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“He’s a friend of my boss.” They had speaking points in case it came up, a clear backstory so they wouldn’t contradict each other. “Dorian is staying with him at the hall and we met over the coffee machine in the kitchen.”
She made a cooing noise like a strangulated pigeon. “Darling, that’s lovely.”
He thought he’d better stop her running away with the idea. “Look, I’ll be honest, I like him but I’m not going to hold his attention for long.”
“Nonsense, sweetheart. He’s very lucky to have such a caring young man as his first boyfriend.”
He thought it best not to overcomplicate matters by clarifying he wasn’t Dorian’s first boyfriend, just the first one in public. If he’d been his proper new man then he’d also have to contend with living up to Robin Flint.
“Maybe, and yeah, I’m a safe pair of hands while he finds his way. But I’m not part of his razzle-dazzle world, and we’re seeing where things go.”
“You’re always so down on yourself.”
He sighed, he loved his mum, and she was right that he was one of his own worst critics. “Sometimes, but on this occasion I need to be realistic. Men like Dorian don’t settle down with the likes of me, so I’ll enjoy him while I can.”
The chair across from him was pulled out and Dorian sat down, a questioning look on his face.
“I have to go, Dorian’s up and I wanted to surprise him with brunch. Bye.”
“Just be careful.”
“I will.”
Dorian waved at Alex’s phone. “Who was that?”
“My mum. One of the neighbour’s daughters is a gossip queen—she wanted to know what was going on.”
Dorian stole his coffee and one of his slices of toast. “You could tell her the truth.”
“What? That I’m fake-dating an arsehole who steals my breakfast so I can help with a family matter?” He only just stopped himself from blurting out the actual reason he needed the money. He took back his mug. “No chance. She’d go ballistic.”
Dorian chuckled and ate the toast he’d stolen. “Mums can get a bit protective. Mine’s a bit more reserved than what yours sounds like but she’s been supportive in her own way. She liked Robin, so she wasn’t happy when we split.”
“You were together a long time.”
“It took a while to tell her we were dating, although I think she had an idea. And I didn’t exactly do myself any favours when Robin left me.”
Alex had wondered what the story was, he knew Robin hadn’t wanted to hide but it sounded as if there was more to it. “What did you do?”
“I tried to fuck him out of my system, which didn’t work. And I tried to get him to take me back, including storming into Crofton Hall acting like a jilted lover over Simon after he posted a picture of them together.”
Alex winced. “I sense that didn’t go down well.”
“I was a mess. Robin leaving had been on the cards a long time but I didn’t want to see it. I’d already come to the conclusion that I wanted to come out, but my management team weren’t supportive, and I was drinking more than I should.”
Alex reached over and squeezed his hand. “But you’ve come through it, things will only get better.”
Dorian smiled and like the night before in the bar Alex felt his heart stutter. He was so screwed, he was going to end up falling for this prick and then he was going to be left broken-hearted and miserable as Dorian sailed off and had a wonderful life with a beautiful and famous guy.
“I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me. Having someone I can trust while going through this has been really helpful.”
Alex hadn’t done this out of altruism. Dorian hadn’t overstepped the boundaries they’d agreed upon and had been a proper gentleman, most of the time. The trouble was he found himself thinking he wouldn’t have minded if Dorian had been a little less well-behaved. He would need to be more careful, protect himself because there was no way in hell that Dorian wouldn’t break his heart.
CHAPTER24
Several meetings with his lawyers later, he had agreements drawn up to sever his business relationships with everyone on the list they had compiled and, most importantly, with Zak and Marisa. It had felt like the end of an era as he’d signed the final page to cut ties and he’d insisted on doing it the old-fashioned way, with pen and ink. His professional priorities had begun to diverge a while back but they’d always managed to convince him to do one more lucrative rom-com or action movie. He was still convinced Zak had been behind various leaks about Robin, although he was in two minds about Marisa, and now they were legally separated he intended to look into a way to prove it without having to worry about financial repercussions.
For the first time in his career he had no outside steer, no one influencing his next move and, while he’d thought the freedom might be nice, the reality was he would need some form of management team. Getting a stylist and publicist didn’t worry him, but replacing an agent and a business manager was different. People had approached him, most reaching out through the new email Alex had set up since he’d done his damnedest to stop people from being able to have direct contact with him, but they had all been made from the same mould as Zak and Marisa—Hollywood-focused and chasing dollar signs. Not that he’d want an agent without drive but just that the direction would be important.
