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“Are you sure about that?” Dean pressed. “We all do this to make money, and we do really well. Frankie runs a clean place, and he makes sure no one touches us. There are worse places to work and you know it.”
“All right. I’ll keep my nose clean… and stop making cracks about Noel’s love life.” He grinned.
Noel finished his drink and sat back, full on carbs and eggs. “I should get on home. I have some work to do before the show tomorrow.” He pulled out enough money to cover his bill as the others did the same. And once they had all paid, they pulled on coats and headed out into the wintry night.
Thankfully, Noel had only a few blocks to go, and he walked home, doing his best to keep the wind at his back or side, but it was difficult. Finally, he reached his building and went inside and up to his apartment.
Wiggles was happy to see him, winding around his legs and mewling like he was hungry, even though there was still food in his bowl. Noel moved it around to cover the bottom, and Wiggles dug back in, silly cat. He petted him before settling in front of the television with a blanket over his legs. Only then did he start to shiver. David had saved all of them, and he’d come because Noel had asked.
He might have been angry with Rafe, but he couldn’t help wondering if that was because he had hit closer to home than Noel wanted to admit, even to himself. He was a kid who had finished high school, with no family, and who was working as a stripper. What could he possibly have to interest a man like David? Noel wanted to believe that David might like him for some reason other than how he looked or how he moved, but what else was there? He tried to come up with answers, but eventually gave up, finished his work, and went to bed.
ChapterFour
“You leftthe fundraiser early,” his father said as soon as David answered his call.
“Yes. I was needed somewhere.” He refused to tell his father that he had gone to help Noel. There was no way his dyed-in-the-wool, rabidly conservative father was ever going to understand that everyone deserved the same protections under the law as he and his stepmother took advantage of as much as possible. “Was it a good evening?”
“It was productive,” his father answered, which meant that he had managed to squeeze as much money out of his donors as he had hoped. “But we answered too many questions about where you were.”
David rolled his eyes as Antoine skillfully guided the limousine through the weather back toward his home. “It’s your campaign for the state senate, not mine. I’m sure everyone there was happy to spend time with you.” He was laying it on thick because no one in their right mind would want to spend time with his father. Jackson Hunter excelled at shaking hands and smiling while plotting exactly how he was going to use any weakness he sensed against the person in front of him.
“This campaign will increase my stature, as well as that of this family and the business, which you are part of.” His father had his eye on a possible run for governor or federal office, and this was just his first big step. David being by his father’s side was also a way to quell rumors of his father’s intolerance. Jackson Hunter having a gay son out with him on the campaign trail blunted many of the arguments his opponent leveled at him. And David’s father was accepting of his orientation as long as it made him look good and David didn’t make him actually deal with it in any way. Jackson Hunter had his own version ofdon’t ask, don’t tell, and that includeddon’t knowand definitelykeep out of sight.
David was tired of being his father’s gay poster boy. “I do my job, and I do it well. You know that.”
“You’ll have the chance to make it up to me.” How typical. His father paid no attention and simply went ahead with what he wanted. “There is a gala next Saturday for the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce. A lot of influential people will be there, and I have been invited to address the gathering.”
David suppressed a sigh. “I hope it goes well.” He fully intended to play dumb.
“I requested tickets for you and Rachel.” The last thing David wanted was to go anywhere with his stepmother. She took the power behind the man to a whole new level.
“I’m sorry, but I already have plans for Saturday that I can’t break. I really hope it goes well and that you and Rachel have a great evening.” He glanced out the window. “I have another call coming in that I have to take.” He ended the call and tossed the phone onto the seat next to him. Antoine snickered from the front seat, and David shook his head. “Why can’t he be happy and just leave me out of his and Rachel’s ambitions?”
“That was some fast talking, though,” Antoine said. “But I have to ask, since I manage your schedule, what are you doing on Saturday? You know your father is going to check your calendar.”
David peered out the window as they passed the various mansions on the lakefront. “I don’t know. But please add something that looks good. I’ll figure it out, because I sure as hell am not going to be anywhere near home or my folks’ place in Shorewood. Maybe we can find something to do in New York. I know, Chicago. Get tickets to a show or something. Just make sure that I’m busy.”
“As you wish,” Antoine said before slowing and then turning into the drive.
David got out, and Antoine took care of the car. Instead of going inside, he wandered through the snow-covered gardens and wondered if he should get someone in to trim the hedges and make something of the place again. The covering of white made everything seem clean, but underneath, the beds all needed tending. His grandmother had been a matron of the garden club, and while she’d had help, especially toward the end of her life, the garden was her baby. Since she passed, everything had gotten overgrown and needed attention, though the bones were still good. That was a lot like how David felt right now. His own garden had been left untended for quite a while.
“Are you going to come in before you freeze?” Antoine asked from the terrace. “I put on some coffee and set out a snack for you.”
“Thanks. I’ll be in soon.”
“Then I’m going to my room,” Antoine said, and David waved before continuing down the path to the fish pond filled with snow.
David pulled his coat closer around him, the wind off the lake bracing against his skin. What he needed was a real life of his own. His father and stepmother had their own agendas, and they felt that he should be the person standing on the dais beside them, waving and smiling while they were in the spotlight. Not that David had political ambitions, but he didn’t like the idea of forwarding his father’s closed-minded and antiquated thinking either.
Everything was a show, a spectacle, with his father the center of attention. Everything had to be perfect, with each word scripted and each appearance vetted and planned to within an inch of its life. David didn’t care about all that, and he didn’t want to be part of his regressive social agenda.
His grandmother had been a force of nature, and standing in her garden, David could feel her presence. He knew what she’d tell him. “Screw your father—you go your own way.” Then she’d add something like, “I don’t know how I ever raised such a prudish stick-in-the-mud.” David smiled at the memory. Grandma had also hated Rachel on sight. She said she was a power-hungry gold digger, and Grandma was right about most things. She’d pegged his stepmother full-on. Maybe that was why she left him everything and left his father a dollar. That had sent Rachel into a tailspin.
David looked around and nodded. “Yes, Grandma, come spring, I’m going to tend your garden,” he said out loud. But right now he needed to figure out what he was going to do with his own.
David checkedthe time on Saturday—just before six—as the doorbell rang. Antoine had the weekend off, and David was on his own, which was just as well. He had been in a down mood, and Antoine had been avoiding him as much as possible, not that David could blame him. Tonight, Antoine was out with Gretchen, and this was their third date in as many weeks. For Antoine, that was saying something. Usually the women in his life seemed to tire of him quickly, but Gretchen seemed to have staying power.
He opened the door and stifled a groan.
