A Single Black Rose

Chapter 1 “Cut! Good job, Sean.” Sean sighs with relief. He gets up to his feet, shivering a little. It is cold tonight and he has been freezing his butt off lying on a shitty pile of bricks. He can’t wait to get back to the warmth of his trailer, their trailer actually, Nate’s and his. Pity Nate is not there now, though. He could do with some warming up from Nate, who is away in sunny, warm LA doing his movie premiere. Sean smiles at the thought of their new double trailer, courtesy of the production team. The executives along with the staff and crew have been amazing in their understanding and acceptance of him and Nate being together. Most importantly, Sean knows that they won’t talk about it to outsiders. They’re almost like family to him and Nate, and Sean knows he can trust them. Sean stumbles up the short flight of stairs to their trailer, clicks the door open, and turns on the light. He blinks at the sudden glare and goes to the small window by the couch to draw the drapes. That’s when he sees it, a huge bouquet of red roses sitting on top of the bar table. Sean stares at it, a small smile playing at his lips. “Aww, Nate, never thought of you as the romantic type before.” Sean laughs a little, holding up the flowers and sniffing at them. The blood-red petals of the roses feel like velvet in his hands and the scent is lovely. He is thinking that he should be the one sending Nate flowers, what with the premiere and all. He turns the bouquet this way and that, looking for a card. “Oh.” Sean suddenly frowns. A single stem of a black rose was buried deep within the other red roses. A sense of unease begins to stir at the pit of his stomach. Putting back the roses on the bar table, Sean reaches for his cell phone and speed-dials Nate. It is answered on the first ring. “Sean!” Nate sounds happy. Sean can hear people talking and music blaring in the background. “Hey.” “Sean, you okay?” Sean shakes his head, smiling. “Yeah. Why shouldn’t I be?” “I don’t know. You sounded a bit strange there. What’s wrong? Wait, don’t tell me. You’ve been crying, right? Because you miss me?” There’s a teasing note to Nate’s voice and Sean suddenly realizes that he does miss Nate, very much. The noise recedes a little. Nate has probably found a quiet corner somewhere. “Hey, Sean, wish you were here.” “One of us should work, right? And don’t tell me you’re not enjoying the party, with the free flowing champagne and all?” Nate laughs. “It’s not bad. Still want you here with me, though.” Nate’s voice drops an octave. “I’d so be doing you right now if you were here.” “Pervert,” Sean chuckles. “I’ll forgive you since you’ve sent me flowers. They’re beautiful, Nate, thank you,” he says softly. Nate doesn’t answer and for a moment Sean thinks he has lost the connection, except that he can still hear the faint sound of music in the background. “Hello? Nate, you still there?” Nate replies hesitantly, “Uh, I didn’t send anything to you.” “You didn’t?” Sean slowly backs away from the flowers, his eyes darting around the trailer, half-expecting a crazed fan to jump at him from behind the furniture. “I didn’t. Sean, is there a card? What does it say?” Nate pauses. “You have a boyfriend you’re not telling me about?” “No, of course not. And there’s no card. And Nate.” Sean starts to panic now. “The roses are red but there’s also a—a black rose there.” “What? Damn it, call security, get Arvin, anyone.” Nate now sounds as panicked as Sean is feeling. Sean has had experience at being jumped by fans but this is different. He glances at the single black rose and shudders slightly. “Right. I’ll call you back later.” Sean flips his phone shut and opens the door of the trailer, rushes out and almost bumps into Osborn, his bodyguard, who is standing just outside. “Hey, what’s up?” “Osborn, thank God!” “Is something wrong? What happened?” Osborn asks as he automatically looks around him, alert for any sign of intruders or disturbance around the set. “I—someone came in while I was gone.” Sean jerks his head toward his trailer. “They left me flowers.” Sean is feeling slightly ridiculous now. He has been acting like there’s a bomb instead of some stupid flowers. A fan, it must have been a fan. She, or he, must have paid somebody to leave the flowers inside the trailer. That must be it. He takes a long breath, shaking his head. Osborn enters the trailer without another word and comes out with the bouquet in his hand. “They’re not from Nate,” Sean says and feels his face heat up. “I called. There’s no card, either.” “No card?” Osborn says as he lifts up the single black rose, frowning as he does so. “Yeah, and that.” Sean rubs his face, his earlier fear coming back full force. There’s something chilling about that black rose, and from the look on Osborn’s face, he doesn’t like it, either. “We should tell Arvin, and Preston.” Arvin is the producer, and Preston is the director of the episode Sean is currently working on. Osborn puts back the black rose into the bouquet. “I’ll pass these to security. They’ll run a check on where they’re from.” He looks at Sean. “You should go back inside. You don’t look too good. Go rest. Lock the door. I’ll take care of things.” “I’m okay, really.” “Go, Mr. O’Reilly.” Sean knows better than to argue when Osborn calls him that. He goes.