No Sacrifice Read online

  “Thank you.” She leaned in and hugged him, and he returned it.

  Just as they stood, the secretary called their names. With another deep breath, they moved into the judge’s office.

  Patrick spent most of the ceremony alternating between trying not to think about blaming himself for the divorce and keeping himself from staring at Chance. Thankfully, it was a very short ceremony—the basic “to have and to hold” vows, the ring exchange, and not much else—but Patrick couldn’t seem to keep himself from looking over at his boyfriend and wondering what it would be like to stand where Emily and Sara were. Every time Chance moved as if he was going to look over, Patrick looked away, but once Chance caught him. And as Sara promised, “With this ring, I thee wed,” Patrick’s and Chance’s eyes met.

  He found himself wondering if Chance was thinking what he was. Did Chance want to take their relationship further? He certainly hadn’t seemed to mind the pointed comments Emily made for the majority of the week.

  You have no right thinking that. Isn’t rushing what caused half the problems before? The thoughts came unbidden, and he managed to push them away but couldn’t seem to get the idea of him and Chance wearing wedding rings out of his head.

  A small and mostly uneventful reception hosted by Pablo ended the week. Avery amused everyone by talking about how Tom was Sophia when he was a lady and they should call him a she. Patrick was a little embarrassed, but Tom just laughed at the whole thing and hugged the child. Avery ended up comforting a tearful Emily as she and Sara got ready to leave by reminding her, “We’ll talk on the phone, Mom,” in an almost exasperated voice. Patrick knew that wouldn’t last when Avery started to miss Emily, but they’d figure out how to deal with him when the time came.

  If Patrick thought the week with Emily was weird, that was nothing compared to the next few. Despite being odd, he’d have been happy for these weeks to go slow. The first sex scene with Rhys loomed on the horizon, and Patrick was really not looking forward to it.

  But the scenes in between with Rhys weren’t a lot easier. These mostly comprised of fighting and political intrigue and other such scenes, which, in some ways, Patrick was grateful for. With the fighting scenes, he went home much more tired than he might otherwise have been, but at least there wasn’t an opportunity for him and Rhys to get too intimate. And, though Patrick still feared they were moving too fast, he was also grateful Chance hadn’t gone back to his own apartment except for fresh clothes or other things. So Patrick could settle into bed with his boyfriend and be reminded of who he loved.

  Patrick tried to keep the kisses and other times he was with Rhys as unromantic as possible, but Rhys was having none of that. Every opportunity to touch, Rhys took it. Every kiss was deeper and fuller than it needed to be. Every time Cyrus was supposed to hold or hug Nadir, it was longer, tighter, just more. Rhys did everything he could to touch, nuzzle, and kiss, and Patrick couldn’t help but recognize what Rhys was doing—trying to affect him as much as possible.

  And unfortunately, Jack loved it. Which meant there wasn’t much of anything Patrick could do about it.

  The first really strange thing happened about a week after the wedding. Patrick and Chance rode in and dropped Avery off together, then kissed before going their separate ways. Just as Patrick stepped into his dressing room, though, there on the counter was a donut and coffee. Patrick stared at it for a long moment, trying to figure out how Chance had beat him there. He couldn’t quite put it together, unless it was the very brief chat Patrick had had with Thom on the way.

  With a shrug Patrick picked up the donut and coffee and took a sip as he moved over to the chair and counter. He set the coffee down and took a big bite of the donut, turning to the chair Thom laid his costume out on. As he took a second bite, the door to his dressing room opened, and he turned to see Chance standing there with a donut and cup of coffee. He blinked, then looked down at the donut he held, then back to Chance. He swallowed awkwardly. “Uh….”

  Chance stared a moment. “Did… you stop for them?”

  Patrick shook his head. “No. Didn’t you leave these for me?”

  “Uh… no.”

  Patrick looked back down at the donut, then over to the coffee. “Shit.” It finally dawned on him who it was probably from, and he nearly dropped the donut when he realized. Not wishing to get on the bad side of the cleaning crews, he set it carefully down.

  “What…?” Chance asked, and Patrick sighed.

  “Rhys.” That was all he said, but it was all he had to say.

  “Oh,” Chance said and turned toward the door.

  Before he could get through it, Patrick crossed the room and grabbed his arm. “Stop.” He pulled on Chance’s arm a little, and his boyfriend turned back around. Patrick frowned at the look on Chance’s face and plucked the donut out of Chance’s hand. “I’d rather have yours,” he said, leaning in and leaving a kiss on Chance’s cheek. “I didn’t realize who it was from.”

  “You don’t have to,” Chance muttered and tried—again—to turn and leave.

  Patrick refused to let go of his arm. “Don’t,” he said, getting a little angry now.

  Chance sighed and looked back. “Why?”

  “Because you’re about to piss me off,” Patrick said, scowling.

  Chance’s eyebrows dropped into a similar scowl. “Why?”

  “Because you’re being an idiot.” Patrick shook his head. “When have I ever given you the idea that I’d prefer anything from him instead of you?”

  Chance frowned and looked away. “Never.”

  “Exactly. Don’t be a fucking moron. I love you, remember?”

  With a sigh Chance looked back and considered him. “Yes, I do. I’m sorry.” He leaned in and caught Patrick’s lips in a kiss. Patrick returned it, trying to put a bit of reassurance into it, despite his annoyance. “I love you too,” Chance whispered when they broke apart.

  Patrick let go of Chance’s arm and cupped his face. “I know. Just remember who I love, okay? Who I want to go home with.”

  Chance nodded. “Okay. Sorry.”

  Patrick smiled. “It’s okay.” He plucked the coffee out of Chance’s hand and set it and his donut onto the counter. Then he crossed the room, picked up the other coffee and donut, and took them to the garbage, pausing long enough to dump the coffee in the sink. “There.” He turned back and picked up his donut, taking another bite. “Better?”

  Chance chuckled. “Yeah, actually. I’m sorry….”

  “Don’t worry about it. Now, you should probably go or we’ll both get shit if you’re still here when Chrissy gets here.”

  “Ugh, yeah. Last time I was, she nearly shoved me violently out the door.”

  Patrick laughed. “Exactly. We’re just too distracting for her.”

  Chance grinned. “I don’t know how she pays attention when you’re kissing on set.”

  “I don’t know either. But get going or she’ll be really brutal on my makeup.”

  “Okay. Love you,” he murmured, then leaned in and kissed Patrick again.

  Patrick returned it, the last of his annoyance fading with the kiss. “I love you too. See you for lunch.”

  When Chance took off, Patrick picked his donut back up and took a bite. As he chewed, his eyes strayed to the garbage can. He was going to have to talk to Rhys. Leave a message or something, because that could not continue. Patrick didn’t look forward to throwing away food every day.

  Unfortunately for Patrick, despite the note he left for Rhys—he still couldn’t pin Rhys down after scenes—that wasn’t the last of the weirdness. He didn’t show up to any more donuts or coffee, thankfully, but it only got worse. He got a few days’ reprieve, but about four days after what they’d started calling The Donut Incident, Rhys left him a birthday gift. This wasn’t too bad—a gold necklace with a surfboard pendant—though he liked Chance’s gift much better. The necklace he’d received from his boyfriend was a silver Celtic knot with a disc in the center. One side had
a ghrá engraved on it and the other had baby. He wore it most days, loving the material reminder of their relationship.

  He supposed one birthday gift from Rhys wasn’t too weird, and if that had been all, he might have been able to deal with it. But that was far from the last thing Rhys gave him. Over the next few weeks, he ended up with gifts every few days, and it was starting to drive him crazy. Among them, Rhys sent him a basket full of coffee, a bucket of microbrew beers, a huge bottle of Jameson, and even a potted plant made up of flowers and plants native to Hawai’i. It was currently sitting in the corner of the dressing room, along with most of the other presents. Patrick didn’t know what to do with them. He’d tried sending the coffee basket back the day he got it, but the delivery company wouldn’t take it when he confirmed he was the intended recipient. So he was stuck with them.

  Patrick might have been grateful for the distraction if it really was a distraction, because the first scene with Rhys was approaching more quickly than he would have liked. The problem was, all of the gifts and attention from Rhys only succeeded in reminding him of just how uncomfortable the scene was going to be. After what happened with Angelo, he was pretty sure Jack wouldn’t settle for anything less than as realistic as the last—even if the scene picked up at the very end—and Patrick was not looking forward to being that intimate with Rhys and the possible reactions and effects of it. As such, by the morning of the scene, he was pretty much a total nervous wreck.

  Chance had done his best to help Patrick calm down the night before—they’d ended up having sex twice before falling asleep—but it didn’t seem to work. After Chrissy had finished his makeup the morning of the scene and gone to work on Rhys, Patrick paced his dressing room, working himself into a complete mess. It didn’t help that he was wearing nothing but his robe, reminding him just how much of his body would be up against Rhys, because he’d signed the contract for nudity. Total nudity, yet again, as part of the addendum he didn’t read. Not even the cock sock.

  He turned around and paced the other way, trying to come up with some way to calm himself down, but he couldn’t seem to think of anything. He didn’t hear the door open, so when he turned to make his way back across the room, he was startled to see Chance leaning against the door.

  “I thought you might be driving yourself nuts.”

  Patrick snorted. “Something like that.” He took a deep breath, shot another look at Chance, and started walking again. “You know, I thought I had a handle on this. But… it’s….”

  “Rhys?” Chance asked, and Patrick nodded as he turned around again. Before he could get halfway, though, and without having seen Chance move, his boyfriend pulled him in and kissed him. He closed his eyes and let himself get caught in it, let himself take the comfort and relax, degree by degree, as the kiss continued.

  Finally, they pulled back, and Patrick looked up into the blue eyes. “It… I don’t….” Patrick broke off and growled in frustration. “He’s going to try… I don’t know exactly what, but… it’s going to be ugly.” He frowned, dropping his eyes to Chance’s collarbone.

  “I know that.” Chance nodded. “But you’ll be fine. Step back,” Chance whispered when they broke apart.

  Patrick blinked up at him but did as he bid. Chance guided him over to the small sofa in one corner, and Patrick sat. A few seconds later, Chance was on his knees with Patrick’s cock in his mouth. A ridiculously short while later, Patrick was biting a knuckle to hold in a groan as he emptied himself into Chance’s mouth.

  Chance cleaned him off, then sat back. Patrick could not miss the lump in his boyfriend’s shorts, but Chance shook his head. “Nope. I’ll be fine. And so will you. You’ll handle the scene well, and maybe this’ll help you not have quite as much trouble as you did with Angelo. But—” He held a finger up when Patrick opened his mouth to speak. “It’s okay if you do. I’ll still love you. And remember, in just a little over a week, we get to go away for a while.”

  Patrick nodded and smiled. “I… you… are a fucking amazing person, you know that?”

  Chance grinned. “Yup. So it’s a good thing I love you.”

  Patrick punched Chance in the shoulder, laughing. “Asshole. I love you too.” He shook his head and looked down at Chance. “Are you sure she’s going to want to meet me? And Avery?”

  Still grinning, Chance nodded. “Oh yeah. In fact, she yelled at me for not bringing you sooner.”

  Patrick laughed, feeling better. “Your mom’s pretty great. I wish mine was as understanding.” He sighed. “Thank you. You succeeded in distracting me. Very well.”

  With a laugh, Chance leaned in. “Good.” Chance kissed him again, then stood up and stepped back. “I’ll be watching. It’ll be fine, okay?”

  Patrick nodded. “Okay.”

  Chapter 20

  As he made his way to the set, Patrick wondered if maybe he’d blown the whole thing out of proportion, especially when he saw Rhys pacing the set as well. It was the first time in a long time they’d had a chance to talk without someone around, and he walked a little faster to try to take advantage of it.

  As he approached Rhys, however, Jack stepped around one of the walls, and Patrick, annoyed, sighed. “We’re ready,” Jack said in greeting. “This one isn’t as… involved… as the one you did with Angelo.”

  Patrick realized he must have been scowling, based on the expression on Jack’s face. “Good” was all he could manage. “I didn’t sign on for three full scenes.” He knew he was being hard on Jack, but his frustration with Rhys and his worries over the scene were making him grouchy. He paused and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Finally, he opened them and looked at Jack. “Sorry, just….”

  “No, it’s okay. You know, I used to be on the other side of the camera.”

  Patrick blinked. “Really?” He wracked his brains, trying to think of what he might have seen Jack in, but came up blank.

  Jack nodded. “Yeah. It was a very long time ago, but I was. Did a lot of bit parts, then started getting some more regular roles. Landed a small cable TV show back in the early ’90s—the kind of thing you wouldn’t have been allowed to watch at the time.” He chuckled. “I, uh, quit right after my first sex scene. I didn’t handle it very well. I managed to get my first directing job and never looked back. So, uhm, I do understand, at least a little.”

  Patrick looked sideways at Jack and nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He took another deep breath. “Let’s just get it over with.”

  “Okay,” Jack agreed, and they stepped onto the set.

  “Hi.” Patrick stepped up to Rhys and looked up at the man who used to be his friend but was almost a stranger these days.

  Rhys stared at him for a moment, then gave a very small smile. “Hi, yourself. You ready for this?”

  Patrick nodded, though he still wasn’t too sure about that. “I guess we have to show the end of the sex, then the after-sex stuff.”

  With a nod, Rhys turned to the bed. “Yup. Do you think you can make Nadir look like he’s in love with Cyrus?”

  Patrick frowned and sighed at the tone in Rhys’s voice. “Yes, Rhys. Nadir isn’t happy about Teman, but he still loves Cyrus.”

  “Yeah, I get that, but are you okay with it?”

  Patrick closed the distance and stopped in front of Rhys again. He reached up and put a hand on Rhys’s shoulder. Rhys turned back, peering at him intently. “Rhys… I’m not the one that’s basically disappeared. I thought we were still friends.”

  “What about Sound Boy?” Rhys asked, and Patrick sighed.

  “Chance is my boyfriend. That doesn’t mean you and I can’t be friends, Rhys. That’s all we are, but we are friends.”

  Rhys didn’t answer, and before Patrick could say any more, Thom came in to collect their robes. They climbed onto the bed, and Rhys knelt in place in the center. Patrick settled in, straddling him. He adjusted his cock the best he could, but knew, before anything happened, he was going to get hard, despite the blow job from Chance earlier. He could
already feel himself start to react from the position alone. That got about ten times worse when Rhys adjusted his own cock and it was now lying alongside Patrick’s. Patrick resisted the urge to groan or growl or something… but only barely.

  Rhys put both arms around Patrick, and after Jack adjusted them—one hand cupped Patrick’s ass, the other wrapped around Patrick’s waist, holding him in place—Patrick got his positioned. He rested one hand on Rhys’s shoulder, and the other was up on Rhys’s head, fingers threaded through the curls.

  “Now, I know I said you’re supposed to pick up right at the end, but let’s start a little bit before then. What would be about halfway through.”

  Patrick sighed. “Should have known he’d do this.”

  Rhys chuckled. “Yeah, me too.” To Jack he said, “Fine.”

  After Patrick nodded, Jack backed up to stand next to the camera. Patrick turned his face up to Rhys and waited for the calls. “Let’s hope for as few takes as possible.”

  “Mmm.”

  Patrick wanted to ask Rhys what was meant by that, but then Jack made his call, Rhys caught Patrick’s lips, and they were filming.

  Patrick was briefly stunned by the kiss, though, realistically, he should have expected it. Rhys took advantage of the reaction and deepened it, his tongue sliding along Patrick’s. It took Patrick more than a few seconds to remember what he was supposed to be doing, but, thankfully, Jack didn’t cut yet.

  He shifted and started moving, doing his best to make it look as realistic as possible. Despite his best attempts, between the kiss and the friction to his dick from their stomachs and Rhys’s cock, Patrick’s cock started to harden almost immediately.

  “Good, good,” Jack said. “Now, hand into his hair.”

  Patrick had forgotten there was a sound overlay for the first part and it wouldn’t matter what noise was made on set yet. He rather hoped that would mean Jack would keep microdirecting, though he didn’t really expect it. It seemed like whatever he hoped for, Jack did the exact opposite.