In Bed With The Boss Page 0,45
a small apartment not far from here.” He still didn’t know where this was going, but if it involved getting him promoted in the firm he wasn’t going to ask questions.
“I was thinking that since I’m willing to help you out with the promotion, you might be willing to help me out,” Brad said. “And being that we have so much in common, if you know what I mean, our unusual friendship would benefit us both. We could have sort of an arrangement. Guys like us have to stick together.”
Toby wasn’t completely sure he knew what Brad was talking about. But he had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that they weren’t heterosexual. The only thing they had in common was that they were attracted to men. “I think I know what you mean. But I don’t see how I can help you. You’re a junior partner; I’m an assistant art director.”
Brad smiled at him and paused. Evidently, he didn’t want to come right out with it. He thought for a moment, as if searching for the right words, and then said, “It’s not always easy to find a nice private place, if you know what I mean. At least not for guys like us. A safe place, where guys like us can just kick back and relax for a couple of hours a week. A small apartment like yours not far from the office would be perfect for someone in my position. It would be the perfect combination of discretion and convenience.”
When Toby finally understood what Brad was talking about, he gulped and said, “It’s not easy. I know what you mean.” He knew there had to be a catch. Guys like Brad Lindsay never offered to help anyone unless there was something good in it for them. Brad wanted to use Toby’s apartment as a destination for his discreet meetings with other men. And he wanted it so badly he was willing to advance Toby’s career.
“And I know I can trust you,” Brad said. “After all, you have just as much to lose as I do.”
At first Toby didn’t understand…it didn’t fully register. But when he thought about what Brad had just said in more detail, he understood completely. Even though Toby wasn’t married to the boss’s daughter, he did, indeed, have just as much to lose as Brad if anyone found out he was homosexual. High profile, respectable firms like Johnson, Frederick, and Lindsay didn’t hire homosexuals knowingly. No one did that. Even the most flamboyant homosexuals Toby had seen on TV, like Truman Capote, never admitted to it openly. They just flitted around, drowning in innuendo, waving their limp wrists and ignoring their identities completely. And they always got a good laugh…at their own expense. So Toby nodded and said, “You can trust me completely.”
“And you can trust me,” Brad said.
Toby stood up and reached across the desk to shake Brad’s hand. “I’ll have a key made this evening. The only thing I ask is that you let me know ahead of time when you’ll be using the apartment so I’m not around. I’d rather not run into you. This way you have complete privacy and I know nothing.”
“No problem,” Brad said. “I think we’re going to be very good friends. It’s the perfect arrangement for both of us.”
Early the next morning, Toby gave Brad a key to his apartment and told him the address. He handed it to him in the reception area and no one even noticed. But the next afternoon when Brad called and asked to use the apartment later that evening for a couple of hours, Toby got a sinking feeling in his stomach. The magnitude of what he’d agreed to do hit him hard and his heart started to race. He couldn’t say no. He’d made the deal and he’d known what he was doing. But there was something about the entire arrangement that didn’t sit well with him. And now he would have to figure out how to kill two hours after work before he could go home to his own apartment.
* * * *
By the end of October, Toby found himself locked out of his own apartment for two hours as often as four nights a week. At least Brad always let him know when he needed the apartment, and he never took longer than the allotted two hours they’d agreed upon. But that didn’t leave Toby many alternatives on the nights Brad used his