Victoria’s Secret Wish(78)

“It was him, man. He was the guy who–”

David made an obscene tongue-in-cheek gesture.

“Yeah,” Griffin confirmed. “That. He said he was my next appointment, but bro, only paying passengers could set appointments.”

David snickered. “You didn’t check? If it was me, and a dude wanted his lips on my cock, I’d have–”

“Fuck off, man. I was in shock. I told you. Only way I got through it was by pretending he was a chick.” Meanwhile, he’d kicked himself for not specifying on his paperwork when he’d signed up that he only wanted interaction with females.

“Well, I bet if you want a reference, he’ll give you one.” David grinned.

“It’s not funny, man. I just wanta forget–”

“You guys ready?” Gil stood not five feet away, his head cocked to one side. “Griffin the bartender, right? What brings you to Fantasy Mountain?”





Chapter 27



“Hello again.” Vic shook Griffin’s hand in the heliport and gave David the briefest nod. “I trust your flight was okay?”

David seemed to give up making eye contact with her, and offered a small smile Brett’s way. Though he found he’d rather bestow an intimidating glare upon him, Brett returned a polite smile.

“Would you like a quick tour of the property?” Vic asked, her back strategically turned to David.

“Er, Vic,” Brett said. “I’d imagine the guys are tired and would prefer to call it a night. Perhaps tomorrow, yeah?”

“Um, no.” David sounded alarmed. “No, Griffin wants to see the resort. You know, before his interview.”

“Yeah.” Griffin nodded. “Sure.”

A tour it is, then. No point putting off this whole circus another day.

They headed toward the outer hangars first, most of them out of use for the evening, deserted as empty soundstages on a Hollywood backlot. Griffin offered the appropriate murmurs of awe and wonder, while David was prone to dawdle, asking the most inane questions of Brett.

“How much more would you say the Beach is used, than the Alps?” and “Do you think the space stage will be used more than the pirate ship?”

Vic and Griffin moved on to the main building, leaving Brett and David at the stables.

“Ever do any fantasies out here?” David asked. “I hear a lot of girls have a thing for horses, and judging by number of clips on the net–”

“They’ve quite left us behind.”

David leaned against the gate, staring into a stall. “So the palomino is Vic’s, and you ride the buckskin?”

“Do you really give a rat’s ass what horse I ride?” He hadn’t the patience for this patter.

David scrubbed his knuckles against his forehead. “Not so much. I just…needed to talk to you. Alone.”

Well, go on, then. He crossed his arms over his chest and hoped for an intimidating stance. Go for DeNiro.

David straightened and drew a deep breath. “Is Vic okay? I mean, after yesterday. She looks okay, but I wasn’t sure–did I hurt her? I didn’t want to, I mean–” The kid was so flustered, struggling in choppy waters of his own making.

“Fuck you. The only reason you’re here right now is because of Griffin.”

David’s mouth dropped open, and he stepped back. “You’re really not gonna tell me if she’s okay?”

“You saw her. What do you think?” He turned away.

“Yesterday I saw her crying. Then on TV she looked gorgeous and all put together again. Now…hell. I don’t know her enough to guess.”

He rounded on David, every muscle tight with restrained fury. “You sure as fuck don’t. You don’t know us, and you expressed a definite desire to keep it that way, didn’t you?”

“Look, I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I just needed to…get away. From it all. It was getting too heavy.”

Escapers, both David and Vic. “Unfortunately for you, David, we now know just what we need to about you. When the going gets heavy, you’ll make your escape, right?” David wouldn’t have the chance to hurt Vic again, not if he could help it.

“No, I won’t. I’ve been thinking, and–”

“I sincerely hope you’ve thought how you can achieve those goals you mentioned yesterday morning, as you won’t be hurting Vic again.” You won’t walk out on us again.

David puffed up, opened his mouth to speak.

“I’ll show you to your room in the lodge. Tomorrow morning, you can leave.” The sooner he was gone, the sooner they’d be able to move on.

“Leave? No way! I thought you’d help me, I thought you were my friend–”