The Sheikh's Rebel (gay) ☑️

12. Paris

The taxi appeared at ten o'clock on the dot.
His mother kissed him goodbye. In the distant, he saw Miranda standing in front of the window. He raised his hand. She waved back. During the taxi ride to the airport, he thought about what Miranda had said. "Choose your words carefully." It made him realize that he knew little about Jared's background. Jared's father had died when he was a baby and Jake had adopted him when he married Miranda. That's where his knowledge stopped.

Rose Water Strip was a small airport. At hangar nine, Tyler saw a black SUV.
Jared leaned against the big car and watched Tyler get out. Black eyes picked him up from head to toe. "Good morning, Tyler. You look unusually neat." He ignored the laughing spot in Jared's remark.

Jared knew as well as he did that this was his mother's idea of proper clothing. The dark blue trousers with matching belt and the starched white shirt looked good on him and were tolerated as such, but he had ripped off the tie as soon as he was out of his mother's field of vision.

"This isn't your normal style of clothes either," he remarked adrem, recognizing the quality of the sharply cut trousers as coming from the collection of Jared's impressive wardrobe. He looked great. Only Tyler's outrage at the whole situation kept him from overt admiration.

"Has anything changed in the planning?" he asked, looking around.
"The plane is refueling." On the left, a door opened. "Ah, there's the captain."
"I just got word inside that the plane will arrive in 20 minutes." The man turned entirely to Jared. "Do you want to take a seat inside. Dr. Evans?"
"No, I've got some phone calls to make. Mr. Reed will make use of your offer."

"Please follow me, Mr. Reed," the captain told Tyler. "Please, give that to me."
The man took over Tyler's weekend bag and walked to the door he had just come out of. They stepped into a room that was comfortably furnished as a waiting area. The side wall consisted almost entirely of glass.

Tyler was playing a game on his phone when a familiar figure stepped in.
"Eric?," Tyler shouted pleasantly surprised.
They greeted each other warmly.
"I heard Jared was going to travel to Paris and I was hoping for the possibility of me flying with you."
Now that Tyler was used to the flirtatious Eric, he had no problem with it. There was a friendly atmosphere between them. So casual. So effortless. So sharp in contrast when it came to his relationship with Jared.

Tyler was right on the couch. Eric sat obliquely beside him, his elbow nonchalantly tucked away on the bench rest and one leg comfortably under the other.
"I saw the video," he said suddenly changing the subject.
Tyler, who had listened with interest to Eric's perils to put together a new show, had trouble switching. His hands rubbed aimlessly over his thighs a few times in an attempt to organize his thoughts.

"What did you think when you saw the video?", he asked curiously.
Eric looked mischievous and bit his lower lip slightly.
"I thought I was kind of jealous of Jared."
Tyler chuckled. "Who knows? Maybe next time there's a kiss for charity?"
"So the caption was right? It was for charity?"
Tyler nodded. "Biggest yield ever."

"How was it?"
Nervously, Tyler looked through the space.
"I'd rather not talk about that," he said hesitantly.
Eric snorted. "I get that. I mean, Jared said if I even pointed in your direction, he'd throw me out over the Atlantic." He bumped tyler. "So... how was it?"
Confidentially, they put their heads together.
"It was like kissing a statue. He didn't budge, the stiff rake."
Tyler shook his head.
"I don't think that man has a ounce of humor or self-deprecation."

"There is nothing wrong with my sense of humor. The same cannot be said about your propensity for exhibiting indecent behavior in public."
Black eyes slid to the spot where Tyler's hand rested on Eric's leg.