“Yes.” I slid the charm onto the chain and put it into the case, then handed it to Mason. “Wrap it, please.” I turned back to Connor. “Well, it was nice seeing you again, Connor. Sorry. Bailey.”
“Fuck it, Connor is fine. It’s hard for us to change our spots. Look, Valentine’s Day is this Friday. I’m staying in suite 1276 at the Harrison Hotel for the next couple of weeks. Why don’t you come by for a drink before the ball? Or after the ball. Bring your guy.”
“Bailey?” A stout man who looked to be in his fifties approached us. “Have you selected your bauble? Well, hello.” His eyes crawled over me. “Why don’t you introduce Daddy to your…friend?”
It was all I could do to prevent a shiver. There had been a time when I’d have had to do anything this man paid me to do.
“This is Sweetcheeks. He used to run one of the stables I belonged to.”
I was relieved he hadn’t given the man my real name. Sometimes that was all we boys had that we could call our own.
“Do I know you?” “Daddy” dragged his gaze over my body again and licked his lips. “You look very familiar.”
“I’d remember you, I’m sure.” The habit of being polite to a john was hard to break.
Mason returned with Wills’s gift. It was wrapped in paper covered in hearts and cupids and placed in the little shopping bag with the Mount Olympus logo on it.
“Thank you.” I took the shopping bag from him.
“Thank you, sir. I hope you’ll come again.” He observed the little tableau avidly, then moved further down the counter, but not so far that he couldn’t overhear our conversation.
“Join us for a…drink,” “Daddy” suggested. “You don’t look much older than Bailey; I’d like to see the two of you together.”
“As Bailey mentioned, I’m no longer in the business.”
“Pity. Perhaps you’ll change your mind?” He forced a business card into my hand, letting his fingers drag across my palm, and for a second I thought I was going to throw up. His fingers were damp, and his breath was worse than bad. A year ago, I’d have sucked it up, but Wills had spoiled me. “I’m often here on business, and I pay well. Bailey can tell you.”
“Yes. He’s very…generous.” Connor’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Daddy, I like this Cartier watch.” He handed it to him. “Will you pay the nice man?”
“Certainly, baby boy.” He leered and patted Connor’s ass. “You there!” He swaggered to where Mason stood. “Ring this up and don’t take all day about it.”
Connor drew me a few feet away. “Meet me for a drink somewhere, Theo. It doesn’t have to be at the Harrison. I’d really like to see you. It will be like a…like a high school reunion.” He could see I was about to tell him no. “He will let you go, won’t he?” He flicked the bag with a fingernail. “Or are you his pet? Does he have you on a leash?”
“He doesn’t need to keep me on a leash.” I tore up the business card and left the pieces on the counter. “He knows I won’t screw around on him.”
“He knows? How can he know? We’re guys. We can’t help but cheat.”
“He won’t. He loves me.”
“Do you know how lucky you are?”
I knew. Every night I thanked whatever God there was who looked out for ex-rent boys for having Wills in my life.
“If you’d rather not meet at the Harrison, then choose somewhere else,” he said again, his words becoming urgent. “It would mean a lot if I could see you. Just to talk,” he assured me.
“Will he be there?” I gestured toward his sugar daddy.
“I can make sure he’s busy somewhere else. Look, I…It really is important I talk to you. I have something…” There was a hint of desperation in his voice.
“Connor, if this john bothers you that much, dump him.”
“You think that’s what it is?” His laugh was bitter, and “Daddy” glanced over and frowned. “I know how to handle men like him.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Sweetcheeks. Not a fucking thing. I’m living the high life.”
If he wouldn’t talk to me, there wasn’t much I could do. “I’ve got to run, Connor. If I decide to come, I’ll give you a call.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Con…”
The older man was suddenly at his elbow. “Bailey, my boy. Your little pressie. I know you’ll make it worth Daddy’s while.”
“Of course. Thank you, Daddy.” He turned to me, and his eyes looked old and tired. “It was nice seeing you again, Sweetcheeks.”
“Are you sure I don’t know you from somewhere?” “Daddy,” his eyes hot, made a production of licking his lower lip. Jesus, did he think it was sexy? I contained my shudder.
“Yeah. Take care of yourself, Connor.”
“You too.” He looped his arm in the older man’s. “Let’s go, Daddy. Bye, Sweetcheeks.”