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“Like what?” Noel asked, his eyes twinkling. “And just to remind you, I still don’t do private performances.”
David shrugged. “Hey. I was thinking about movies or hobbies, but since you brought it up….” He had no intention of asking Noel for any such thing. “And for the record, you keep bringing it up.”
Noel sighed. “Well… you would too if you got asked at least a dozen times a night, sometimes by guys hauling around enough cash to pay my rent for three months. To them I’m just a body, someone they see on stage and somehow want to continue the fantasy. I’m not a real person to them. Tonight was the first time in months that I’ve been out in front of the stage.”
David swallowed hard. “Because of the offers you don’t want?”
Noel shook his head and then drank some more wine. “Because I’m afraid that someday the temptation will be too much, or I’ll need the money so badly that I’ll agree to do it, and once that door is open….” He pulled his hands on his lap. “It’s hard to put the genie back in the bottle. And besides, if I did do something like that, Frankie would have my tight little butt out on the sidewalk so fast, it would make my head spin.”
“Is Frankie the owner?” David asked. “I think he was the man I spoke with.”
“He was, and yes, he is. Frankie has rules of conduct, and he also watches out for us. No one gets away with anything when Frankie is around. If you want to see how fast he can move, try to touch one of us. There are times when I swear the guy knows how to fly.” He grinned, and David was relieved to know that Noel had backup.
Watching Noel on stage had been a transportive experience. Noel was gorgeous and sexy, especially when he was wearing next to nothing, but what really took his breath away was how he moved. Every motion was graceful and thought out. He didn’t clunk around the stage, grinding his hips. Noel didn’t have to. When he moved, there was no way David could look away. The man was sex appeal personified, and he didn’t need overt gestures to capture attention. Even now, he ate slowly and kind of gently, with small bites.
David enjoyed his duck, the dark blackberry sauce incredible. Their server inquired if they wanted dessert, and David asked if Noel was interested, but he demurred, so David requested the check, which he paid when the server returned. There was still a small amount of wine in the bottle, but David had had plenty and knew he needed to drive. He could always call for a ride, but he wanted some time alone with Noel, who was already bundling himself up. David pulled on his coat before they headed out into the cold night air for the walk back to the car. Once inside, he got the heat working before pulling out.
“Thank you for dinner. It was very nice of you.”
“You’re welcome,” David said. He could feel tension building in Noel as he headed toward where he had dropped Noel off last night. David was pretty sure that Noel was wondering what came next. David drove, thankful the roads were clear, crossing the river into the Third Ward, then turned off Water Street and pulled up to Noel’s corner, where he stopped. “Good night,” he said gently, and Noel reached over to open the door.
“Thank you again. It was a very nice dinner.” He paused, and David expected him to get out. But Noel leaned across the seat and kissed him quickly on the lips before leaving the car. He closed the door and hurried across the street, his form illuminated for a second in the headlights. Then he was gone, swallowed by the darkness, and David pulled away and went around the block before heading back north and out to Lake Drive.
Fifteen minutes later, he turned right into the drive that led to his Italianate-style home. He pulled into the garage and lowered the door before getting out of the car. David went into the house that had once belonged to his grandparents. Then he went through to the kitchen, where Antoine sat at the table with Oscar underneath it. The white-and-black cat stretched, but didn’t deign to come over to greet him. “I made it back in one piece,” David said when Antoine raised a single eyebrow.
“I would have felt better if you had let me drive you.” He set down his mug. “Did you go to that club to see the young man from last night? You know your father will not be happy about that sort of thing.” He finished his coffee and poured a refill from the pot nearby.
“I’m aware of that. But my father isn’t happy with anything I do other than go to his fundraisers and look good standing next to him on the podium.” David opened the refrigerator and filled a glass with juice.
“If I may ask, did you have a nice dinner?”
David sat down across from him. “How did you know where I went and how I spent my time? I told you not to use the tracker on the car. Can’t I at least trust you not to snoop into my life? I know my father does, and my stepmother is like a bloodhound.” He hated how small his world really was.
“I only checked to make sure you were okay, and now that you’re home, I’ll forget everything I saw and go to bed.” He smirked, and David rolled his eyes. “But I take it you did have a good time.”
“It was a nice dinner. Strange in some ways, but nice.” He couldn’t help smiling, which he knew Antoine would try to read plenty into. “He’s different from what I expected… sassy, and his tongue is….”
“Sharper than yours?” Antoine finished for him.
“Most definitely.” There was something that intrigued him, an honesty that David rarely found. Noel was forthright about what he did and what he expected from it. He didn’t shy away from… well, anything, and David liked that very much.
“I see….” Antoine drank some more of his coffee, those intense eyes watching him. Sometimes, David hated that Antoine seemed to see everything and knew way too damned much. “You like this young man.” He took his mug to the sink, pausing to drink the rest of the coffee. “I know better than to try to tell you what to do. But be sure you understand what will happen if your father so much as gets a hint of where you were tonight and what you did.”
“Having dinner?” David knew he was being a smartass, but he couldn’t help it.
The cuptinked loudly as Antoine set it down. “You know exactly what I mean. Your father won’t see that Noel is doing what he needs to in order to make a living, or that he’s funny, or any of the other things you see. He’ll look at him and see nothing more than a stripper.” He turned around. In some ways, Antoine was his best friend. At least he was the one person in the world that David knew would always be honest with him.
“And what do you see?” David pressed.
Antoine huffed a second before rolling his eyes in an “oh, dammit” way. “Someone who makes you smile.”
ChapterThree
“Did youall miss me?” Rafe asked as he pulled on fatigues. He’d been gone for a few weeks.
“Sure,” Dean said, “but you missed all the action last weekend.” He was dressed and ready to go on, which only seemed to make his tongue wag faster. “Apparently our little Noel here got a ride home in a limo, and then the next day, tall, dark, and handsome showed up after the show and whisked him away.”
“You know, you have a big mouth,” Noel scolded.
