“Yes, just one of those publicity dates. Nothing more,” I said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want you stressing out about it. I know you don’t care for her, and you don’t like it when I mention her name. I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you,” I said.
“You looked like you were enjoying yourselves,” Aiden said, and I could hear the jealousy in his tone.
I sighed. “Aiden, we’ve been through this. She’s just my beard, we have to look like we enjoy each other’s company. Plus, I’ve known her for six years, we’re friends in real life. We were just talking about silly shit. I’m gay, Aiden. I love cock and man ass… yours in particular. We can’t keep having this conversation. I’m doing all of this so we can be together,” I stated.
“I know, I know… it’s just…”
“What?”
“I guess I’m just envious that she gets to sit down in that restaurant with you out in the open, smiling and laughing at whatever you were talking about in this picture, and I can’t,” Aiden said sadly, and his words hit me like a fucking Mack truck. It was as if he was channeling Kathy as he pretty much repeated her words to me. It hurt.
“I’m sorry, Aiden. I wish it could be you, too. It’s not easy for me to play this part with her when the whole time I’m doing it, I wish I was living my life with you. But we knew what we were getting into and it’s doing us no good to keep dwelling on it,” I said. I didn’t want to talk about how we had to live our truth in the shadows while I lived a lie in the open. It wasn’t like we didn’t know when we decided to throw caution to the wind and date. “Aiden, are you still there?”
“I’m here, Macio. Look, I will call you tomorrow. I’m still really busy.”
I felt he was avoiding me because those damn pictures put him in a mood. Damn, with the internet, people could gossip that much faster. Sometimes I hated that fucking thing. I couldn’t even get home and make myself comfortable before some bloodsucking media jerk blasted my private-public life on some dumb blog for all to see. I decided not to press him right now.
“Okay, baby. I love you. Call me tomorrow.”
“I love you, too. I will,” Aiden said before hanging up.
Well, at least he said he loved me too. That made me feel better. I was in the mood to jack off before, but now I wasn’t. I tossed my tube of lube in the drawer and turned on the television. I had some more tough training tomorrow, as I had to defend my championship in a month and my competition was going to be brutal. Jaxon Hardy, he was a former champion and had been talking a lot of shit about how he was going to get it back. I was actually looking forward to the challenge.
“Are you going to be at my match next week?” I asked Aiden as I washed his back in the shower.
He nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he replied, then tilted his head back for a kiss. I happily obliged and slapped his plump ass for good measure. “I appreciate you giving me another exclusive for my magazine.”
“You’re special,” I said, grinning.
I turned the water off and we both climbed out and toweled off. I pulled a pair of sweat pants from my drawer and put them on, then walked over to the bed, sprawling on it to watch Aiden get dressed. He was leaving in an hour, but I had enjoyed our weekend together, which surprisingly enough, was uninterrupted. Of course, Barry wasn’t happy about me not training for those two days, but I promised not to have a life for the next week leading up to the fight. That appeased him. Aiden was all dressed now and I hated that he was leaving, but I took solace in knowing he was going to come back in a week.
“I have to fly to New York for the Knicks game for that exclusive with Derek Houser.”
I pouted. “He’s not better than me.”
Aiden laughed. “No, he’s so not.”
I climbed off the bed and walked over to him, taking him in my arms and giving him one hell of a knee-weakening kiss. “I can’t wait to see you again.”
He pinched my pierced nipple and I quaked. “I miss you already.”
I smiled and slapped his ass, then walked him to the door when his cab honked. I watched him driving off and felt that damned loneliness settling in again. If he lived with me, I could take him having to leave for a story better, because at least then I’d know he was coming back to me to stay. God, I was hating having to say goodbye, but for my career, I had to make sacrifices.
The week passed by, and in no time, it was fight night. The weigh-in got wild when I made fun of the pudge surrounding my opponent’s stomach. He rushed me and we collided into the crowd, which made the media sharks go crazy. They loved that kind of shit and so did our promotor. It really sold tickets when a rivalry looked like it would be life or death. Kathy was with me, playing the part of a supportive girlfriend. Rupert and Barry, along with the commission officials, were there as well, making sure everything was on the up and up.
I was waiting for Aiden to show up for his exclusive interview before the championship bout. He could ask five questions and had fifteen minutes. Like the professional he was, he entered my dressing room and got right down to business, as time was of the essence. I was getting my hands wrapped up while I answered his questions. I wished the fucking commission officials weren’t in the room, because if they weren’t, I would have kissed the hell out of Aiden. Instead, we both had to play it cool.
It was a nice interview and I had a good time doing it with him. Fact was, we just made a dynamite couple. Barry put my gloves on and we tapped fists. With that, we wrapped up the interview and I did a few practice moves to get my blood pumping. This was the first time Aiden got to see my pre-fight routine. I was happy he got to see this part of me.
“Okay, kid, let’s go kick some fucking ass,” Barry said.
“Fuck yeah!” I growled and huffed, then walked out of the dressing room with Barry and the commission officials, along with the rest of my corner behind me. It was game time.
Amonth had passed since my last little tantrum over Macio having dinner with Kathy. A lot had changed – well, I had changed – since then. Hearing the slight edge of frustration in his voice when he had to defend his time with Kathy for the umpteenth time, followed by the disappointment when I cut our conversation early, triggered something inside of me. I was sick and tired of hurting all the time and feeling like a third wheel in my own relationship with the man I loved; a man who I knew damn well loved me in return.
