to get serious about me but I think he’s fighting a losing battle. You know how persuasive I can be.” He chuckled. “Just please do me a favour and tone down our past relationship. No need to go into too much detail other than we used to screw each senseless for a short time. He has a bit of a jealous streak in him.”

“I see. Then I shall not tell him about the time we snuck into the Museum of National History and made our own boners rattle—”

“No, Timmy, you won’t be fucking telling that story to Matty.” Shane cut him off as he remembered that night of sheer debauchery under the spotlights at the dinosaur museum after they’d hacked into the security system and disabled it temporarily. They’d only just had time before the guard did his round to finish their rather interactive session as they leaned against the huge dinosaur skeleton whilst Timmy drove in and out of him like a piston engine. It had been a night to remember.

Timmy chuckled. “I shall try and keep my sense of decorum intact with your new lover. It will, of course, depend on how much whiskey I have to drink later. I will see you at your place around seven. I look forward to it.” He rang off. Shane grinned as he put his phone down. He was looking forward to the two men meeting tonight. It would make for some interesting conversation.

More trouble in paradise

Matthew sat back in his chair and sighed. The legal briefings he’d started that morning were finished, and Bartholomew would be pleased. Matthew had made it to work twenty minutes late. He grinned. He couldn’t believe his boyfriend got so turned on by him speaking German. Shane had made him promise to teach him some of the more risqué words that he could use when they were in bed. He quite liked that idea. Just whispering to Shane this morning had made the man swoon. It was something that could come in handy when he wanted Shane to let rip.

He looked at the files on his desk and sighed. It wasn’t that anyone clock-watched at Maxwell, Smith and Jordan, and God knows Matthew put in enough late hours to make up any tardiness. It was just that he was the new kid on the block, and he found himself wanting to impress the calm, professional and admirable man that was Bartholomew Maxwell. In some way, he reminded Matthew of his father. Steady, dependable, straight as a die in the truest sense of the word. An iron fist in a velvet glove. Nothing like Walter Debussy. Matthew still thanked his lucky stars each day for getting out of his clutches. His phone rang as he stood up to go take the completed briefs to Julia. He saw who it was and smiled.

“David? This is a surprise. I was only talking about you this morning to Shay. How are you?”

“I’m downstairs, Matty. Can you tell the desk to let me in? I need to speak to you.” David sounded harried and stressed.

Matthew’s instinct for pending trouble kicked in. “Of course you can come up. But what the hell’s going on? Has your father—”

“Matty, not here. I’ll tell you when I see you. Here’s the concierge.” He’d handed his mobile over to the reception desk and Matthew confirmed that David Debussy could indeed come up to the fourth floor.

He walked over the lift to wait for his friend. A few minutes later, the lift doors opened and David stepped out. Matthew gasped. The man was pale, his normal tanned skin white and waxen and his cheeks drawn. Under one eye it was black and swollen and he had a large, deep gash on his lip. He looked like a man who’d gone to hell and back.

Matthew took his arm and led him into the one of the quiet conference rooms.

“Jesus, DD, you look terrible. What the hell happened to you? “

“Thanks, Matty, that’s encouraging.” David scowled. “You know how to make a man feel better, don’t you?” He wandered restlessly over to the window, looking out at the street below, his hands fidgeting nervously beside his body. Matthew came up behind him and laid a warm hand on his arm, turning him to face him.

“Please tell me what’s going on.” His quiet tone seemed to settle the other man, who swallowed and stared at his friend with eyes filled with trepidation and something else—it almost looked like shame. David took a deep breath.

“I should have listened to you and Shane last time. I shouldn’t have let my father control me like he did, after he let Roy smack me around last time.” His voice faltered. Matthew gazed at him in horror.

“He watched while Roy beat you up? For God’s sake, why did you let them get away with it? Especially that little prick, Roy.” His tone was venomous and he wanted to punch the smaller man until his knuckles hurt.

“It all got a bit out of hand, Matty. I know I’ve stuck with the story; it seemed the best thing to do. I didn’t want to make my dad madder at me.” He stared at Matthew. His face was stark. “But it’s gone too far now; I can’t take it anymore—” His voice broke and Matthew watched as the man fell apart. He reached for David, pulling his friend closer, rubbing his back as the other man sobbed. Matthew had a lump in his throat as well.

“What the hell did they do to you?”

He saw the conference door open. Julia came in, stopping suddenly as she saw the two men together. She shook her head in apology and went out, quietly closing the door behind her. Matthew could hear her telling someone outside that the room was in use and no one was to disturb the occupants.

He made a mental note to thank her later and try to explain why he was at work with a sobbing man in his arms.

“My dad thinks I can get over being gay, Matty,” David whispered. His hands twisted in Matthew’s shirt, now wet with tears. “But you know it’s not like that. My dad and Roy thought they could get someone to try and change me, to make me heterosexual.” He spat the words out. “He wanted me to go out with a woman he knew, someone he said could show me what it was like to be a real man. I told him I didn’t want that, I was quite happy. I told him,” his voice faltered, “that it was about time he accepted who I was and how I chose to live my life.” His dark eyes looked at Matthew, the pain in them only too real. “He went ape shit. He hit me across the mouth then told Roy to carry on and teach me a lesson.” David stepped back from Matthew and turned to stare out of the window. “Then he walked out of the room and that little bastard beat the crap out of me. When he turned around to look back at Matthew, his eyes were blank. “I called my father afterwards from my room, screamed at him, told him he was a bastard. Do you know what he said?”

Matthew just shook his head. David needed to get all this out.

“He said I should have done what he wanted, that I should have tried to see what real sex was like. That I should be grateful he cared about me enough to try and help me. Then he told me to come home and get to work. He had some business dinner he wanted me to attend. I told him to fuck off and I haven’t been home or spoken to him since Friday.”

David drew a ragged breath. “He cancelled all my credit cards, had my bank account frozen somehow and left me with nothing. He’s even got the trust fund put on hold.”

Matthew shook his head. “He can’t do that, DD. My father made sure he couldn’t do that. He’s breaking the law if he tries to mess with those funds. I’ll see what I can do to get it released, but it will take a while.”

“Leave it alone, Matty.” David’s voice was resigned, defeated. “Dad said, and I quote, ‘If Matthew tries to stop me, tell him I’ll drag him through the mud and the two of you will never hold your heads up in this city again.’”

Matthew wondered how he was going to make this right without harming either of them unduly. There had to be a bloody way to fight Walter.

David nodded. “And you know he’ll do it, Matty. He’ll make us both out to be some perverted gay couple that sacrifices babies and neither of us will be able to fight him. I’m not dragging you into this bloody mess. You’ve been hurt enough by my father.” He gave a twisted smile. “I’ll have to find a way of making an honest living instead of relying on a trust fund.”

There was silence as both men considered the situation they found themselves in.

“All the time Roy was hitting me, he was telling me it served me right for what I’d done to him a few weeks ago.” He frowned, perplexed. “I had no idea what he was talking about. He said that would teach me to put shit on his phone about gay boys. Apparently there was some porn material that got sent to everyone in his address book that was pretty disgusting. He was so mad about it.”

Matthew felt a prickle of fear ice down his spine at the words. “You didn’t have anything to do with it then?” he asked.

“God, no. I wouldn’t have a clue where to even start doing something like that. Way above my intelligence. I’m not very au fait with technology and shit like that.”

Matthew knew someone who was very familiar with “shit like that,” and he closed his eyes in trepidation. He wondered whether David knew what Shane did for a living besides escorting. The recent argument he and Shane had had about his hacking activities reared its ugly head. But this would have all happened before they’d fought that battle.

“Are you still staying at the hotel?” he asked. David shook his head.

“I had to check out. I paid until today. No credit card.” He grinned faintly. “I knew you and Shane were spending the weekend together and I didn’t want to disturb your fun.”

“Christ, you should have called me, not done this all on your own.” Matthew shook his head and reached over to his jacket pocket. He took out a bunch of keys. He clipped one off and handed it to David.

“Get your stuff and go over to my place. You can stay with me until we get this all settled. I have enough room to put up with you for a while. I will get you your money back, DD. One way or another. Your mother left you that trust fund, not your dad. He has no right over any of it.” His voice was fierce.

David smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Matty. But I don’t have any stuff. It’s all back home and I’m damned if I’m going back there.”

Matthew sighed. “Feel free to check out my wardrobe. We’ll find out how to get your stuff later. Now you need to go. My boss must be wondering what the hell he’s got himself into employing me. I’m going straight to Shane’s after this, so I’ll be home much later.”

“If at all,” David said with a wink.

Matthew grinned. “No, I’ll be home. I have work in the morning and I need to get my routine sorted. Shane made me late for work this morning anyway with his shenanigans.”

David smiled wistfully. “You two are hitting it off, aren’t you? You seem to care for him.”

Matthew shook his head, feeling a thrill of unease down his spine. “I’ve just got a boyfriend. A bed buddy.”

David stared at him. “You keep telling yourself that. I’ve seen you two together, remember? I see how you look at him.” He reached out a hand to cuff Matthew’s jaw line lightly. “It’s no sin to get involved again with someone. Sam would have wanted that. And you need to take a chance with your heart.”

He left Matthew breathless with this parting shot.

“I’ll get out of your hair, then. Let you get back to the job before you get fired. Thanks Matty. I appreciate this.” He kissed Matthew’s cheek and let himself out of the office. Matthew heard him murmur to someone as he left. He was still reeling from his friend’s comments.

“What the hell,” he muttered to himself as he gazed out of the window. “We
are
just bed buddies. A boyfriend is just a bloody title anyway.” Even to him he didn’t sound convincing. He turned as Julia came in, her face concerned.

“Matthew? Is your friend all right?”

“Julia, I’m so sorry. David was in a bit of a state. I needed to give him the keys to get back to my place. I know the workplace isn’t a place to sort out personal issues. I’ll go and see Bartholomew and apologise too. It won’t happen again, I promise.”

Julia had been trying to get a word in. She reached over and placed her fingers on his lips in exasperation. “God, Matthew, give it a rest! It’s fine. Hell, you hardly leave here before seven every night. I think we can allow you the occasional personal issue during working hours. I simply want to know if everything’s okay.”

Matthew nodded. “There are a few things we need to sort out. I may need Bartholomew’s advice on a trust issue. But at least David is out of his father’s house now and he’ll be safer. He can stay with me for a while.”

Julia nodded. “I’m glad to hear it. You’re a good friend.” She turned to go and then hesitated. “Would you like to go out again for a drink together sometime, maybe one evening after work?”

Matthew was touched. He enjoyed Julia’s company. She was a good listener. “I’d like that. Perhaps one night next week we can go down to Coolio’s. They’re supposed to have a great Tequila Sunrise.”

She smiled. “Good. I look forward to it.” She turned and left the office. Matthew ran a hand through his hair as he sat down at his desk to tackle the next set of legal briefs. It was going to be a long afternoon.

Meeting the Zulu

Matthew got to Shane’s about eight p.m. He was tired, feeling fractious and not in the best of moods. He’d been trying to figure a way to have David’s trust fund released. Walter had gotten his new lawyer, Gordon Brett, a real sleazeball in the industry, to find a loophole that allowed him to take control for forty-eight hours pending a full application to have it signed over to him. How he’d managed to do that Matthew had no idea but he had the feeling that the fact the judge in the case was a good friend of his had something to do with it.

He let himself into Shane’s flat using the key he’d been given, and stopped short at the sight of a very large, handsome black man towering over Shane, looking very at home. Shane turned as he came in and smiled a warm welcoming smile that made Matthew’s heart skip a beat. Shane looked incredible, his dark blue jeans low on his hips, his tight, wine-coloured tee shirt outlining his chest and the broad line of his shoulders. As usual, he was barefoot. Shane hated wearing shoes if he didn’t have to. It was a trait they had in common.