When The Rich Son Falls

Twenty Five

Topher was a simple man—in a certain sense, that is. So, despite finding it to be out of his character to be attracted to someone who was not within the Victoria’s Secret or Emporio Armani model level of hotness, he was able to accept it. However, just because he was able to easily embrace that fact didn’t mean that he wasn’t curious as to how it came to be.

So, throughout the day, that was what Topher set himself to find out.

After he was given a freshly squeezed lemonade with honey, and was watched by Linda with a hawk’s eye to ensure that he finished the entire thing so he’d feel better, he went out to the backyard to join the others. He carried a tray of glasses of juice—which were prepared by the older folks, and were asked of him to distribute to the volunteers. He was happy to help, of course, especially since it required very little heavy work and sweating.

“Hi, guys! Take a break and have something to drink,” he called out to those in the backyard. James looked up from what he was doing and walked towards Topher, falling in line behind a few other people.

“I thought that was you,” James unenthusiastically said when Topher handed him a glass. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d do some good deeds today and help out in a small-town community,” he answered with an innocent smile, but James clearly didn’t buy it and raised an eyebrow at him.

Topher rolled his eyes and admittedly muttered, “I was bored and about to go to the hotel when I ran into Glory.”

“That sounds about right,” James said with a scoff before he drank.

Topher couldn’t help but stare. From up close, he could see the beads of sweat running down the sides of his face and down his neck as his throat moved with every swallow, and Topher found it unabashedly hot.

He then had to wonder if this whole attraction thing was because his brain had been fried from the heat—if that’s even possible. Or maybe it was because James had always been kind of mean and distant only to him and not the others. If so, did that make him a masochist? But then, Topher knew himself well enough to know that he wasn’t; because if he were, then he would have already gone back home instead of staying at Mariner’s Bay just to avoid a problem.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he realized that James had finished drinking and was looking at him weirdly. Knowing that he had been caught staring, Topher decided to play it cool and asked, “What?”

James frowned at him. “What do you mean, what? You’re the one that’s been staring.”

Thankfully, Glory came by to get a glass just in time to cut that conversation short.

“Looking good, James,” she lightly teased him. “The ladies in the house have been watching you flex your muscles for a while now. Have you been here since early morning?”

Topher looked towards the kitchen and, just as Glory said, he found three older ladies looking their way. This led him to wonder if the answer he was looking for laid on the fact that he’d heard from various people how attractive and wanted James was in that town. Mandy had said it before, along with a couple other members of the hotel staff, the girl from Mama’s Bakery clearly thought so too, and now those three ladies were ogling James. Perhaps it was the power of suggestion at play. Maybe he only found him to be attractive because he was influenced into thinking so.

But then he saw James with an embarrassed smile on his face as he awkwardly scoffed at Glory’s comment, and Topher immediately knew that that wasn’t it either.

“Yeah, I’ve been here since morning. Maybe that’s why they’re looking, because I’ve been getting free snacks since then like a freeloader,” James humbly answered Glory, to which she replied to with an eye roll and a, “Yeah, right.”

Just then, they heard a familiar and bubbly “Hi, guys!” that came from inside the house, and just as all three suspected, Mandy showed up in the kitchen after a few seconds. She was wearing the hotel uniform, which made Topher check his watch then look at Glory in confusion. “Who’s watching the front desk when you’re both here?” he asked, but it never did get answered, because the moment Mandy saw them, her eyes widened and she rushed over to give Topher a hug—something that came as a surprise to James, Glory, and even Topher himself.

“Oh, I’m so glad to see that you’re alright and unscathed!” she exclaimed with relief as she finally let go of Topher and scanned him from head to toe. Upon seeing Glory’s and James’s confused looks, she proceeded to explain, “Toph—I mean, Steve—went to Mystique last night, so I was worried. You know they say that that place is like an underground club, right? Probably lots of dangerous people lurking around there.”

Topher cast a subtle glance at James, who suddenly looked a bit nervous at the sound of the club’s name.

“You went there by yourself?” Glory asked Topher incredulously. “How did it go last night? Were there gang fights or people injecting things into their arms or whatever? That’s what I’ve heard about that place.”

Topher purposefully kept his eyes on Glory, but he could feel James looking at him from the side, waiting on what he was about to say with bated breath.

“Nah, there wasn’t anything like that. It was a pretty lame club, if I’m being completely honest. It wasn’t worth the trip, and I ended up going home alone early because I got really bored so fast,” Topher convincingly told them. Immediately after he said that, he could sense James’s relief.

“It’s good to hear you weren’t in any danger,” Mandy replied. “Even Bruce was kind of worried, even if he wouldn’t admit it.”

“Thanks for the concern,” Topher said with a smile. Then, deciding that he should put the topic to an end to avoid slip-ups, he said, brimming with feigned enthusiasm, “Alright, shall we all get back to work? I’m going to go collect the empty glasses now, so if you could please…”

Glory and Mandy agreed and did as he said, then went on their way to help out with the necklace-making station. Meanwhile, James hung back until the two were out of earshot.

“Hey, uh, thank you,” he quietly said while he made it look like he was just casually returning his glass.

“No problem,” Topher replied. James gave him a small thankful smile and a nod that lasted for merely a second before he turned around and left.

Topher stood there and watched him walk away, feeling a sense of pride after covering for James. He had to admit that it felt good being the one to do the “saving” for once, especially since James had literally saved him twice just last week.

With a feeling of satisfaction, Topher began to collect glasses from others while occasionally glancing at James. The latter went back to his station while checking his phone every now and then. After the third time he pulled it out of his pocket, looked at it, and returned it, a sense of urgency suddenly became present in his actions. He began to hurriedly pack up his things while trying to be subtle about his rush, and after a minute, he was briskly walking towards the house.

Topher curiously followed him in to see him leave through the front door after a brief goodbye to the others, and before he could even think about following James further, he was stopped and called by Linda to ask if he could help out making snacks. Unable to say no, Topher stayed for another hour before he was able to make an excuse and leave.

Topher didn’t know why he went back to the house, when he knew that all that awaited him there was boredom. Maybe he thought that James had also gone home; but even if he did, what then? He hadn’t thought about it that far, and it turned out that he didn’t have to, because the place was empty when he arrived. All he found was a new note on the fridge, reminding him to lock the door before he goes to sleep.

It was around 7 in the evening when Topher heard keys rattling outside. By that time, he was seated on the couch in front of a turned off TV, playing an offline game on his phone that he had downloaded months before. He was bored out of his mind that late afternoon that he even went back to Linda’s to help out some more, then chatted with a few neighbors on his way back. After that, he got takeout for dinner that he ate at the house, then spent the rest of the time lazing around in the couch. So, when he heard James coming in through the front door, he felt like a puppy whose owner just came home.

“Well, well, well.” Topher placed his phone down and turned to the door with a smile. “Who do we have here?”

James, however, seemed to be in no smiling mood. He had closed the door with a little too much force than usual, and even muttered a curse when he couldn’t easily get his shoes off. When he noticed Topher by the couch, he barely cast him a glance and only said, “Oh, you’re up,” as he threw his bag to the side. James was pissed, Topher knew, and this time it wasn’t because of him.

“Oh, you’re up?” Topher imitated with a hint of amusement. “It’s like 8 in the evening, of course I’m up.”

James ignored him and headed straight to the kitchen to get some water. As he passed, Topher got a whiff of alcohol and smoke. He also noticed that James’s hair was a bit messed up, and the bottommost button of his relatively decent shirt was left undone—surely, it was by accident. At that moment, Topher knew that his guess was right. A sly smile grew across his face as he turned around to follow James with his eyes.

“I can detect a hint of alcohol from you,” he let James know. “Don’t tell me you went to Mystique without me.”

“I didn’t,” James firmly replied as he loudly closed the fridge. “And stop messing with me. I’m not in the mood.” He walked to the couch with a can of beer in his hand and sat on the opposite end.

“I’m assuming the date didn’t go well?” Topher asked, carefully watching his facial expression. He noticed James’s jaw muscles tighten as he grabbed the remote.

“What do you mean?” he flatly said, obviously feigning ignorance.

Topher lightly chuckled, knowing that he hit the jackpot. “Intuition. But also you seem tightly wound, and your button is undone. Looks like you just got out of a make-out sesh in a hurry.”

James looked down to check, then quickly buttoned it up. He didn’t say anything nor looked at Topher, and simply turned on the TV and sipped on his beer.

Topher sat back with his head still turned towards James. “Come on,” he complained. “You know I’m not going to tell anyone, right? So, at least feel safe enough to talk about it with someone, even if that someone is me. I can’t even imagine how imprisoned you must feel, tucking away something about yourself like that from the world, feeling like you have to tiptoe around the conversation whenever that comes up, and having to go somewhere far where no one knows you, just so you can get a good time.”

James didn’t respond for a full minute and kept his eyes glued in front, and just when Topher had also turned his head towards the TV, he heard him finally say, “You won’t tell anyone?”

Topher looked at him again. “I kept quiet about your clubbing, didn’t I? I won’t tell anyone. So, come on. Spill. Might as well tell someone who’ll probably be gone from here in a few weeks.”

James looked like he was deeply thinking about it for a second, then he turned the volume of the TV down. “It wasn’t a date, but a hookup,” he quietly said, “and he turned out to be a douchebag that just wasted my time.”

Topher sharply inhaled through his mouth and winced. “Oof, been there. You’d be surprised at how shitty some models can be.”

James turned to look at him, unimpressed. “That does not seem surprising to me,” he stated before turning back to the TV. Just like that, he was done sharing, but Topher couldn’t tear his eyes away from him. He even turned his upper body towards James, and bent one leg up on the couch so he could fully face him to get a better look. He watched as James just sat there and drank his beer, clearly choosing to keep his eyes ahead.

Topher observed him from his black hair, to his eyebrows that were slightly furrowed, to his typical brown eyes, to his lips. No matter how hard he tried to think about it, he just couldn’t fathom what was drawing him to this. So, he threw the question out the window and decided to do what he did best: act impulsively.

“You’re doing it again,” James warningly said. “Stop staring.”

But Topher didn’t, for he had made up his mind to do something that was either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid. “I was serious, by the way.”

“About what?”

“My offer for the quid pro quo thing.”