4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Toby was sullen, quiet, and it worried Prince, but not the others. "You got to him, and to get back at you, he'd have to admit that he had a feud with someone that could crush him, financially and otherwise."

"You don't mean fight? I can't fight!"

Anton groaned a laugh, which was a strange noise, causing Silvio to smack him gently. "Stop."

"What? Are you gonna tell me he didn't get lessons in…I don't know what's popular in the rich crowd? Karate from a genuine sensei, whatever."

Prince laughed and said, "I did, actually, but when I fell and got one bruise, my father took me out of it, sued the studio and, well, I'm not proud of that. It was pretty embarrassing."

"Wow, your dad's a dick," Anton said, gaining him another smack from Silvio."

"Don't listen to him."

"He's right. My dad's a dick. He either ignores me or does stuff like that. And you wonder why I stay in my room on my computer." He stopped, as he heard what he'd said. "I know, rich people problems, right?"

"Nah, Prince," Silvio. "Your problems are valid. They're just different in some ways, but Anton hates his dad too."

"Asshole used to beat up my mother, so yeah, I hate him."

Prince couldn't imagine that. If his father touched his mother, he'd have felt the same. "I'm sorry, Anton."

It was Thursday and the shipment from the city was due with the supplies they'd need for the first couple weeks of the camp. They had a little over an hour until they were due at the dining hall to unload, and his two new friends were heading to take showers in the tiny, freezing shower area next to the latrines.

"I'll see you at the dining hall. I took one last night and I'm in no hurry to freeze my balls off again."

"This one," Anton said as he hooked a thumb in Prince's direction. "Never heard about roughing it."

"Give him a break, you bitch about the cold too, Mr. I-lived-in-Phoenix-for-two-years-and-it-killed-my-cold-tolerance ."

"It did!"

Prince waved to them as they left, and once they were out of sight, Prince left his cabin and started for the end of the lake, where he'd first seen the fisherman.

He'd hardly been able to stop thinking about the rainstorm. When the fisherman had taken off his shirt, Prince saw how in shape he was, tattooed, beautiful body wet with the rain.

Dreams about him plagued Prince's sleep. Thoughts of him had his friends asking what he was smiling about throughout the day. He had to find out more about the man, and he hoped he saw whatever cabin the man was in filled with a wife and kids so he could stop obsessing. He didn't think it would be, though. Prince didn't have a sensitive gaydar by any means, but he got a strong gay vibe from the man, only to pass it off as wishful thinking.

He started at the boathouse. He got inside and went to the same window he was staring out the day of the storm. At first, all he saw were the trees that lined the circumference of the lake, the road that led to the camp, and the rolling clouds in the sky overhead.

But then, like Prince had made a wish that someone finally granted, he saw the man walking toward the shore.

He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and there was no rain, so Prince doubted he'd get to see the bare chest again.

Walking along the shore, then heading back the opposite way, he seemed to be in a heavy conversation with someone on the phone. His dark, thick brows were drawn hard, his jaw was clenching like he was chewing steel wool. Whatever was being said, he wasn't happy.

Then Prince saw something that confused him more. The man threw the phone in the lake. "What the…?"

When Prince saw him heading back to his cabin, he left the boathouse and cautiously went to the trees to make his way around the edge of the lake, unseen. He watched for five full minutes once he got to the trees closest to where the phone had been thrown. Through other trees, Prince could barely make out the cabin where the man walked toward each time he'd see the guy.

Leaving the trees, Prince kept one eye in that direction as he rushed down the shore and waded into the water. He'd watched it as closely as he could, and thankfully, his mystery man didn't throw it with all his strength. The water was chilly, and his pants were soon soaked, but he waded out a few more feet and then looked down into the water.

He was seriously grossing out, seeing the greens and browns in the water. With his imagination going wild with all that could be in the dingy water, he sucked it up and kept going. Holding his breath, Prince dipped fully under the water, scared to open his eyes, just knowing he'd get pink eye or some other disease that rich people had no immunity to. Yeah, thinking like that was messed up, but he couldn't help it. His nannies had made him a little neurotic.

He saw something shining in the little light that penetrated the lake water, so he dove for it. When his hand reached around the hard plastic phone, he pulled it up and brought it from the water with him.

Pushing through the water to get back to shore, he let the phone drain as much as possible, then once his feet were on dry land again, he ran to his cabin, where he grabbed his suitcase from under the bunk and threw it open.

Being a computer nerd, he always came prepared. From the bottom of the suitcase, he found his baggie of silica gel packets. He'd spent months collecting them a few years back before he realized he could have easily purchased as many as he'd ever need.

Dropping the phone into the bag, he wrapped it back up and set it under his clothes in the suitcase, and closed the lid before shoving the thing back under his bed.

Then he heard voices and suddenly remembered he was supposed to be with the others unloading trucks. Without thinking about changing his wet clothes, he ran out of the cabin and headed to the dining hall.

When he got there, he saw how late he was. The truck was half unloaded, and Harry caught him trying to get in line to jump into the back of the box truck to help. "Nice of you to join us, Prince!"

Silvio spun around and groaned, "What happened?"

Thinking quickly, he said, "Fell in the lake. Sorry, Harry, everyone."

Toby, of course, could be counted on. "Taking a dip in your clothes to get out of working like the rest of us. Nice!"

Fabian laughed like some hyena that was afraid of getting beaten by his owner.

Sabrina came over to him and pulled Prince out of line. "Come with me."

Prince was gutted, as he just knew he was going to be fired and kicked out of the camp. How he'd ever tell his father he'd flunked and had to retake all those classes, he didn't know.

Once they were in the main office, Sabrina sat behind her desk, which was full of folders and charts for the camp activities once the kids showed. "Prince, sit down, please."

There were two metal chairs in front of her desk, and he sat in the one closest to the door, so he could run out after he was fired and get his suitcase. "Ma'am, I'm really sorry I was late."

Her eyes, man, did they have this stare that would freeze water. In fact, with how wet and cold his clothes were, they were suddenly feeling very stiff.

"Prince, you knew this was coming up today. You chose a bad day to go swimming."

Dropping his head, he mumbled, "I know."

"I didn't want to hire you."

His head moved up until he could see that she was totally serious. He started to shake, but it wasn't from the cold.

"But your professor, he came here as a kid. This place means a lot to him. He is a major donor, so we take his recommendations seriously. So far, we haven't had trouble with you. I'm going to let this slide, but you're going to have to step up and get your job done from now on."

"I will, I swear it. I'm sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to be late, but I own it."

Her head tilted like a confused pup, but then she smiled, and it was warm. "I didn't expect that."

"Why?"

"Sorry if I offend you, but we've had rich kids coming here to make themselves look good for fancy internships, college applications and such. I know you're only here because you were blackmailed to come, but I see you don't hate it."

"I thought I would. I'm not used to…roughing it. I'm not used to being without my electronics either, but I like it more than I thought. I may have been made to come, but I'm grateful."

Prince couldn't believe how sincere he was. She must have seen it, because she lost that piercing gaze completely and nodded toward the door. "Get unloading and expect some extra work for a couple days."

"I will. Thank you for not…"

"Giving up on you?"

As he rose from the metal chair, he knew what he'd meant. A lot of people had thrown up their hands with him many times. His father was right on the brink of handing over his trust fund and telling him to go do what he wanted.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's it."

After he helped unload the rest of the supplies, he left and walked off into the woods north of the lake. The thoughts about that were heavy on him, and he could barely hold a conversation without choking up.

He found a boulder and sat down on it, leaning back on his hands as he let the sun hit his face. All he could think about was how easily people had thrown in the towel where he was concerned. When he was younger, his father had tried to get his nannies to push him to sports, to art, to classical music, and he'd hated all of it. Anything his father wanted of him was as far as could be from what he dreamed of for himself.

He was not the polo-playing son of a billionaire his father dreamed him to be. He wasn't straight, and that would be bad enough. He barely saw his father, but when he did, it was all questions about school, about girls, about friends he might make. Not joining a fraternity was a blow. There was no way that Prince wanted to be around frat boys, chasing tail and drinking until vomit flew.

He was a disappointment, and it showed each time his father's blue eyes landed on him. The only shot he had left to gain his father's pride was finishing business school and taking a job at the company.

A job he didn't want.

Fearing he'd die sitting behind a desk, playing with numbers and people's lives, Prince tried not to think about it.

It was better that way, to push it out of his mind. It was how he'd learned to deal with things. His old therapist would find it a scandal, but it worked for him.

Resolving to do the best he could for the rest of the time at the camp, he walked back and gathered his clothes to take a shower. No one was inside the showers, so he hurried to get showered before anyone could join him. He was too skinny, he knew, and was embarrassed by his body. All his bones showed, and he had no muscle to speak of. Then there was the color of his skin. Sickly white, like he never saw the sun. Well, he really didn't. Not before he'd come to the camp.

Leaving his clothes in the locker area, he stood under the lukewarm water, hurrying to wash his hair, but he heard a noise and opened his eyes in time to catch Toby standing in the doorway to the shower room with a phone in his hand. "Smile, Prince!"

Covering his genitals, Prince was furious. "Do not take pictures of me, Toby!"

"Oh? Well, sorry, pal. Too late. Have fun getting back to your cabin without your clothes."

He ran out as Prince tried to chase him, but running and wet tile didn't mix. He was face down on the floor of the showers before he got three feet.

Aching all over from the fall, he got to the locker room to see his clothing gone, as promised by his new nemesis. He had no phone, no one to help. Glad he'd kept his towel in the shower with him, hanging on one of the other nozzles. He rinsed off quickly and got his towel around his waist, but the thought of leaving the showers and heading fifty yards to his cabin…

The trees! There were trees in the back of the camp buildings, and they were decently thick around to the cabin where he was staying. Ducking out of the building, he looked around to see that it was clear, so he hurried to the back of the building and got into the trees.

Once there, he dodged and tried to run, but the pine needles on the ground and other twigs, rocks and debris were killing his feet. He stopped behind one big rock, brushing the needles from the bottom of his feet before he felt the tears well in his eyes. Between getting in trouble and then Toby's cruel prank, Prince wondered if he should just suck it up and go home. His father would hate him for flunking out, but he hated him anyway. One more thing, and he could get his money and go off to do what he really wanted.

As the tears fell, he felt like giving up. There wasn't much hope he'd get through the rest of the summer. Not with someone trying so hard to sabotage him.

Then, like a miracle, Silvio and Anton found him. "Dude!" Anton hollered as they rushed over to him, Silvio holding a ball of his clothes in his fist.

Silvio shoved it at him, seething. "That asshole! He was bragging to everyone, and he was waiting for you to run down the trail to our cabin."

Turning his back to them and hiding somewhat behind the rock, Prince told them, "He's already got pictures of me in the shower."

"Fucking prick," Anton said in a hoarse whisper. "He's really got it out for you."

"Can you really get your dad to fuck with him?"

After the day he had, he didn't want to lie to them or to himself. "I doubt it. My dad will probably be pissed I didn't make friends with him instead of…well, you know."

"Poor guys, yeah, we get it," Silvio said stiffly. "It's cool, Prince, but we are going to help you figure out a way to get back at him."

"No. Just leave it. Why make it worse?"

He got his pants buttoned and his shirt over his head as Silvio reasoned, "He won't stop, Prince, unless you fight back."

"Then he won't stop. I don't do confrontation and then I do and look what happened."

The three discussed the prank and how to retaliate when Dex stepped back behind the stand of birch. Prince Rose, the boy genius, the one he was sent to watch over was barely getting his shirt on when Dex got close enough to hear what they were saying.

A beauty, that was sure, sweet face with the most amazing blue/green eyes Dex had ever seen, hair that never quite laid right on his head. Skinny as a twig, jumpy, and mostly sad, and that was just what he'd observed from afar.

He left them, seeing that Prince had been taken care of by his friends, and made his way back around the lake to the cabin where he was staying. The little cabin in the woods, so far from anything he was used to. Back in the city, he had a pleasant apartment that had a view of the buildings around it and the lake in the distance. There were no trees, no animals besides some pigeons that landed on his terrace rail.

The number was the only one he could call and when he did, the smooth as silk voice on the other end asked, "Did you contact him yet?"

"No. I'm waiting for him to come to me. I don't think it'll be long. He's having some trouble with some whiny little fuck that works here with him."

"Watch over him until contact is made."

"Understood."

The call ended, and he clutched the phone in his right hand while his left ran over his black hair. "Watch over him. Yeah…I'd love to. I'd love to."