Collision Course
6
"Thomas Drake, Brian? Don't tell me your dating *him*?"
"It's pronounced *To-mas*, and he's a client, Dad," Brian said tiredly.
"Looked different in that picture that was plastered on the front page of the 'Tattler'." Leo Belli lifted his bourbon and took a swallow. "Looked like he had his hand on your ass -- copping a feel."
"It was just the camera angle." Brian didn't even know why he bothered to try to explain. Once his stepfather's mind was made up, he never listened to anyone, let alone Brian. "I was assigned to shadow him at the premiere of the last movie he produced."
"He's a fag, right?" Leo said with typical crudeness.
Brian lifted his beer and looked at the gathering of people. Everyone who was anyone was here at his stepsister's second wedding. The upper-crust of Renata, California, out in full force.
"I hear he's as queer as a three-dollar bill. That true?" Leo demanded.
"I wouldn't know," Brian said softly.
"Weeellll ... that's a relief! Wouldn't want any son of mine getting mixed up with someone like Toe-moss Drake. Actors, showbiz scum, that's all they are. Not our kind of people at all."
Brian tilted the Corona -- he had smuggled a six-pack into the posh country club -- to his mouth in order to avoid having to respond.
Leo Belli had grown up along the decaying waterfront of Buffalo, New York. In its heyday the city had been considered the Queen of the Great Lakes, one of the major shipping centers in the East. Unfortunately, by the time Leo had turned seventeen the once proud city was dying. The steel mills were closing, the huge grain elevators were falling apart, and as a result most of the shipping lines closed.
Leo had set out for California. With a combination of luck, hard work, and a ruthless desire to succeed he had managed to acquire a small dockyard. For all his boasting of being a self-made man, the shipyard wasn't what had lifted him up onto the same social scale as the other people in the room. No, he had married money.
Leo's first wife had almost everything. She had money, class, breeding, pedigree, and powerful connections. Luckily for Leo, she also lacked a few traits -- beauty, grace, and, evidently, good taste. When he had made the offer of marriage, she had jumped at it. From what Brian had heard. they had been happy together. She died suddenly, leaving him with four daughters -- four girls that, unfortunately, seemed to have inherited their parent’s worst features. Brian's stepsisters had made his boyhood hell, and he wished for at least the hundredth time in last hour that he hadn't let his mom talk him into coming to this wedding.
"I worry about you, alone in that city," Leo said, pulling Brian back to the present. "Too many temptations for someone as weak as you."
Brian turned to his stepfather prepared to --
"Don't bother. You messed up your police career over a *man* didn't you? Some common criminal that you took a liking to? What did the Department accuse you of? Evidence tampering or was it obstructing justice?"
Brian turned away and took another swig of the brew.
"Like I was saying," Leo continued. "Too many people in L.A. that want to use you for one more notch on their bedposts. What you need is a nice girl to keep you out of trouble. Help you grow a little spine. You know, become a man?" Leo motioned with the hand that held the bourbon. "See that pretty little brunette over there next to your mother? She comes from a good family, a real good family -- got quality blood in her veins. She'll keep you on the straight and --"
"Jeez, Dad. Don't tell me you and Mom are trying to fix me up again?" Brian sat the empty bottle down and bent down to grab another beer from beneath the white-sheeted table.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Leo said as he lifted his stout arm and motioned to his wife.
Brian groaned as his mom headed their way with his blind date in tow. Introductions were made and before Brian knew what was happening he was leading Elizabeth out onto the dance floor.
As he left his stepfather's side he overheard the man mutter, "He claims there's nothing going on between them, that --"
"Oh, Leo, honestly! I hope someday he does ..." His mother's whisper faded away, leaving Brian to wonder what exactly she hoped. That he bring a male date to the next family get-together?
Brian swung Elsa? Eleanor? whatever her name was, around and smiled sadly. He doubted he'd be bringing any sort of date -- certainly not the one he'd like to.
There was always Tomas, though. It would be fun to see how the faces of the local snobs compared to the snobbishly superior attitude that Tomas could adopt whenever he felt so inclined. And it *would* be fun to see his stepfather's reaction.
But Brian wouldn't be bringing Tomas ... at least he didn't think so. After the other night ... well ... Brian was more confused the ever.
===
The tension between Tomas and he had been building for days and Brian was getting sick of it. He was tired of the gentle flirting, the subtle looks.
This sumptuous, private dining room in the back of a Moroccan restaurant was the final straw. The room fairly screamed sex and seduction with its jewel toned pillows and cushions spread all over the floor next to the low table that held a banquet of delicacies.
Brian sat the fig down and said, "You don't have to go to all this trouble you know."
"What trouble is that, Brian?"
"The private dining room, the meal, the wine, everything."
"They are no trouble. I have to eat. Why not do it in comfort?"
"Yeah, but I don't have to be here."
"Of course you do. I abhor dining alone." Tomas smiled gently. "I like to ... talk … while I … eat ... and what better way to get to know you?"
"Like I said, if you want to *know* me you don't have to go to all this trouble."
"Ah, I see. You are ready to give me what I want, no?"
In answer, Brian shifted his body on the pillows determined to get this over with once and for all. Maybe after ... when it had happened between them ... he'd feel a little better about things, about his life. Lately he'd become confused. Hell, he'd been confused nearly all his life.
And Tomas? He couldn't deny the older man's attractiveness and he decided, why not?
He just wasn't sure how Tomas wanted it. Should he lie down or should he lay Tomas down?
His dilemma was solved when the smaller man placed a perfectly manicured hand on his shoulder and pressed him back into the thick pillows and cushions. A soft smile curved Tomas' lips as he lowered his head toward Brian's.
Brian could feel lips hovering closely over his own.
"Tell me why you detest actors so."
"What?" Brian asked in shock.
"Ah, you thought it was just your lovely body and handsome face that I wanted, no?" Brian blinked up Tomas. "I do want those, Brian, but I want something else even more." Tomas eased down beside him and Brian felt gentle fingers stroking his cheek. "You are lovely, but ... pretty as you are, if all I desired was beauty I could have a dozen young men just as pretty as you ... like that!" He snapped his fingers in front of Brian's nose. "I want more. I'm at a point in my life where I want a lasting relationship."
Tomas sat and wrapped his arms around his up-drawn knees before continuing. "I want someone strong enough to stand up to me. Someone who isn't in awe of me, who doesn't give a shit about what movie I'm thinking of producing or acting in. Someone who will tell me to 'fuck off' when I get out of line. Someone exciting, but reliable. Someone I can count on to tell me the truth. Someone young enough to be with me to the end -- to hold me, to love me, to ..." Glowing green eyes looked searchingly down into Brian's. "Commit to me." Tomas Drake changed the tone of his well-trained voice, making the last three words come out as both a question and an invitation.
"Is that a proposal?" Brian asked slowly.
"If it were, what would be your answer?"
Brian shook his head. "No. My answer would be no."
"Tell me why not."
Brian closed his eyes and told him. He told Tomas the story he had never told anyone else. "My mom came out here from a little town in central Ohio. She was the prettiest girl in school, homecoming queen, voted most likely to succeed. She thought she ought to be able to walk right into Hollywood and take it by storm. Thought she'd make it big in the movies. Only part of her that got big was her belly. I'm the result of a very bad scene that involved an *audition* with at least a dozen studio execs." Brian felt strong hands rubbing his shoulders and a soft voice urging him on. "She got one tiny part, nothing more than a walk on -- and me. Why she didn't just get rid of me, I'll never know."
"I am most happy that she did not," whispered a gentle voice in his ear.
Brian leaned his head forward and let Tomas' magic hands work the tension out of his neck and shoulders.
"She got a crummy job at a local deli. Too ashamed to go home, too stubborn to abort me, she worked long days barely making enough to feed the both of us. She served my stepfather coffee one day when he was in town on business. They were married three weeks later."
"That's very romantic. He swept your beautiful mamma off her feet then he adopted you, no?"
"No." Brian twisted around and looked at Tomas. "I don't think he ever felt that I was 'quality' enough to wear the 'Belli' last name."
"He didn't understand you," Tomas said sadly.
"Still doesn't."
Tomas smiled gently at him, rose gracefully to his feet, and lead the way back to the waiting limo.
===
And here Brian was back in Renata, squiring around yet another stepfather-approved debutante, circling the dance floor, wishing he were in his garage working on his little project.
Repairing and restoring the big, black car always soothed him, calmed him. Life seemed so simple and pleasant when he was alone in the garage -- alone with the Charger and the memories of the last man who had driven her.
.