THE GENTLEMEN'S CLUB Orlando Written by Lady Poetess egiggles at moose-mail.com /~bbp Please do not reproduce on any website without permission. This story has no resemblance to anyone dead or alive. PROLOGUE Moonlight and sonatas, the perfect way to end a blissful holiday of sun, sand, and sea. Orlando Bloom's bed was the lovely cushion of soft supple skin and well-formed muslces that was his vacation lover. The lover was just Gale, just as Orlando was just Orli to Gale. Last names would only give this holiday fling a deeper substance to cling to, and Orli wasn't prepared for a long-distance shit while Gale didn't show any inclination to pursue anything more than sex. It was enough for them that their fucking was just perfect and they had this fondness for each other than was skirting towards dangerous (think: long-term) territory. Orlando letting Gale call him Orli was bad enough. He hated the moniker Orli, and he never even let his mother call him that. Still, no harm done, surely, as Orlando was leaving tomorrow. He wouldn't see Gale again. And this was what he repeated in his mind as he closed his eyes and listened to the rhythm of Gale's heartbeat. He would try not to remember the way Gale's arms closed around his waist, or how now as one hand rubbed soothingly up and down the length of Orlando's spine. It wasn't even safe to remember this, Gale as a virile man who had pleasured him so well that he was probably spoiled for other men. It was the man's model- handsome face and rangy, virile body displayed in tight blue tank top and snug jeans that compelled Orlando to strike up a chat with Gale, who sat beside him on the plane. He kissed Gale's wine dark nipples now, sweet nipples that crowned the hard, bulging pectorals that were now tensed with desire. When they met, the electricity that sparked between them easily led them from conversation to Orlando kneeling between Gale's spread legs in the airport gent's room. It was Gale who made the next move by slinging his bag over his shoulder and climbing into the same cab as Orlando. "Got space for another guy, Orli?" he asked. They left the room only for long, long walks along the beach, where they didn't talk much. They just enjoyed each other's company too much for each's own good, until even the silence that extended was not of awkwardness but because they both just wanted to enjoy the moment. Orlando tried not to think of that as he let his hand now move lower to cup Gale's erection. He had his share of hung men, but Gale intimidated even he. Gale moaned in delight as Orlando's hands worshipped his balls, cock shaft, and the hairy pucker of his ass. It took Orlando two days to convince Gale that the latter couldn't hurt Orlando with that big dick. Gale treated him like a porcelein, taking Orlando slowly and not even plunging his cock more than halfway into Orlando's educated ass. And when he finally did, Gale trembled and was so shaken with remorse, convinced that his raping thrusts (he lost control when he realized that Orlando could take all of him) had hurt Orlando. It took Orlando another hour of slow, sensual loving to calm Gale down. Even after so many times experiencing it, Orlando still was unprepared at how well Gale pack his ass until he felt like bursting. He straddled Gale, felt that thick moist tip pushing his ass open, and ground his hips down that well-lubricated cock. He choked a cry as the pleasure as well as pain wracked his very being. Gale reached so deep up Orlando, so deep that Orlando could never get enough of it. Fiery pleasure pooled and burned at the base of Orlando's spine as he intertwined his fingers with Gale's and they began moving in a synchronous rhythm. Orlando plunged down as Gale's hips thrust high, impaling Orlando on that thick cock, and when Orlando lifted his body, Gale slowly withdrew his cock. And as was their favorite way of coming, Gale would take Orlando's mouth with his, so that their breath and moans of pleasure became one the moment Orlando hit his climax and Gale soon after. That night, by mutual, unspoken agreement, both stayed awake all night. Instead of fucking, though, they just held each other until they caught the sunrise. When the alarm clock finally rang, only then did they fucked one last time. Orlando had a wild hope that maybe this time Gale would jump into the cab. "Got space for another guy, Orli?" Gale would ask, and Orlando would shout, yes, yes, there was always space. But Gale never did, and Orlando climbed into the cab and headed for the airport alone. Next time, he decided, he'd keep away from holiday flings. When it was good, the hangover could be headsplitting. ONE Three months later Orlando Bloom bit back a yawn as he watched through his binoculars at his suspect. His spy van, as he would like to call the battered van of his, was unbelievably hot today, thanks to the sweltering sun, and he wondered what his boss Denis Leary was doing now. Probably having a nice cup of iced tea, that bastard, while his assistant Orlando was frying here. "Aha!" he said aloud as the suspect approached the motel. He grabbed his camera and prepared to take a few incriminating snapshots for his client. He wished he could say that he was spying on a drug ring or something in that vein, but this one, like all the others, was another suspected adultery or infidelity case. So many cheating bastards around the place, it's quite disheartening. His mother told him to be a chef like his father and brothers and sisters, and Orlando had more than once wondered whether she was right. Catching people cheating on the ones they professed to love was making him jaded with the idea of happy ever after. He frowned when he missed a good face shot. Oh well, now he would have to get a closer shot. As quietly as he could, he sauntered along the motel corridor, wondering whether room 76 or 77 was the one housing the adulterous man and his lover. "What are you doing?" As hands grabbed Orlando and pulled him aside, Orlando prepared to deliver a hard blow at the attacker's crotch. But the familiar timbre of that voice stalled him. He could still remember - no, it couldn't be. But it was. He was looking at the equally stunned face of Gale. "Why are you following my brother?" Gale demanded to know. "You're a Harold?" Gale Harold's my name, and no, I won't tell what Gale is short for." "Galandriel?" Orlando hazarded a guess. The man he was trailing was named Aragorn. "Galandriel is a female elf, I told my mother again and again," Gale burst out loud. He sighed. "Could be worse. I could be named Merry, Gimli, or Frodo." "So, nice seeing you," Orlando said quickly. He tried to gather enough strength back to his shaky knees to flee. "Not so fast!" Gale's hand caught Orlando's. And there was now a dangerous light in the man's eyes as he took in Orlando's appearance up and down. He seemed to find Orlando's sweat-stained shirt and dirty jeans arousing, judging from the way his eyes darkened in desire. "You're here," he said in a huskier voice now. "I can't believe it. I tried to search all over the place for you." "What? Gale, please - " Too late. Gale had Orlando pinned against th wall, and his muscular body was pressing Orlando in a way that only rekindled the desirous heat in Orlando's treacherous body. He had tried so hard to suppress the heat and the memories, but now, when Gale was kissing him so hungrily like that as if he wanted to rediscover every taste and texture, oh... Soon their fingers were raking through their clothes, desperate to relearn each other's bodies. Orlando pulled Gale's jacket down the man's arms even as Gale was pushing Orlando's jeans as low as he could. Orlando wasn't wearing underwear, and when Gale had Orlando's jeans undone and pushed down his ankles, Orlando willingly spread his legs, not caring that they were in an open place. Then Gale plunged home, and they both cried out in pleasure. "You're as good as I remembered," Gale growled. "You bastard, you spoiled me for every other man, and I don't even have the desire to fuck anyone after you. Only you, you fucking hot-assed bitch." A scream, and then a thud interrupted them. Gale turned slightly and saw his brother gaping at them. And the woman Aragorn was meeting - Gale's Tolkein-crazy mother - had fainted dead on the floor. At that very moment, Gale felt his cock explode and he couldn't help it. He groaned and cursed, leaving the shocked observers no doubt as to what he was going through at that moment. Orlando pushed him off, his face blushing scarlet. Gale fastened his trousers and stood between the man and his family to give Orlando the privacy to clean up. He was still recovering from the powerful orgasm he just had, however, so his defiant scowl might not be very effective. "Jesus H Christ," Aragorn murmured, pale. Gale simply grinned. "Hello, Aaron. Orlando, my brother Aragorn, who prefers to be called Aaron. Aaron, my future... what's the word? Wife? You get the idea. Meet Orli." TWO Wife? Orlando was still stunned an hour layer as he sat in the bedroom of Gale's apartment. Gale was Gale Harold, the rich, snobby Harolds? He couldn't reconcile the playful, teasing Gale he knew with the snobby Harolds, or at least those Harolds he happened to deal with. The Gale he knew surfed badly, acted like a dumb goon, and sang off-key ABBA songs. And he was a stiff-lipped Harold? He couldn't imagine Gale either, but Gale existed. The subject of his thoughts came in from the adjoining bathroom with only a towel around the waist The towel was soon discarded, tossed onto a chair as he climbed onto the bed, nude and clean, to lie beside Orlando. That thick, quiescent penis rested on his corrugated stomach, content for now. "Okay, tell me why you are trailing after my mother and my brother." "I work in the motel as staff?" Orlando suggested. "Nice try. Any better excuses?" Gale retorted. His voice was always pleasant, but there was an undercurrent of steel in it that made Orlando nervous. "Hey, I'm a private investigator. That's all I can tell you." "Oh, so Aaron's wife is getting all jealous and paranoid again?" Gale chuckled at Orlando's face. "Your firm is not the first PI she sicced on Aaron. No one knows, of course, but me when I overheard her on the phone one day." He wagged a finger at Orlando. "Trust, Orli. If we're getting hitched, we have to trust each other." "You're just joking, right?" Orlando gaped at the man. "I thought that was just a fuck-you to your family." "I'm serious. Have you any idea how I felt when I realized I let you walk away like that? You're a good fuck, yes, but a great guy to be with. I'd love to know you better, and if we are on schedule, I can have us married at this wonderful place in Vegas." "Vegas?!" sputtered Orlando. Here was a man from a line of old money and the best he could do was Vegas? The outrage. Of course, Orlando wasn't seriously considering this proposal. Gale was joking... he had to be. "Fine, name your place. I'll get us there. Don't think I'm Donald Trump, though. The money is controlled by my mother. I have my own money from my modeling days and my current catering business, but I'm no endless moneypot. Not that I'm assuming that you just want my money," Gale quickly added as he saw Orlando's face. "I just like you to know that I'm not that rich." "Yeah, yeah, what-fucking-ever, Gale. But I won't marry you." Gale's look would be comical if he didn't look so genuinely stunned and hurt. "Why not?" he demanded. "You're looking at me, great old me, Orli. We had a great time, remember? Monogamy is my middle name, and I'm a nice, romantic guy. And modest too." "Oh, you. You're Gale Harold. I'm just Orlando Bloom, struggling high school dropout kid who is trying to persuade his boss that he can be a real PI. Even if this can work, what happens if I find that your brother is guilty of adultery? What happens when you don't like my job and demand that I quit? What happen if I hate your relatives? This is crazy, Gale!" But even as his jadedness kicked into action, he couldn't help hoping that maybe Gale could make everything right. There would be no problems ever... right? Then again, Denis, his boss, would encourage Orlando to say yes to Gale. Get close to the suspect, Denis always said. Maybe he could... no, he couldn't. As he looked into Gale's face, he knew he couldn't use the man. "And I don't want you wondering if I say yes just to use you," he finally said. "Oh." Gale ran one hand through his hair wearily. "Here's where you get some things wrong. You know what my family calls me? Goner Gale. I am known to do a lot of stupid, crazy things, so my family will not blink an eye if I marry you. If they do, I don't care what they say. They are my family, I love them, yeah, even when they are a pain in the ass, but I love you too. Fuck anyone who make me choose between them and you. But since I know my family can be a pain in the ass, I am more understanding if you do not want to live in the same town as my family. Just don't make me choose between either of you, because I won't. "Okay, on to the possibility of your job interfering with our life. Hell, my job will interfere with our life too. I cater big parties for big functions and they take up a lot of time. As long as you don't start sleeping around or playing someone's bitch for information, I'm fine with whatever you do. But I'll add a postscript later. Let's go to the possibility of me worrying that you are using me first. "Now, Orli, do you really think that someone like me, who sees fortune hunters every day and every where, will be so gullible as to never consider that possibility that you are using me? Of course I did. And I don't believe that, because we have something real back then in Miami, and we both know it. So hell, you're a fool if you don't marry me. "Postscript about your job: yeah, I don't like one thing about it. Your job makes you think the worst of me. If Aaron is cheating, well, he's Aaron. I'm Gale. We're two different persons. I won't hate you if he's found cheating, and you won't find me cheating on you just because Aaron cheated. I'm Goner Gale and I know I've an unfortunate reputation as a playboy, but I'm always a one-person man. Now, what were you saying again, Orli?" "You've been rehearsing this, haven't you?" "No. But I'm a caterer. We caterers are very good at giving impressive and sincere speeches from our hearts at the drop of a coin." "Hah!" Orlando threw a pillow at Gale, who caught it before proceeding to pounce on Orlando and tickle the man mercilessly. "Say yes, say yes!" he demanded playfully, but soon their hormones flared out of control again. He was soon kissing Orlando, and it was just so convenient that they were already on his bed. Perfect. THREE Gale Harold wished the damned Roxy Music shit would stop making his head throb. But when Jason Behr was holding a party... well, what Jason Behr wanted, he usually got because people didn't have energy to turn the persistent weird guy down. Besides, Jason was sleeping with Jeffrey Nordling, and intelligent people who wanted Jeffrey's favors (and Jeffrey, who could give one access to power businessman Ben Affleck's good favors, was a person who could do a lot for a fledgling businessman) were smart enough to realize that Jeffrey tolerated no shit about Jason. But Gale had no troubles with Jason, even when he knew the man could grate on his nerves. He was the kind of guy who rarely found problems with anybody he came in contact with. The only times someone made him remotely crazy was his mother and Orlando. Orlando. He scanned the crowd for the close-cropped haircut that could only be Orlando. That was his habit nowadays: he would scan the room for Orli every time he walked into a room where Orli was, the first thing ever. It frustrated him no end that Orli was stalling. He wanted Orli in his life. They liked each other, and they did well together, and Orli certainly came loud and hard the nights he lay under Gale. So why was Orli making it so fucking complicated? Where was Orli? "Where's Orli?" he demanded, not caring whose hand he caught. "Let go of my hand," Jeffrey Nordling only said. Gale let go. Jeffrey might want catering one day. "Orli isn't here yet. He called Jason and said that he was on a case and might be a little late." Jeffrey snorted. "'On a case' - most likely he was trailing another adulterer to his rendezvous spot." "Hey, don't talk about Orli like that," Gale snapped. Jeffrey only grinned knowingly. "The mighty Goofy Gale, fallen at last?" "Yeah. But I don't think Orli will ever say yes," Gale said. He bit his lower lip. "I always get what I want, but I ask him every time, and still he says to take it slow." "So take it slow. You're only thirty. What's the rush?" "But I can't stand it," blurted Gale. "How can I? There's always this -" Jason Behr stuck his face between them. "Where's Orli?" he asked. "Good question," Gale said, his irritation rising at the man's intrusion. "Oh, probably at work. I wanted to show him my new comic strip. Did I tell you? I have a new commission by Chicago Sun-Times to do some political satire. I told Jeff that I was kinda scared - I have been thinking of getting a bigger offer from people for my comics, you know, and while I have all respects for my queer fans, stuck in a gay niche is quite limiting. But now that CST is asking me, wow, it's scary, isn't it? I mean, CST, and people all over the place will be looking at my work and judging me. I wanted this all along, but now I'm just so worried." "Jason, love, I think James' here." "James? Oh good! Excuse me! I have to tell him about CST!" Jason nodded absently and dashed away. Jeffrey chuckled as he watched Jason leave. "Boy, what a tiring guy." "And yet you sleep in the same bed as him every night. I'm in awe." "He brings energy and quirks into my life. And like you said, there was always that... whatever it was you were saying before my charming boyfriend interrupted us." Gale stared after Jason. "But he's right, I guess. About people getting scared of having what they always wanted finally being given to them." "In business we call it inertia. Same with physics." "And Orli's inertia is immovable," Gale whispered. "Don't worry, Gale. A man like you will soon make Orlando see through his errors." Jeffrey perked up as a new song started to play. "Ah, Patti LaBellle's If You Asked Me To, my favorite song. Excuse me, I think I'll dance with Jason to this one." "Okay." "Say hi to your parents for me." "My mother is still shocked that you are sleeping with a man young enough to be your nephew." Jeffrey just grinned and walked away. Gale watched Jeffrey charmed Jason, who blushed, before intertwining his fingers with Jason's as they walked to the middle of the room. It hurt to see people having a good time, because while he was smiling, he was slowly bleeding away inside. Orlando knocked on the door. The room was dark, unlit. "Gale?" "Here." Gale was sitting at Jeffrey's study chair and watching the world outside the window. "What are you doing hiding in this room?" Orlando asked softly. "Thinking." "Want to tell me about it?" Gale made a sound, bitter or humorous, Orlando couldn't tell. "Orli, what's wrong with me?" Orlando raised himself to seat on the study table. "Nothing significant." He thought about the question. "I wish you will give me more space to think and breathe. When you are with me, you always make decisions and plans for me. You just walk in and decide that we will do this, eat that, go there. It's suffocating." Orlando sighed. "Sorry, I'm too tired after work and I got carried away with my words." "No, that's okay. May I say what I find wrong with you now?" Orlando steeled himself. "Okay." "I love you, man, but you're an ass." Gale's teeth flashed in the dark. "But so am I. I thought I was giving you the world. Now I know that you are just scared. You think I'm not scared?" "I think you're not scared of a lot of things." "But that's because those things do not affect the way I think, sleep, and breathe. You think I am overpowering? Steel yourself - I can't sleep easy when you're not lying beside me. I can't breathe unless it's the same air you breathe in that I breathe. Whenever I hear the door of my office open, I perk up, only to sigh when I realize that it's not you. But fine, I'm too overpowering. But that's because you don't do one fucking thing!" Orlando started to protest, but shut his mouth when he realized with a shock that Gale was right. "I once deliberately didn't call you for two days. And you never call back for dinner or even to say hi. Guess who persuades you to stay the night? Me. Guess who initiates our fucking? Me. Guess who buys you lunch when you are staking out? Fucking me, the biggest idiot in the world. Now tell me this, Orli, do you love me, even a little?" "But I do," Orlando said. Yes, he did, he realized even as he said it. "But..." What could he say? "Oh Gale, I didn't know. Gale, I'm so sorry." "Marry me, or not, fine. Just don't leave me alone in this, Orli. I'm not that strong." Gale rubbed his thumb slowly over Orli's knuckles. "But you love me," he said as if aloud to himself. "Wow." "But I thought you knew." "Do I?" Gale wasn't that cocky now. And he was hurt. Orlando hurt too, because he had wronged this man in a way. He sighed, trying to swallow a sob, every instinct of his trying to fight this. He was afraid of getting hurt, even if Gale was here, now. But maybe it was time to start trying and fighting for himself. For them both. Maybe it was unfair to ask Gale to carry all the burden of the worlds, even if he seemed capable of doing so. Maybe Orlando needed to give back as much as he took. Looking in Gale's eyes, cocky and confident eyes now dark with insecurities and uncertainties, as his defences were down for Orlando to see, maybe, Orlando realized, maybe Gale didn't deserve to be taken for granted. Because Orlando didn't want to lose Gale, who was a part of him as much as the air he breathed. How that happened, he didn't know, but he was glad it did. "Maybe you will like to have dinner with me tomorrow?" he asked. "Okay," Gale said, and grinned. The old Gale was back. "Take it easy, huh?" "Please?" "Okay." He could be patient. Orlando was worth the wait. Orlando proposed two weeks later. Gale got a pillow thrown at him when he rang up the guys and told them they had lost the bet to him. But everybody was invited - Gale would be doing the catering.