Page 64 of Perfect Night

“He wants me to bottom for him.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“Nothing, of course. I love Sebastian.”

“But?”

“But, what?”

“I know you, Charlie. There’s abutthere.”

“It’s just, what if Sebastian and I don’t work out and I’d had an opportunity to pay Gregory back and didn’t take it?”

“Gregory doesn’t want to be paid back.”

“I’m paying him back, whether he likes it or not.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Can you just tell me what to do?”

“Keep blocking the numbers and deleting the messages. He’ll get the hint eventually, or run out of phones.”

“So, I shouldn’t message him back and tell him I’ve got a boyfriend and don’t do that work anymore? That might make him back off.”

“Good God, no. That’ll just make it more of a challenge for him. Don’t respond to him, and if he doesn’t stop, you’ll have to report him.”

“I’m not doing that. I’ll have to tell the police what I was doing. They might tell my mum or something.”

Charlie could literally hear Jason’s eyes rolling through the phone. He knew it was far-fetched, but he didn’t want the police to know about his old job. They might put something on his file, like they do with those women who get murdered and the police say, ‘she was a known prostitute.’ He couldn’t let his mum live with that embarrassment. It would be hard enough for her if he were murdered. Yes, of course he’d thought about it.

They wrapped up the call, and Charlie sent his love to the other guys. He’d be home in just over a week. Now he had to get through the night.

Charlie was stressing out trying to tie his bow tie. He’d watched half a dozen YouTube tutorials and still couldn’t get his head round it. He was getting ready in Sebastian’s spare bedroom, as he needed to keep himself calm. His nerves were on edge. It was half past seven and their car would be here soon. Their arrival time was eight o’clock sharp, and he knew Sebastian didn’t like to be late.

“Fuck me, you’re hot,” Sebastian growled from the doorway.

Charlie turned – and, if this was a cartoon, he’d have those big heart eyes and tongue on the floor. Sebastian always looked hot, especially in a suit. But in a tuxedo?Hubba, hubba.

“You can talk. You look like James Bond.”

Sebastian chuckled and walked towards Charlie, took hold of the two sides of the tie and pulled Charlie forward, kissing him. Sebastian looked so gorgeous, Charlie had a desperate urge to hump his leg. Instead, he enjoyed the kiss. Sebastian pulled away first and made quick work of the bow tie, before spinning him round so he could see himself in the mirror. He scrubbed up well, even if he said so himself.

“Let’s not stay too long. I want to fuck you later, wearing this.”

Charlie was instantly hard, which was uncomfortable in the tight trousers. He could do little about it as Sebastian was ushering him out of the door moments later. They had a town car waiting for them, with a driver.

Within ten minutes, they’d arrived. Sebastian had spent the journey reassuring Charlie he had nothing to worry about before dropping the bombshell that his ex, Henry, would be attending. This was the super-rich ex-boyfriend who had a title or something. That just ramped the pressure right up.

Sebastian took his hand as they walked into the venue. It looked like they were using the ballroom of some posh hotel. Everyone was dressed to impress. Thankfully, he’d given in on the tuxedo. There was no off-the-rack here, which baffled Charlie, given that it was for charity. Although he knew the point was to make rich people part with their money.

They quickly found Bex and her husband, Martin, who was adorable and such an ally. Many straight men said they were, but few actually did anything about it. Deacon joined them as well. He was the director of sales and marketing for Steele Property Holdings. Charlie had met him once when he visited the office, and he was hot as hell. Not that he’d say anything to Sebastian, but Charlie was in a relationship, not dead. He was so effortlessly charming as well, and on the bisexual bus. It was a good job Jason wasn’t here. He’d climb him like a tree.

Sebastian was his usual charming self, speaking to people and introducing Charlie as his boyfriend. Most people were pleasant, a few gave Charlie an up-and-down look with a bewildered expression on their face, and others were just rude. Charlie didn’t care. No matter where you were in the world, or how rich or poor someone was, some people were just cunts.

“Well, well, well. Look who it is.”

Charlie felt Sebastian grip his hand harder, and his face paled. Sebastian recovered quickly and turned round with a smile.

---