Ben had neither any idea of just how much money Nikolas had nor how much he actually spent, enjoying that spending power.Occasionally pictures went up at home that Ben glanced at and pretended were nice.Nikolas wanted to tell him, he really did, but you didn’t get much at fine art auctions these days for under ten million pounds.Ben drank wine—which Nikolas discovered him drinking occasionally out of plastic cups—that cost three or four thousand pounds—for each glassful.Only last week, Nikolas had bought himself a watch, which at a little under a million American dollars sat well on his wrist.Of course, he’d not brought it here—and wasn’t that fortunate, as no scumbag deserved to have his nose broken with a million dollar watch…
But in A&E that night, perhaps fuelled by the odd vision he’d seen through Ben’s eyes, he saw a connection between himself and these men.It didn’t do too well for Nikolas to think back to his past.Guilt was redundant—where would he start?Murder, torture, betrayal…He’d swum in a sewer; he’d kept his head high; he’d breathed lightly and done what he had to do to survive.
His great moment of epiphany was halted though when he realised he was thinking exactly what this night had probably been designed to make him think.Fuck that.He grunted, shifted to try and get more comfortable, which woke Ben properly, and he sat up, rubbing where the plastic chairs edges had dug into his kidney.“What the fuck?What’s the time?What fucking day is it?Fuck, Samuel, is he…?”He scrubbed at his face morosely.“What?”
“Are you fucking channelling fucking Michael?”
Ben seemed to think about this then coloured.“Sorry.I was having a good dream.Didn’t want to wake up.”He didn’t elaborate and peered around more cognizant.“Samuel?”
Nikolas was about to reply he didn’t know yet, when a very sheepish and strung-out young man appeared from the treatment area.His wrist was in a cast.Nikolas knew how that felt and scratched at his own re-damaged wrist in unconscious sympathy.Samuel sat down, waking the others when the plastic chair screeched on the sticky lino.Samuel stared down at his feet for a moment.“I’m really, really sorry, chaps.I’ll make this up to you, I promise.”
Ben glanced warily at Nikolas, but to his evident astonishment, Nikolas only mock-cuffed the boy around the head.“Come, let’s get out of this place.”
John curled his lip faintly.“I think I prefer A&E to the course, to be honest.”
Nikolas was pleased with himself.“Who said anything about the course?”
He led them out to the entrance, where a couple of taxis were waiting for them.Puzzled, they climbed in.Five miles later, they were deposited outside a luxury hotel, which resembled a castle and boasted an attached spa.Bemused, the small ragtag group followed Nikolas into reception.“You have a block booking in the name of Stannis?”
The girl nodded.“We have, sir.Three double suites.We’ll start breakfast now, sir, and that should be with you in about half an hour.”
Nikolas made a mental note to thank Kate, nodded, took one key for himself and Ben, and tossed the others to John.“Anyone for a couple of days in a luxury spa?”
* * *
Chapter Thirteen
Other than accepting Nikolas’s chocolate digestive earlier that day, Ben had never done a selfish thing in his life.It wasn’t in his nature.You didn’t join the army and then Special Forces if you were jack—someone out for yourself.Or if you did, you didn’t last long in that environment—a way of life that demanded selfless sacrifice to a shared ideal.Ben lay on the luxury bed.He thought about the vast bathroom, and he salivated over the thought of the huge cooked breakfast being prepared for him, but then he stood up and announced, “We have to go back.”
Nikolas was on the phone to Kate.He clearly heard Ben but finished his conversation and only then hung up.He pursed his lips for a while, staring out over the view from the bedroom window.
“If we don’t go back, they’ll know something is up, and we’ll blow it all—ruin any chance we have to find Squeezy or find out what’s going on.No way would Nigel Stannis pull this kind of stunt.He couldn’t afford it, for a start.”
Nikolas was about to answer when there was a soft knock on the door.Ben went to answer it, hoping it was the breakfast, which he could possibly consume before Nikolas agreed with him that what they were doing was breaking cover and therefore very dumb.It was John.He had James with him.Ben frowned but let them in.
John declared simply, “I don’t know who you two guys are, and frankly I don’t care, but thanks—for what you did for us tonight, and this, I guess.But I can’t stay here.I’m going back.I’m worried about Mark.”
James had been watching him and his hand went unconsciously to his face.“I have a few things I want to say to Dr Fergus.I’m going back with John.”
Before either Nikolas or Ben could respond, Samuel poked his head around the door and crowed gleefully, “Orgy!”Then he came in with Mathew.“We’re going back.Fuckers.Think they can scare us?This the best they can do?”He held up his plastered wrist.“I’ve had worse than this from my dad.”He toed the ground for a moment.“And I’m kinda worried about Noah—the fucker.”
Mathew just shrugged.“I don’t wanna waste my money.I think this therapy’s really working—What?What?What did I say?”
Nikolas sat on the end of the bed and regarded his small, militant flock.He closed his eyes for a moment.“We need to get our story straight.We didn’t come here.We took taxis from the hospital straight back to the course, yes?”They all nodded.He glanced very slyly to Ben.“However, they won’t know if we have a missing hour…I suggest we indulge with breakfast?”
* * *
They all stayed in the one suite, variously sitting on the bed or at the table.The food was superb and limitless—more than enough for Ben—and even Nikolas indulged more than he usually would.He was astounded he not only found the atmosphere comfortable, he was actually enjoying the other men’s company.
It wasn’t long before their talk turned to their experiences that night and then in more general terms to the course.John was the first to say directly to Nikolas and Ben, “You’re not a florist, and he actually is ex-Special-Forces-expert Ben Rider.”
There was an uneasy silence in the room, until Samuel suddenly blurted out, “I knew you weren’t gay!Wow!Oh, my God, is this, like, a covert operation or something?—no!I know!We’re all on reality TV!Oh, my God, this is like Big Gay Brother or I’m A Gay Guy Get Me Out Of Here!Oh, God, wait till I tell Noah!He’ll be…What?I’m talking too much, aren’t I?But I knew you weren’t gay.Awesome.”
Nikolas couldn’t repress a small smirk of triumph to Ben at Samuel’s clear recognition he wasn’t gay but then held each of the other men’s eyes for a moment with his cool gaze.“A friend of ours has gone missing.We think it’s something to do with this course—or rather what comes after it.Some men who’ve attended it have stayed on for another three weeks—”
The universal chorus of dismay at this idea silenced him and all asserted nothing would make them stay longer than the allotted week.This was the first time Nikolas had thought about this, but it made sense.Whatever it was that tempted men to stay on, it clearly happened after this experience.Perhaps this night out as gay men in a very unfriendly environment acted as some kind of watershed…What happened on the rest of the course to make men want to stay?
John suddenly laid down his knife and fork.“I don’t think tonight was supposed to go as it has.I mean, what would have happened if you guys hadn’t been there?”
