Riding Tall (3 page)

It was past eight by the time the shoot ended. Mackenzie wanted to have a hot shower and then crawl into bed. Into
Joe’s
bed, ideally, but that was a three-hour drive away and Mackenzie was supposed to be back on the set at ten the next morning. No Joe for him. So he’d settle for the hotel, even if he
was
slated to share a room with another model, who seemed to be channeling the vampire vibe just a little too deeply. He’d been flown in from New York and seemed to think that meant he was the star of the shoot. Hell, maybe he was. Maybe in the years that Mackenzie had been goofing off, this clown had cornered the market on “smoldering vampires who wear a lot of leather” modeling.

“You heading over?” Mackenzie asked with a friendly smile that was only a little fake. “Want to share a cab?”

The guy looked at him as if he was insane. “To the
hotel
? It’s eight o’clock!” His smile was pitying. “It’s a little early for bed, don’t you think?”

Well, that was a good point. Mackenzie needed to get himself back on his city clock. “All right, then,” he said with what dignity he could muster. “I’ll see you later, I guess.”

“Wait,” the vampire said as Mackenzie started to turn away. His sullen expression morphed into something Mackenzie couldn’t quite identify. “I thought maybe you’d show me around. I don’t know Toronto very well, but it’s a good-size city, right? I mean, I don’t expect New-York-caliber nightlife, but there’s clubs, right? Things to do, people to fuck?”

And now Mackenzie recognized the man’s expression. The vampire was trying to leer at him. Mackenzie forced himself to keep a straight face. “There’s both,” he agreed. “I could suggest a few places to you.”

“You don’t want to show me?” The vampire pouted about as well as he leered. “That’s not very hospitable. I thought Canadians were friendly.”

“Polite,” Mackenzie corrected. “The stereotype is that Canadians are polite.” And the fact that he wasn’t laughing at this clown was proof he was living up to his nationality.

“Hmm… you say
polite
, but I hear
boring
.” The tone was teasing, but there was a bite behind it all. “Is this because of your boyfriend? I heard you talking about him.” The vampire shook his head. “Myself? I will not tolerate a possessive, controlling man.” He looked Mackenzie over. “I guess once you get a bit older it’s easier to accept, but I’m still young! I need to have fun! You remember what that’s like, don’t you?”

Mackenzie had no idea how he was letting himself get dragged into this. “Joe isn’t controlling. And, yes, I remember how to have fun!”

“Yeah?” Now the vampire smiled, and it was actually a fairly attractive expression. Mackenzie had no idea why the kid didn’t use it more often. “So prove it!” He wasn’t flirting anymore, just playing, like a puppy darting in to nip and then dance away. Actually, the kid kind of reminded Mackenzie of Griffin when he’d been young. Skinny, with floppy hair and pointy white teeth.

“Are you going out like that?” he asked. “All the leather? The eyeliner? It’s a bit….” He saw his chance for revenge. “Are people still dressing like that in New York? That look is really over up here.”

The kid raised his eyebrow. “New York is all about irony. You know?”

“Nope,” Mackenzie said blithely. He was too old for this nonsense, too old to be worried about what some punk kid thought about him. But there was something depressing about the thought of going back to his hotel room all alone, and so early. “We can get something to eat, if you want. Maybe downtown. There’s a pretty good gay village. You’ll find lots of places to have fun down there.”

“And I’ll persuade you to stay and have fun
with
me,” the kid promised.

They were out in the suburbs and had to phone for a cab. Mackenzie almost called the whole adventure off right there. He wasn’t making that much money from this shoot, and now he was going to blow some of it on cab fare downtown, spend more on a meal and at least one drink while he was down there, and then pay for cab fare right back to the burbs for his stupid hotel room. It wasn’t a good idea.

But as the cab made its way down the Don Valley Parkway, his attitude started to change. By the time they got off the DVP and started working their way through the crowded streets, he was feeling energized again. The tall buildings, the crowds, the sense of being in the center of things, where anything could happen… he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it all.

He directed the cab to stop outside one of the places he’d used to go when Nathan wasn’t with him. Nathan hadn’t really appreciated the more alternative styling of the place, and the conceited waiters, merely annoying to most people, had enraged Nathan. He wasn’t a man who’d tolerated any challenges to his own dominance. Mackenzie smiled as he thought of bringing Joe there. Joe wouldn’t
love
it, maybe, but he’d be a good sport. And he’d probably think the waiters were hilarious. Joe was confident enough in himself not to let someone else’s perceptions affect him.

The vampire had been looking out the window with interest, and when he turned back to Mackenzie, his eyes were bright. “Yeah,” he said with satisfaction. “
This
is what I was looking for!” He jumped out of the cab like Griffin chasing a ball, and Mackenzie was left to pay the fare.

By the time he was done with that, the vampire was already posing by the window of the bar, looking for and receiving admiration. Yeah, the kid was good-looking. Mackenzie wasn’t going to argue with that. But he wished Joe was there instead. Damn,
that’d
give people something to look at. Joe’s shoulders alone were enough that Mackenzie could probably make back his cab fare by offering five-second looks for ten bucks a pop. And there’d be repeat customers even at that price, because five seconds really wouldn’t be enough to appreciate all that soft skin and hard muscle.

But Joe probably wouldn’t be a big fan of the idea. Spoilsport. Mackenzie was smiling as he pulled the door open for the vampire.

The waiter came, and Mackenzie was about to order a beer when he remembered that he’d never really liked beer when he lived in the city. He’d developed a taste for it since it was all Joe ever seemed to have in the fridge, but it wasn’t his traditional preference. He’d drunk vodka martinis with Nathan, but he hadn’t really loved those, either. “I’m looking for a new favorite drink,” he told the waiter. “Can you bring me something I might like?”

The vampire looked horrified at Mackenzie’s lack of trend sensitivity, but the server was obviously pleased to have yet another opportunity to demonstrate his superiority. And that proved to be Mackenzie’s downfall.

It was a Tuesday, and one of the first really cold days of the year, so the bar wasn’t as busy as usual, and apparently the servers and the bartender seized on Mackenzie’s innocent question as a challenge. Instead of coming back to the table with one full-sized drink, the server brought a tray of shot glasses, each filled with a different-colored liquid. “Taste test,” the server declared. “These are our top sellers. I expect you’ll find something delicious in there, but if you don’t, we’ll keep track of what you like or don’t like, and we can refine the selections for the next round.”

“It’s science,” the vampire said approvingly.

Mackenzie tried not to think about the possibility of a next round. There were twelve shots on the tray already. They probably weren’t all straight alcohol, but even if there was a lot of mix in them, his plan for a meal and an early night was fading fast. “I’m going to need some food,” he said. “Something to help soak up the alcohol.”

“Pasta special?” the server asked with a halfhearted wave at a chalkboard near the front of the restaurant. It was too far away for Mackenzie to read, but apparently the server had chosen to specialize on drink-seeking and wasn’t interested in helping with food choices that evening.

“Okay,” Mackenzie agreed.

“Carbs will make you bloat,” the vampire said disapprovingly, “and we’re shooting tomorrow. I don’t want your big soft tummy ruining the shots.”

Mackenzie had a moment of wondering what the hell was going on. How had he ended up in this bar, with this asshole, trying to find a new drink that he’d never have a chance to order when he went back to his regular life…. Then he took a cautious sip of the first drink on offer, and the moment of doubt passed. “That’s delicious,” he said, and then he finished the shot. “What is that?”

“I’ll tell you at the end,” the server said. “You should taste them all first.”

“Science,” the vampire said again, and Mackenzie sipped the next drink to avoid saying something he’d regret.

The second drink was tasty as well, although not quite up to the standards of the first. The server was standing there, watching Mackenzie drink and taking note of his preferences. Apparently all the drinks were supposed to be consumed at once?

“Excuse me,” someone from a nearby table said, and the server and the vampire scowled him in unison.

“I’m helping this table right now,” the server said, shocked by the other customer’s rudeness.

The vampire just hissed, “It’s
science
!”

Mackenzie took another drink, and then another. The flavors were starting to blur together, but that was okay. Apparently he wasn’t quite as dedicated to pure research as the other two were. He just wanted to finish this, get his pasta, and go back to the hotel.

Round about drink number nine, his resolve started to weaken. He was getting drunk. There was no way to deny that. It seemed wasteful to consume all that alcohol and then just go back to his room and pass out. The money, the calories, the effort of coming all the way downtown—all for nothing, if all he did was finish dinner and climb back into a cab.

He finished drink ten and had almost convinced himself to extend the evening, experienced a brief moment of self-doubt when drink eleven tasted of black licorice, and then knocked back drink twelve with enthusiasm. He nodded happily. “Number one is number one,” he said. “Can I have another one of those? Full size? And what was it, anyway?”

“Raspberry cosmopolitan,” the waiter said as if he was imparting the wisdom of the ages.

“I’ll have one too,” the vampire said as he drained whatever it was he’d been drinking. He looked at Mackenzie, then grinned and looked back at the waiter. “Better make them doubles.”

Mackenzie didn’t object. The shots hadn’t been all that big or strong, but he was definitely drunk. And after a certain point, there was no point in trying to fight against the current. Better to just let yourself be swept along and see where you ended up. He was pretty sure the night’s destination wasn’t going to be anywhere all
that
special, but maybe he’d at least have some fun on the way. He was two hundred miles away from the man he loved, but at least he had alcohol. And a vampire. Yeah, it was going to be one of those nights.

Chapter 3

“I
T
WAS
one of those nights,” Mackenzie said. He was standing just inside the barn, watching as Joe untacked Misery. The mare had tried to bite Mackenzie the first two times he’d gone near her, and he’d never given her a third opportunity. Joe couldn’t blame the guy; he was new to horses, and trying to learn, but Angel or Devil were really more his speed.

“I still don’t quite understand. You ran into the Russian guys
after
the vampire model passed out, or was he still around and talking to them?” It didn’t really matter, but Joe was trying to wrap his head around it all. Mackenzie had just gotten back from the city and come up to find Joe at the barn, so this was their first chance to catch up. Except Mackenzie wasn’t really all that useful when it came to figuring out how he’d been spending his time.

“I honestly have no idea. Everything after the third club is a total blur.”

“And you still managed to work the next day?”

“That was the best part!” Mackenzie grinned like a little kid. “The photographer
loved
it. He said we’d looked too healthy the day before. He wanted a sort of dark, decaying look, and we were both
totally
able to give it to him.”

“You got lucky,” Joe said. It wasn’t his place to lecture Mackenzie about any of this. The guy was a grown man and he made his own decisions. Mackenzie going on a bender hadn’t hurt Joe or his family, so it really wasn’t any of his business. Still, it sucked to think that Mackenzie cared about his career enough to leave Joe behind, but not enough to keep his drinking under control.

“Speaking of
getting lucky
,” Mackenzie said, “You think there’s any chance of a quick trip to the house? The kids are all at school, right?”

“They are,” Joe agreed. There’d been no more resistance from the school when he’d dropped Lacey off the day before; everything seemed to be going smoothly, at least for the time being. He leaned his saddle against the barn wall and tugged the rope to untie Misery. He had lots to do, as always, but Mackenzie
had
been away for two nights, and Joe
had
missed him. Maybe there was time for a quick visit.