No Sacrifice Read online

  “No, no, no!” Jack shouted.

  Patrick was ready to scream. “Now what?” Rhys asked, more than a little angry.

  “The kiss. The tunics were good, but that kiss….”

  “That’s what you told us to do,” Patrick pointed out, doing his best to keep from making things worse but at the point of screaming himself.

  Jack scowled at him but then nodded. “Yes, it is. Hmmm…. It’s got to look deeper, somehow, perhaps you should….”

  “Maybe if you left it to us to figure out how to kiss—because, you know, we’ve never kissed anyone before,” Rhys said crossly.

  Jack’s scowl deepened, but his eyes darted from Rhys to Patrick. “I’ll give it a try. Reset. Start on the tunics.”

  Again they fixed their tunics and rebuttoned them. And again they waited for the others to get into place. Once more the calls were given, and Patrick and Rhys were undressing each other. But this time, when their lips met, Rhys did something Patrick had never expected.

  He felt Rhys’s tongue in his mouth.

  He knew he reacted, and waited a few seconds for what he was sure was coming. And sure enough…

  “CUT! Patrick what the hell was that?”

  “Sorry!” Patrick called. “That was my fault!” Though he looked up at Rhys. “You could have warned me.”

  Rhys didn’t really look apologetic, but he gave a halfhearted “Sorry” anyway.

  Another reset. Another series of calls. Then they were trying again.

  This time Patrick was expecting it. This time he knew what was coming. So instead of looking surprised, his eyes slid closed and he kissed Rhys for all he was worth.

  There was the tiniest whisper of sound as their tunics fell; then their hands were on each other. Rhys wrapped one arm around Patrick, pulling him tight, and Patrick speared his fingers through Rhys’s hair, rocking, grinding into the hard cock that lay against his own.

  Patrick had to admit Rhys was good with his tongue. Their tongues battled and slid as they tasted each other. One of Rhys’s hands slid down Patrick’s back to cup his ass, and Patrick involuntarily moaned at the feel of it. Rhys’s other hand cupped the back of Patrick’s head, trapping him against Rhys’s hard body completely.

  He lost track of time, of place. As he did, the thought that came to him was a bit surprising, though it would be later that he’d realize what happened. In Patrick’s head, it wasn’t Rhys he was kissing and touching. No, it was… Chance.

  Chance watched the scene with a sort of morbid fascination. He couldn’t seem to look away as Patrick and Rhys were locked in a kiss anyone with eyes could see was real.

  Chance’s stomach tied in knots, and he told himself again to back away, go do something, like straighten cable in the truck or reorganize the mics. But he couldn’t manage to tear himself away. And all he could think about was that he wanted to be the one Patrick was kissing, he wanted to be the one in Patrick’s arms.

  He wanted to be the one Patrick got hard for.

  He gritted his teeth in an attempt to push the thoughts and images where they belonged—far, far away. But he couldn’t seem to let go of them. The knots worked themselves tighter, pulling this way and that. Chance had the sudden urge to walk up there, pull Rhys off Patrick, and punch his lights out.

  There was a green monster in his chest that cheered at that image.

  Fuck, Chance thought. He was supposed to put his attraction for Patrick away and just be friends. But that didn’t seem to be working very well. And as he stood there, the jealousy mounting, he realized something.

  He was thoroughly, hopelessly, in love with Patrick Tearney.

  He knew he liked the man. He knew he was attracted to Patrick. He’d certainly masturbated more than once to the poster over his bed, though he’d die before he admitted that out loud. But he’d never before admitted, even to himself, that he was in love.

  Chance frowned, wishing himself away from there. He didn’t want to think that, didn’t want to be that. Patrick was his friend and wouldn’t likely stay that way if the fact of Chance’s feelings came out.

  Chance had the absurd urge to go bang his head against a wall. But the only walls anywhere nearby were fake and thin and would do nothing but break. He shook his head at himself and refocused on the scene, willing it to end.

  Rhys had one hand cupping Patrick’s cheek. They were still kissing, though it seemed to be winding down. They shifted a bit, and Chance could not miss the lumps in both sets of costume pants. As he watched, Patrick’s hand dropped from Rhys’s shoulder and slid along dark skin until it reached a hip. Patrick gripped it briefly before moving back to Rhys’s ass and flexing again.

  Chance felt his chest squeeze. He’d thought Patrick didn’t like Rhys, with all Rhys had been doing, but it looked for all the world like he’d been very wrong about that. Yes, Patrick was a good actor, but he didn’t think Patrick was that good, and the naked look of want and need on Patrick’s face told Chance something he didn’t want to consider.

  That maybe, just maybe, Patrick wanted Rhys.

  The thought didn’t sit well at all with Chance. Knowing as he did that there was a huge pile of problems with Emily, there was a good chance Patrick would end up splitting with her. If he did, would he go after Rhys? Would they get together?

  Could Chance still be Patrick’s friend and watch that? He didn’t know, but he doubted it.

  He turned away and started back toward sound storage, determined to find something to occupy his mind instead of the images of Rhys and Patrick kissing. It annoyed him to no end to realize he was half-aroused as well as half-sick. Growling to himself, he missed the call of “CUT!”

  Patrick pulled back and dragged his hand over his lips. If he never had to kiss Rhys like that again for the rest of his life, it would be too soon. It irritated him that he’d enjoyed it, that he was still hard, and even harder, in fact, after the scene. All he wanted to do was go back to his dressing room and manage to calm down. Maybe jack off to images of Chance.

  But he waited for the verdict from Jack. “I think that will do it,” Jack grumbled, and Patrick suspected the grumbling was because what worked wasn’t what Jack had insisted they do. He turned to go, but before he could get so much as a foot toward his dressing room, Jack called, “Not yet! I’ve got something to discuss with the two of you.”

  Patrick and Rhys exchanged looks. This could not be good.

  Jack waved them over to a set of chairs and took the one labeled “Director.” Patrick settled in his, pulling his tunic closed, and Rhys filled the third seat. “What’s up?” he asked, hoping it wasn’t what he was suspecting.

  “Well, the ratings are going very well after the last few episodes. I’m sure you’re aware that they’re the ones showing your relationship developing further. Last night’s was the first kiss. We swept the Nielsen ratings!” He nearly crowed this. “So, after a discussion this morning with Mark and Andy, we’ve decided to increase the love scenes next season. James is already working on the scripts.”

  Patrick and Rhys both groaned. “Tell me you’re kidding. It’s almost soft-core porn as it is!” Rhys growled.

  Jack scowled. “Hardly. The viewers like your relationship. They love the chemistry you two have, and they want to see more.”

  Patrick sighed. “So… is it just the number of them?” he asked, frowning and a little afraid of the answer.

  “No,” Jack replied, shaking his head. “We’ve decided to include two scenes that will show much more.” He paused and looked from Patrick to Rhys and back. “One of them will pick up after you’ve supposedly had sex. You’ll be together in bed. The other… is a full scene.”

  Patrick scowled. “That wasn’t in the contract,” he said. “I didn’t sign on for full nudity.”

  Jack held up a hand. “I know, I know.” Patrick held his breath, waiting for the We’ll just get someone else. “We’ve already considered this.” He glanced at Rhys, who was strangely silent. “We’ve got calls in
to your agents and are prepared to renegotiate for next season.”

  Patrick frowned. Well, that was much better than he’d expected. Truthfully, he didn’t think it would much matter at this point if he did end up fully naked, but he wasn’t about to give Jack that. “I’ll see what Janie says.”

  Jack nodded and smiled, and Patrick had a feeling that whatever Jack and Mark offered would be hard to turn down. “Good. Let’s get some lunch. We’ve got a lot to do this afternoon.”

  Patrick stood up and glanced at Rhys. “Nothing to say about this?” he asked when Jack was gone.

  Rhys looked up at him. “What is there to say? If we tell him no, he’ll try to replace us. Besides, I bet what they’ve offered would be foolish to turn down.”

  Patrick snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right about that.” He sighed. “Well, next season promises to be… fun.”

  Rhys laughed, and Patrick smiled at it. That seemed to be a rare thing with Rhys these days. “That’s one way of putting it.” Rhys chewed a lip thoughtfully. “I have an idea.”

  Patrick blinked. That sounded ominous. “What’s that?”

  “What if….” He paused again and tilted his head, considering. “What if we practiced?”

  Patrick could only continue to blink for a moment. “Practice?” he asked, not quite sure he understood. “Practice what? You mean rehearse?” He scowled. “We’ve only got part of one episode left this season, and we don’t have the script for next year yet.”

  Rhys shook his head. “I don’t necessarily mean rehearse a specific scene. I meant… just practice with each other. Get comfortable with each other.”

  Patrick was getting irritated. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Rhys sighed. “I think we should spend some time alone, without crew and other eyes, kissing and… stuff.”

  Patrick’s eyes widened. “You want to make out? With me. In private.”

  “Yes,” Rhys said, sounding like it was the most practical idea he’d ever come up with.

  “You’re nuts,” Patrick replied, staring.

  It was Rhys’s turn to scowl. “If you don’t want to kiss me—off the set, that is—all you have to do is say so.” He looked away, and Patrick noticed the blush on Rhys’s cheeks.

  “Rhys,” he said, exasperation dragging the name out. “That’s not what I meant.” He glanced around, then sat again in his chair. “I just… thought we were already comfortable with each other.” He glanced pointedly into his lap, then over at Rhys’s, where they were both still sporting partial erections.

  “Well, yes, we are to a point,” Rhys said, still looking uncomfortable. “But… we’re going to have to be naked with each other. Act like we’ve been”—he lowered his voice—“making love.” He cleared his throat and continued in a whisper. “Like we are… making love.”

  Patrick frowned, considering Rhys’s words. He had a point, but Patrick wasn’t sure how much “practice” he could take with Rhys. And, he was married. He could only do so much with Rhys before he felt like he was cheating. Scenes were a given, and Emily certainly understood those. Even rehearsal was fine. But “practicing” felt a little too close to “cheating” for Patrick’s taste.

  On the other hand, he was getting tired of kissing and grinding and touching Rhys over and over again on set just to make Jack happy. Practice, like Rhys was suggesting, would certainly cut down on some of that.

  “I’m heading to Vancouver next week. Then I’ll be in Hawai’i for a while,” he finally said, coming to a decision. “But I should be back by the end of June.” He pulled his phone out and opened his e-mail, and scrolled quickly through it. “Yeah, flight back is June twenty-eighth. We can talk more about it then.”

  Rhys nodded, though he looked a bit disappointed. “Okay.” He stood up and stared at Patrick inscrutably for a long moment. Patrick felt, in that moment, the distance between them. He wanted to say something more but had no idea what it could possibly be. “We should have the scripts by then too. At least the first scene. We can even rehearse the specific scene.”

  Patrick gave his own nod. “Okay. Well, lunch. I don’t want to be here all night.”

  “Yeah, me either,” Rhys said and, without another word, took off.

  Patrick watched him go, frowning. There was more behind this than Rhys was letting on, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. He shook his head. He’d figure it out eventually, even if that was when they were in the middle of… whatever. With another sigh, he headed for the catering tables. He wanted to see Chance, badly.

  But Chance wasn’t at the catering tables, nor was he even at the crafty. Patrick tracked down Selia, but she said the last she’d seen him was at sound equipment storage. Patrick retraced his steps to storage, but it too was empty. With a frown, he checked his own dressing room, but again, no luck. Finally, he had to grab a very quick plate and wolf some food down so he could get back on set.

  Every time he got a few minutes between scenes, he went looking for Chance. Selia was getting annoyed with him, and the last time he asked her about Chance, the look she gave him told him there was more going on here. Patrick had no idea what it could be, but it was starting to look like Chance was avoiding him.

  It wasn’t until the day was almost over that he ran into Chance, almost literally. “Chance!” he nearly shouted in surprise.

  Chance winced slightly and wouldn’t look at Patrick fully, but he did say, “Hi.”

  “I’ve been looking all over for you since this morning. Are you okay?” Patrick asked, his eyebrows coming down in concern.

  Chance looked up at him this time and frowned, but Patrick couldn’t read the blue eyes. “I’m fine. What’s up?”

  “Are you busy tonight?” he asked.

  Chance blinked. “Uh, no, why?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, it snapped shut, and his look said he’d answered before he’d thought it out.

  Patrick didn’t care, and was, in fact, grateful for that. He’d figure out what was wrong later. “I need to talk to you. Want to get drinks at Benny’s? Or something?”

  Chance considered him for a moment. “Okay.”

  “Cool. I’ve got one more scene yet. Hopefully, it’ll go fast.” He grinned, feeling better now that he knew he’d have the opportunity to talk to Chance. In fact, he felt ridiculously good, having seen the man. He had the insane urge to hug Chance or something but held himself back. “I’ll see you soon,” he said and felt his face heat a little, not understanding why. He shook it off, threw another smile at Chance, who returned it tentatively, then took off to finish his scene, feeling much better than he had all day.

  When Chrissy let him go an hour later, he was once more grinning. He couldn’t believe how much he’d missed seeing Chance at lunch. He knew he was being a little silly, but he justified it by telling himself the thing with Rhys really bothered him.

  He met Chance at the door on the way out of the studio. “Hi,” he said, grin still splitting his face.

  Chance didn’t smile right away but did nod. “Hi. Uh… are you hungry?”

  Patrick shrugged. “I’m fine, either way.”

  “There’s an In-N-Out on the way. We could grab burgers or something. I didn’t eat lunch.”

  “I only wolfed a little bit down,” Patrick said. “In-N-Out sounds good.”

  Patrick squirmed a little at the atmosphere in the car. The tension tied his stomach up, and he frowned, trying to figure out what was going on. When nothing came to him, he sighed. “Well, I’m so glad this morning’s scene is done. I swear, I’d be happy to never kiss Rhys like that again. He used tongue.” Patrick made a face.

  Chance glanced over, raising his eyebrows. “You don’t like tongue?” he asked, then bit his lip.

  Patrick laughed. “No, I have nothing against that type of kiss. Unless it’s coming from Rhys.” He shook his head. “It’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.” He stopped when they got into the drive-through. He gave Chance his order,
then, when they got to the window, tried to give Chance some money, but Chance refused to take it.

  “I got this. You can buy me a drink or something,” he said, and Patrick put his wallet away.

  They ate in silence on the drive over to Benny’s. Patrick watched the streets pass, eating his Animal-style burger, though he wasn’t paying much attention to it. The sun finished sinking below the horizon just as they pulled into a spot in front of the bar. Patrick collected their garbage and stuffed it into a can on the curb, then held the door for Chance.

  Once they were seated and each had drinks, Patrick turned to Chance. “First, what’s wrong?” he asked. He wasn’t entirely sure they were good enough friends for him to push, but something was bothering Chance and it bothered Patrick.

  “Nothing, actually. Well… not anymore,” Chance said, downing the shot, then taking a sip of beer.

  Patrick raised an eyebrow and considered him as he took his own shot. “Really?” he asked, and Chance nodded.

  “Really. It was… a bad day,” Chance said evasively. “Got a text from Mama about the holidays this year, and I told her I probably wasn’t going to be home for both. She didn’t like that and chewed me out. Took four messages to do it too.”

  Patrick chuckled. “My mom’s the same way. But I just can’t fly to Hawai’i that often. I’ll be going in a couple of weeks, then probably with Avery for Christmas.”

  “When do you leave?” Chance asked.

  “Next Wednesday. Going up to Vancouver first to see Emily and pick up Avery. She’s going into intense filming for the next several months, so I told her I’d take him.”

  Chance raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything at first. After sipping his beer for a moment, he finally said, “Aren’t you going to be filming too?”

  Patrick nodded. “Yeah. But my schedule’s a little more stable than hers, and all of our shooting for Deception is here in the LA area. I’ve got some leads on a caretaker for him, and, well, I asked to have him with me.”