Lexington Black (9 page)

'Well, I might not be there at all. I might
be in New York.'

It had the desired effect. The table went
quiet.

'You can't be!' Sara was furious. 'You know
how important this is to me!'

'Yes, it's important to you. My life is
important to me. Sorry.' He made the last word as insincere as he
could, but inside, his heart was beating fast. He could not believe
he had actually left Lex in bed so he could put up with this shit.
With every fibre of his being, he wanted to be with him.

'I'm surprised you can afford it,' Mother
said archly, the first words she had spoken directly to him since
his arrival.

'That's none of your bloody business.' Rob
kept his voice calm with an effort.

'Steady on,' Christopher said reasonably.
'Don't talk to Mother like that.'

'I don't see why not. She's barely said one
decent word to me for five years!'

'Not in front of the children!' Mother was
outraged.

'Please keep your voice down,' Sara said
primly. 'We don't want the hotel thinking we're from a council
estate.'

'That would never do, would it?' Robin
snarled at her.

'What's got into you?' His mother snapped.
'This is supposed to be a nice family occasion!'

'So why the hell did you invite her?' He
motioned at Sandy, still stone-faced on the other side of the
table.

Geri waded in. 'This is your fault, Sara.
What the hell were you thinking, inviting Sandy to be a
bridesmaid?'

'She's my best friend!'

'Even after she chucked Rob out on the
street? Whatever happened to family loyalty?'

'You should be asking him that, not me!
Swanning off on holiday when he knows I'm getting married. Anyway,
he deserved it,' she added, as if Rob wasn't glaring at her across
the table.

'You know nothing about it!' Rob was aware of
other people watching them discreetly, attracted by their raised
voices.

'Keep your voice down!' His mother hissed
again.

'Sandy's my matron-of-honour and that's the
end of it,' Sara said sharply. 'If you don't like it, you'll have
to lump it, Rob. Surely even you can manage to be civil to her for
a few hours? It's the least you can do on my Big Day.'

'No way,' Rob said flatly. The sense of rage
he had been fighting at having to leave Lex to subject himself to
this abject misery was boiling to the surface. 'Screw your Big Day,
Sara. You're just a spoilt little bitch making everyone's life a
misery. If Sandy is involved then I can't be there. You've always
known that and I get what's happening. If you don't want me
involved, I'd rather you come out and say it to my face.'

'I don't want you involved, especially
behaving like this,' his mother said coldly. 'You're a disgrace to
this family, Robin. You've ruined your marriage and you seem
totally incapable of holding down a decent job. Now you're drunk
and embarrassing everybody. It's time you grew up and took some
responsibility for once in your life!'

'Fine. I'll start right now,' Rob leapt to
his feet, narrowly avoiding a waiter with a platter full of food,
and strode out of the dining room. He hoped no-one would try to
follow him because right then he really wanted to hurt someone.

He went out into the hotel grounds. Even
though it was raining, he was desperate for fresh air. Without
really thinking about where he was going, he headed for the woods.
Someone called after him but he ignored them. He just wanted to be
away from everybody. When he was sure he could not be seen he
stopped and punched a nearby tree as hard as he could.

'Ouch,' a voice said, milliseconds before he
did. The pain was excruciating. He clasped his hand and leaned
against the tree he had clouted, gasping "fuck, fuck, fuck," under
his breath. His knuckles were bloody and had begun to throb.

'Let's look at that.' Lex gently took his
hand and examined the torn skin on his knuckles. 'You're
bleeding.'

With the pain, the anger had dissipated. Rob
laughed deprecatingly. 'I should know I'll never win a bout with a
tree.'

'Families suck, don't they?'

'You heard our little drama?'

'I was checking out and heard it all. I had
no idea your family was so entertaining.' He was standing very
close, still holding Rob's hand.

'When are you leaving?'

'I'm being picked up in half an hour.' He
lifted Rob's wounded hand to his lips and brushed them softly
against the broken skin. 'Come back inside. I'll get you cleaned
up.'

Rob pulled Lex down to kiss his lips. He
wanted him more than he had wanted anyone, ever. He knew it for
sure and embraced the knowledge with the hunger of a man denied
sustenance for too long. The dark horizon beckoned beguilingly to
him. He shuddered with delicious anticipation at the image of him
and Lex, sprawled sated and entwined on rumpled sheets.

'I'm definitely coming to New York,' he said.
'I don't care how I do it. I'm coming.'

'I knew you would,' Lex said, his eyes
shining. They rested against the tree, Lex pinning him against the
bark with his weight, his tongue working its way into Rob's mouth
again. Their lust was rampant, unapologetic, their faces damp with
rain and moisture from their roving tongues. Lex slid his hand
between their bodies and palmed Rob's cock. He mumbled approvingly
against Rob's lips as he felt it pulse in response to his
manipulation. Rob weakened at the sensation but he wasn't in a
position to return the compliment. One hand hurt too much and the
other was trapped behind his back.

'We need to clean up that hand before I come
in my pants just from kissing you,' Lex gasped when they finally
broke free.

'Good idea.'

In the Reception area, Rob saw Geri looking
around, wondering where he had gone. He sneaked past her and went
with Lex into the men's cloakroom. As soon as the door was closed
and they had checked no-one else was in there, Lex pulled him close
and kissed him again. Rob felt the delicious indistinct thrill of
their erections vying for dominance against the other as their
tongues thrashed the inside of their mouths.

'Some lousy nurse I am,' Lex panted when they
broke free again. He went to the basin and ran some warm water. He
examined Rob's hand again. 'You've only grazed it. Still needs
washing though. This might sting a bit,' he said as the water
washed over Rob's skinned knuckles.

It hardly stung at all. Rob was more aware of
the minimal amount of time they had left. It was running out like
sand through an hourglass.

Lex lifted his hand from the water and
wrapped it in one of the white hand towels. Rob turned his face up
to him again, tacitly inviting him to kiss his lips. Lex did not
disappoint. He fell into the kiss like a drowning man, pushing Rob
against the tiled wall and steaming up his glasses.

'You're one hot fucking bastard,' he rasped
in Rob's ear. 'How am I going to cope with this hard-on all the way
back to Manhattan?'

The outer door opening stalled any response
Rob might have made. They jumped apart as Christopher walked
in.

'Oh! There you are.' He frowned at Rob's
wrapped hand. 'What happened?'

'I punched a tree.' Rob whipped off his
glasses and polished them on a paper towel so that Christopher
could not see any residual condensation.

'Ah. Better than punching a family member, I
suppose.' He looked doubtfully at Lex, judiciously washing his
hands. 'Uh, Geri said she'll take you home. It's probably not a
good idea for you to drive right now. She's in Reception, waiting
for you.'

'Okay, thanks.' There was an awkward pause.
He wanted Christopher to leave so he could say one more goodbye to
Lex. 'Tell her I'll be out in a moment.'

'Right.' He cast another look at Lex, now
painstakingly drying his hands, before departing.

'If you really want to shock them, you could
do the obvious,' Lex said when the door had closed. 'After all, it
would get all the upsets out of the way at once.'

Rob knew exactly what he meant, but he had
always prided himself on not giving in to impulsive gestures, even
after a few too many glasses of wine. He turned and looked at his
reflection in the mirror. A gay man? He didn't look like one. He
just looked like himself. Lex stood close behind him, slipping his
arms around his waist. Their eyes met in the mirror and their
bodies pressed close together. As Lex kissed his neck Rob knew he
wanted him just as much right then as he had the previous day. With
that knowledge came a frisson of daring which he hadn't experienced
before. He could only imagine it being similar to that of a
bungee-jumper or parachutist, just before they committed themselves
to that leap of fate. He shivered with anticipation.

'Was that a bad shudder or a good one?' Lex
asked, watching him closely.

'That was good,' Rob said, nodding slowly.
'That was damned, damned good. Let's do this.'

After sharing one last heated kiss, they
walked hand in hand into the foyer.

'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' Rob
whispered.

'Thelma and Louise,' Lex replied.

Outside the door, a uniformed chauffeur was
waiting by the long black Mercedes.

'Your ride?' Rob asked.

'Yes.'

Rob's heart was beating fast, yet everything
seemed to be happening in slow motion. Geri was by the door with
Christopher, and from a distance he could hear his mother's voice,
demanding that coffee be served in the lounge. She was flanked by
Sara and Sandy. They all stopped and looked towards him, no doubt
hoping he would apologise for his behaviour before he left.

Instead, he turned to Lex. 'Thank you for
last night. It was wonderful.'

'My pleasure.' Lex smiled down at him, his
eyes sparkling. He drew Rob into his arms and kissed him tenderly
on the lips again. They stood swaying in the middle of the
Reception area, their arms wrapped around each other. Time, noise
and awareness of anything else except for each other faded to
nothing.

'I'll miss you,' Lex said when the kiss
ended.

'It won't be for long.' Rob kissed him one
final time, slowly and lingeringly. 'Have a safe trip back.' They
broke reluctantly apart and with a final "goodbye," Lex walked out
the door.

Rob watched him go for a moment before
turning to Sara, Sandy and his mother. He flipped a casual finger
at them and left as well.

'Let's go,' he muttered to Geri, hoping she
would follow. He could hear her rapid footsteps as she tried to
keep up with him.

He didn't speak again until they were inside
her car, heading towards the entrance.

'So who are you, and what have you done with
my brother?' She asked jokingly.

He stared bleakly out of the window and did
not reply. His mind was full of Lex, driving in the opposite
direction towards Heathrow.

Geri drove him back to her house "because I
don't suppose for one minute you have anything as practical as
antiseptic and cotton wool," then spent the next four hours trying
to cheer him up. They dissected the disastrous lunch for Simon, who
listened with glee because he loved to hear about a family that was
worse than his own. He lay with his head on Geri's lap and sighed
contentedly.

'I'm so glad I was here, working out class
assignments for my little buggers and eating out of date sausage
rolls,' he sighed.

'It gets better. I should think Mother is
still in a dead faint over your man snog, Rob. You should have seen
her face!'

Simon blinked and looked up. 'Huh, have I
missed something?'

Geri plucked gently at his beard. 'Oh yeah,
Rob's gay.'

'Since when? No-one tells me anything,' Simon
grumbled.

'Hush, you. Being gay is for life, not just
for Mardi Gras. He's got himself a wealthy Italian lover.'

'He's from New York,' Rob corrected her.

'Finally a bit of information! This is the
guy you're visiting in the summer?'

'If I can organise it.'

He remembered that the Audi was still at the
hotel. Later that night and after a few cups of strong black
coffee, he asked Geri to drop him back there so he could drive
carefully home. He wanted to be on his own for a while, and not
talk about Lex at all. What had happened with him happened so
suddenly, he wasn't sure what he remembered was real or
imagination. The lust in the man's eyes had been real. The taste of
cognac on his breath and the weight of his body had been real. And
the yawning sense of emptiness he felt inside was definitely
real.

And then he had gone, leaving Rob reeling on
his own.
Help me
, he thought as he mentally rocked from side
to side, desperately trying to regain his balance. I
'm going to
fall.

Yet he had already fallen. He had known it
even before Lex had kissed him.

The thought tore him to shreds. Immediately
he began thinking about how to get round the problem, but then gave
himself a big slap around the head.

Last week you didn't know he existed. This
is crazy, so calm down and move on
.

It was the right thing to do, but it didn't
feel like it.

Why? What the hell was wrong with him?

As he drove back to his lonely flat, it hit
him like a bolt from the blue. The movies had been right all along.
It didn't just happen in books or in the over-active minds of
teenaged girls, brainwashed by years of watching Disney movies and
reading cheap romantic fiction.
This is what it feels like,
he thought.
And it feels like shit warmed up
.

He was in love with Lexington Black.

The fallout over his big reveal wasn't as
intense as he had expected. No doubt there were a lot of
conversations about it that he had not been party to, but he didn't
care. His heart felt light because as Lex had said, all the shocks
were now out of the way. He even told Paul, who shrugged and said
he wondered as much, as he was so like his father had been. The
guys in the garage didn't say a lot either. A lot of shrugging,
"whatever floats your boat," and one off-colour remark about being
careful bending over a car engine, and it was business as
usual.