1 Chapter 1

1

I was exhausted and relieved to be home. Shooting on location always took a lot out of me, but we’d finally wrapped filming on the last episode of the third season of the wildly popular police procedural Rourke and Geary. I played Deputy Riley Cates, a recurring character only brought in when the main characters needed backup. My character had actually featured heavily in the last few episodes. In fact, the deputy getting shot had played a large role in the season’s cliff hanger. None of the cast members knew what season four would bring—the scripts, by all accounts, hadn’t been written yet—but I figured we’d have a clue by the time hiatus was over.

Finally making it through the door to my crappy little apartment, I dropped my duffle bags with a satisfying thump. I kicked off my shoes, wiggling my toes. I’d decided to drive from where we shot the show in Seattle back home to LA so that I could detour to Montana and visit with my family for a while. It had not been one of my best ideas. Two weeks into hiatus, and I’d spent nearly half of that driving.

I started tugging off my shirt, intent on a shower, but stopped when my phone chirped out a Lady Gaga song. I knew it was Casper Jones, my agent. I stopped stripping to answer it.

“Aaron! My man!” Cas’s boisterous voice came over the line as soon as I answered. “How’s hiatus?”

I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see. I’d gotten lucky when Cas agreed to take me on. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy, a little blunt, but good at what he did. He kept me booked for enough jobs that I didn’t starve, and he’d gotten me the audition forRourke and Gearyeighteen months ago. And he really had a good heart underneath. Sadly, that wasn’t something found too often in this business.

“Casper,” I greeted him warmly. There was no point in answering his question. He cared about me as a client, not as a person. “What’s up?”

He was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, then he blew out a breath. “Listen, man. I just got a call from Marc Bergman.”

My agent had gotten a call from the producer from the show on which I was cast. And where my character had gotten shot and left bleeding in the street as the season ended. I groaned. “They’re killing off my character aren’t they?” Dammit. I liked working on that show. Everybody was great and got along. Well mostly. Lucas Logan was kind of asshole, but that came with the territory of being the hotshot lead character.

“No, actually, they aren’t,” Cas responded quickly. “In fact, they want to bring you on as a full-time cast member and give your character a bigger role.”

Right in that second, my heart leaped. It was a dream come true. I knew I’d never be a huge name in this business, but I loved acting and I really loved a steady paycheck. That was often hard to come by. “That’s great!”

“Yeah,” Cas said slowly. “There’s a catch though.”

Of course there was. I closed my eyes. “What?”

“Your character is going to become romantically involved with one of the leads.”

I couldn’t quite see how that was a catch. “Mary Alice?” She was the only one who made sense. Allison’s character was happily married with a baby on the way.

“Uh, no. Actually, Riley Cates will fall in love with Frank Geary.”

For a second, I couldn’t breathe. A gay relationship? On prime time network television? On one of the biggest grossing shows that wasn’t a comedy? It didn’t seem possible.

“Aaron?” Cas’s voice shocked me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m just…processing. I know times are changing, but I didn’t think the network was progressive enough to put one of the leads of one of their most popular shows in a gay relationship.” A thought occurred to me. “Wait. They are going to treat this right, aren’t they? It isn’t going to be some joke or just filled with hurt or—”

“According to Bergman,” Cas cut me off. “They are playing on the chemistry that you and Jacobs have on screen. He said it would be treated with respect, and that your character getting shot and nearly dying opens Geary’s eyes to his deeper feelings for you. I imagine there will be all sorts of drama surrounding him coming to terms with his sexuality. But yes, this isn’t going to be a joke.”

It was about fucking time. LGBTQ people need representation in all facets of the world, especially on television. I know that if I had seen a gay character on my favorite shows as a teenager, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time with my sexuality. To think that I could play a role in some unknown person’s life, that they could see acceptance by the role I portrayed on TV, filled my heart. This was what I was waiting for. I could do something I loved and make a difference while I was at it.