“Darling, you’ve just had one.Several, actually.”
“Everyone else is here.Can’t they take the call withoutme?”
“Not on the last night.”
“A minute.Please.”
Arnoldsighed.He made a dismissive gesture, and Laurie slipped past him.“Don’t worry, they’ll wait!”Arnold called after him, then added,for his own bittersweet entertainment only, “The whole bloody worldwill wait for you, Mr Fitzroy.God help me when you work that outfor yourself.”
***
Laurie ran down the corridor, jostling against the tide ofplayers and support staff headed the other way.He returned theirsmiles, caught a high-five off the lighting guy who’d come up withthe deadly silver circle.He wanted to find Helena.God, no—Gem wasup in the wings, waiting to take her bow.Alison, that was right.What had she said?He can turn it on andoff like a tap.
That hadused to be true, but it wasn’t any more.All the years of slippingunder his father’s radar to act, the panto roles, horsing around toentertain his little sister in their great gilded rat-trap of afamily home, and even during his first year as a serious stageactor—yes, he’d dived painlessly into a hundred other skins,inhabited them painlessly, shrugged out into his own.And now ittook longer, and it hurt.
Hurt.He’d hurt Alison’s feelings.Blindly he shoved open hisdressing-room door.He slammed his hands flat on the makeup table,shaking his head, trying to free himself from short, red Bertramthoughts.Aye, if the wench will flaunther desires before the whole court, what trouble is’t of mine?Pinme like an insect splayed, will she?Fie upon it—I’ll to horse, andleave the whore, and choose my own girl from a world of flesh, orbetter still a boy, a hot-blood soldier...
“Laurie?”
Lauriesnapped upright.Behind him in the mirror was a chair, and in thechair, pale and tousled, clearly just startled out ofsleep...
Sasha.Laurie turned.Sasha got up, rubbing his eyes, and came to meethim.He was wearing one of his nice business suits, collar open,tie discarded long ago.The clothes became him with such Romanidash even at the end of a long hard day that Laurie’s eyes stungwith longing for him.His throat dried.Sasha was water to him,cool clear water.Sanity, life and strength.Laurie walked into hisarms.“Oh, thank God.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Bloody Bertram.”Laurie groaned, rested his brow on Sasha’sshoulder.“Bastard won’t get out of my head.”
Sashastroked his hair, feeling fevered dampness in the rich dark silk.He’d seen this before, and he knew what to do.All the world saidhis Laurie was a better actor for the total immersion he brought tohis roles, but Sasha remembered the boy who had jumped like aweasel from part to part, and bounced up painlessly afterwards,nobody but himself.“Bugger Bertram,” he said softly, kissingLaurie’s ear, making him snort with laughter.“Does Bertram knowwhere we live?”
“Nope.Never told him.”
“Does he know where we get our Sunday-night takeaway treat whenyou’ve finished a run?Or what trendily kitsch 1970s film you’llwatch on Netflix afterwards?”
“No.Golden Voyage of Sinbadtonight, please.Martin Shaw in sailor pants and ashirt open so far he could’ve caught fish in it.”
Sashachuckled.His command of English was better than Laurie’s, but heknew how it amused his lover when the Romanian boy reached for adirty colloquial phrase.“Mm.I’d have a piece of that action.”Herolled his hips against Laurie’s, half erotic, half pure comedy,and Laurie looked up, eyes glowing.“There you go, sweet prince,”Sasha whispered in approval, sealing the spell with a thumb pressedto Laurie’s lower lip.“Where’s that bastard Bertramnow?”
“Gone.”
“I can still hear ten thousand people yelling for him in thepit.Shouldn’t you be taking curtain call?”
“I was, but...Never mind me.What are you doinghere?”
“I was called in for a ’terp job.Only just got away, and Ithought I’d try and meet you here.Bill let me in at the stagedoor, and...Well.I fell asleep.”
Lauriegrinned.Sasha now worked brutally long hours with the ImmigrationGuidance Council, advising and interpreting for new arrivals.Hecould be forgiven for dropping off anywhere, but that was no reasonnot to tease him.“I see.My triumphal last performance, and youslept through it like a baby.”
“Oh, God.Should I have come,ves’tacha?I’d have made time,if...”
Laurie silenced him with a kiss.Ves’tacha—Sasha’s name forhim from their earliest shared days.It meantbeloved, although Laurie hadn’t foundthat out until weeks later.What had Sasha said to him, out thereon freezing Birchwood Heath, their pulses still racing from orgasm,frost-glimmered ferns cutting the night sky above their heads?Ves’tacha.Beloved.It didn’t take me longto know.
“Of course you didn’t have to come,” Laurie said softly.“Itold you, didn’t I?Your work’s way more important than my nonsensehere, always.”He brightened.“Hell, though, we did well tonight,didn’t we?I can hear them too, now—my ten millionfans.”
“I do believe I said ten thousand.Couldn’t you hear thembefore?”
“Bertram couldn’t.”Laurie seized Sasha before his brow couldfurrow in concern.“I can hear them.I can hear waltz music.Dancewith me!”
Sasha kept up with him as best he could.He’d learned to danceby Romani campfires.Laurie had learned in stage classes, pickingup a little of everything from tap to break to ballroom, butsomehow when they hit the floor together in clubs and at theirfriends’ weddings, they made a good pair.He let Laurie whirl himround—leading, of course—through the maze of costume rails and propdummies.He lost his stride and just hung on, laughing, the lightsturning to comet trails around him.He loved how Laurie saidwewhen the going wasgood, his long-established shorthand for Sasha’s contribution tothe rise of the Fitzroy star—the steady job, the daily affectionsteadier still.We didwell, as if Sasha had been there on thestage at his side, helping him through his all-consumingtransformations.“Go take your bow,” Sasha gasped, crashing himgently into a wall of fur-lined cloaks.“They won’t waitforever.”
