Hunted – 42

As soon as Logan and Skye left, Brice began to clean up the kitchen, a chore that mainly involved putting dirty coffee cups in the dishwasher. Faolán watched him with amusement then commented, “I didn’t realize you were a homebody.”  

Brice chuckled to hide his nervousness. Nervousness he couldn’t quite understand. “Someone has to do it and I don’t have a daily maid so…”

“I thought actors had lots of…people I guess.”

“I like to keep a bit of privacy when I can, despite how it seems from all the tabloid stories.”

“Because no one knows you’re gay except…well I presume you’ve had male lovers.”

“I have and I’m very careful when I take one. They know from the beginning that if they threaten me with exposure, I’ll see to it they’ll reap the rewards of that, and not in a pleasant way. If they keep their mouths closed, well…” He paused, surprised that he felt ashamed.

“Gifts, money, maybe a word in the right ears if they’re trying to break into television?”

“Yes. That makes me seem like a right bastard doesn’t it?”

“Sort of, yes, but it’s what you have to do to keep your reputation safe. Just like you make certain your peccadilloes with women hit the tabloids. Not the kind of life I’d like but to each his own I suppose.”

Brice closed the dishwasher before he asked, “What are you going to do with your life, now that you’re on the run? Or more, I guess, once we’ve dealt with Maximus—if we can.”

“You don’t sound quite certain we will.”

“I’m not, if you want the honest truth. As everyone keeps saying, he’s more than powerful, and from what I remember that’s the absolute truth. Right now I’m scared shitless.”

“Cliché, but there’s nothing wrong with being afraid, as long as you don’t let it overwhelm you. Fear does give you an edge, in that it heightens your senses.”

“So they say.” Brice shrugged then headed out of the kitchen to the living room, where he stopped to look at Faolán, who was right behind him. “You never did answer my question.”

Faolán frowned a bit. “I’m not quite certain there’s anything I’m qualified to do.”

“Surely you’ve gone to school.”

“High school, yes. After that I was forced to remain with the pack by Maximus.”

“Whew. So you never got your feet wet in the real world until just recently?”