Only You by Jerry Cole (the top 100 crime novels of all time TXT) 📕

“That can be arranged,” the clerk muttered from behind the counter.

“Thank God,” Sherman sighed with relief. “For a minute... I don’t know what I thought, honestly. Maybe that you were going rustic for your last few days in Europe.”

“I think not,” Bradley smirked, looking more confident now. “There’s rustic and then there’s tragic. And this is worse than both.”

Something wasn’t quite right. Sherman knew Bradley to be an actor, so what he was saying made enough sense... but it also didn’t. Having listened to him beg for that room, pleaded even, Sherman had to conclude that Bradley was either one of the greatest actors of all time, or he wasn’t giving him the whole story.

Yet at the same time, Sherman didn’t care. He couldn’t believe his luck in bumping into Bradley and didn’t want to do anything that might throw him.

“What are you doing here though?” Bradley quickly pivoted. “Don’t tell me your tour group is staying in this dive? — I’ll lend you the money for a better place if I have to.”

Sherman’s eyes widened as he suddenly remembered the reason that he had come into this hotel specifically. He thought quickly, “Just getting out of the heat,” he explained. “I was ready to melt out there.”

Sherman smiled for Bradley, and he smiled back. The two men were clearly lying to each other to some degree, but neither seemed willing to push the fact. As such, they very quickly got about leaving that crappy little hotel, only too happy to act as if they had never stepped foot inside in the first place.

Once outside and in Lisbon proper, the two men fell back into their old routine like not even a day had passed between them. Even the fact that they’d had mind blowing sex before parting ways didn’t stunt their conversational flow or introduce any amount of awkwardness between them. Walking down the street with Bradley by his side felt to Sherman like the most natural thing in the world.

“So where are you staying?” Bradley asked. They were about three blocks from Sherman’s hotel, headed that way by coincidence.

“Nearby actually – what about you?” Sherman hesitated. He wanted to ask... but he didn’t know if he should. Instead, he started with, “Want me to help you find another dive to crash in? For the role, I mean.”

Bradley laughed nervously and rubbed at his arm. “Na... like, I can do that later. It’s not a big deal. I might find somewhere nicer and just tell my agent I didn’t.” Something was certainly wrong, and Sherman was pretty sure he knew what it was.

Bradley Miles might have been an actor, but if he was, there was no way he was as big as he made himself out to be. After the two had parted ways all those weeks ago, he had done a little research on the famed actor and found... nothing. He didn’t even have an IMDB page! Sherman had been willing to assume this meant that Bradley had given him a fake name, or he had a different alias that he acted under. But now, seeing him here and the state he was in, Sherman was willing to bet that Bradley wasn’t what he claimed.

But Sherman also didn’t care. Not even a little bit. He had been lying too, having told Bradley he was a standard travel agent here on vacation. Plus, and this was a big one, if Bradley was lying, and he had nowhere to stay, then maybe he could convince Bradley to stay with him.

“Say...” Sherman started slowly, carefully. “Want to see where I’m staying – not for that,” he hurried when he realized how it must have sounded. The side-eye that Bradley gave him confirmed this.

“And why would I want to see that?” Bradley smirked.

“Oh... I’ll tell you when we’re there.”

The real beauty of the Valverde Hotel was that from the outside, it looked rather inconspicuous. Oh sure, it was clearly a nice enough hotel and everything, but it wasn’t until one was inside that they were able to truly appreciate the beauty, splendor and downright exorbitance of the five-star luxury hotel. It was because of all this that it wasn’t until the two men were actually in Sherman’s suite that Bradley realized just how fucking nice the place was.

“Holy shit...” his mouth hung agape as he took the room in. “You’re staying... how are you staying here?”

“They take money, just like everywhere else,” Sherman joked. “Only, a lot more of it.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Bradley said flatly. “How are you staying – this place is ridiculous!”

Bradley was right to be so taken aback. A single bedroom affair, the suite was large enough to house a family of five; with a bed big enough to fit everyone comfortably. The walls were made entirely blue and purple mosaic, plush velvet cushions and rugs seemed to cover every inch of floor and wall, green vines wrapped themselves around colonnades and gave the room a sense of life, and most importantly, and by far the room’s biggest draw, was the wading pool in its center. There was no roof above this pool either, bathing it in natural sunlight. The room truly was something else.

“I have a confession to make...”

Bradley was down by the pool now. Bright sun shone from overhead and he leaned forward and ran his hand through the crystal blue water, then splashed some on his face. “Yeah? You’re actually a prince or something, right?” he joked.

“Not exactly... although I may have been lying just a tad about what I do for a living.”

Bradley stood up and turned back to face Sherman. “Why? What do you do...?” He narrowed his eyes accusingly.

Sherman rolled his and quickly explained who he was and what he was