2006

Summerlin, Nevada

Halloween

Minutes after leaving his car with the valet in front of the Washington-Dory mansion, Haley’s phone vibrates with a text message instructing him to come to the third floor in-law suite.

He leaves Grayson at the children's party in the parlor and is only mildly surprised to open the doors to the in-law suite to the smell of marijuana.

Jean had  said the Halloween party was family friendly and the only thing Minnow and Luce had ever agreed on was the need to be high to get through social events involving large amounts of screaming children.

Their heads snap up in alarm when Haley opens the door to the suite but they relax when they see it’s him. Luce stares at his costume appreciatively.

Haley had hand sewn a high cut white leotard to a blue latex miniskirt to recreate Julia Roberts hooker outfit from Pretty Woman, including the burgundy jacket tied around his waist in case the outfit was too risqué. But, judging by what he’d seen briefly downstairs, it wasn’t.

“Hi,” Haley says, though no one responds. He walks around the massive bed to perch on Luce’s thigh, the latex skirt hiking up to the top of his thighs.

“Hey,” Luce grins back. He secures an arm around his waist and kisses him before offering the joint. “It’s Indica. If Minnow can handle it I'm sure you can--”

“What the fuck do you mean, ‘if Minnow could handle it’ ?,” Minnow snaps, looking up from her Blackberry.

“You’ve clearly gotten a lower tolerance now that you’re over the hill--”

“I told you assface, we do not talk about that day,” she pounces. “You’re time is coming, sweetheart and at least I won’t be 40 and still living with my mommy--”

“Atleast my mother won't make a point of cutting me out of her will--”

“Fuck my family,” Minnow says dismissively. “I have my own money. I’d rather be able to masturbate in my condo anytime I want than be in my bitchass mother’s will.”

“Surprised it hasn’t completely dried out—”

“Just because you couldn't get me wet doesn’t mean it's—”

“Fuck you—”

“—Fuck you, Luce—”

“—Guys. Can we not do this ?,” Alan interrupts the impending fight.

Haley could never quite get a read on Alan Gray. He was a freelance physician who worked nights because his patients were Vegas Strip employees and sex workers. He’d been with Minnow since Haley had met him the night he left Maxwell but they had never put a label on their relationship. He was just always there, adoringly at Minnow's side.

The two had always had an open relationship and earlier that year Minnow and Luce had started hate fucking. Haley liked watching Minnow’s dominant personality in bed the few times he was around to watch. It was exciting and different. 

“Pass me the wine, ” Minnow barks at Luce.

Luce rolls his eyes but picks up the wine bottle next to him on the nightstand.

“Let’s see those reflexes,” Luce calls and tosses the bottle across the bed to her.

“It’s open!,” Minnow screams too late. She attempts to catch it but flinches and misses the bottle. It lands on the emerald green bedspread, dark liquid pooling out of the loose bottle top.

“Luce, you god damn moron this is Versace!,” she shrieks, leaping off the bed and folding up the elaborate duvet. “Go put it in the washing machine. ON COLD.”

“He should put baking soda on it,” Alan adds. “It should come out just like blood—”

“So, go help him,” Minnow snaps and Alan follows Luce out the room.

Minnow lets out an annoyed groan and picks up the spilled bottle, swirling its contents before taking a swig from the neck.

 “Ugh, I don’t even think I like this. You want some ? It taste like sugar and…,” she swishes another gulp in her mouth. “And east coast autumn.”

Haley had always had a low tolerance but he hadn’t had a drink since Grayson was born two years ago and he’d forgotten what it was like. The chilled wine is crispy and spicy. He pours a little into the glass Luce had been drinking water out of on the nightstand.

“Did you curl your hair ?,” Minnow frowns at him. She brushes out her pixie before slipping a crown on her head and a prom queen sash across her taffeta ball gown to complete her costume.

“I had to. I’ve learned my lesson from that one time I permed my hair.”

“Oh my god!” Minnow laughs when she recognizes his Pretty Woman costume. “We used to be fucking obsessed with that movie! God, remember your Britney phase ? Her music sucked but I let you drag me to that concert in Canada.”

Haley shrugs. He’d brought every album and watched every award show performance since but who was counting.

“I was really lonely back then,” Haley says. “When things were bad with Maxwell and he kept me locked in the house I watched this MTV special about her all day in reruns. Britney was like… how I'd imagined myself.…she was like my imaginary friend who made it.”

“That time in your life is over,” Minnow reminds him. She leans into the full sized mirror and runs a dark eyeliner pencil quickly through her brows. “And as your real life friend I’m telling you that you’re wearing the wrong shoes for that costume.”

He looks down at his gold and white Adidas.

“You need boots,” she says, leading him to the walk in closet. “I know my idiot brother has some hooker boots in here.”

Jean Dory didn’t live in Rias and Charlotte’s  in-law suite but he used it as personal storage and stayed for a few weeks before and after holidays or whenever his granddaughters begged him into it. It was set up like a small hotel room with an attached bathroom, mini kitchen and balcony.

Minnow shuffles through boxes until she finds a pair of black leather stiletto knees boots that fit like thigh boots on Haley’s smaller frame.

“I look stupid,” Haley decides when he sees himself in the mirror-- even though he kind of  loved the way his legs looked in the heels.

“No, you look so hot. I fucking hate you and your stupid fucking body,” she smiles.  

“You girls  get all the fun stuff,” he sighs, admiring  his ass in the mirror

“Tsk. Try walking down the stairs with a pair of these without getting a black eye,” Minnow retorts, grabbing her breasts and adjusting them in her strapless bra.

There were days when he’d cross dressed at Harmony that he'd felt an urge to walk outside, to see how it felt to present a different side of himself. Jean blended the feminine and the masculine all the time but Haley had never been able to summon that level of balance.

“You should wear what makes you feel good. People are way more open minded these days. Make Luce buy you a pair of real Manolo Blahniks with all the money Jean’s giving  him.”

“What money ?”

Minnow goes still and shoots her joint an accusing look before cursing under breath.

“You know what ? Whatever. Jean isn’t randomly hosting a Halloween party,” Minnow sighs. “He’s going to announce he’s retiring …and that he and Charlotte sold Virtue. Luce is getting a big payout. You can’t say I said anything.”

He can barely comprehend the new information when Luce walks back in. Luce takes the offered joint from Minnow and she gives Haley a shush  gesture before exiting the room.

Luce takes two quick drags on the joint before going into the bathroom to wash his face, fix his hair and spray on cologne to cover the weed smell.

Haley almost thinks Luce hadn’t worn a costume—he could be a general buzzkill sometimes---but then he buttons a plaid button up over his white t-shirt and tucks it into his cuffed jeans. When he pulls on the light blue cardigan Haley’s hands go to his mouth.

“You’re Potsie from Happy Days!,” Haley squeals, leaping into his arms to pepper his clean shaven jawline with kisses. “Aww, I love it!”

Luce grins, picks him up damsel in distress style and carries him out the room.

“Whoa, you can’t carry me down the stairs,” Haley warns when they get to the large staircase

“Why not ? So you can break your neck walking down the stairs in those damn shoes ?,” Luce says inclining his head to the borrowed stiletto boots. “I bench press twice your weight. Plus the elevator is broken.”

“Minnow put the boots on me as a jok—wait they have an elevator ?”

He'd never spent much time in the house.When Grayson was being watched by the Washington’s nanny his only interactions with the mansion were  pulling up to the driveway and the nanny bringing Grayson out to him so he could keep going.

“You look sexy,” Luce tells him and some of his self consciousness melts away. “Besides isn’t  this what happens at the end of Pretty Woman?”

He hits Luce’s chest playfully.

“That’s Officer and A Gentlemen,” he corrects him. “Although 1980’s Richard Gere is the dreamiest Richard Gere.”

 

***

 -2-

The first floor of the Washington Dory mansion was adorned with oversized pumpkins on every surface and friendly looking paper ghosts floating from the ceiling. The crowd was an interesting mix of Virtue actors and their families, acquaintances of the Washington family and some of Rias’s colleagues on the Mojave Blade Casino Board of Directors.

Haley spots Jean in an alcove, laughing and  sharing a box of wine with Sara Grace. Jean was dressed in a bunny costume—a consequence of letting his granddaughters pick his costume. Sara had a jack-o-lantern shirt over her  black jean shorts.

As Luce sets him  on his feet, Haley hears the familiar patter of little feet. He scans the room until he spots his 2-year-old—dressed up like a clown—running towards them. All three of Luce’s nieces chase behind him.

 “I’m going to get a drink,” Luce whispers, gesturing vaguely to his approaching nieces. “I can’t deal with all three of the girls at once. Not again.”

“Luce, that’s awf--,” he starts to chastise but Luce was already half way to the bar being worked by  the Wicked Witch of The West.

“DADDY, DADDY, DADDDY,  I WANT THIS! I WANT THIS!” Grayson screams, waving a peanut butter cup in one hand.

 In his other hand he held a pumpkin shaped gift bag filled with more candy.

“No, he can’t have it,” 8-year-old zombie Eloise Washington informs Haley. She was turning into the kind of child adults called bossy but Haley thought she was adorable. “It’s too early for candy.”

“I like your shoes! Those are like grandad’s sexy boots!,” 4 -year-old Atsumi, the youngest Washington daughter, bursts in to tell Haley. She was dressed in a replica Cinderella costume complete with clear block heels. “Are your feet the same size ?”

Eloise  takes the candy from Grayson with the gentleness and authority of a primary school teacher and puts it back in the giftbag. Grayson looks confused before he starts whimpering and stamping his feet at losing his candy.  The  middle Washington sister, 6-year-old  Mai Washington (dressed  a girly devil) takes the candy back from Eloise.

“Look, Ellie! You made him cry, you’re going to get us FIRED,” Mai says, giving the candy back to Grayson.

“I did not! Stop! Stop!—”

“He wants it and I’m giving it to him,” Mai tells her with her hands on her hip. “I’m babysitting him too and I’m making an easy cute tip decision—”

“Nooo. You can’t make executive decisions,” Eloise whines.  “You can be my assistant. Only I’m really in charge cause I’m the oldest. You can only help--”

“Nah-uh, that’s not what Mommy said!” Mai argues. “I’m telling. I can babysit too, right Haley ? Tell her.  Atsumi is the assistant, I’m the real babysitter too. Tell her!”

“Stop fighting, girls!,” the youngest sisters says. Atsumi clicks over in her Cinderella heels to attempt to pick the fussy 2-year-old- up. Grayson immediately  puts his hands in her face to get her away so he can throw a full tantrum,  She puts her hands on her hips in a very Charlotte Dory manner. “Oh, for goodness sake!”

Haley carefully scoops Grayson up and quietly shushes him.

“You girls are doing such a good job taking care of him,” he says opening the chocolate and breaking it in half. “I think he can have half of it  now--”

“NOOO! BROKE IT, DADDY--,” Grayson screams, going limp in Haley’s arms and bursting into tears at the betrayal. “WHY YOU BREAK IT--,”

“Okay, okay--,” Haley says finding another piece of candy in the bag and opening it.

The candy doesn’t delight him as much as the sudden realization that he could pull out Haley’s earrings. The chocolate only gets licked a few times before the soggy candy is handed back to him.                                                             

“Girls,” Charlotte’s razor sharp tone makes Haley feels like he's is trouble too. She was dressed exactly like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “For goodness sake, you’re supposed to help Ms. Erica keep the children in the kid’s room. It’s not good hosting that all three of you left your guests. And it’s too early for the candy. Dinner first.”

“But--”

“Go,” she says pointing in the direction of the kids party. “Tell the kids the pizzas are almost here.”

As the girls head back, Grayson squirms to get down to so he can follow behind them and Haley silently re-evaluates his parenting like he usually did around Charlotte. His toddler was completely unreasonable most of the time but no candy after dinner seemed like a thing a parent should know to say.

He files it away for next year and watches as the girls have a mini fight over which two got to hold Grayson’s hands as they walk back. When the children reach the parlor where the kid’s party was being held the girls take turns hugging and kissing Grayson, making him sqwack with delight.

“The girls costumes are really cute,” Haley tells her.

“Ugh. They were all supposed to be a different Disney princess but they’re just as stubborn as their grandfather. I had to bribe Atsumi with a secret trip for frozen yogurt to get her to be Cinderella,” Charlotte admits folding her arms.

“I’m glad they like to take care of Grayson,” Haley observes. “I'm done and my sister isn’t interested in children so he won’t have siblings or cousins.”

Charlotte smiles wildly and nudges Haley with her cigarette-free cigarette holder. She gives him the careful dangerous smirk he’d only ever seen on Jean Dory.

“Wel-l-l-l,” she says coyly. “If you and Luce got married they’d  be cousins…”

“I don’t think we can even legally get married--”

“I mean not here. But they’re doing it in California.”

“Oh, uh, well, I don’t know—I mean—I would but, it’s too—I mean—Luce and I have never, um—”

Rias Washington slides in for the save, coming up behind Charlotte and twirling her around. He was dressed exactly like a Disney prince—which was appropriate because he had the face and hair of one. Haley had always found Rias insanely attractive with his pretty boy looks and fully body of traditional Japanese ink. Tonight he was down right dashing.

“I need you for Wii tennis doubles,” Rias tells Charlotte with childlike glee. “We’ve been challenged by Twyla and Colette.”

“Okay, I just need to make sure Erica knows to use the ghost plates for pizza and not the pumpkins ones,” she says and stalks off to attend to the matter before Rias can pull her back.

“This is a great party,” Haley says.  He'd been with Luce for five years but his interactions with Rias had always been brief. Rias had always seemed overly serious having been thrust into fatherhood and the chairmanship of a Las Vegas casino in his early twenties.

But tonight he came off  more carefree.

“It’s mostly Jean and Charlotte’s doing. You know how the Dorys get when they want to do something,” he says. “Do you play video games ?”

“Not really.”

“You have to try the Wii, it’s amazing. It’s all over Japan. I bought back six from my last  trip. The kids love it,  I’ll give you guys one.”

At first he refuses to accept the generous gift but after playing for an hour with Luce’s siblings he decides to take it.

***

-3-

By midnight the party had mostly cleared and the children were sleeping off their sugar highs in  Eloise’s king sized canopy bed.

Haley, Luce and  Gaige— who’d thrown a cape over a black outfit and splashed a bit of fake blood on his face to be a vampire—sneak off quietly to the third floor balcony. The balcony offered million dollar views of the stars and Nevada mountains. The two dominant men took up the bulk of the small patio sofa, their legs spread wide to claim space.

Haley had changed back into his sneakers and straddles Gaige’s lap with his knees. He gives the older professional Dom three innocent pecks on the lips and on the last kiss Gaige captures his lips and slips his tongue briefly into Haley’s mouth.

Luce makes a sound of frustration and  tips Haley’s chin towards him to steal a kiss of his own.

Gaige merely laughs at the act of possessiveness.

Luce picks up the deck of playing cards on the patio table. He does an impressive shuffle, tossing cards effortlessly from hand to hand before letting them cascade back into a deck in his right hand. He fans the cards out, the backs facing Haley.  

Haley picks one.

Two of hearts. 

He shows it to Gaige.

“Two of hearts ? Two is stroke,” Gaige explains to them. His hand rubbing the small of Haley's back. “Hearts is  hair.”

Haley moves from Gaige's lap to Luce's.  Luce keeps a firm grip on Haley’s waist and  strokes his hand through Haley's hair twice. 

“My turn,” Gaige smiles.

Gaige also does a showy, single handed shuffle. Haley wonders if he could get them to have a literal dick measuring contest. Gaige spreads the cards to Haley and this time the card he chooses is the eight of spades.

“Eight is spank. Spades is ass,” Gaige grins lasciviously,  pulling Haley over his knee and hiking up the skirt of his costume up.

The strikes are playful and leave him with a simmering pain, barely enough to take him to the place Gaige had when they went to his club and he’d brought him to a point that turned searing pain into intense floating pleasure.

The next round is Luce’s turn and Haley picks the five of clubs.

“Five is bite. Clubs is neck,” Gaige tells them.

Luce rolls his eyes and Haley smiles as he moves back to Luce’s lap and makes a trail of love bites down Luce’s neck. He unbuttons  Luce’s innocent looking plaid  button down to leave the last bite on his clavicle. For that one he breaks the skin and Luce sucks in his breath.

“Shit,” Luce hisses from the unexpected pain. 

But he can feel Luce getting hard beneath him and laughs. It’s taking all his control not to end the game and just starting humping his thigh.

The next card Haley pulls is for Gaige and it’s the six of hearts. Gaige lets out a satisfied laugh.

“Six of hearts, Angel.” Gaige teases, flirtatiously placing the card behind Haley’s ear. “I think…I want you on your knees and sucking my cock.”

“Like hell,” Luce frowns snatching Haley’s wrist as Gaige unzips his own pants. “You said hearts was hair. You think I’m fucking stupid ?”

“Calm the fuck down,” Gaige says dismissively.  “All six cards are oral sex. Dealer’s choice--”

“Don’t bullshit me--”

“I swear. Ask fucking anyone.” Gaige says and points to the six on the card and the upside down six on the other side of the card that resembled a nine. “69. You wanted to play. I thought you said you could share.”

“I can,” Luce spits. “But it’s interesting how your cards have all somehow been better than mine.”

“What the fuck, Luce ? It’s your fucking deck of cards—”

“Convenient how you never said oral sex was an option when you set the rules.”

“Cause I want fair game. ” Gaige retorts. “Everyone knows you use that freakish brain to count cards-”

“I’m not cheating, motherfucker,” Luce growls. "I don't do that shit anymore."

Luce’s hand balls into a fist at his side and Haley goes still, wondering if this had gone too far. He’d been excited for the scenario where could be  the play thing for two dominant men. He knew this wasn’t about him. Luce could have a fragile ego about his integrity.

“Come on, don’t be a sore loser,” Gaige smiles congenially in attempt to ease the tension. Or maybe because he knew Luce carried a gun. “It’s not very attractive.”

Haley is about to make a new rule that unsportsmanlike behavior resulted in a re-draw but Luce takes a sip from his root beer and kisses Haley possessively again. Gaige rolls his eyes at the display.

“Whatever,” Luce grunts breaking the kiss. “Fine, do it. But don’t you dare  come on his face.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Almost as quickly as he agrees the patio door busts open and Jean Dory walks on to the balcony, followed by the remainder of the party guests.

Haley quickly moves to sit on the other side of Luce. Gaige gathers the discarded cards. Jean had taken off his bunny costume in the middle of the party and changed and into a ratty pajama shirt and oversized sleep pants. He leans over the coffee table to pluck the six of hearts card from behind Haley’s ear. He hands it to Luce with a knowing look.

“Well, I know my dear sister sucks at keeping secrets so you all must know we’ve sold Virtue,” Jean announces once everyone is on the patio.

There are attempts at mock surprise.

“The sale was for $10 million to a new media conglomerate. I’ll be retiring and they’ve offered Charlotte a VP position. We’ll try to find work for most of our staff.  The official  announcement is tomorrow but I wanted the people in this room to know first because you’ve been with me since Virtue was nothing. You are my dearest friends and family. I’d like to give you all some monetary gratitude for the road.”

Jean pulls out a stack of  envelopes and passes them out.  Haley squeezes Luce’s arm when Luce sheepishly accepts his envelope and is surprised when Jean hands him one too. Haley takes the envelope out of politeness and nearly has a heart attack when opens it to see a check for $200,000.

 

***
-4-

The party disbands shortly after the checks and a few teary-eyed goodbyes.  

Haley had indulged in half a glass of wine earlier in the night and Luce insisted on driving them home.  When Luce goes to get the Volkswagen from the valet Haley leaves a sleeping Grayson on an armchair and tiptoes into the kitchen to find Jean. The older man was hunched over the counter next to a small mountain of Starburst wrappers.

“Gaige told me about your naughty little card game. Everyone knows six cards are oral sex,” Jean says. “Did I really never teach you how to play Flirt ?”

“You did.” Haley admits. “I...just like to have a little fun.”

Jean’s eyes narrow and then he lets out a bark of laughter.

“You cheated. You did. How ?”

“I marked the fun cards with a little dot in the back pattern so I could pick them for Gaige. I like to keep Luce on his toes.”

“Luce is usually so observant….I can’t believe he didn’t notice that.”

“I’m very distracting,” Haley quips and leans against the counter next to Jean. “What will you do next ?” 

Jean digs an acrylic nail through the family sized bag of candy until he finds another Starburst.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t think I’d be out of the game this early but I can’t keep spending money trying to fight these damn pirate websites. It’s like fucking whack-a-mole,” he sighs popping the candy into his mouth “I’ll probably  do some traveling, spend time with my girls, cultivate a lover in every major U.S. City. You know...the usual.”

“I actually… I came to tell you I can’t accept this--,” Haley says handing the check back.

“Why not ?”

“I know you're being nice but it’s too much. I didn’t invest financially in Virtue and I know you were giving me a huge break on the rent all those years I lived above Virtue--”

“I gave Gaige five hundred thousand and he doesn’t even really work for me. Luce got a million—ah, and I’m guessing by the look on your face you didn’t see his check….Buy a new car or take the boy to Disney World for a week. It’s 200K, love, it’s not life-changing money.”

Haley liked the idea of Disney World. But he also liked the idea of  Grayson having a college fund or making a down payment on a split level house in the suburbs  or having a nest egg if he wanted to keep working part time for a few more years so he could spend more time with Grayson.

Jean didn’t see the money as life changing but, for Haley, it was.

---

A/N

This was a fun chapter to write! I loved making up everyone's costumes. We're slowly going to get into some of Haley's identity issues but in the next chapter we'll mostly explore what Haley does with the money...

I sort of knew from the jump that Virtue exist in present day. The fact that many things that used to be paid got uploaded to free sites is more of a 2010's issue but I needed to keep the timeline moving.

The scene in the beginning where they are smoking weed in the in law suite was originally a threesome scene between Minnow/Luce/Haley that I took out. I took it out because the Gaige/Luce/Haley scene was also kind of a threesome scene and I thought having two in one night was a bridge too far. I just wanted to establish some things about the nature of their sex life…also I may have inadvertently invented a sex card game.

I totally take back what I said about Charlotte changing her name to Washington, she more likely changed it to Washington - Dory

Oh and this is the costume Haley is wearing: