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Istill couldn’t believe that he was standing in front of me. The man I had spent the early hours of the morning on a video call with, explaining exactly what I wanted to do to him. The man I had come to within a moment of pure ecstasy.
I could see that he was feeling just as embarrassed as I was right now, being in the same room as his boss, knowing what we had done this morning. But then a realisation came over me: I had to tell him the truth, the reason why I was here. I was always going to tell him, but I wanted to do it on my terms, not like this. Not when I was trying to find a PI to investigate my wife. I watched as he turned to Jayden to speak.
“Yes. We met in a bar last night. I guess I finally owe you an explanation?” He turned to face me, a look of regret in his eyes as he spoke. “Both of you.”
I gave him a smile, hoping to give him some reassurance. I could tell he was thinking this would be the end of us. But what I had to tell him was far more serious than giving a false name to a complete stranger in a bar. It was Jayden who spoke next.
“I guess we’d all better sit down, then. Perhaps we would be more comfortable over there.”
He pointed to the leather three-piece suite that was in the corner of the room. I got up from my chair and sat down on the settee. I was surprised when Richard sat down next to me. It seemed strange to think of him as Richard. To me, he would always be myRomeo.
I could tell that he was nervous. I reached over and took his hand in mine, giving it a squeeze. I knew how difficult it was to come out to people you worked with. But I also knew that it wasn’t always as bad as you expected. That in this day and age, most people were accepting of gay men.
“I think it’s time for you to come clean, Romeo.”
I decided to continue using the name he had given me last night. I wanted him to feel comfortable as he had done all last night, even though it wasn’t his real name. I looked over and saw Jayden smirk and raise his eyebrows. This was going to be the easiest coming-out speech ever. Jayden already knew. He was just waiting for Richard to be honest with him.
“Well, first, as you have realised, my name isn’t Romeo.”
He looked down unable to look me in the eye as he said that. I lifted his chin to meet my eyes with my other hand as I continued to hold his hand.
“We can discuss that later. That’s the least you have to worry about.”
He smiled, nodded in agreement, and turned back to speak to Jayden.
“As I said, I met Daniel last night in a bar. We hit it off immediately. I’ve only told one person this. Well, except for Daniel here. I’m gay. I didn’t know how to tell anyone. I thought you would all treat me differently if you knew.”
I watched as Jayden smiled, obviously trying to hold back the laugh that was threatening to come out. It wasn’t a laughing matter when someone came out as being homosexual, but when everyone around you could see all the signs and knew, but were just waiting to be told, I could see how it would amuse them.
“Well, Richard, what can I say to that? Firstly, thank fuck you have finally admitted it to me, and secondly, I already knew. You forget that I spent five years of my life with my best friend in the army, Mark, who was also gay. Don’t you think Tyler, Nathan, and I haven’t worked it out already? In fact, every member of the team has been waiting for you to come out. We just all respected that it was your decision to tell us. I suspect the other person who knows is Tyler, who for the record has not said a word to any of us, despite our asking. Personally, I don’t care if you prefer men or women. You do an amazing job here, and that is all that matters to me. If it means you can finally be yourself, then that is all the better. We don’t want you to hide who you are, and if it means that you have found the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, sitting right next to you now, then I am happy for you.”
I felt Richard relax next to me, and I gave his hand another squeeze just to tell him that everything was okay. Well, at least for him, it was. I wasn’t so sure he would react the same way as me when I told him the truth.
“Thank you, Jayden. You don’t know how much that means to me. I guess I need to be honest with everyone, Mum included. And yes, I think I have found the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.” He turned to me and smiled.
I was so pleased to hear that, because I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him too, but I wasn’t so hopeful that he would still be thinking that when he heard the truth about me. Jayden turned to look at me and decided it was my turn to be thrown under a bus.
“Now, Daniel, as Richard has now been honest with me, are you now going to tell us both the real truth about why you are here? I have a funny feeling there are a few things you left out of your story. One thing is that you were gay, which again, I had already guessed.”
It was my turn to feel nervous and worried. I knew that Jayden wouldn’t judge me for what I was about to say, but would Richard? I looked over at Richard, who smiled at me.
“I’m sure whatever you have to say won’t make a bit of difference to how I feel about you, Daniel. It’s time for us to be honest with each other. There is no reason for us both to start this relationship behind lies, including me giving you the wrong name.”
He was right, of course. I took a deep breath as Richard took my hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. I turned to look at him as I spoke.
“Let me start by saying I was going to tell you this on Friday when we went out together again. I wanted to get everything in place and then I was going to tell you. As you both know, I am gay. I came out eight years ago, but unfortunately, my parents put it down to being a phase, following thein-crowdof the city. My father basically blackmailed me just over four years ago to marry the daughter of one of his business associates, Katherine, saying that it would save both businesses. That if I didn’t, he would lose the business and I would cause the death of my mother through a heart attack. I tried to argue that my younger brother should do it, especially as he was the managing director of the company, but he said it had to be me. I reluctantly agreed, but under the condition that a contract was drawn up that the marriage would be for five years only, and any sign of infidelity would result in a divorce with the guilty party receiving nothing.”
I took another deep breath. This was difficult enough to explain without the man I loved sitting next to me. I wondered what he would think of me at the end of this. He smiled again and nodded, still holding my hand.
“So, we got married and basically lived separate lives. We slept in separate bedrooms and hardly ever spent any time with each other, except when we had to play the devoted husband and wife at company gatherings. I knew that she had still been engaged to Kevin Wright two weeks before we were married and always suspected that they were still seeing each other but never had the proof, only the comings and goings of Kevin at the house. Now, my father is pressurising me to have a child with Katherine. I would do anything to keep my mum healthy, but that is a step too far, especially now that I’ve found Richard. So, I need to prove my wife is having an affair so I can get divorced and start to live my life again.”
I looked over at Jayden’s solemn face, but I couldn’t look at Richard. I was ashamed of what I had done. I should never have allowed my father to dictate my life to me. I looked down at where Richard was holding my hand. Throughout my explanation, he had never once flinched, made any comment, or even moved. He just continued to hold my hand, which either meant he didn’t care or was so shocked he really didn’t know what to do.
“Daniel, look at me.”
Slowly I raised my head and looked into the eyes of the man I had already fallen for. He smiled at me.
“It doesn’t change a thing, Daniel. We can talk about this after we have finished here. Let’s just deal with the job at hand: proving your wife is having an affair.”
