Perfect Imperfections

“Yes!”

“Interesting.” Bill rubbed his nose, nonchalantly stepped over to his desk, pressed a few keys on his keyboard, and then turned his monitor around.

“What is that?” Reg asked when he saw a video of the past couple of minutes start playing on the screen. “You recorded us?”

“Yes.”

“Why would you do that?” There was only one reason he could think of. “You’re trying to set me up?”

“Set you up. Teach you a lesson.” He shrugged. “Call it whatever you want. If you’re going to date Jeremy Jameson, you need to understand that nothing, absolutely nothing, you say or do will be private. There are people out there who would love to catch Jeremy in an embarrassing situation, and if they can’t do it directly through him, they’ll use you.”

“I’m not going to embarrass Jeremy.”

“Not intentionally. I agree. You don’t strike me as the type.” He walked back to the chair Jeremy had vacated. “But getting some on the side from someone you think won’t tell can’t happen. Jeremy is a rock star. He can screw as many people as he wants, and the world will roll their eyes and laugh. You’re supposed to be his boyfriend. You cheat on him, and he looks bad. It’s a double standard and it sucks, but if you want to be with him, deal with it.”

“I’m not going to fuck around on him. Like I told you when you had your mouth on my dick, dude, I’m not interested.” He paused when Bill crouched down again. They were too far apart for the man to be trying the same move, but Reg still tensed. “And Jeremy won’t fuck around on me either.”

“Whatever arrangement you have with him—and I don’t need to know what that is—it’s very unlikely he’s going to go any length of time without sex, which means he won’t keep it in his pants. Doesn’t matter.” He picked up a phone from the ground and held it up. “You need to keep yourself in check either way.” Yet another video of Bill coming on to Reg started playing. “People will do anything, say anything, record anything to earn their fifteen minutes of fame or a few bucks. Nobody cares about you. If you mess up, Jeremy is the one who gets hurt.”

“I care about him.” Jeremy was standing at the door, a key in his hand. “And why are you locking yourself in your office with my, uh, boyfriend?” He jerked his gaze toward the monitor, apparently noticing the footage. “What the hell are you doing, Bill?”

Reg shook his head and sighed. “He was pretending to come on to me to teach me a valuable lesson about not being a total slut and screwing anything with two legs.” He walked over to Jeremy. “Don’t worry, I passed the test.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Can we go home and watch the game now, or are there more rich-people hoops I need to jump through?”

“We’re done.” Jeremy glared at Bill. “That wasn’t necessary.”

Bill shrugged, looking completely unperturbed, and returned to his desk.

After taking Reg’s elbow in his hand, Jeremy led him out of the office. Once they were alone in the parking lot, he said, “So Bill seriously came on to you?”

“Yes! Man, he practically started sucking my dick. What the hell?”

“And you turned him down?”

“Of course I turned him down! I don’t fuck around on people I’m seeing.”

“Even the someone you’re pretend seeing?” Jeremy asked, smiling softly.

“Especially the someone I’m pretend seeing,” Reg confirmed. “Because my pretend boyfriend is going to buy me dinner and rub my feet during the baseball game.”

“I’m not rubbing your feet.” Jeremy bumped his shoulder against Reg.

“Well, it was worth a shot.”

They reached the car, but before they got inside, Jeremy said, “Reg?”

“Uh-huh?”

Fingering his shirt collar, Jeremy pulled it into his mouth and then released it. “Thanks for, uh, not taking what he offered back there. Most people would have.” He pointed back and forth between them. “Even if this wasn’t pretend.”

“No, they wouldn’t. There are lots of good-looking guys offering blowjobs. Most people wouldn’t—”

“Bill Hughes is the most powerful manager in the business, yeah? Most people, male or female, gay or straight, would have dropped to their knees and gone down on him just in the hope that he’d help them get a connection.” He sighed. “Trust me. Your saying no to him is a big deal.”

“Huh.” Reg nodded thoughtfully and rubbed his chin. “Well, then, in that case, it sounds like maybe you need to reconsider that foot rub.”

“Dream on.” Jeremy climbed into the car.

“Fine.” Reg joined him. “But you’re at least buying me garlic sticks.”

“Deal.”

Chapter 5

“YOU WERE great!”

“That was amazing!”

“Everyone is going to be talking about this show!”

Opening night had gone well. Really well. And as Jeremy walked off stage, he saw happy faces and heard accolade after accolade, so he knew the people involved with his concert had noticed too.