Chapter 33

After leaving Jennifer, money tucked in to my wallet and sitting in my Uber ride, I felt as if I had grown up a little somehow, as if I had matured and hopefully, become a better person for it. Any bigotry or intolerance I may have harboured, however slight, had been swept away by this experience. As I’m sitting there, bouncing along in a Toyota Corolla, my phone, my ordinary phone, vibrates in my pocket.

There was a text from J, Leo’s actor friend. He wanted to know if I had contacted his manager yet. I was having serious doubts about the whole acting lark. There was no way I could be famous and not have previous “partners” claim to know me from their past. In spite of J’s reassurances, I was not convinced.

Besides, I was pretty sure that his manager was not so much interested in promoting me as an actor, as intent on promoting his cock up my arse.

Not an unpleasant thought, of course. But I didn’t need to go through the charade of an audition to get fucked nowadays, I had men queueing up to do that. And willing to pay for the privilege.

I texted back that I would get around to it soon. I doubted if he believed that, I don’t think I would.

Pulling up a street away from home, I tipped the Uber driver five quid, and got myself in doors. Mum and dad were watching some awful reality TV show, and Shilpa was out somewhere with her mates.

With the barest ‘hello are you OK?’ from the parents, I shot upstairs to my room, to stash the cash and check my business phone.

There were several messages, mostly from previous clients asking for another meeting. But one text stood out, really stood out. It was from a man named Leo!

It couldn’t be, could it? Leo is not an uncommon name, surely just a coincidence then. But for a few moments, I was unsure what to do.

I didn’t know if I should feel flattered or betrayed, that he wanted another coffee-coloured, long-haired Adonis in his life.

If it was “my” Leo, was he looking to be unfaithful with another Indian queer?

The hypocrisy was not lost on me. I was unfaithful to Leo on an industrial scale, but I wasn’t the one proposing settling down to domestic, monogamous bliss, was I?

I decided to reply and ask about his location, for cost of travelling purposes, of course. If I knew where this Leo was based, I’d have an idea if it was him or not. I got a reply within twenty minutes. This Leo lived in the same area as my Leo. It had to be him! What the hell?

Now I was really stuck for what to do. Clearly, I couldn’t send him the standard set of photos, Leo knew my naked body like the back of his hand.

I decided to ask for a photo, not a nude, just one to see what he looked like.

If the photo was of my Leo then I’d have to make an excuse, outside my area, too far to travel, something like that.

His response took a little longer this time, a whole two hours. What was he doing, what took him so long to find a decent picture? The one he eventually sent was one of him on a film set. It looked familiar, I’m sure he’d shown it to me before.

So it was confirmed then, it WAS Leonid. My heart sank. Shit!

Suddenly, I didn’t feel quite so bad about my philandering.

I thought I’d leave any further contact for a day or two, just to get my head around it.

I had a look at the “repeat requests”. Kinky Graham and his equally kinky wife Julia wanted another visit. As did the rich and generous Arthur and also married Henry.

I assumed that Henry had managed to find a window when his wife was away again. However, when I contacted him to arrange another liaison, he told me that sadly, his wife had left him as she’d caught him, flagrante delicto with a rent boy.