The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 3

August 1st, 2093

† Finnegan †

It was six weeks before Gustavo kissed him. Six long weeks of conversations, chess games and gazing at the stars from the roof above his window. Six weeks until that first forbidden touch.

Finnegan was not allowed to kiss his clients. It was the only rule the proprietors of the Promise of Pleasure had: a man could do almost anything he wished to him and he would have no right to fight back or report the client to the manager, but a kiss was off the menu. Not a peck on the cheek, not a quick touch of lips against his collarbone or any area above the waist. Below was perfectly permitted – and encouraged – but nothing that could be classed as intimate or personal.

God forbid that they felt a moment of true pleasure for themselves.

But Finnegan did. Finally. After six excruciatingly long weeks.

It all started when he beat Gustavo at chess, by taking his Queen with only eight moves. "Again, I must admit defeat," the vampire insisted, with a chuckle.

Finnegan smiled as the older man cleared the board. At only eighteen, he was a clear twenty-two years younger than Gustavo, if no one included all the years he had lived as a vampire. He should not have found the man's years of experience intriguing or captivating. And he should not have found himself longing to snuggle close to that broad chest and slightly rounded tummy, when with a man of thirty, who had muscles in all the places that Finnegan did not.

But he did. And no man, no matter how skilled in bed or how strong and manly, could prevent the truth from becoming abundantly clear.

He had fallen in love with Gustavo.

Somewhere between the debates, the lingering but comfortable silences, the hours of talking and enjoying each other's company, Finnegan had found a mind more engaging than any activity they could think to accomplish in the bedroom.

Then the clock rang on his bedside table and his smile fell. Finnegan swallowed and licked his lips, as he rose from his seat. "I apologise. The game ran longer than I expected and I...I have another...client," he explained, though he hated using such vulgar terms.

He did not want to refer to Gustavo as a client or confess that another man would soon demand the entirely of his attention. Finnegan could not face his new friend and love interest, as he bustled around the room and made it presentable. He had only an hour to prepare for his next client and had not bathed yet.

"Oh."

There was no mistaking the disappointment in Gustavo's voice, nor the sense of regret that sank into the pit of Finnegan's stomach.

But he could not turn his back on the reality of his life, just to bask in the fantasy that Gustavo offered, every time he came to visit. He could never forget that Gustavo paid for that time, just as every other man did.

As he turned and opened his mouth to ask Gustavo to hurry in his departure, such a sense of shame flooded him that Finnegan drew his tattered cardigan around his body. He could not bear to see the jealousy in those deep blue eyes.

"When will you call again?" he asked, hoping that the reminder of his career did not mean he would be deprived of more visits.

At the moment, Gustavo stole all the time that he had previously devoted to his friendship with Spencer, at his younger friend's suggestion. While Spencer could sneak out of his home at any hour, to visit with him, Gustavo had a life and a business to run. It was also part of Spencer's brilliant plan to avoid moments like these, when Finnegan must send his vampire away, to receive another client.