Chapter Thirteen

 

Thomas’ face registered a myriad of emotions. Finally, he seemed to be breathing again. “Oh my God…Matt…I told you Biff McGovern should be writing my screenplay! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s a well-kept secret. You’re Thomas’ husband. I’m trusting you with that.” Elizabeth reached into a cut-glass jar holding extra celery stalks and dunked one into her spicy drink.

“How come they’ve never made a movie out of one of your books?” Thomas asked her.

“My stuff’s a little too close to home. Now, let’s talk about actors. Who do you see in the roles of…”

Matt started to drift. Elizabeth was perfect. She had Thomas enthralled, and he knew that she would turn in a great screenplay. Her first drafts were notoriously long and fluid, as he liked to call it. This meant that he and Thomas would be able to read it and decide how to streamline it, and her second draft would be excellent. By the time the senior studio executives got it and handed in their own notes, the three of them would know exactly what they wanted and would be one voice in any discussion.

By the time they ordered coffee, Thomas was relaxed and happy. Matt left the table for a few moments, knowing Thomas was in writer heaven. He was having a whale of a time, listening to a genuine Hollywood mover and shaker talking in glowing terms about his book. He took his cell phone outside and called his mother.

“What’s the matter?” His mother sounded frantic. Since Ryan and Cole’s romantic fiasco, Elise flipped out when she saw any of their names and numbers on Caller ID.

“Nothing, Mom. Everything’s beautiful. I just need your help.”

She took a breath. “You do?” She lived for those words.

“I want you to book me and Thomas a honeymoon in Black Point. I’ve just emailed you the link for the house Cole rented. I want to fly out as soon possible for ten days. After the ten days, I want you and Dad to bring the baby out for a few days alone. I’m thinking that beach house we used to rent in Kailua, that would be beautiful, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh…” Elise sounded like she was going to cry.

“We’ll hang out, just the five of us. Let’s say, three, four days. Thomas and I want to spend time with you and Dad and the baby. And then for the final week, you can book Ryan and Cole to come out and join us. There’ll be plenty of room. And the beach house is fun because it has that huge yard for Daphne. I have no idea how long it’s going to be before we all get time to relax and enjoy our family like this again.”

“Oh…that’s a wonderful idea.” She was already at the computer. He could hear her fingers moving across the keys.

“I’m going to email you my credit card details. Call me as soon as you’ve booked it.”

“You’re paying for this? I don’t know, Matt…I think your father and I…”

“Have done enough for all of us. Just call me, okay. And, Mom, thanks.”

She blew him a kiss and he went back to the table. Elizabeth was filling Thomas in on her tangled love life. A fifty-year-old, divorced male Pakistani heart surgeon in London whom Elizabeth loved on and off again. Then there was Arkie, her twenty-three-year-old model girlfriend who was a firecracker in the sheets and a drug-addled bitch out of them.

“I went to meet her in Paris for Fashion Week and I found her in bed with another woman.”

“Oh, my God! I’m sorry.” Thomas looked stricken.

“I wasn’t.” Elizabeth looked dreamy. “Hottest threesome I ever had.”

Matt and Thomas roared with laughter.

“Say, Mattie, did you know the Parisian government lends out free bicycles for people to ride?”

“We read that in the paper coming back from Montreal.” He looked at Thomas. He wanted to get him home for a quickie and then to pack.

“They want to introduce it here,” Elizabeth was saying. “How many of them do you think will get stolen?” She plunged onto another topic as Matt paid the check.

Thomas seemed stunned by Elizabeth’s blazing energy. Matt was used to her and just enjoyed her marvelous storytelling.

“I think I need a long nap,” Thomas whispered as she took a break for the restroom.

“A nap? I could go for that,” Matt grinned at him as Thomas’ fingers reached under the table and groped for his thigh. Matt’s cell phone rang. Cell phones were strictly forbidden in the restaurant and he glanced at the readout, ignoring the furious glares left and right.

“Guess what, babe? The nap’s gonna have to wait. In three and a half hours, your husband is taking you back to Black Point.”

“Are you…are you kidding?”

“Nope. But first, we have a little shopping to do.” He reached for Thomas’ hand and they left the booth, meeting Elizabeth at the door. She kissed them both on both cheeks and took off, text messaging as she barreled down the street to her next appointment.

Thomas and Matt held one another’s hands all the way back to Rodeo Drive, entering Geary’s department store.

“This is one of the few, original department stores left here,” Matt told him. “Thomas, have you ever had a Montblanc pen?”

“No, I haven’t. I’ve thought about buying one, but it always seemed a frivolous thing to do. I—”

Matt had steered them toward the counter that held trays of them under immaculately polished glass. “Pick one.”

Thomas hesitated.

Matt insisted. “Carly Ann Westaway has one, and it bothers me that she’s an idiot and you’re not. You’re an actual writer who will write beautiful words with yours and not just make doodles. I want you to have one.”

“Oh, Matty…” Thomas sighed as Matt leaned into him. “You’re a writer, too, you know. I should be buying you one.”

“When you make your first million, you can, honey. What do you think of this one?” He pointed to the new Marlene Dietrich line, named for the screen goddess.

Thomas was reading the literature. “I am at heart a gentleman…oh Thomas, this is it. This is my pen. She was a woman who thought she was a man and I am a man who writes as a woman.”

“Done.” Matt reached across the counter with his credit card.

“But it’s so expensive,” Thomas whispered.

“I’m only getting married once.” Newly wrapped pen in hand, he whipped Thomas away, up the street to another store and Thomas gripped his hand.

“How long are we going away for?”

“Um…well, do you want me to spoil all your surprises?”

“I’m not too big on surprises, Matty. As a kid, they usually turned out to be unpleasant.”

“Well…” they stopped at a crosswalk. “Our honeymoon is ten days.”

“Ten days. In our house in Black Point?”

“Yes…and then…well, I’ve arranged for my parents to bring the baby to Hawaii. We’ve rented a house on the beach at Kailua, the most beautiful beach in all the islands. We’ll have a few days with them, and then Cole and Ryan will join us for another week.” Thomas wasn’t saying anything and as they crossed the road, Matt got nervous. “Umm…so what do you think?”

“I love the idea of being with the baby and your parents for a few days…I already miss her. Is that crazy?”

“No,” Matt laughed. “She’s your niece.”

“And I love that we’re moving to a separate house for the family time.”

“Well, of course. As you said before, Black Point is our place. I intend to take you back there every year. Until we can buy it. Mmm….I should inquire about that.”

Thomas grinned. “Where are you taking me now?”

“Well, I was thinking, we could shop and sightsee, but we really don’t have time and since you suggested a nap…and I love your suggestions by the way, I’m thinking more of a standing nap.”

“A standing nap?”

“Yes. I’ve never fucked you in a public restroom, but the one George Michael got arrested in is right in the middle of the park over there. I don’t mind bottoming up again…and then we should go home and pack.”

“Won’t we get arrested?”

“No, we’re not soliciting anybody. No money is exchanging hands.”

“What if we get caught?”

“Part of the thrill, honey.”

Thomas looked at him, looked at the long, flat building that was a notorious piece of gay iconic history and pulled Matt to him.

“I always wanted to play policeman, Matty. Next time we do this, I’m bringing handcuffs.”

In the darkened restroom, Matt and Thomas alternately giggled and sighed as they fumbled at each other’s pants. There were two stalls and Thomas pushed Matt into the second one, shoved him back against the locked door and they stroked each other’s hard cocks. Thomas sighed as his mouth reached for Matt’s.

Somebody walked in and was peeing into the urinal now, but they didn’t care. Thomas stroked the lovely ass he’d just vigorously fucked that morning and with Matt’s tongue in his mouth, he slid into him. They both moaned.

The guy at the urinal chuckled and for a second they froze.

“Have fun, boys.” His voice was low, guttural. He walked out again.

Thomas fucked harder now, Matt’s hands curled over the edge of the two low walls as Thomas held his ass in his hands. Matt raised his legs and Thomas skewered him, harder and faster and they both came quickly, Matt’s head hitting the door.

“Yeah…” Thomas growled. “Next time, I’m cuffing you and taking you from behind.”

Matt felt his cock getting hard all over again.