Beautiful Liars by Kylie Adams

gestures and behaviors ran him up and down the emotional scale.
    Dean Paul wielded an uncanny and unprecedented power over him.A casual phone call carrying an invitation to exercise or grab lunch could send Finn’s spirits soaring through the sky. And a failure to return calls—such as the ones Finn had made over the last few days—could send him down into the depths.
    What they shared was an easy friendship. Finn had becomea B-list substitute for the straight guy buddies that Tilly had forced Dean Paul to give up. Intellectually, Finn knew the score. But emotionally, he could not stop himself from reactingto every moment as if it were a love affair. Maybe because in some pathetic way, that is precisely what it was. At least for Finn.
    He sensed that Dean Paul was well aware of his effect on him, too. Someone that narcissistic could not exist in the dark about that. Plus, it explained Dean Paul’s penchant for occasionallyacknowledging the unspoken feelings and raising the bar in an off-color, humorous way that simultaneously titillatedFinn and twisted a knife in his heart.
    It’d serve her right if you were sucking my cock whenever we got together .
    Who knows? Next time I cheat, maybe it’ll be with you .
    At the end of the day, it was all a joke to Dean Paul. Still, Finn surmised that there was some kind of reciprocal attraction. He had danced around flirtations with enough men to know. It was an attraction that would never be acted upon. Not in a million years. But it was there. And just knowing that triggered in Finn a craving for proximity on any terms.
    Sometimes Dean Paul would get bold and say the most outrageous things just to see what kind of reaction he could provoke in Finn. At other times he seemed uncomfortable, maybe even ashamed, and he disappeared for days at a time, ignoring all contact. The inconsistency was torture. But Finn came back for more again and again. Dean Paul had become like a drug. And Finn was an addict refusing to go to rehab.
    He wondered if Jinx Wiatt’s snarky column mentions had played a part in Dean Paul’s latest attempt at going AWOL. That bitch’s blind item gossip teases were written in twenty/ twenty vision. It was the easiest guessing game in town.
    Finn’s mobile vibrated again. He felt another surge of hope in his heart as he reached for it. The incoming number was unidentified and rang no bells. “Hello?”
    â€œIt’s been a long time, babe. Do you know who this is?” The thrashing sounds of Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” blasted in the background.
    Finn shut his eyes. “Benjamin Fitzpatrick.”
    â€œBingo! You must miss me.” He laughed. “Actually, I go by Benji now. Benji Patt. It’s shorter and looks better in boldfacein the columns.”
    â€œReally? I haven’t noticed a single mention.”
    â€œKeep reading,” Benji shouted over the music.
    The cocky edge to his voice instantly annoyed Finn. Shit. He sure could pick the right guys to fall in love with. Benjamin the flim-flam fag and Dean Paul the heartbreaker. What a track record.
    â€œCongratulations on the talk show,” Benji went on. “That’s awesome. I’ve only caught it once. But you’re a natural.”
    â€œThanks,” Finn replied flatly.
    â€œI’ve got some projects in the works. They just haven’t been announced yet.”
    â€œBy announced yet , does that mean by you or by law enforcement?”
    â€œ Meow ,” Benji mocked in reply. “Retract your claws.”
    Finn just lay there, steaming in the silence.
    Benjamin Fitzpatrick was his most significant ex-boyfriend, a relationship that lasted almost a year, until it was revealed that the guy was a fraud and a con artist, passing himself off as Steven Spielberg’s nephew and bilking bars, restaurants, and boutiques out of free drinks, dinners, and merchandise all over Manhattan. Finn had felt such guilt and