Companion Required – Brian Lancaster (1)

Torrential rain lashed the deck as the ship skirted a typhoon. Colossal cruise ships such as the Diamond Princess had decent stabilisers, but the constant rolling motion still had a number of passengers holed up in their cabins. Steph and Leonard went to ground for an entirely different reason. They’d both made a point of sampling street food on each of their excursions ashore.

In Hanoi, both had come down with mild cases of food poisoning, according to the ship’s doctor, who had prescribed loperamide to help reduce bouts of diarrhoea and oral rehydration sachets to mix with water and keep them hydrated. Apart from that, they were advised to drink plenty of room-temperature water, and get lots of bed rest while staying confined to their cabins. Kennedy sat at lunch in the half empty restaurant with only Kieran and Laurie.

Pete, who suffered acutely from seasickness, had also barricaded himself in his cabin. Eric had stayed to keep him company. “Are we going to bail?” asked Laurie, who had stepped out for half an hour to grab some food. They had been chatting about Patrick’s cocktail party. “I really ought to keep an eye on Steph.”

Laurie had been with the group in Hanoi, and would usually have sampled the street fare, but her strict diet meant abstaining—luckily for her. Kieran had declined this particular excursion, preferring to stay onboard and keep Kennedy company. Kennedy sighed. Not only had they all been invited to the drinks party in the early afternoon—and he felt a duty to make a show—but this was the evening of the captain’s table event, where he and Steph were supposed to strut their stuff across the dance floor.

Now everything had gone to pot. “We can still go to Patrick’s,” said Kieran, leaning into Kennedy. “If you want.” Kennedy turned to him and grinned. Something had crystallised in Kieran since Koh Samui. Kennedy felt the change, but assumed he’d had high expectations of the island and had been disappointed. When Kennedy had questioned him, he’d shrugged off the concern. Whatever the reason, he’d become really relaxed and had stayed close to Kennedy ever since.

“Shame,” said Kennedy. “I was looking forward to the dinner and dance. You don’t think Steph might feel better by tonight?” He’d watched the video Kieran had recorded a number of times, memorizing the steps.

©Copyright Brian Lancaster 2020 Cover Art by Louisa Maggio ©Copyright November 2020 Interior text design by Claire Siemaszkiewicz Pride Publishing This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing. Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution. The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2020 by Pride Publishing, United Kingdom. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorised copies. Pride Publishing is an imprint of Totally Entwined Group Limited. If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property.

It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book”. 1kitap1.com/en Successful CEO Kennedy Grey thought he had his life planned out nicely— until he hired supposedly straight Kieran West as this year’s holiday companion. For the past five years, CEO Kennedy Grey has advertised for a gay male holiday companion to join him on his single annual break.

Although Kennedy claims to be neutral in his choice, he has certain non-negotiable requirements. Applicants must be between twenty-one and twenty-five, non-smoking, social drinkers, either versatile or passive, and be able to pull off the role of dutiful boyfriend in front of his clutch of gay friends. What does the candidate get out of the deal? An all-expenses-paid holiday and five grand in cash at the end, more if the candidate exceeds his expectations —a safe enough addendum, because for the past three years no one ever has.

Kieran West sits in a quiet corner of the coffee shop, trying to finish an assignment. At twenty-nine, he is single once again. By now he should have settled down. But when his girlfriend of three years gives him an ultimatum —ring or road—he chooses the road.

Worst of all, he has no qualms about doing so. As for his finances? Saddled with a string of outstanding student loans, he is struggling to finish his master’s while also supporting his brother through university.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 505ba5e1f6e8b4ea
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,885,631 bytes (1.798 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781839430848
• Pages: 223
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 353.43 minutes
• Total Words: 70,686
• Total Characters: 404,062
• Average Words per Page: 316.98
• Average Characters per Page: 1811.94

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