Page 79 of Holding On to a Hero
“Okay, we’ll come back to him. Will, who should we get to play Jason?”
“Wait a minute,” Jason held up a hand. “I’m curious. Would you really consider selling the movie rights to this story?” Jason made a face like he’d smelled something awful.
Cole looked at Jason in disbelief. “For the reasons I listed before, if the three of us decide we want to, we could probably get quite a bit for the movie rights to thisstoryas you put it.”
Time for me to intervene. “Cole, if we didn’t sell the movie rights, couldn’t someone just make a fictionalized version based on whatever gets made public?” I just knew Jason would hate that even worse.
Cole grimaced. “Yeah, and it would end up on the Lifetime channel, so Will, your character would be changed to a woman, and Jason would be my platonic best friend.”
“Eww. If we sold the rights could we retain some control over how the story was told? Keep it real?”
“Sure, if we negotiate that. I’d also prefer to pick the screenwriter as well.” He sighed. “But of course the more stipulations you put in the contract the less money you might be able to get for it.”
“Any little bit I can add to Abby’s college fund will help, but I’d rather get less money and tell the truth.”
Jason interjected, “But let’s not forget that the truth is an A-list action star in a three-way relationship with two other men. Our lives would be on display and dissected by every media outlet and gossip site.”
Cole reached out and rubbed Jason’s shoulder. “Sugar, I’m sorry, but if you want me to be able to hold your hands and kiss you in public, I’m going to have to come out. And I want to do those things. At least if I come out by announcing it myself then we get to control the story instead of TMZ or whoever making up what they want.
“But either way you and Will won’t be anonymous anymore. I wish I could change that, but it’s the way it is.”
Jason grabbed Cole’s hand and kissed it. “I know. I just wonder if, by the time a movie got made, we’d be old news and a movie premiere would bring us back into the spotlight.”
I considered this. “You’re not wrong. We need to discuss the pros and cons for sure.”
“My publicist and agent will be good sources of advice,” Cole remarked. Jason grunted.
* * *
After a quick lunch and several long hours of driving – well, Jason drove and I laid down across the back seat again – we decided to stop for dinner and figure out where to stay for the night.
“So, we’re in Oklahoma now,” Cole noted as we pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant that promised Oklahoma-style barbecue, whatever that meant. “We should call Spence if we want to spend the night with him.” I was impressed he’d managed to wait until now to bring Spence’s name up.
Jason sighed. “I agree it would be helpful to have Spence involved in The Big Plan, even if we can’t figure out exactly how yet.” We’d all started using mental capital letters to name our secret project.
“But?” We both knew that was coming.
“But I’m worried about telling someone else. And, Iknow, okay?” He held out a hand in a “stop” gesture. “I know we have to tell multiple people to pull off The Big Plan.” Now Cole and I were on the receiving end of some pretty serious puppy-dog eyes. “It’s just that we’ve been on our own for so many weeks, and now we have Will with us and I just want to keep ussafe. If we tell someone else, Spence or not, it just feels….” He slumped his shoulders.
“Like we’re coming out of our protective shell?” I suggested. He nodded.
“Leaving the nest?” Cole proposed. I gave him a smirk.
“Opening the airlock?”
“Unzipping the fly?” Cole and I were laughing. Jason looked aggrieved.
“Stop. Just stop. I’m going to call Spence.”
Cole cheered, but then he shouted, “No, let me call him! He’ll be so surprised! It’ll be hilarious!”
Jason hugged the satellite phone protectively to his chest. “No. If we have to leave a voicemail, I don’t want anything revealing recorded. I’m making the call.”
Cole slouched back in his seat and pouted. “Fine.” Jason rolled his eyes and dialed the phone.
After a moment he said, “It’s going to voicemail. Hey, Spence! It’s Jason Shelton. This is a new number, fyi. I’m just using it temporarily. I’m sorry I’ve been such a poor communicator. I’m sure you’ve been worried about Cole. Give me a call back and we can catch up.” He left the number and hung up.
“Okay!” Jason said with patently false cheerfulness. Let’s have dinner and then if we don’t hear back from Spence we’ll find a hotel. And when we finally have a bed at our disposal, Will,” his voice dropped. “Cole and I are going to massage your back.”
