Like a Lover (13 page)

Josh went,
and Rupert typed in a quick reassurance that they were on their way and pressed
Send. Thank God she’d checked up on him. They would miss drinks but should just
make dinner in time. What a way to start the weekend.

Fortunately
the shower was easily big enough for two and they were in and out within a few
minutes.

“I was
going to shave,” Josh said, squinting at the faint shadow of stubble on his
jaw.

“No time
for that.” Rupert towelled himself off vigorously and ran a comb through his
wet hair.

By some
miracle they were dressed and ready by five to eight. Their hair was still
damp, but other than that they looked respectable. Josh was standing in front
of the mirror, fiddling with the collar on his shirt. He’d buttoned it right up
and was easing it away from his neck and frowning.

“Why don’t
you undo it a little?” Rupert’s own pale blue shirt was open to show a triangle
of his chest. “It’s smart casual for tonight.”

“But then
my tattoos show.”

“Josh. When
I show up with you downstairs, the tattoos will be the least of our worries.
She’s expecting a nice girl, remember? And anyway, I’m proud to have you here
as my partner. You look gorgeous, and sexy as hell with your tattoo showing.
Here….” He went up to Josh and undid the top two buttons himself, and then the
third, adjusting the collar until he could see Josh’s pale throat and a good
expanse of chest with the dark indigo wings of the swallows peeking out. He
dipped his head and pressed a kiss to the warm skin. “There.”

When he
drew back and stared into Josh’s eyes, Josh’s pupils were wide and a small
smile curved his lips.

“You look
good too,” Josh said.

Rupert
smiled back. “Thanks.” He took a deep breath. “Right. Are you ready to face
them?”

“Not
really. But I’m hungry, so let’s get this over with. Will it be obvious which
knife and fork to use for things? I’m not used to eating in fancy places like
this.”

“Start from
the outside and work in, and if in doubt, copy me. You’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Let’s
go.”

Rupert was
nervous about facing his mother, but from the tension rolling off Josh in the
lift, Josh was just as anxious. When the lift slid to a halt on the ground
floor, Rupert took Josh’s hand and squeezed it tightly, lacing their fingers
together and leading him out into the lobby.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The
parlour, which turned out to be a large room at the back of the hotel, was
alarmingly full of people. Josh’s stomach lurched and his appetite fled. He
tightened his grip on Rupert’s hand as they made their way through the double
doors.

“Rupert!” A
commanding female greeted them as they crossed the threshold. “Thank goodness
you’re here, darling. I was afraid you were stuck in traffic or….” The woman’s
voice stopped as she took in the sight of Josh, then her gaze dropped to their
joined hands, and for a fleeting moment, she looked as though she’d smelled
something bad. She recovered quickly, pasting a fake smile onto her face.

Rupert cut
into the awkward silence smoothly. “Mother, I’m so sorry we’re a little late.
But better late than never, eh? Let me introduce you to Josh Morley.” Rupert
released Josh so that he could shake hands, but Rupert put his hand in the
small of Josh’s back instead. “Josh, my mother, Mrs Blanchard… for a few more
hours at least.” He chuckled.

God, Rupert
was good at this, Josh thought. If he didn’t already know that Rupert was
nervous about this evening, Josh would never have been able to tell from his
behaviour.

Rupert’s
mother took Josh’s hand in a firm grip, and her blue eyes were flinty as she
assessed him and obviously found him wanting. Her gaze lingered on his lip ring
before settling back on his eyes. Josh felt terribly self-conscious about his
wet hair, which he was sure hadn’t gone unnoticed, but he managed to smile and
murmur, “It’s good to meet you, Mrs Blanchard.”

“Call me
Geraldine,” she said, her clipped accent setting Josh on edge. Rupert was a bit
posh when he spoke, but he wasn’t even close to this. She sounded like the
bloody Queen, and looked at Josh as though he was something unpleasant she’d
just stepped in. “Charles, darling?” she called over her shoulder. “Come and
meet Rupert’s… friend, Josh.”

The man who
approached was tall and imposing. He reminded Josh of a vulture, with his gaunt
face and stooping frame. The dark suit he was wearing only added to the
impression. Charles raked his gaze over Josh while Josh tried not to squirm or
fidget. He reminded himself that this was a job. It didn’t matter what these
people thought of him. He was never going to be a part of their family.

“Charles
Engledow.” He took Josh’s proffered hand in a cool, bony grip. “Pleased to meet
you, Josh.” He looked anything
but
pleased.

“How do you
do,” Josh found himself saying. The formal greeting felt unnatural on his lips,
but it seemed appropriate. He spoke the line as if he were acting in some
awkward sitcom. He suppressed the wild urge to laugh hysterically.

A waiter
approached with a tray of something sparkling and alcoholic-looking in fluted
glasses. He offered the tray to Rupert first, who took one, then to Josh, who
hesitated before taking one too. He didn’t want to drink it but was afraid of
being rude by refusing.

Rupert
raised his glass. “Cheers. Sorry we were running a little late, but it’s good
to be here at last.”

Liar
, Josh thought. But he raised his glass as well
and took the tiniest possible sip. It was sparkling wine—champagne or
similar—and very dry. He tried not to wrinkle his nose as the sharp
flavour hit his tongue.

Another
waiter approached. He was older than the younger man with the tray, in his
forties maybe, and he radiated self-importance from every pore.

He spoke in
a hushed tone to Charles, who nodded. “We’ll be right through.” Charles turned
to Geraldine. “Shall we go through for dinner? They’re ready for us.”

“Absolutely,”
she replied sweetly, then turned to Rupert. There was a hint of ice as she
added, “You made it just in time, then. No harm done.”

There were
about thirty guests for dinner: friends and family who lived too far away to
travel here for the day tomorrow. Most of them were adults, but there were also
a couple of kids—Rupert’s cousins, Josh guessed. A girl of about eleven
or twelve and a tall gangly teenage boy who looked as though he was wishing the
ground would swallow him up. Josh sympathised.

Josh was
relieved to be seated next to Rupert. The prospect of having to make polite
conversation with strangers was daunting enough, even with Rupert’s support.
The guests were arranged around one long table with Charles at the head and
Geraldine on his right. Rupert was next to his mother with Josh beside him.
Josh was grateful to have Rupert as a shield between him and Geraldine. He’d
found her intimidating, to say the least. The gangly boy was on Josh’s other
side with his sister sitting opposite. All in all, Josh felt like he’d lucked
out with the table arrangement. He’d much rather try and strike up a
conversation with the kids than with any of the adults—apart from Rupert,
of course.

Rupert
introduced him to other people sitting at their end of the table: Geraldine’s
sister, Anne, her husband, Richard, and their kids—Emma and Daniel. By
that time Josh was struggling to remember all the names, but he hoped he’d get
away without needing to use them.

A
terrifying amount of shiny, expensive-looking cutlery was on the table, along
with pristine, white napkins folded into stiff peaks. Josh noticed other people
taking theirs and unfolding them to lay them across their laps, so he did the
same. The menu, printed onto cards, marked their places. Josh studied his to
give him something to focus on so he could avoid conversation for a little
longer.

Waiters
swept in and started pouring wine into glasses. Josh’s glass of sparkling wine
was still virtually untouched, so he declined when the waiter offered him more.
Rupert had drunk most of his already—clearly in need of Dutch
courage—and he accepted some red wine.

“What do
you fancy?” Rupert asked Josh, nodding at the menu.

“I think
maybe the chicken, with the mozzarella salad starter.” It all sounded amazing, but
Josh was too nervous to be hungry, even though it was hours since lunch.

“I think
I’ll have the beef,” Rupert said. “And the stilton-stuffed mushrooms.”

Other
people around the table were having similar conversations, and soon the waiters
came back and started taking orders.

With that
part over, Josh dared to glance around and caught Emma’s interested gaze from
across the table. He smiled at her, and she flushed at being caught staring but
gave him a shy grin back.

“I like
your lip ring,” she said. “I got my ears pierced last weekend, and when I’m
older I want to get my nose done.”

“Not while
you live under my roof,” her father said. It didn’t sound as though he was
joking.

Emma rolled
her eyes. “When I leave home, then. Whatever. You’re so old-fashioned, Dad.”

“I don’t
know why you want to poke holes in your face anyway,” he said. “It looks
ridiculous.”

Josh felt
his cheeks heat, suddenly very conscious of the ring in his lip and the
multiple holes in his ears.

“Richard.”
His wife’s voice had a hint of steel. “Could you pass me some water please?”

With
Richard distracted, Josh changed the subject quickly. He turned to Daniel
beside him. “So, Daniel, is it? How many more weeks of school do you have to
suffer through before you finish for the summer?”

“Oh… um….”
Daniel seemed surprised to be addressed directly. Josh felt bad for invading
his please-don’t-notice-me shield with no warning, but he needed allies here.
“I think it’s about six weeks till we break up.”

“What year
are you in?” Josh felt like the Spanish Inquisition. Poor Daniel’s ears had
gone pink at the attention. But at least the conversation had moved on from
body piercing and Josh had the spotlight off himself.

“Year
eleven.”

“So it’s
exam time for you, then? Bad time to be away for a weekend.”

“Yeah.”
Daniel made a face. “I’ve got history on Monday. I was revising in the car on
the way here today, and will be doing it all the way home as well.”

Josh asked
Daniel about his favourite subjects and what he wanted to study next year when
he went into the sixth form, and Daniel relaxed and opened up as Josh started
to feel calmer too. Maybe this evening was going to be okay, after all.

Everything
went smoothly until much later when they were eating dessert. By then the
volume around the table had increased significantly—probably due to the
amount of wine consumed. Josh had managed to leave his glass of sparkling wine
untouched, and nobody had commented on it. He’d stuck to water. Rupert had only
had one glass of red with dinner. Josh noticed he’d made it last and wondered
if it was in solidarity. If so, it was sweet of him.

He supposed
he and Rupert should have expected awkward questions at some point. But up till
now, everyone had been treating their supposed relationship like the elephant
in the room. Anne was the one who finally went there.

“So,
Rupert.” She leaned towards him conspiratorially from where she sat diagonally
opposite, but her voice was loud, clearly audible to everyone at their end of
the table. “How did you meet Josh? Have you been together long?” She was
smiling and seemed to have asked the question in good faith, but Josh noticed
Charles frown and catch Geraldine’s eye.

Rupert
hesitated. “Oh, I, um… it’s hard to remember, really.”

Josh
resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Surely Rupert would have thought up a
story? But apparently not. “We met at the university,” he cut in smoothly.
“Through mutual friends.” It was believable and probably better than telling
them he had picked Rupert up in a bar, never mind the other pertinent details
about their relationship—or lack of one.

“Do you
work there too?” Anne asked.

“No, I’m a
student—a mature student,” Josh added hastily, not wanting them to
disapprove of Rupert for cradle snatching as well as being gay.

Rupert
surprised him by taking his hand where it lay on the table. Josh glanced at him
and gave him a quick smile. Rupert’s answering smile was warm before he turned
his attention back to Anne. “We’ve been dating a couple of months.”

Josh supposed
that wasn’t too much of a stretch of the truth.

“That’s
nice.”

Anne
sounded genuine, but Josh caught Charles’s expression and was pretty sure
Charles didn’t share her opinion. Geraldine was acting as if she wasn’t
listening to the conversation, but there was no way she could have missed it.

A pause
followed, and maybe Anne picked up on the tension because she changed the
subject then, turning to Geraldine and asking about their plans for the
honeymoon.

Rupert
released Josh’s hand and went back to eating his dessert, but he nudged Josh’s
foot under the table with his own, and pressed against it, keeping it there as
he ate.

The rest of
the meal passed uneventfully, and Josh was relieved when they could finally
escape back to their room.

They had
the lift to themselves. Rupert leaned against the mirrored wall and breathed
out a huge sigh. “God, I’m glad that’s over. Thank you so much.”

“What for?”

“For being
a perfect pretend boyfriend.”

Josh
grinned. “It’s easy to fake it with you.”

He held
Rupert’s blue gaze, and something passed between them. Rupert’s lips quirked
and parted as if he was about to say something, but then the lift shuddered to
a halt and the doors slid open, breaking the mood.

In their
room, Rupert undressed immediately, stripping down to his underwear and hanging
up his clothes. Josh did the same. It was a warm evening and there was no air
con. They’d left the window open earlier, but even with a slight breeze coming
in and making the net curtain flutter, their room was hot and stuffy.

“Is it okay
if I use the bathroom first?” Rupert asked, oddly formal.

“Sure.”

Josh lay on
the top of the bedcovers and checked his phone while he waited for Rupert. He
heard the flush of the toilet and the sound of Rupert brushing his teeth. It
all felt very coupley and domestic. He replied to a text from Dani, who had
asked how things were going. Josh typed a quick
Fine so far
.

Rupert
emerged, smelling of toothpaste, and Josh took his turn in the bathroom. Rupert
was in bed when he returned, but had pushed all the covers down to the foot of
the bed apart from the sheet.

“Is this
okay? I thought it was too hot for the rest.”

“Yes,
fine.” Josh got in bedside him, surprised by how natural it felt when they’d
only shared a bed twice before—and one of those times had been by
accident, not design.

Josh lay on
his side facing away from Rupert, but Rupert moved in close behind him. Not
completely in contact because of the warmth of the room, he put his hand on
Josh’s hip and pressed a light kiss to his shoulder.