AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Patrick said nothing.
“All I know,” Will continued, “is that before any of this, before the secrets, before you kissed me in the back of that cinema, you were my friend.”
“The back of a movie theater?” Audra remarked. “That is a throwback.”
“I think it’s romantic,” Hector said.
“You think everything is romantic,” Audra said, leaning into him. She tapped the end of his nose. “Don’t you dare kiss me right now, Mr. Ramirez. You’ll smudge my makeup.”
Will cleared his throat, and the two of them hushed apologetically.
“I just want you to know,” he said, turning back to Patrick, “that I am still your friend. I always will be. Whatever happens between us, whatever form it takes and on whatever terms, please just know that I’m here for you.”
He paused, realizing he’d never actually said it out loud. Had been so obsessed with not seeming too needy, of misreading what was there, of being the silly little gay boy who deluded himself into believing a real man might want him.
But what the hell? He’d flown around the globe to have a single conversation. If Patrick hadn’t deduced by now how Will felt about him, then he never would.
“I love you, Patrick,” he said. “I adore you, in fact.”
Will didn’t look away from Patrick, knowing that the next words out of his mouth could change everything.
Except he said nothing. The car stopped, and the door opened before Patrick could answer. The limousine’s interior was illuminated from the outside in a series of rapid flashes: fractured light from strange stars. The world premiere of Kismet 2 was about to begin.
“Showtime,” said Simone.
Chapter 38
It was time to get out of the limousine. Patrick watched numbly as Corey climbed out first, then Hector, who held out his hand and assisted Audra’s exit from the car in one single, fluid, ladylike motion. Through the open door, Patrick could see the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. This was it. Everything he had been working toward. What he usually thought of as the absolute best part of his job, when he and everyone he worked with were finally able to share their labor of love with the rest of the world.
And yet all he wanted to do was stay in the car.
Patrick turned to Will, hating how helpless he felt.
“I wish we had more time,” he said.
“It’s OK,” Will told him. “Go. Do the red carpet thing. We can talk after.”
He smiled encouragingly, and Patrick never wanted to look away. Will was really here. In LA.
“I’ll arrange a seat for him in the screening,” said Simone. She looked, by every measurable Simone standard, sincere. Patrick looked across at her for a moment, wondering if she had meant everything she’d said about supporting him if he took the plunge. Or if she would cynically cut him loose the way so many other managers had when their clients stopped playing by the rules of an unwinnable game.
“Snacks are on me when we get inside,” Patrick told Will. “Best popcorn in the world, remember?”
“It’s a date.”
He squeezed Will’s knee and kept his hand there, taking in how solid he felt. Drive, he wanted to shout. Take us far away from here, I don’t care where. There is no place on earth I could not be happy with this man.
Patrick forced himself up and out of the limo, following Simone to the small patch of cordoned-off space that preceded the red carpet proper, where reporters and photographers clamored. He hung back at the edge of the carpet while Audra took center spot, escorted by Hector, and watched her posing for the cameras, pretending to laugh at something Hector whispered in her ear, America’s sweetheart from head to glittering toe.
Then it was his turn.
Patrick straightened his tux, glancing down just long enough to notice for the first time where he was standing. The red carpet had been laid over almost the entire historic front courtyard of the Chinese Theatre, obscuring the handprints and signatures of some of the biggest names in Hollywood royalty. But here, at the edge, some of those stones were still visible. Patrick’s legs very nearly gave out as he read the autograph beneath his feet.
Rock Hudson.
Patrick didn’t believe much in signs or omens. He did not visit a psychic or get energy healing, nor did he make decisions based on tarot or entrust his fate to crystals. But when the entire cosmos cried out for a man to take a damn hint, only a fool would refuse to listen.
“Will!” he called, turning back to the car. “Will!”
