Men of London 05 - Cross to Bare (2 page)

“Mr Crane. I’m glad we managed to get hold of you. I’m almost done here and then perhaps you can get your partner home.”

Nathaniel’s face creased in a frown. “I had to get out, Mall. I was going crazy and you just didn’t understand I really needed this suit. I have a premiere to attend later this month and a Debussy will really make everyone sit up and take notice.”

Lenny didn’t miss the look of sadness that crossed Mallory’s face. “I know, darling. You’re going to look absolutely fabulous. But you know you should have brought me with you. I didn’t say no to the suit, just that we needed to wait so I could go with you. I had no idea you’d made an appointment already. That was very enterprising of you.” His voice was teasing but Lenny heard the despair in it, and his heart ached.

Mallory held up a black carrier bag. “I brought you your old Debussy suit to wear back home. I’m sure when your new one is ready, Ms Debussy-Smith will make sure you get it for the event. Isn’t that right, ma’am?” His eyes flicked hopefully at Lenny.

Lenny nodded. “Of course. I’ll make sure it’s personally delivered. Now if you’d like to change over there behind the screens, I’ll finish up the measurements.”

Mallory smiled at Lenny gratefully and, taking Nathaniel’s elbow, he escorted his partner over to the dressing area. “You get dressed then I’ll take you home. I think we both need some refreshment; maybe a good whisky will go down well.”

Mallory left Nathaniel to get dressed and walked back to Lenny. “Thank you so much,” Mallory said with a sad huff. “Nate is in the mid stages of dementia and it’s a full-time job making sure he’s comfortable and that he sees some quality of life.”

Lenny heaved a deep sigh. “I’m so sorry. It must be a dreadful thing seeing someone you love go through that.”

Mallory nodded. “We’ve been together over thirty years. Nate used to be on the stage and he’s been in a few big films. He still lives in the entertainment world, and to be honest, I let him. Why not. It makes him happy.” He cast a loving glance at his partner who was shrugging his arms into his suit jacket. “I love him as much as I did then and it’s hard to see him this way.” Tears glistened in Mallory’s eyes. “But you made him happy, and for that I thank you. It can be hard for others to deal with these sorts of situations.”

Lenny had a lump in his throat. “I can’t even imagine.”

“He doesn’t really have a premiere next month. But at least he’ll have his new suit. As you might have gathered, he’s a big fan of your work.”

“I’ll make sure he gets his suit,” Lenny promised. “It’s the least I can do for a fan.”

“Just let me know what I owe you for the garment and I’ll settle it up.”

Lenny shook his head. “There’ll be no charge, sweetheart,” he said. “If it makes your man happy, that’s enough for me. He deserves some pleasure out of his life given what it’s thrown at him, and you.”

Mallory’s eyes welled with tears and he couldn’t help a sniffle. “Oh God, that is so sweet of you, dear lady. You cannot even know how much I appreciate that. Money’s always tight of course, and a new suit was a bit of an extravagance. But it makes him happy, so how could I have refused?”

Later, watching Mallory escort his partner out of the building with a winsome smile and a cheery wave goodbye, Lenny felt a sense of bitter sweetness sweep through him. One day he hoped to have what they had: an overwhelming love and devotion to another man that transcended anything the world may throw at them.

The story of Nathaniel and Mallory was tragic. But it also showed there was always hope in finding that special someone who’s accepted life’s challenges, and that acceptance was something to aspire to even if it had eluded Lenny all his life.

Chapter 2

Sweat, musky-scented skin and five o’clock shadow stubble. Skin slapped against skin, amidst grunts and sighs of passion, as Lenny lay on his back in bed, knees pulled up, and watched the man inside him lose it. Lenny gripped his hands tighter around his lover’s hips, forcing him deeper. The burn in his arse intensified as the thrusts grew frenzied.

“I’m feeling it,” Ryan Bishop panted. Sweat beaded his forehead. “You know how to use that arse of yours. No matter how many times we do this, it feels like the first time.”

Lenny reached up and brushed a hand across the sweaty auburn curls of Ryan’s head, eyes drinking in the flushed face of a man who had been his occasional lover for more than three years.

“Yeah,” he gasped as he surrendered to the sensation of his cock slapping against the other man’s stomach. “I’m feeling it too, almost there, honey. Keep going.”

Hungry lips claimed Lenny’s in a frantic kiss that made him harder. He pumped himself to climax then groaned as his balls contracted, and his dick ached as he shot. Ryan shuddered then collapsed in a boneless heap on top of him.

After a minute of heavy breathing into his ear, Lenny chuckled. “Hey, I’m not a continental cushion. Get off me. You’re damn heavy even though you’re a little fella.”

Ryan wasn’t one of those tightly toned muscle jockeys Lenny was used to, but slim, curvy and wiry with a winning smile. His bed partner laughed and rolled off. He slid off the condom, tied it and threw it on the bedside table. “Are you saying I’m fat
and
short, Len?” He pouted. “I’ll have you know I’m going to the damn gym three times a week.” He patted his flat tummy. “I have to work hard to keep it like this.” He gave Lenny an envious look. “I’m not like you with those natural fucking sculpted abs and tight arse. You put me to shame you do, you gorgeous bastard.”

He reached over to the bedside table and lit up a cigarette, inhaling then blowing perfect circles, which floated across the room. Lenny settled back in the bed and pulled the duvet up across his waist. He was sated, tired and didn’t give a fuck about the sticky mess on his belly and sheets.

“It’s been too long since I got laid,” Lenny said.

Ryan lay on his side. His blue eyes were soft, his hair curling around ears that were pointy and elf like. Lenny loved them—loved biting them and tugging on them until Ryan could take it no more, cursing him as he came.

Ryan pouted. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’ve been travelling so much with the theatre company lately with the new production that I’m nowhere near around as much as I used to be. These booty calls with you have become quite infrequent.” Ryan was also Delilah Delish, a renowned drag queen and one of the stars of the current hit musical ‘Come to Bed Baby’, which had swept the West End and other counties alike.

Ryan’s body stretched out, catlike, as he settled back on the bed, arms resting on the pillow. He observed Lenny affectionately. Neither of them had ever felt the chemistry for each other to make their relationship anything other than fuck buddies. Ryan had another lover he saw regularly, a man who Lenny thought Ryan cared about more than he’d admit. But Mango Munroe was commitment-phobic and not prepared to be in a monogamous relationship. Lenny liked Mango, and it broke Lenny’s heart seeing Ryan pine after a man he couldn’t have the way he wanted.

Lenny reached out to caress his lover’s dimpled chin. “I know that, honey. I enjoy you when I can get you. In the meantime there’s my left hand and the occasional blowjob or fuck at the club. You know me. Not exactly the most eligible bachelor in town.”

His tone was dry but the truth behind his words hurt. Lenny’s penchant for dressing up as a woman during the day and becoming Laverne Debussy-Smith didn’t help his love life either. He and Laverne were a package deal. He hadn’t yet found a man who could or would take them both on. One who wouldn’t try and convince him to give one persona up for the other, or mollycoddle him, thinking he was weaker than he was.

He’d had two relationships in his life that ended badly, not counting his most recent experience. One in his twenties with a much older man who at first had accepted the quirkiness and unique nature of Lenny a.k.a. Laverne. However, six months in, Vincent had met some young, Latin lover boy and decided that in fact, Lenny’s dual personality had become somewhat tiresome and Lorenzo, ‘such a sweet young man’ (emphasis on ‘man’) had promised him so much more. He’d left to go to Sicily and as far as Lenny knew, he’d never come back.

The other, a man eight years his junior, had been a DJ with a local dance club. It had been a passionate, fun and sex-fuelled affair that had fizzled out when Dorian got tired of Lenny’s rising success as Laverne. The younger man had been happy as long as Lenny had been a nobody and could do things like attend rock concerts and festivals at will, without what Dorian called ‘boring, plebeian commitments.’ However, as soon as Lenny’s fashion career began to take off, Dorian had begrudged the time Lenny had spent building both the career and Laverne. Dorian said he was a young man and deserved more. They’d agreed to call it a day.

Recently, Brook, Lenny’s sexy lover with skin the colour of polished mahogany, had gotten under Lenny’s skin. Lenny didn’t want to think about Brook too much. He’d really liked the man and thinking of how the relationship had ended made him feel both regretful and a little pissed off.

Ryan frowned as he took another drag of his cigarette. “You’re a fine catch for any guy. Don’t bring yourself down. I’ve tried to set you up with dates and you always say no. How are you going to find someone if you don’t go out there and socialise?”

Lenny snorted as he sat up and picked up his wine glass from the bedside table. He tossed the dregs back and then waved the glass at his friend. “I will never, ever, go out on any blind date you set up ever again. Remember you tried to pair me up last year with a casino player from L.A. who wanted to take me back to Vegas with him and had insisted on me being Laverne twenty-four-seven for the rest of my life? Then there was that real cutie, the tennis player on his way to being a star who thought I might like to be his ‘daddy.’ I might be thirty-five, but I am
not
old enough to be anybody’s daddy. Not like he wanted me to be anyway.”

Lenny winced when he remembered the abortive end of his date with the sexy twenty-six–year-old athlete Mitchell Cross. Mitchell’s kink had involved a request for a golden shower. He’d then asked if Lenny would tie him up while he was covered in pee and spank him. And it hadn’t stopped there. Mitchell had asked Lenny to fuck him with the biggest, nastiest dildo Lenny had ever seen. The whole scenario had made his cock shrivel, his balls retract and his guts churn. He liked a bit of a kink, but Mitchell took things too far. Lenny’s answer had been a resounding ‘No’ to it all.

“Then you introduced me to Cock Robin.” Lenny shuddered. “I mean, first, that was his real name, which should have been a red flag, and second, who knew the guy liked taxidermy and had a house full of stuffed animals?”

Ryan giggled and slapped Lenny’s arm. “Oh, I’d forgotten that one. He seemed like such a nice guy. A real stunner.”

Cock Robin had indeed been a stunner, with huge green eyes and wavy black hair like a man from a Renaissance painting. The blowjob Cock had promised had been okay to start with as Lenny had closed his eyes and tried to ignore the recriminating stares of animals shot for pleasure then mounted on walls and tables. It was when Cock had conversed with a stuffed owl about his progress that Lenny’s spine had tingled and his skin prickled in horror.

Hearing ‘See, I told you he’d like it’ and ‘Watch his face, see how good I make him feel?’ being spoken to a large barn owl perched on a side table as Cock’s blowjob progressed had been the last straw. Lenny had muttered something about remembering he was supposed to meet an out-of-town friend, pushed a surprised Cock off his dick and zipped up his pants. He’d never been so glad to get out of a house in all his life.

Ryan blew another plume of smoke into the air. “I admit my track record hasn’t been good.” He laughed at Lenny’s disgusted harrumph.

“Good?” Lenny grumbled as he settled down to try and get some sleep. It was after midnight after all and he had work in the morning. “It’s atrocious. I’ll find my own partners, thank you very much. Now hurry up and finish that damn smoke so we can get some shut eye.”

Lenny snuggled into his pillow. He heard Ryan take one last drag then grind the cigarette out in the ashtray next to the bed. The bed shifted and a strong, slim arm wrapped around his waist from behind.

“Night,” Ryan whispered as he spooned Lenny, his legs pressing into his.

“Night, honey,” Lenny murmured. “If you fancy waking me in the morning to give me head, feel free. I know you hate wasting morning wood.”

A pinch to the skin on his stomach and a soft mock growl in his ear made him yowl but smile. Lenny closed his eyes and surrendered to the pull of the sandman.

Chapter 3

There was a certain satisfaction in sitting across a table in front of a pair of tight-arsed, stuffy business brokers while fluttering one’s mascaraed eyelashes at them. Lenny didn’t usually camp up his persona as Laverne, but he already knew that the two men across the table from him had no intention of giving him the loan he needed. One of them had made it clear with his smirk and loaded questions. The other looked as if he was still on the fence. Resigned to that fact, Lenny thought he’d have a little bit of fun.

He shifted in his chair then leaned forward, making sure that his mock boobs swelled and heaved like the rising bough of the Titanic. One man’s eyes were drawn inexorably to Lenny’s rather tight but padded tits and he choked back a chuckle. The guy had been casting veiled disgusted looks at him during the appointment and it was time for some payback.

“Well,” Lenny drawled. “It appears we’re at a bit of an impasse, gentlemen. You want me to sign over my life blood to you and I’m declining to do so because I think you’re greedy. I have no problem sharing, but twenty-five percent of my business as a shareholding to grant me a small initial loan of thirty thousand pounds is rather over the top. I can offer you ten percent as a stake, and that’s as much as I’m prepared to give.”

He tucked a piece of blonde wig back behind his ear. Damn business angels. Lenny had a lot of time for them because they were fair and a necessary evil, but to ask for a quarter of his hard-won business as an investment against future borrowing was damn cheeky. He knew he’d have the ten percent paid back as soon as possible and regain control of his business, but he’d have one helluva long time doing that at twenty-five percent. The fashion industry incurred a high price in operating as he did and while Debussy’s was a well-known brand and highly profitable, it wasn’t Ralph Lauren.