“Is everything going to be okay?”
He didn’t just mean with the play. Monty sensed that and said, “Go and have no stress. Benson is going to take care of you, and if you want this part, it’s yours, you know that.”
“What do you mean, if?”
“Just what I said. Don’t read into things. Go, now, and get on that plane. And tell Benson Happy Christmas.”
Luka left the theater and stood on the sidewalk, staring up at his name on the marquee, knowing that his own personal dream had come true in so many ways. No, he didn’t want to spend his life on the stage, but that name up there was a sign to him he’d pulled himself out of poverty. He’d done it, and it had been hard. He’d clawed his way the entire time, and he was tired.
He walked along, deciding to walk awhile before he got a cab. There was time. The plane wasn’t taking off for hours.
Depending on a guy wasn’t what he’d wanted. He wasn’t some guy who wanted a sugar daddy. That had been nagging him for a long time, but seeing that name on the marquee, it proved he didn’t need Benson. He didn’t need Benson’s wealth. He’d soon have his own if he wanted it.
The exhaustion, however, was real. From the time he was a kid, he’d worried about money, and he was on the cusp of never needing to do that again. He could write, and…just be a human being.
The people all rushing by him, he could tell by looking which of those had known the hard things he’d known. The wrinkles on their faces, all worry lines, the shoulders up around their ears as tension over the holidays took them.
Poverty trauma was real. He wished more than anything that no child ever had to know it. That a new pair of pants for the child would not cause a mother to go without dinner for a week.
For a child that didn’t have to pay the bills, it shouldn’t be stress, but with a parent that went without so much, it was impossible to hide. To see other kids have things he couldn’t possibly afford; to know he’d never have a car, or a house of his own…
A tear escaped his eye, and he swiped at it. Those years had left scars that would always make him fearful of the future. For others, the future didn’t immediately make their hearts pound in their chest and they didn’t think of what all could cause them to lose everything again.
It’s all he’d thought of before he’d met Benson. He’d analyzed himself over and over again, worried that was why he truly liked Benson. It wasn’t. He didn’t think about money anymore when he woke. He thought of that smile, that voice, those hands, his lips…
No, he was in love, and he happened to be in love with a rich guy. He felt lucky in that, but knew, the longer they were together, the more he loved Benson and didn’t care about the money.
His name was in lights. He could be rich on his own within a year. He didn’t need Benson. Luka wanted him.
At his apartment, he was packed. Well, he was over-packed. He stared at the six bags, giggling a little that he had enough clothes to have that many bags. “Yeah, I’m better than I was.”
He checked the fridge again to assure he wasn’t coming back to mold growing on something and then checked his phone. No call or text from Benson. That nagging worry was trying to stress him out, but he refused to let it.
Benson came, of course. In fact, he came fifteen minutes early and didn’t even say hello when Luka opened the door. He pulled Luka into his arms and held him tightly, burying his lips into Luka’s hair while he kissed his head.
“Benson, you okay?”
“I am now.”
“Miss me?”
They’d been busy making sure they could have their holiday with no worries. Luka held him back and looked into tired eyes. “I missed you terribly.” When Benson saw the luggage behind Luka, however, he laughed. “I see you’re ready.”
“Sorry. I…I can’t…decide, you know!”
“It’s fine. It’s more than fine. I brought a lot myself. But I have something I need to tell you.”
Ready for bad news, Luka steeled himself for it. “What?”
“The B&B is having some heating issues. I had to make other plans.”
As long as it wasn’t canceled, Luka could go to the middle of a desert and stay in a tent. “God, you scared me.”
“Sorry. Well, I fully planned on being butch and taking your luggage myself, but I think I’m going to stretch my privilege and get some help.”
Luka laughed as he called the driver and then kissed Luka quickly before grabbing two of the bags. “You get the smaller ones, and we’ll head down in one trip.”
“I’ll go last so I can lock up.”
