Benjamin is Mr. Average, but has big dreams. Every week he buys two lottery tickets in the hope of striking it rich. So imagine his surprise when, one Saturday night, his numbers finally come up. Ten million dollars transforms his life. He buys his dream house and outfits it with every beautiful thing he has ever wanted, complete with a real British butler. He also donates to animal charities and adopts Sasha, an abused dog. Yet with everything perfect, Ben soon feels unsatisfied. On one of his nightly walks, he stumbles onto a local hook-up spot. Soon he becomes a regular customer, seeking quick and dirty sex with random strangers to provide the exhilaration he craves. But when he’s attacked by a gay basher, he realizes this isn’t the life he wants to lead, and packs up everything to move to the countryside. Settling into a simpler life on a small farm, Ben hires the rough and ready Mick to help run the place. The two men become good friends -- Ben is attracted to Mick, but Mick appears to be straight, though curious about gay sex. But when Ben almost dies in an accident, the simmering attraction between the two comes to fruition.

Six Numbers

“I was following you,” he said, his voice laboured.


Clarke coughed. “To make sure nothing happened to you.”


Benjamin shook his head. “But how? I mean, how did you know where I was?”


“One night. I was down by the river. Being fucked. You were watching.” He coughed again, and paused. “I followed you. I didn’t know it was you…until… you walked under a…street light.” He stopped again. His breathing became more laboured.


Clarke nodded as best he could. His eyelids were beginning to flutter. “You know I…love you. Wanted to…look out for you. Didn’t want…anything… like this… happening…to you.”


Suddenly their time together flashed before Benjamin’s mind’s eye. The few occasions they’d spent drinking wine and chatting. That one time in the swimming pool. How had he not seen it? He could have easily turned their professional relationship into a physical one. It was Clarke who had kept his distance. Not him. 


Chapter 15