Kurt went through as much of the training session with the SEALs as he could. He was in great shape, and he knew it, but these guys were something else. He wasn’t in a position to get up there and try to wrestle alligators or anything like that. He certainly couldn’t scuba dive. His contract with the studio specifically forbade it, along with alligator wrestling or anything else that might damage the face.

So, he tagged along and hung out in camp, bored as hell. At least his information gathering stunt at the prison had gotten him a little bit of traction with the guys he’d gone with. Kelly, Floyd, and Hopper had loosened up with him and were willing to talk to him now. That went a long way toward getting some of the other guys to open up a little.

The only one who was still openly hostile was Van Heel, and damn it, that shouldn’t hurt as much as it did. It wasn’t like he’d expected Van Heel to like or respect him. He was used to his partners at least being willing to speak to him after the fact, but maybe Van Heel was just more honest. Kurt might secretly want a real relationship, and to have someone who wanted to be there for him, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think he was going to get it.

He left his tent—his own tent, because apparently no one could ever control themselves—and sat behind the thing to look at the stars. It was certainly nice out here. LA, New York, or London had too much light pollution to get a good view of the stars. Every once in a while he’d get a good look while he was on location somewhere, but he was usually too busy or too tired.

Footsteps in the underbrush made him jump up, but the person approaching was just Van Heel. “Relax, Hollywood. If I’d wanted to sneak up on you, you’d never know I was here.”

“I love the scent of macho bullshit in the evening. If you lay it on thick enough it might make the ground here a little more fertile. You could probably put in a barley crop. Not a great one, but you know. Details.” Yes, Kurt was definitely going to fire his agent.

Van Heel held up his hands. “Just trying to set your mind at ease.” He put them down again. “So, it looks like we’re going to be heading back to Virginia tomorrow.”

“Excellent. I’m sure you’re very fond of your home state, and most Texans I’ve met will tell me all about its good qualities until my brains are pouring out of my ears. But all I’ve seen of it has been a fetid prison and the inside of a tent. I’ll be glad to be out of it.” Kurt probably could have been more diplomatic, but he couldn’t see a point to it. Van Heel knew who he was. He didn’t feel compelled to hide it anymore.

Van Heel scowled at him, and then he relaxed. “I want to get mad at you for that, but I can’t exactly argue with it. No country should be judged by its prisons alone.”

Kurt considered pointing out that Texas was not its own country, but he left it alone. He wasn’t American, and he didn’t care enough to get into a debate about it. “Rough day out there?” he asked instead.

Van Heel shrugged. “It’s rougher in hostile territory. Better to practice now than get caught flat-footed later.” He paused. “You know, you’re getting off easy.”

Kurt raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure I am, all things considered. Why do you say that?”

“We made the last outsider who got stuck in here with us actually do the training with us.” He smirked. “But Church was embedded. He was getting sent overseas with us, going into combat with us. He was going to have to keep up. You’re going to be on a soundstage.”

“We’ll be in Arizona, actually. But your point stands.” Kurt looked back up at the stars. “Did you really come out here to chat with me? Because I haven’t gotten the impression that was something you were all that keen on.”

Van Heel glared, but he stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, well. I’ve got to know. This whole image thing you’ve got going on. You as good as admitted it was all fake, right?”

Kurt considered his words carefully before answering. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t know Van Heel all that well either. “There are parts of it that I don’t necessarily mind, I guess. If I’m in a bad mood I can get away with lashing out.”

“But you really are with a different guy, like, every month.” Van Heel squirmed.

“You’re pretty hung up on that.” Kurt scanned the stars for Orion. He wasn’t hard to find.

“Well, yeah. It’s not…It’s not normal. You have to know that, right?”

“What would be normal to you? I’m an omega. I do have needs, you know.” He made a face.

“But it doesn’t exactly lead to a family or anything like that. You’re not going to be doing this forever. And guys don’t want to be with someone who’s had so many partners, you know?” Van Heel kicked at the dirt.

“Concerned for my welfare all of a sudden?” Kurt rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m very much aware that I’m not exactly endearing myself to family men. It’s a trade-off, like I’ve told you.”

“So you chose it.”

Kurt’s mouth went dry. No one had ever asked him that before. He should lie, and say he had. It wasn’t like Van Heel actually cared. But he asked, and this might be Kurt’s only chance to say it.

“Not as such, no.” He sighed and turned his gaze toward Cassiopeia. “It was something that was started up for me, when I was still underage. After I turned eighteen I found I needed to start from scratch, financially speaking. I could hardly afford to make my image over when that image was what got me roles.”

Van Heel pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. “Okay, but if you went broke why did you sack your own dad? He was your manager. He should have been able to get you on your feet again.”

Kurt laughed, but there wasn’t any humor in it. “Why exactly do you think I wound up broke, Van Heel? When I turned eighteen, I found out my father had been taking the money I earned and siphoning it off to his new family. He put everything he bought into his new wife and new kids’ names, so I couldn’t get it back. I mean, maybe I could have eventually, but who’s really going to hire the guy who kicked a ten year old girl out of her house, right? So, there I was. I was able to prove he’d done it, and renegotiate any contracts he’d signed in my name, but that was it.” He clenched his hands into fists.

“Holy shit.” Van Heel widened his eyes. “And your own dad encouraged that kind of thing? The sleeping around?”

“Of course. It brought in the money. He usually picked the guy, before I fired him.” Kurt rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not exactly unique in Hollywood, Van Heel. I’m not special. It’s the way things are, and we all survive. A lot of people have it worse. Most of the guys I’ve been with are in the same boat. We all benefit, and we usually have a good time.”

Van Heel sighed. “See, now I’m conflicted. It’s…well, it is what it is in the Hollywood set, you’re all boosting each other’s careers and stuff, but I didn’t sign on for that. I’m not even usually a one night stand kind of guy. So, I’m kind of feeling like you pulled me into something seedy, and now I’m part of it.”

Kurt snorted. “You certainly seemed eager at the time.” Was Van Heel trying to make himself out to be a victim here?

“Yeah.” He flicked his tongue over his lips. “It was kind of a mess. You didn’t even want to be there. But, um, I didn’t figure that out until it was too late.”

Kurt tried to translate Van Heel’s words into something he could understand. “If I’m grasping what you’re saying, you didn’t force yourself on me or anything of the sort. Okay? It wasn’t necessarily what I wanted to be doing that night, but I was okay with it. It was a little more, um, abrupt than I’m used to, but whatever.” He waved a hand.

“Does what’s-her-face usually pick out your partners for you?” Van Heel stepped forward.

Kurt looked into Van Heel’s eyes. What was really going on here? “Listen, Van Heel, I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at. It’s part of the job. I’m not being held hostage and pimped out or anything like that. It’s okay.”

“So it could have been anyone, and you’d have just gone along with it.”

Kurt let his head fall back. He’d have sat down, if the SEAL encampment had anything comfortable to fling himself onto. “I guess? If they’re only going to be around a time or two, does it really matter? I’m hoping for a good time just as much as you are.”

Van Heel gave a grunt of frustration. “Ugh. But you’re not with anyone you’d pick, if you had your choice.”

Kurt picked his head up and squinted. He just couldn’t get what Van Heel was trying to say. “Um, I have a choice. I can quit and try to find a real job. Of course I have no marketable skills, so here I am.”

“No, no, no. Okay. First of all, do you want to keep whoring around like this or do you want a real relationship?” He covered his mouth with one hand. “Shit. I didn’t mean to put it quite like that.”

“I think you did, at least on some level.” Kurt pretended it didn’t bother him. He was an award-winning actor, after all. He could do this. “And hey, if the shoe fits, right?”

Why should it hurt him? Why should it bother him in the slightest? Once he left this part of the job, he’d never see Van Heel again. They didn’t move in the same circles. They had no reason to stay in contact. Maybe it only bothered him because Van Heel was the first guy he’d been with—ever—who wasn’t part of the whole Hollywood circus. That probably had an awful lot to do with it.

“Do you really think of yourself that way?” Van Heel put a hand out, like he wanted to comfort Kurt somehow. He pulled it back, because people didn’t comfort whores.

Kurt huffed out a little laugh. “I think of myself as an actor. I’m a man, doing a job that doesn’t always have a lot of boundaries.”

“Okay, but what is it that you, yourself, actually want?” Van Heel stepped closer. Kurt could wish he didn’t have to breathe in that familiar, beautiful scent.

“I want to get to a point in my career where I can pick and choose projects. Where if I don’t want to work with a director I don’t have to, and if I’m not in the mood for sex I don’t have to do it, and if I want to start a charitable foundation or devote some time or space to a cause I can do that. That’s what I want to do.” He didn’t have to think about that.

“Okay, but what about outside of work?” Van Heel pressed his lips into a thin line again, like he was frustrated by something. “There has to be something you want in the long term.”

“I’d like to be able to buy my mum a nice estate out in the countryside.” Kurt shrugged. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“Ugh. I mean what would you like for yourself, outside of work?” Van Heel gritted his teeth.

“I don’t know. I figure when I can’t get work anymore I’ll retire to the same estate with my mum.”

“What, alone?”

“Sure.” Kurt stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I’m not a hundred percent sure what exactly you’re trying to get at. I’m sure it’s kindly meant, so thank you. But honestly, I’m fine. I’m not a wounded bird out here on a wire or something like that. I’m good at what I do, and while there may be parts of it I could live without, I do love my job. I love my fans. I don’t want to quit.” He patted Van Heel on the arm companionably. “Have a good night, mate. That flight home is going to be a bitch.”

He retreated to his tent and lay down on his bed roll. He wanted to close his eyes and go to sleep, but he wasn’t quite feeling up to it yet. He couldn’t get comfortable, couldn’t quite find the right position for his spine. What the hell did Van Heel mean by coming along and asking him dumb questions like what do you want outside of work, anyway? There was no outside of work, not for him and not for Van Heel, either. Did the guy think he was the only one who basically lived his job?

Van Heel was maddening. Kurt didn’t like things that threw him off his game, mentally speaking. He’d learned, through the whole thing with his father, that he needed to keep his wits about him.

He pulled out his phone and checked his accounts. His investment accounts were doing well enough. If he dialed his plans back and left his mother in the flat where she was, he could probably live fairly comfortably.

He took a look at his day to day accounts. He could see where the money had come out of his account to pay for the extravagant dinner “he’d” arranged for the SEALs, that disastrous night he and Van Heel had been together. He didn’t see a corresponding deposit from the studio reimbursing him for the expense.

He sent an email to Elisa. She’d probably just forgotten, given that they left for Texas not long afterward, but he wanted to remind her anyway. He wasn’t taking any chances, and he wanted a paper trail too.

He went back through and reconciled all of his expenses for this studio against his reimbursements, since he was awake anyway. He was fairly sure they’d all been reimbursed, since he didn’t like to get sloppy about things like that. Interestingly enough, it seemed as though the reimbursements had come from Elisa, not the studio. None of them had been exact matches.

He frowned and sent her another message. I think we need to go over expenses and reimbursements. Maybe we should set up a call, between us and someone from Accounting? Just to be on the safe side, he cc’ed the producer and director at the studio.

Now he could stretch out and close his eyes. It was probably all fine, but he couldn’t afford to get complacent. Not again.

* * *

Dom noticed the next morning when the bus showed up to drive them back to the airport, that Sommer wasn’t her usual cool, collected self. She tried to assert her authority over Kurt, but he didn’t just defer to her. He gave her a cool, bland smile and folded his arms over that muscular chest of his, and she flinched.

Dom didn’t get the impression Sommer flinched at much.

Oh, well. It wasn’t his circus, or his monkeys, and he wasn’t going to get involved there. He was still kind of reeling from the discussion he had with Kurt last night. Trying to reconcile Kurt’s words with reality was giving him fits.

Kurt didn’t think of himself as abused or as having been pimped out, but Dom knew what he’d seen with his own eyes. What I was part of, he had to admit. Sommer had picked him out, sent them off together, and Kurt had played his part. If Kurt’s father had been doing the same thing, only while he was still a teenager—well. That was too much to wrap his head around.

He couldn’t make himself believe Kurt didn’t want something more, or something better. The only problem was, Kurt didn’t seem to think he did. That wasn’t quite right, though. He couldn’t articulate anything he wanted. He had goals, sure. He wanted to make enough money to get a place for his mother, to drop the bad-boy act, to be able to give to charity in his own name.

He liked his job, but he couldn’t think of anything he wanted outside the job. He couldn’t even understand the question, and he’d admitted as much. And Dom, well, he loved being a SEAL, loved it as much as he loved breathing air and having the sun shine on his head, but he still had things he wanted outside of the Navy. Someday he’d leave the Navy, become a civilian again, start a family, and raise the next generation of patriots to serve their country.

The idea that Kurt couldn’t even understand the question made his skin crawl.

When the time came to board the plane, Sommer recovered her aplomb well enough to keep Kurt from picking a seat by himself. She all but dragged him to a seat next to Dom. The guy would have to cause a scene to resist, and a few of the guys let out some ribald comments when they saw the matchup. Dom rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to them,” he muttered. “They’re just giving me shit.”

“Easy for you to say.” Kurt’s breathing had picked up already, and he was gripping the arms of his seat so hard his knuckles were white. “This thing is going to crash, or shake itself apart, and the last thing I’m going to hear is your friends hooting and hollering because you got laid and they didn’t.”

Dom looked into Kurt’s eyes. His pupils were hard to make out, considering how dark Kurt’s eyes were, but Dom could see how constricted they were. “Holy shit. You’re afraid. You’re afraid to fly.”

Kurt gave him a look that spoke volumes about his perception of Dom’s intelligence.

“Dude, we thought you were just too much of a snob to fly with us.” He laughed and buckled Kurt’s harness for him. “It’s going to be okay. The Navy spent too much money training us to let us all die. The pilot has flown in every condition, to include heavy fire. Would you feel better if you met him?”

“Probably not.” Kurt looked down as Dom finished buckling him in. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Dom clenched his jaw. It didn’t sound like anyone had taken care of this guy in a long time. It was probably a waste of time to take care of him now. He didn’t seem to want it, but knowing how scared he was, Dom couldn’t just sit by. “Try to relax. I’m right here with you, okay?”

Kurt blinked a few times in confusion, but he nodded. He jerked in his seat when the plane started moving. He closed his eyes and breathed faster when the plane actually took off, too, and Dom took his hand. Kurt flinched, but he accepted it and held on tight.

Dom didn’t let go for the rest of the flight. Neither did Kurt. When they landed, Kurt held on, but he kept his eyes open and only showed a little bit of panic.

Before they were allowed to deplane, DeWitt got up at the front of the plane. “All right, boys. Tomorrow’s Saturday. That means most of you have the day off. Kelly, Fitzpatrick, Floyd, Robson, Adami, and Hopper, I want to see you at Chief’s place tomorrow.”

They were dismissed. Their time was their own.

Sommer was one of the first ones off the plane. Dom didn’t think about much beyond getting home, himself. He just wanted to get home and do some laundry, maybe put his feet up and watch some TV. Sommer, though, seemed to have other ideas.

She put her hand on his chest, right where it met his shoulder. It was the same thing all those church girls Mom tried to set him up with did, the ones who just didn’t get the hint. “Mr. Van Heel, just the man I wanted to see.” Her lips peeled back from her teeth. “I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor.”

He removed her hand from his chest as gently as he could. “Lady, I don’t mind helping out with some stuff, but I have to draw a line when things turn sketchy.”

“This is mild, I promise. All I need you to do is to get Mr. McNeil back to his hotel. I’ve got him staying at the Westin. Don’t worry, there’s a car and everything...”

“I’ve got my own, thanks.”

She froze, that rictus of a smile stuck in place. “All right then. It’s just that my contract states that he’s not supposed to be left alone in public, and I need to run some errands on his behalf. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I’m fairly certain he’ll just want to stay in his room anyway.”

Dom narrowed his eyes at her. Something felt wrong here, and he couldn’t in good conscience be part of it. At the same time, he couldn’t just leave Kurt to whoever she dug up to replace him. It wasn’t like Kurt would say no, and maybe Dom didn’t have the right to object on his behalf if Kurt didn’t have a problem with it. Still, he was probably the only person in the whole United States who had Kurt’s best interests even remotely at heart.

“Sure. I guess.” He rolled his shoulders.

“Excellent. Let’s go get him together, shall we?”

Kurt didn’t react when they told him. He just gave that vacuous smile he always did, but they were in public now. Now that Dom knew there was more to him than that, the vacant looks filled him with rage. He didn’t let on, though. He just stood by as Elisa explained her version of the situation to him. Then Kurt followed Dom to his car.

Once they were in his car, both men allowed their poses to melt away. “I’m surprised you took her up on it,” Kurt said, a little curl appearing on his lip.

Dom gripped the steering wheel. He’d been fighting the memory of Kurt’s hot body for weeks, but he couldn’t ignore it anymore. “I’m not planning on anything. I just didn’t want you to feel obligated with anyone else.”

He expected a snarky remark. “So you’re…defending me,” Kurt said instead.

“I guess.” Dom squirmed. “I guess I feel bad about how things went down last time.”

“Ah. Okay.” Kurt nodded once and looked out the window. “Well, thank you. It’s kind of you.”

They parked at the hotel and made it up to Kurt’s room without anyone noticing the celebrity in their midst, probably because Kurt had liberated a hat from the Navy and wore it low on his head. Camo suited him. Everything suited him.

Dom escorted him up to the suite and came in to search the place. “Can’t be too careful.” He ducked his head a little sheepishly. “I mean it’s not like no one’s ever bugged a celebrity’s hotel room before. What you do with your own time should be your own business.”

Kurt scoffed. “I can see the headlines now. Kurt McNeil Scandal: Actor Watches Cat Videos On The Internet For Hours At A Time.” He snickered when Dom grinned. “That’s what I want, you know.”

“Scandal sheets? Time to watch videos on the Internet?” Dom scratched his head.

“A cat. When I get the place out in the country with my mum, I want to go to a shelter and get a couple of cats.” He stood up a little taller, pleased with himself. “You asked me what I want. I want cats.”

Dom burst out laughing. “I guess that’s a start. You could just go and get some cats, you know.”

“I’m not really home enough. And by ‘enough’ I mean at all. I sold my condo in LA for cash because I wasn’t using it. I’m always away, on location or filming somewhere else. I’m not going to waste money on a place in LA I’m not using. It would be cruel to drag cats around when I can’t give them a stable home.” He waved a hand. “But someday, when I’ve got a home with my mum, I’m going to get cats. And I’m going to spoil them rotten.”

Dom couldn’t help himself. He brushed a stray hair out of Kurt’s face. “You’re adorable.” He sighed. “I hate to leave you alone here. I know we’re not exactly friends, but I just feel bad to abandon you like that.”

Kurt bit his lip. It was the most beautiful look he could have displayed. “You know, you don’t have to. If you feel like staying.”

Dom had only wanted to go back to his own place and relax. Now, he bent down and touched his lips to Kurt’s. He kept his kiss soft and gentle, not demanding or presuming. He knew what he wanted, of course. As soon as he saw Kurt in that hat, he wanted him again. But knowing what he knew now, the last thing he could do was force Kurt or pressure him.

Kurt’s eyes widened, but he wrapped his hand around the back of Dom’s neck and opened right up. His kiss was a little tentative, but Dom couldn’t describe it as hesitant. Dom would say Kurt was more surprised than anything else.

Dom pushed his irritation with Sommer, and his disgust at the way the young man had been managed his whole life, out of his mind. He swallowed down his discomfort with Kurt’s promiscuity. Instead, he focused on the things he should have focused on the last time. He focused on Kurt.

Kurt’s kisses became more enthusiastic as they went on. They had nowhere to go, nowhere in particular to be. He finally showed more enthusiasm and gripped onto Dom with both hands. Dom could feel the heat pouring from his body as he mouthed down Kurt’s neck. It was so hard not to reach out and just take, but Dom didn’t want that today. Part of him did, but what he really wanted was to prove to Kurt that he could treat him well.

He wanted to prove to Kurt that he could be treated well.

He pulled back when he heard Kurt’s breathing shift. “Is it all right if I take your shirt off?”

He met Kurt’s eyes. Kurt looked down and away, skin flushing red with lust and maybe a hint of something else. “Yeah,” he said, in a thick and raspy voice.

He stripped off Kurt’s shirt and once again admired his sculpted form. “Can we take this into the bedroom? I want to do this right.”

Kurt blushed scarlet, but he nodded. “Anything you want,” he murmured.

Dom lifted his face up by the chin. “Hey. I was asking about you. It’s supposed to be good for both of us, okay?”

Kurt nodded. For a guy who’d been with an awful lot of guys, he seemed almost timid when Dom led him into the bedroom. Had Dom really treated him that badly the last time, or was he really that unused to tenderness? It was probably a combination of both.

Dom brought him into the bedroom and helped him out of his pants and underwear. This time, there was no doubt about Kurt’s arousal. His cock stood up tall, dark, and proud from the well-groomed patch of hair between his legs. Dom got rid of his own pants, and he met Kurt’s eyes. “Are you sure you want this? I don’t want anything you don’t.”

Kurt nodded, and licked his lips. “Y-yeah. I do.”

“Okay. Come on. Lie down.” He guided Kurt down onto the bed, just as gently as if he’d been a virgin, before reaching into the nightstand and grabbing a condom and lube.

This wasn’t the hotel they’d left. Someone had to put these away, which meant someone had to plan for Kurt to be having sex in here. Dom wouldn’t think about it, not now. He was going to focus on Kurt, who certainly hadn’t planned on anything. He got down to the foot of the bed and kissed his way up the inside of Kurt’s leg, working slowly until he got to Kurt’s balls.

Kurt lifted his head to stare, open-mouthed. His whole body shone with sweat. Dom’s own cock throbbed mercilessly, demanding attention, but Dom had plans. Right now, those plans included taking those balls into his mouth.

Kurt cried out in surprise and pleasure. Dom sucked on his balls for a little while, savoring the flavor of his skin, before moving up to his magnificent cock. He wasn’t usually a big fan of giving oral, but something about it this time made him even harder. He even liked Kurt’s taste. He had to remember to start stretching Kurt out, otherwise he could easily lose himself in just this.

Kurt warned him before he came, and Dom pulled off of his cock just in time. Kurt came in messy, heavy ropes all over himself, clenching on Dom’s fingers as he cried out in his pleasure. Dom watched his face, carefully, and kept working.

When Kurt was stretched enough, he rolled the condom on, slicked himself up and finally sank himself inside. God, it felt good to be inside of him again. He worked his way in with one slow, inexorable thrust and waited for Kurt to tell him to move. The pressure and the heat were almost too much for him, but he waited.

“Move, please.” Kurt opened those coal-black eyes of his and wrapped his legs around Dom’s waist.

Dom snapped his hips back, but he didn’t let go and pound in like some kind of machine. His thrusts were measured, rhythmic, controlled, and they hit Kurt’s sweet spot on a pretty reliable basis. Dom knew, because Kurt made the most amazing sounds when Dom got it right. After a few minutes, Kurt’s cock perked up again. Dom took that as permission to go a little harder, but he still kept his wits about him.

He could only withstand the friction and the seduction of Kurt’s cries for so long. He didn’t keep track of time, but he knew he was going to lose it soon. He reached in between them and wrapped a hand around Kurt’s cock. He lost the rhythm after a few more thrusts, but he kept jerking even as his orgasm overtook him.

Kurt followed him into bliss, making a mess on top of the one he’d already left. Dom collapsed on top of him, spent. Kurt looked sated and happy. Dom knew how he felt.

He pulled gently out of Kurt and disposed of the condom as soon as he could get his legs underneath him. He could just pull his clothes on and head back to his condo, but he didn’t want to anymore.

“Hey, Kurt. Come on, babe. This shower is big enough for two. We’ll clean up, and then we can relax and look at some cat videos. Okay?”