The following story contains gay themes, is fictional, and contains no explicit sexual content. The author retains all rights. Copying or reproductions in part or whole is not allowed without the authors consent.
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Chapter Two: Throwing Bones
Talan Kedron believed that everybody deserved the benefit of the doubt. It was hard to believe his own girlfriend could actually be intimate with another man. His head hurt him too much to even think about it, so he pushed it out of his mind altogether. He wasn't going to start believing every scrap of gossip coming from such questionable sources as the pretentious socialites who mingled with his family. Of course, if he told his mother that she would have a stroke for sure! Those people were her livelihood, the regulars at her chain of very expensive Day Spa's. Most of those socialites were extremely influential and thus a great asset to his father's new career path.
His parents were the main reason he was even with Cassandra, after all they did play the matchmaker too often to count. The first girl he dated wasn't good enough for his mother and it didn't last long because of it. After that he resigned himself to letting his mother set him up instead. If she didn't put so much pressure on him he would still be single now. He cared for Cassandra quite deeply though and held a lot of affection for her. Still, he wasn't a fool, he knew he didn't love her, but he could see himself marrying her, growing old with her, raising a family with her and perhaps, eventually come to love her. In these modern times, love didn't always come into the picture and taking the next best thing was as good as it gets. He had no illusions about that.
"My, my, Son, aren't you a bit lonely out here by yourself?" his mother asked behind him.
Talan turned around, he said, "Out here I have the stars to keep me company Mum."
"Sure, if you like having one way conversations," his mother said, "Come inside now, you'll catch a cold if you stay here too long."
Talan conjured up a smile and positioned his arm for his mother to loop hers around. Together they walked back inside the mansion through the magnificent French doors and into the splendour of the entertainment hall.
"Look at all those women who pine for you Son," his mother whispered in his ears. It was true that many of the females looked their way as they walked in. So did most of the people there; his mother was a sight to behold in her silk gowns and glittering jewellery, they could just as easily be in awe of her beauty and grace. She chuckled lightly and continued, "Oh how many hearts you could break if I let you run loose!"
He smiled at her remark, she couldn't be further from the truth. Most of these women didn't have a personality that wasn't garnered from years of pretentious snobbery, but he respected her too much to disagree with her.
The entertainment hall was crowded with all manner of people. Most were of different occupations, the more important such is several High Court judges, members of parliament and prominent television personalities were being personally entertained by his father. Currying favour for his career Talan rather suspected. The hall was expansive and a large crystal chandelier hung on the high ceiling above them in the centre of the room. It was like a scene from a movie where the royalty would hold an extravagant ball for the local gentry, which wasn't far from the truth.
They hadn't always been so rich. He still remembered the days when he went to school with worn clothes, holes in his shoes and carried a dirty old school bag that resembled a potato sack. His father had struck a gold mine when a distant relative in England passed away and left them with a sizable inheritance. He remembered he was still a boy when that happened. The money wasn't a lot but the antiques that were left behind fetched a tidy sum. His father wasn't stupid, he invested it straight away until he had enough to start an enterprise that made him the owner of over a dozen successful apartment living resorts and also the owner of just as many sky rise buildings in Sydney. His mother's Day Spa business eventuated out of their success and branched out to become successful and highly profitable on its own. His father was still expanding, and only made the company public recently to buy out many more properties in his attempt to own Sydney under the banner of Kedron Incorporated.
His parents had to sacrifice a lot in order to get them to where they were. In fact, growing up he rarely ever saw his parents and he was mostly raised by a stern yet kind hearted nanny. He still loved his parents, he could never tell them how much he disliked this mansion they bought several years ago. It was too big and felt sterile to him, yet his parents were happy and as long as they stayed happy he didn't care.
Talan spied Cassandra making her way towards them. Smiling she said to his mother, "Marlene, do you mind if I take your handsome son for a dance?"
His mother offered his arm to her, "Be my guest dear."
Cassandra took his arm and led him to the dance floor. Talan placed his hand on Cassandra's waist and the other upon her shoulder.
"You always smell nice honey," Talan said taking in her aroma as they slowly danced.
"Thank you Talan," Cassandra said, "I never tire of your compliments."
He didn't want to bring it up the issue of the ghastly rumour he'd heard earlier, especially like this, but he had to know. He said, "I hear that you've been, um, spending a lot of time with, um, a male friend lately."
"What?" she pulled back to look at him, "Oh, silly, yes, I have, I forgot to tell you because you've been so busy with your work. My brother is visiting me from England for the first time and we've been catching up on everything."
A weight lifted from his shoulders, relieved he said, "That's great."
Cassandra give him a disapproving look, "Don't tell me you had the wrong idea, you know you're the only one for me."
"No, not at all, I didn't believe for a second you were like . . . that," Talan said. "Good, because I want you to meet my brother soon, that is, when you're not busy," She said to him.
"Why didn't you invite him here tonight?" he asked.
"Are you kidding?" she said, "He hates these things, says they're more posh than the Queen's public appearances."
Talan laughed softly, "I know what he means."
The orchestra finished playing the current score and Cassandra said, "I'm going to freshen up and get a drink, I should probably get going soon too, it's getting late."
"Okay then, I should probably check on my father to make sure he's not keeping his guests up late either," he said.
Talan walked up the marble staircase leading to the mezzanine level and spotted his father laughing boisterously. He made his way next to his father and nodded an acknowledgement to the other guests.
His father slapped him on his shoulder and gripped him there tightly. Talan conjured up another smile. His cheeks were going to be sore if these gatherings continued to occur with too much regularity.
"Isn't that right Son, you can never have too much of a good thing!" his father said to him.
"Yet there are too few good things to even enjoy too much of," Talan said tactfully. Throw these people a few pearls of wisdom and they'll gnaw on it like dogs with a bone. Of course these people weren't dogs, the expression just seemed appropriate.
"You see how wise my Son is," his father beamed proudly.
"That is absolutely right," someone said.
"Very true indeed," another person said and for a moment they all continued to interpolate on his insight.
"That is why," his father began, "I am considering appointing my son as CEO of Kedron Incorporated."
A buzz arose from everyone within hearing distance. People talked over one another as they all pondered the implications. Talan himself had plenty of questions running through his head. Instead he quietly asked his father, "What did you say?"
"Son there has never been a better time to bring you into the company, I just know you have what takes to succeed," his father said.
"Can I speak with you privately?" he asked.
His father led him to a corner for some privacy. He said, "You're not happy about my decision are you?"
"It's not that," Talan said, he sighed, "I just wish you'd asked me first, I mean I've got other commitments that won't easily be brushed off."
"You mean being a legal aid lawyer?" his father said disdainfully, "Honestly, I don't know what you see in that line of work, you don't even care about working your way up."
Talan took a deep breath, when his father imposed something on him he always managed to strike up a fair compromise. It seemed unlikely he could dissuade his father this time. He said, "Look Dad, at least give me the time to earn my way there, get a degree, start from the bottom and work my way up, you know how I feel about having things dropped on my lap."
His father scrutinised him for a moment, then he said, "You know, that's what I love about you, you've got a mighty pride and could never accept being handed things on a silver platter. I still think it would be best if you let me make you CEO of Kedron Incorporated."
"But Dad, I'm happy being a lawyer and I'm happy doing legal aid work . . ." he began.
"But nothing Son," his father cut him off, "You could have worked for any of the top legal firms in Sydney and maybe even become a high court judge one day like some of these fine people, yet you have no ambition, I don't get it."
"Perhaps I don't care about money and power," Talan said quietly as he stared at the floor.
"Is that really what you think about me?" his father said, a dangerous tone entering his voice, then more gently, "I'm going to forget I heard that. Maybe you should go home and think about what I'm offering you, all I want is my son to take over my business when I retire, why don't you go home and think about it?"
Talan did just that. He decided not to stay and argue with his father, he'd never seen his father in a bad mood but he was pretty sure he could come close to bringing it out of him. He was too upset to even say goodbye to anybody after grabbing his leather jacket and helmet. He had the helmet on before he reached his motorbike and as soon as he hopped on he had it started and revved up. Leaving in a squeal of burning tyres he rode out of his parents mansion and headed towards his apartment in Sydney.
All his life he'd somehow managed not to accept too many handouts from his parents. With the exception of having his law degree paid for him, he pretty much survived on his own resources. In law school he took a job working at the city's brewery to pay for his study expenses and so he could move out and live independently. The money was good and he was never short on cash. Yet his parents still gave him a platinum credit card and bought him a ridiculously expensive Porsche. He never used the credit card and he bought a motorbike as an excuse not to drive the Porsche.
How could his father have the nerve to know what was best for him, after all, he never raised him. His nanny, God rest her soul, taught him everything he now knew about what was right and wrong, and what it meant to be a real man. She told him many stories about her deceased husband and Talan always strove to be as virtuous as that man. His father wouldn't know the first thing about him. He knew his father meant well, both his parents did, they always tried to do what was best for him, what they couldn't understand was that the best thing for him wasn't always the right thing for him.
So he rode through the streets of Sydney, attempting to take his mind off his father's imposition. As he entered an intersection a few blocks from his apartment he turned left without thinking and forgot to check for any pedestrians. He noticed a dark haired man sporting a goatee laughing with another lady as he took a step onto the street. The man saw him just in time to stop himself from taking another step and Talan passed him with only inches to spare. Talan's heart started racing and he thanked God he didn't run the man over. Talan slowed down quickly and looked back to make sure the man was okay. The dark haired man looked like he was struggling to keep from falling into the other woman's exceptionally large breasts, and in his attempt to evade them he ended up bumping his head into the traffic light pole with extreme force, then he landed heavily onto the sidewalk.
Talan turned his bike around to see if the man needed any assistance. Feelings of guilt were already starting to overcome him. The scantily clad woman with the large breasts was kneeling over the man worriedly. After getting off his bike he made his way towards them and the woman looked up at him with fury in her eyes.
"You careless bastard, don't you bikies have any concern for other people!?" she screamed at him.
He held his hands up palms outwards, he said, "I'm sorry, it was an accident."
A few people had gathered around now, curiosity mingled with concern.
"Do you know what you've done, do you know who this man is!?" she screamed at him shrilly.
"There's no need to shout miss, I'm sure it's best we call the ambulance first," Talan suggested.
"I'm not stupid you imbecile, but you should know that this man is no other than Dr. Day from KPS FM, and if he has to be hospitalised and can't present his shows a lot of people are going to be very disappointed, and then you'll hear from our lawyers, no, you will hear from our lawyers," the woman said. He refrained from telling her he was a lawyer, he didn't want another mouth full from her. In a huff she took out her mobile phone and dialled for an ambulance.
As the woman spoke on her mobile, Talan leaned down to take a closer look at Dr. Day. He wore a green military shirt and fashionable jeans. His hair was cut trendily and styled in a messy look. His goatee was kept very neat and the rest of his facial hair from his sideburns down to the goatee was also neat and closely trimmed. He looked young, a lot younger than he would have guessed from his soothing deep radio voice. The doctor's eyes seemed to shift around and it looked like he couldn't focus properly. Then his eyes steadied and focused. Talan leaned down and lifted his visor to get a better look at him.
"Are you okay?" Talan asked Dr. Day, "Can you hear me?"
The man mustn't have heard. He smiled and said, "Mmm, blue."
Talan couldn't help but smile himself. He was about to say something but the doctor's eyes went out of focus, then he promptly went unconscious.
"Shit," Talan swore under his breath. He didn't usually swear but he was sure this time he could make an exception. He continued swearing, "Damn it, bloody hell."
He stopped when he realised people were still watching. When he looked up he saw that a small crowd had gathered. The woman was glaring at him venomously and he could pick out a few stray words being passed around. The most common ones he heard were 'idiot', 'ran over', and 'Dr. Day'. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out. When he first heard the woman say the man he almost ran over was Dr. Day he couldn't understand the importance of who she was referring to, but then it slowly sunk in as he remembered the rising star of KPS FM's new psychological help show. Even his mother enjoyed listening to the show when she found the time and admittedly he himself listened sometimes as he fell asleep. The man gave extremely good advice and it was accessible to all kinds of people regardless of age, sex or social status. His shows were always relevant and informative, and he also seemed to help a lot of the people who called for his advice. To think he may deprive the people of Sydney of a very important person. His face flushed red with heat and shame at the thought.
"Shame on you young man," a middle aged woman scolded him, echoing his thoughts, "Dr. Day is such a nice gentleman, why, my husband and I listen to his shows all the time. You better pray for God to forgive this transgression of yours."
Murmurs of agreement spread through the crowd. Talan was beginning to feel he'd been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, there was nothing for it now. He was going to have to make sure Dr. Day would make it through okay. He was even willing to pay for the damages and accept legal responsibility. The fault was his after all, he knew that the causation could be attributed to his negligence.
"Yeah, I called up for his help once when I was in a rut," an emotional male voice said. Talan looked around to see a young man in tears, "The doctor helped me get my shit together and I swear if Dr. Day doesn't get through this, you're gonna pay for it."
What the heck! Somehow he managed to cause the doctor's injuries in the vicinity of several of the doctor's devoted fans. Great. Fortunately the sounds of an approaching siren saved him from any more mortal threats. The paramedics did their work and he followed them to the hospital on his motorbike.
The emergency waiting room had a few other distressed looking people waiting for news of their loved ones, so it was fairly quiet. That was until the woman with the large breasts came storming in followed by a band of reporters and cameramen hot on her heels. He groaned and braced himself for the worst. In the past he'd dealt with the media due to his line of work, and like any other lawyer he had his fair share of them. This was going to be bad. No matter what he said they would still manage to twist his words and make him look guilty. All he could do was say as little as possible and keep a neutral expression. His father wasn't going to be happy with him.
The huge breasted woman pointed at him and said quite loudly, "That's the man who ran over Dr. Day." A stream of paparazzi came at him like a swarm of flies. A dozen questions were fired at him and countless camera flashes near blinded him. He took a deep breath and said calmly, "It is not true that I ran over Dr. Day, though I did nearly have a collision with him and in avoiding the collision Dr. Day unfortunately hit his head on a traffic light pole. I am prepared to take full responsibility for being the cause of his injuries. Thank you."
Then more questions, mostly asking who he was or what his name was.
"My name is Talan Kedron," he said clearly.
Shocked exclamations and gasps escaped the reporters. Some of them dropped their mics and Dictaphones. Then they erupted in a barrage of a hundred different questions. Yep, his father wasn't going to be very happy with him at all. He was finally saved by the hospital staff when they ushered the media out with threats to sic security on them.
The woman with the enormous breasts remained behind smiling at him maliciously. He said to her, "I'm glad you're having fun, you didn't have to get the media involved."
"But darling," she purred at him, "They would have caught up with you sooner or later. I just decided to save you the trouble."
Talan refused to play her game. He decided to ignore her instead. When she received no response from him she went to speak to the nurse at reception.
"Hi, I'm Jessica Barker, Dr. Day's personal secretary," she introduced herself to the chubby female nurse before handing a card over, "I have informed his family and his flatmate of the situation and I'll be back in the morning to check on his status, but could you please contact me on that mobile number if he wakes up before then."
"I'll be glad to do that Jessica," the nurse assured her.
Jessica thanked her and said she had to leave and get everything ready for the coming media storm. As she passed Talan she said to him threateningly, "You'll be hearing from the station's lawyers."
Talan sighed. That woman was really mean. He was about to question the nurse on Dr. Day's condition but she glared at him so he decided to give it some time before he asked. He sat down on the hard plastic seats and lamented over the recent events as the hours passed. He could not have chosen any worse a time to come under the eye of the media in such a negative way. He was positive things would work out though, his father would understand. Hopefully Dr. Day would understand as well. He wouldn't blame the doctor if he hated Talan for nearly killing him. He really hoped Dr. Day was going to be alright, he didn't know how he would live with himself if things turned out to be bad. The night's events were taking a toll on him and he found himself leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed. The sun would be up soon and he knew he should stay awake. There was no telling if that evil woman Jessica would slip some poison into his mouth while he slept but sleep overtook him anyway and he dreamt of himself riding down an endless road in a barren land on his motorbike. Every now and then in his dreams he would see the face of Dr. Day but whenever he tried to look closer the doctor would disappear.
When he woke up he felt disoriented and it took him a moment to recall where he was and what had happened. He checked the time and saw it was close to nine o'clock. A man with short frayed brown hair and beady eyes sat next to him playing with a Dictaphone.
"I was recording you while you were sleeping," the man said in a whispery and slight reedy voice.
Talan was slightly disturbed by that, "Okay, um, I don't understand."
"Well you see," the strange man said, "I find people more interesting when they're asleep, the noises they make are positively fascinating."
The skin on Talan's body crawled all over with goosebumps. The hair on the back of his neck also stood on end. Alarm bells rang in his head and his whole body screamed for him to run and be as far away from this man as possible. That was strange considering he'd never been scared for his life before and he was more than capable of taking care of himself.
"I'm glad I could entertain you," Talan said warily. He glanced at the Dictaphone again and noticed the 'ABC Radio' sticker on it. Relief settled on him but he still couldn't shake the peculiar feeling he had about the man.
"No, No, I must thank you," the beady eyed man said, "Your slumberous noises were quite entertaining indeed. I feel like I know you a bit more now, Talan Kedron, is it?"
The man was still creeping him out, he said, "Yes that's right."
"Your father is a business genius and you are a well known legal aid lawyer, a good one at that may I add," the strange man said, and in a little chant he went on, "Little rich boy, wants to be emancipated, won't take daddy's money, wants to make his own path."
He didn't think his past actions reflected his personal life that obviously.
He hadn't done anything wrong, but he knew people often questioned his choice to constantly take up work for legal aid.
He saw the nurse walking up to him but he stood and met her halfway. She said with barely hidden distaste, "Dr. Day is awake and conscious now, visiting hours are from eight to ten, you cannot see him without his permission though."
"Okay, great, can you tell him I want to speak with him for a moment I really want to apologise to him," Talan said.
"Humph, I guess that's a start," the nurse said, "Why he would even want to talk to the man who almost killed him is beyond me, Dr. Day is such an intelligent man, I wouldn't blame him if he refused to see you."
At that she turned on her heels and left. How was it possible for one person to have this many loyal fans. It was unbelievable. It was also unheard of considering Australia's affliction with the tall poppy syndrome. He shook his head and looked around for the strange man from before. He was nowhere in sight and Talan thought nothing more of the man as he waited for the nurse.