“Of course.”
Unless by then we were broken up. And how pathetic was that? I couldn’t even trust my imaginary boyfriend to stick around until my brother’s wedding.
Yay, love.
Shoot me.
TWO
PERRY
Spent,sated, and completely fucked out, I flopped over onto my back on Darren’s bed, not caring about the mess we made. He could afford laundry service. That’s what he’d told me the first time I’d worried about his sheets. After I caught my breath a bit, I rolled over and draped myself across his body.
Our relationship had slowly evolved over time. Sure, Darren wasn’t out, but that was okay. He knew about my job and didn’t mind that he had to share my body with other men. Sometimes he’d even ask me to tell him about what—or who—I did that day. And now that we’d been seeing each other pretty steadily for the past year, he’d long since stopped having a post-coital panic attack.
“Can you hand me my phone?” Darren asked. “It’s over on the nightstand on your side of the bed.”
My side of the bed. I tried not to read into that, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t even have a toothbrush here, so having a side of the bed felt like a big deal. A huge deal. Slowly but surely I waschipping away at Darren’s defenses. Today, a side of the bed. Tomorrow, a toothbrush. And maybe soon, a real date.
Rolling over, I grabbed his phone and that’s when I spotted a golden envelope. Snoopy as hell, I grabbed it too.
“What’s this?” I asked as I handed him his phone. “Aren’t you going to open it?”
“I don’t need to open it because I know what it is. It’s an invitation to the annual charity ball to raise funds for the hospital.”
“A charity ball? That sounds amazing. Are you going?”
Darren nodded but didn’t even look away from his phone. “It’s practically a requirement.”
“Are you allowed to bring a plus one? I mean—I know you’re not out, but I could always come as a friend.”
When Darren stiffened, I wanted to yank the words back and shove them down my throat. I knew it was a dumb idea the moment they left my mouth, but I couldn’t stop them. The invitation had caught me by surprise, and I’d always wanted a reason to go to some big, fancy event where I’d have to dress up.
“You know I can’t bring you, Perry. Don’t be stupid.”
Darren’s words slapped me across the face, sharp and stinging like the tail of a whip. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to elaborate on that for me. You know, explain it in little words so my dumb ass can understand.” Rage burned in my stomach. I hated—despised—loathed—being called stupid.
Darren rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic.” He looked over at me, calm, cool, aloof. All the things that had attracted me to him at first suddenly waved in my face like the red flags they were.
“Surely you’re allowed to bring a friend.”
“Yes, I could bring a friend. But, Perry, think of the optics. I bring a friend no one has met before, and he’s a gay porn star?I might as well show up in a rainbow tuxedo with the word gay written on my forehead in glitter.”
“Wow. Okay. Right.” I got out of bed and went in search of my clothes. “Silly me. I’m good enough to fuck, but heaven forbid you acknowledge my existence outside the bedroom. Even as a friend. Fuck you, Darren.”
My hands shook, but I managed to shove my feet into my jeans. Fuck my underwear, he could keep them, and I snatched my shirt off the floor.
“Don’t get hysterical, Perry. You know I’m not out. You know what this is. Don’t get pissed at me because you want to change the rules.”
He barely batted an eye at me as I shoved my arms in my shirt and tugged it on. Fuck the buttons. I was dressed enough.
The worst part was that he was right. He’d never been out. He’d never promised me anything. He never said he’d come out one day. He never wanted to be seen with me in public. He never even made room for a toothbrush for me in the bathroom.
“You’re right. I don’t like the rules. But lucky for me, I get to make new ones. Lose my number.”
He rolled his eyes again. “Glady. Fucking drama queen.”
Despite wanting to tear a strip off him a mile wide for how the past three minutes had gone, I forced myself to walk away. I didn’t even try to make it look like he didn’t just fuck the life out of me. Shirt undone, pants slung low, hair a mess, I walked out of his condo looking freshly fucked. Let his neighbors see. I hope they fucking did.
