"Isn't this romantic?"
Gene looked over at Aaron Trimble to see if he was being sarcastic, but he looked like the comment was straight. They were late getting to the ranch party up beyond Santa Clarita on I-5 toward the Los Padres National Forest, because Gene's agent was anxious to pull off into a rest stop so that Gene could give him a behind-the-wheel blow job. To Gene it was considered paying the rent and Trimble, though twenty years older than Gene, had a nice enough cock, and this was, after all, Sunday. Gene had long thought of Sunday as an "easy day"âone on which he would let himself be easily made.
Trimble's excuse had been, "You look good enough to eat. Like bees to the honey, baby. With you it's like bees to the honeyâespecially dressed like that."
It hadn't been Trimble who'd done any eating though. He'd force fed Gene his cock.
Trimble had been the one to tell Gene what to wear to the partyâwhere Gene was supposed to hook up with an assistant producer who was sitting on his novel manuscript, holding it hostage for getting filming started because he wanted something from Gene first. The clothes were from Gene's House of Oliphant period. While Gene was modeling there, he got to keep most of the clothes he wore on the catwalk. This was from Oliphant's adult male collectionâthe one he'd shown in Chicago five months earlier, the last time Gene had seen Oliphant. Oliphant had sent Gene's stuff out to Chicago, to Kenton Blackburn, Gene's publisher and new masterâat least that's how Gene saw itâafter Gene left his fashion house.
The top was a cut-off black mesh athletic T, rendered in shiny material and showing Gene's very nice six pack. Below he was wearing skimpy, red silk athletic shorts over a red silk jock strap. His feet were in sandals. He'd come out of Trimble's Santa Monica beach house with a small red swimsuit, but Trimble had said he wouldn't need it despite the fact that they were going to a pool party. Gene tossed it in the backseat of the car anyway, just in case.
Trimble was pointing to a hilltop they were passing on I-5. "Looks like Tuscany, doesn't it? It's a winery. Have you ever been to Italy, Gene?"
"I've been to the Little Italy section of New York City," Gene answered.
Trimble laughed. "You need to get around more."
"If you'd get this movie deal on solid ground, I'd be happy to do the world tour. I could write my next novel."
"Patience, little guy, patience."
Gene was out of patience after five months out here with the sale of his novel to the movies being on again and off again, often determined by how recently he'd been laid on some movie mogul's audition coach. Who knew how many of these fuckers out here fucked young male hopefuls? Even Aaron Trimble, the general agent Kenton Blackburn had brought Gene out to L.A. to hook up with to handle the movie rights sales had had him on his office coach and by his pool and in his bedâand now, when he felt like itâin the pool house at the Santa Monica beach house. Trimble was giving Gene a room in exchange for privileges. Gene was making ends meet while he waited for something to happen on the movie deal by renting his body out.
If Gene hadn't made the room-in-exchange-for-sex deal with Trimble, he'd have run out of money long before this. He'd spent his advance money on the novel quickly out here, which wasn't hard to do. There would be more when the royalties came inâthe novel was selling well enough for this dickering to happen on movie rightsâbut that wouldn't start for a few more months.
Gene had essentially been abandoned in Los Angeles. Blackburn had brought him out here, saying they'd have a movie deal quickly. But he hadn't told Gene what "quickly" meant in California parlance. Gene and Blackburn had reached a parting of sexual interest fairly quickly, though. Blackburn had discovered he had more of an appetite for rough sex than he had realized and Gene had discovered that he didn't. So Blackburn was back in Chicago now. Gene was still in his stable of writers and was working on a second novel, but they were waving at each other from half a continent's separation.
Now it was Hollywood and Gene trying to scrape up enough money to get back to New York. Today was attending to two needs at once. One of the last hurdles in formally signing a movie deal on the novel was a producer, Cory Kadowski, who had signaled his interest in Gene. And Trimble had worked out that they could get to Kadowski today, as he would be at a ranch pool party up near Santa Clarita by also taking care of the expressed interest in Gene by the ranch's owner and party host.
"You only have to do two of them today," Trimble said, as he roared past the Tuscan-style winery compound on the hill overlooking I-5. "It's a stag party, though, just randy men into young men. I've gotten you in as one of the roaming chickensâguys like you who look young but aren't too young and will lay around with their legs open to any guest wanting to plug them. But if you let anyone other than Kadowski and Danner do you, that's up to you. I'll be playing elsewhere. I can have you at home."
"You make it sound so delicious," Gene said.
"This is where the world of fake meets the world of reality, kid," Trimble said, with a laugh. "You're just fortunate that you got looks and the right pheromonesâhoney to the bee, that's you. You got a leg up on most other young guys out here. With you, it's just like honey for the bees."
"I've heard something like that before."
"You're just lucky you got both Kadowski and Danner who want to get into your pants. We're just about home free on this. Kadowski's that last cock that needs sucked, I promise."
"I sure hope so," Gene said. "I'm just about tapped out."
"Not like most young guys out here," Trimble shot back. "As long as you take my cock, you've got a roof over your head in L.A. That's more than most young hopefuls can say out here."