Whore.

Chapter 12: Blatant

Shit. I had not considered that angle. I mean, I had considered using Malone, but that would be moot as he'd probably want us to fuck for the entire week. Not that I would mind such an arrangement, but at the moment, that was precisely what I was trying to avoid. I just hadn't considered what to use as my reason for not asking Malone first. I struggled to come up with an excuse but I couldn't find the strength.

"He's not really my boyfriend. We're just sort of seeing each other right now. I couldn't ask him to do something like that." There. The truth would set you free, right?
"But I'm not your boyfriend and you're asking me? You have a really weird logic, Mike."

I sighed out loud and took the phone away from my ears. This wouldn't work. I was imposing too much. I heard Swash shout "Don't hang up!"

I put the phone hack to my ears.

"It's done."
"What?"
"I've 'filled your pages'."

Wow. He had been helping me as he spoke. That was incredible.

"Thank you," I replied weakly.
"So, you're mine for a week." He sounded almost triumphant.
"You don't have to actually deal with me and I don't need to come over. I know you're busy and I wouldn't want to get into your hair any more than I already have."
"Don't say that. You know I like spending time with you. Besides how are you going to get the money?"

Damn it. I was trapped.

"Okay, I can come over every day at a particular time, let's say nine in the evenings when you'd be back from work and pick it up."
"And what if someone sees you outside when you're supposed to be working?"
"I'll come up with an excuse."
"No. if you want to sell a lie, you need to follow through. That's how advertising works. Besides, there'll be less trouble that way. So I want you in my place from the start of the appointed time to the end. And don't make any more excuses."
"Okay." I was too tired to argue. "Thanks again."
"You're welcome."

I hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. That was one thing covered. Now I had to think about hauling my ass across town to get to my bank, a trip I wasn't very fond of making. My phone rang again and I looked at the screen. Nathan.

"Yes?'
"Oh my God Mike! What have you been doing in Chicago?"
What the hell are you on about?" Had he heard something about me?
"I just looked at the computer. That Swash guy just booked you for two weeks."
"You're at the compu- wait, did you say two weeks?"
"Two freaking weeks, man. This is like a new record."

Two weeks. Oh Swash, what have you done? I composed my voice to hide my surprise.

"It's hardly a big deal. Dorian gets booked for months."
"That's Dorian," he brushed it aside. "This is you! You must really be rocking his world. Keep going like this and you'll be a millionaire before you're 25. You've officially earned my respect, Ham."
"Don't call me Ham."
"But Emmet doe-"
"You're not Emmet."

I hung up. Swash had gone ahead to do more than I had asked. I was thankful for the extended time but two weeks of Swash was going to be insane. Besides, now I owed him even more. At my base charge of $120 per hour for my sixteen working hours between 12:00 and 04:00, he'd still have to fork over more than a grand just to make the 5%. And I would have to repay that amount when all this was done. I groaned again from the pain. That was why I was doing all this. I sighed loudly and forced myself off the bed.

Curse you Michael Clive.

I got to Dorian's apartment around 07:30 and let myself in. Emmet's clothes were strewn on the couch and I knew he had spent the night here. Dorian's absence made his apartment like an extension of everyone else's. I turned on the computer and opened the site administrator window. Like I thought, there were no requests. Much like Sunday, demands weren't very high on Mondays and usually my day was spent doing very little. I settled down slowly into the chair and closed my eyes, fighting back a headache. Just another side effect of the lack of sleep. I heard the door unlock and Nathan strolled in, holding a duffel bag.

"Hello super stud."
"Yeah?"
"I still can't believe you. What did you do to him? Tell me your secrets."
"What are you still doing here? Your shift ended hours ago."
"Pull in the claws, jeez. I'm just here to get my stuff."

Nathan got to the couch and began to stuff his clothes into the bag. I didn't mean to be so mean to Nathan, he was a nice kid. But there are just those days when you are not in the mood. Today was one of those days. I found it strange that I thought of him as a kid, seeing as I was only a year older than him. Maybe it was the skinny frame and playful eyes. He finished packing up stuff and headed for the door. Then he turned and looked at me with a less playful expression on his face. His blue eyes seemed darker.

"Mike, I know I've never met that Swash guy and I'm not sure what your problem with him is. Maybe he's an asshole, or ugly, or smells weird. But If a guy got up one day and blew twenty three thousand dollars on my ass, I'll consider giving him a chance."

He walked out and I took the time to peruse his words. I didn't even understand my own refusal to hang around Swash. He was none of those things. He was a gentleman, probably the last of a dying breed. He smelled great. And ugly? So far from it. And the way he had helped me out, he was now the coolest guy I knew. Nathan just didn't know that we were now on great terms. As for giving him a chance, I wasn't sure. I already had my plate full with Malone and didn't want to further complicate anything. The computer made a notification sound and I opened the window. It was a message from Dorian. I read it aloud just so I could hear something other than the sound of passing cars.

"Hey Mike, I know you’re reading this. Okay, I hope you are - you should take your job seriously. I wanted to congratulate you on your two-week request. You're moving up, that's good. I also wanted to announce that I'm getting married!"

I stopped. I never saw Dorian as the settle-down type. I continued reading.

"It had to happen sooner or later. I can't be sleeping around forever, and I really want to take a chance at this with Bates. Pass the message to Emmet and Alex. Those two should tie the knot soon. And Robert, if he cares about this type of thing. I can't type this again for each of you. There are other things I'll rather be doing with my fingers *wink*. And no, I'm not retiring. I’m still your boss. Love, the Future Mr. Channing."

I exhaled after I finished reading. Wow. Dorian Ivan was finally getting married. I wasn't entirely shocked that Dorian was getting married. He and Bates had been an item for a year and a half, they were already married in our minds. It was just great to finally see it happen. I smiled and my phone beeped twice. It was a text message.

'Good Morning Michael. It's Tom, Jason's brother. Alex told me you'd be available today and I wanted to find out if you could take me to the hospital. I'm staying in a hotel near Jackson Blvd."

I froze. I couldn't believe that Tom actually came. Then again, he was the only living family member and probably felt that it was his duty to. He and Jason weren't really on good speaking terms, as he had a problem with Jason’s 'life choices'. Jason said that he often made it look like being gay was something Jason did to attract attention. And I was supposed to be stuck with this guy all morning. So I was about to go from awkward morning with headache to sexually-awkward morning with headache. With an aching ass. While still owing $200 in rent and about to owe over $1000 to Swash.

This is precisely why people hate Mondays.

Fuck.