“Okay. I don’t want to be in the way, is all.”
“You’re fine,” Luis said. “I think Josh and Roland are going to love you.” He knew this was cruel. But he couldn’t wait to see the expressions on Josh’s and Roland’s lust-hungry, sex-starved faces when they saw how attractive young Darius was. Luis had a feeling they’d run out and get a housekeeper like him for themselves before the summer was over. Only in their case the housekeeper would wind up in bed between them giving them both head, not in the kitchen preparing meals.
“I’ll go back down and let you finish getting dressed, then,” Darius said. “Thanks for being so nice to me.”
“You’re welcome,” Luis said, switching the bathroom light off. “Tell Jase I’ll be right down.”
He went back to the bedroom and carefully pulled the new white polo shirt over his head so he wouldn’t mess his hair. But when he looked into the mirror to adjust the shirt, he saw a dark smudge on the right side of the collar. He could have sworn it wasn’t there a minute ago. His chest caved in and he sighed. He must have accidentally dropped something and didn’t realize it. How could he have missed the smudge when he’d set the shirt out on the bed? He must have been in such a hurry he wasn’t paying attention. So he removed the shirt and settled for a plain white T-shirt he had in his closet.
He didn’t want to fool around with the stain on the new shirt and make it worse. He’d deal with that tomorrow when there was time.
When he joined the others downstairs and Jase asked him why he wasn’t wearing the new shirt, he sent Jase a glare and said, “Don’t I look good in this shirt? Is there something wrong with it?”
Jase gulped and said, “You look wonderful in any shirt you wear.”
Luis frowned, feeling disingenuous, and said, “Thank you.” Then he climbed into the truck and pulled his seatbelt across his chest. The last thing he needed that afternoon was Jase reminding him about all the clumsy, absentminded things he’d been doing all month. He’d get the stain out of the shirt without Jase knowing about it and he’d wear it to the next event they went to that summer.
Chapter Eight
When Jase and Luis introduced Darius to Roland and Josh, Darius took a step back and forced a friendly smile.
They were all standing in Josh’s and Roland’s hallway because they’d arrived for the Fourth of July party. Getting used to being introduced as the hired help frustrated Darius to the point of distraction, especially since he’d been the center of attention in Leck Schneider’s life for the past ten years. At parties in Los Angeles or Berlin, Darius had greeted the guests and floated through the rooms playing host. He’d organized the caterers and the service help. He’d chosen the menus, organized all of Leck’s events, both business and social, and Leck had always patted him on the back and congratulated him for making everything so special. After a particularly successful event once, Leck handed Darius the keys to a new Mercedes convertible, a car that vanished when Leck shot himself in the head. Standing there now in Josh’s and Roland’s hallway, Darius found it so difficult to believe his life had dwindled down to being a common housekeeper, not to mention male nanny, that he felt like kicking Luis Fortune in the ass every time he had to fake a smile.
But Darius didn’t have a choice now, not if his plans to ruin Luis and Jase would reach full circle. Oh, he had plans for them. So he smiled, shook Josh’s and Roland’s hands, and said he was pleased to meet them. He even humbly thanked them for inviting him to their Fourth of July party. Then he shot Luis a knowing glance and smiled quickly. He suspected Luis wasn’t too fond of Roland or Josh and he wanted Luis to think he was on his side. He could see why Luis wasn’t fond of them. Josh’s sexy, muscular body and handsome strong-boned face would have made any silly little queen like Luis Fortune jealous. The way Josh’s dark blond hair fell so naturally into the latest style and the way his smile lit up a room must have driven Luis out of his mind with envy more than once. And though Roland was quite a few years older than Josh, he’d kept his body in better shape than most twenty-year-olds, and he had one of the nicest asses Darius had seen in a long time. Luis had mentioned in passing Roland owned a large multi-million-dollar health care company of some sort that produced everything from skin care products to vitamins. Though Josh and Roland didn’t have billions of dollars like Jase and Luis, they certainly could compete with them financially without trying too hard.
Josh’s and Roland’s home in Bucks County made
Darius smile. It wasn’t one of those creaky old George Washington places, with crooked walls, big stone fireplaces, and too many uneven wooden floors, like Luis’s and Jase’s.
Josh and Roland’s home was a modern affair with an Asian theme, like the homes in the Hollywood Hills Darius was used to. It was long and flat, with marble floors, walls of glass, abstract paintings, and sleek furniture with thin, simple lines.
When they all walked through the main hallway and headed back to the swimming pool, Darius almost felt as if he’d gone home again—to the home he’d lost, thanks to Luis agreeing to testify against Leck. If it hadn’t been for Luis blowing the whistle on Leck, Darius would have been throwing his own Fourth of July party that weekend in Palm Springs instead of attending one in fucking nowhereville Pennsylvania as the hired help.
Leck had told Darius everything before he’d shot himself. He’d sat on the end of their bed with his head in his hands and cried. He said the authorities had been investigating him but they’d never had an actual witness. But now that Luis Fortune was willing to testify against him, the authorities had all they needed to shut down his entire life and send him to prison for years.
When they crossed through the kitchen and stepped into an outdoor living area that surrounded an elaborate swimming pool with statues and water features, Roland asked Jase, “Where’s your grandmother?” Darius had heard all about Jase’s ninety-year-old grandmother, Isabelle, enough to turn his stomach upside down. He forced himself not to roll his eyes. They spoke about the tired old bag the way everyone spoke about their older relatives: as if she was something special and one of a kind. Darius imagined another ordinary old woman with a creased mouth and too much to say.
Whenever her name came up in conversation, Darius slipped out of the room so he wouldn’t have to listen to the dull stories.