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“How about your attitude this weekend?” he pushed. “How will that be?”
I wished I had a blood pressure cuff wrapped around my bicep so he could witness it explode. In typical Phillip fashion, he decided he’d be managing my choices, my emotions, and every other offense he felt he needed to control so I would fit into his glamorous weekend.
I was still stuck on last night when he’d called me baby. His sad attempt at acting concerned for my well being evaporated this morning. He’d launched into the Hayes rehabilitation tour without me, and if I didn’t follow the perfect script he’d written in his head for the weekend I’d suffer even more.
“I’m looking forward to it,” I said. “Three days on a sailing yacht? What’s not to love?”
“Exactly. And then on Tuesday you’ll call your father and we are right back on track. I like our plan, Hayes.”
“Me too,” I lied.
Phillip parked near Charles’ slip and waited for his crew to grab our belongings. From the moment we exited the car and until we disembarked Monday evening, we’d be catered to. There’d be no unpacking, no cleaning of our stateroom, no cooking, or any other responsibility. We could sit back and have our every need met by Charles’ well-paid crew. I was surprised his long term crew were so good at welcoming aboard either his wife or his lover on separate occasions without so much as a double take. The affair made me sick to my stomach. Thankfully I only had one more event to get through before I could make sure I was never forced to sit on my opinions again.
“Mr. Crawford. Mr. Honeycutt. Welcome aboard, sirs,” Joseph, Head Steward, said upon us boarding. We accepted the glasses of champagne he held out to us. “Mr. Fulton and his guests are gathered in the salon. Shall I escort you or do you remember the way?”
“Thank you, Joseph,” Phillip said. “We’ll be fine on our own.” Phillip could be incredibly poised in these types of situations. He possessed a slick shine that he’d perfected in order to fit into the upper echelons of this sort of life. I admired him when he effortlessly slid into this persona because I struggled with it even though I was also born into the world of money. Perhaps witnessing a master in a man so young was worth admiring. I knew I sure as shit couldn’t play the role. Again, I couldn’t help thinking he would’ve made a better son to my father than I.
“Here they are,” Charles announced when we entered the salon of the boat. “The future of Charleston has arrived, boys,” Charles teased, coming up to us for hugs. John, his lover, joined him and shook our hands. It was like looking at twins when you saw Charles and John together. John was a slightly younger, slightly thinner, and slightly poorer, but I imagined he had plans on changing the latter.
I’d heard Charles’ new boy, John, was from New York where these types of arrangements were more common than in the south. What I doubted John knew was that wealthy gentlemen from this part of the country don’t leave their well-connected wives for gay sidepieces, or straight sidepieces for that matter. Julia was from money and her daddy was a congressman. Charles wouldn’t be leaving that situation unless forced. If I were a betting man, I’d say John hadn’t figured that out yet.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know you better, Hayes,” John said, leaning into my ear because the gathering was loud and with the drinks flowing. “We missed you at dinner. Phillip said you were battling a little bug. How are you feeling now?”
It took me a second but I quickly realized Phillip needed some excuse for me not showing up at dinner the other night. “It must have been a twenty-four hour thing,” I confessed. “I slept through it and I’m fine now.”
“Glad to hear,” he said. “Although we missed you, we made a new friend, Michael, who joined us in your absence.” John motioned at the bar across the room. “The tall blond,” he said, pointing this time. I turned to the man John motioned to across the room at the bar.
I’d spotted him when we first walked into the salon, admiring his striking good looks. I found him staring at me right then and so I looked away. So he was the reason Phillip stayed longer at the dinner I’d gotten out of attending when Phillip and I negotiated for me to attend this weekend cruise instead. I waited for a surge of anger or jealousy, but it didn’t come. I glanced back toward the bar and found Phillip leaning into Michael’s ear. I wasn’t jealous but their familiarity made me curious about the new outsider to the group.Okay, handsome stranger. Who are you?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Bo
Iwalked barefoot to the end of the floating dock, the morning sun beating down on my back. I couldn’t see sunrises from my location due to the wooded area behind my shack, but sunsets over the river and out over the Atlantic were always awesome. My eyes searched the deep blue sky for any signs of the tropical storm everyone was warning of yesterday. The wind was nonexistent. It appeared the weather folks were mistaken and we’d have a perfect Memorial Day weekend.
Sitting on the dock in only my boxers and a mug of coffee in my hand, I slipped my feet into the water and it lapped at my knees. Whereas it felt brisk at first, I could tell the water temperature was getting warmer. Maybe later I’d dive in and take a swim. Before the installation of my new bathroom I often swam and bathed at the same time in the river. The clean water was also good for washing my clothes. I hung them to dry on a line I’d extended from the deck railing to an enormous oak twenty feet from the shack.
I laid back on the dock and let the sun warm my near naked body. My hands ran over my flat stomach and abs, outlining them with my fingers. I liked that Jamie had noticed the additional muscle on my chest and arms. I’d lied and said it was from extra work, but it was actually due to late night gym visits in town after my seafood deliveries. Anytime Fitness had good equipment and I could work out anytime of the day, finishing off with a warm shower.
Jamie had been the bigger of the two of us in high school but I may have caught up to him over the past year. When you’re lonely, you find things to occupy your time so you don’t dwell in deep depression for too long. The gym and fitness routine had been where I dealt with the pain. That and a whole lot of crying.
My night was a fitful one full of tossing and turning while I fought to quell the butterflies setting up shop in my gut. I’d been sick to my stomach ever since seeing Jamie again at the restaurant. He had that effect on me and I was miserable that seeing him still hurt. However, this time the pain wasn’t as intense and was shorter-lived, which I wasn’t sure I’d live to see the end of a hurt so deep.
He’d looked good even with what appeared to be the additional weight of college life. He looked like he was maturing into adulthood and becoming a man. I imagined we both were losing our skinny teenage bodies and filling out. At the age of twenty, we’d become men.
I heard a boat’s engine in the distance and knew it was moving slow. It was hidden behind the trees and shrubs, but I knew it didn’t have a large motor. The engine noise reminded me of a lawnmower which indicated the low horsepower was most likely mounted to a boat smaller than mine. Whoever it was puttered along to their next destination. I noted that it was coming to my location. Sitting upright, I waited for the watercraft to appear in the opening of vegetation between my property and the river. The boat was close but hadn’t appeared in the open water just off my dock yet.
I watched when the boat and its occupant cleared the brush and swung the bow toward my dock. It was Jamie and he was in a small rental from the marina in Beaufort. The marina rented wooden boats with 25hp engines by the day and apparently Jamie used one to pay me a visit. I pulled my feet out of the water and crossed my legs while he approached. He was ten feet out when I stood and waited to catch the line so I could secure the rental to the dock next to my boat.
He had his baseball cap on backward and wore a tank top withChevroletemblazoned across the front in bright-yellow lettering. An old pair of khaki shorts finished the casual collegiate look. Neither of us spoke as I tied the rope before extending a hand to pull him out of the tiny rental.
“Hey,” he said, placing his sunglasses on top of his cap. “Can we talk?”
I turned and headed for my shack fifty yards away without responding.
“Bo!”he yelled after me.
I stopped and turned around.
“Can we talk?” he asked again.
