by Sue Brown
CRIS ARRIVED at Cowboys and Angels fifteen minutes before his shift. Dan waved at him as he walked past, and Bradley yelled out “About time” as a greeting. He said hi to Dan, flipped Bradley off, and headed into the back.
After he shed his coat, Cris checked his phone again, but he had no missed calls. He’d been waiting for a call from Bennett after his meeting with his father, but there was nothing, not even a text. The rational part of him knew Bennett might still be in the meeting with his dad and Mikey. He imagined there was a lot to talk about. Unfortunately the part of him that spent the day wanting to rush over to be by Bennett’s side was the one most vocal. He could call Bennett or text, just check he was okay. But he knew it wasn’t his business. The Petrovskis needed to work it out between them. They didn’t need Cris interfering.
Still, he could just send a text. Bennett didn’t need to reply to it. His phone was in his hands before he had time to consciously process it.
You okay?
Cris stared at the screen, but there was no reply, so he put his phone in his pocket. Later. He’d talk to him later.
He had one foot out the door when his phone beeped, and he stopped to look at the screen.
Yep talk later
As an answer it lacked clarity, but at least Bennett was able to respond. Cris slipped his phone back into his pocket and went to work.
“NEXT!”
Cris’s tone was sharper than he intended, but it had been a long evening full of guys determined to try his last nerve. His mom used to say that to him, and now he knew what it meant. His customer service skills had deserted him several hours earlier.
“Hey.”
The familiar voice made Cris focus. He looked along the bar and smiled for the first time when Bennett smiled back at him.
“Bad evening?”
“Not now you’re here,” Cris said. “I am so happy to see you.”
“Can you take a break?”
Cris looked over to Dan, who was talking to Gideon. “Hey, can I take my break now?”
Dan spotted Bennett and waved at him. “Hey, Bennett. Sure, it’s quiet at the moment.”
“Let me get my jacket,” Cris said.
Five minutes later he was outside the bar, looking anxiously at Bennett. “How did it go?”
Bennett grimaced. “It was the hardest three hours of my life. Let’s walk.”
They fell into step beside one another and Cris asked, “Your father? What did he say?”
“Uh, long story short, Mikey is no longer engaged to Julianne and is leaving the company with Tata’s blessing. Tata accepts my relationship with you. We have to give Mama time.”
Cris processed that. “So that’s good, right?”
“Apart from Mama, yes. Tata’s going to invest in Mikey’s business too, on the understanding Mikey gets his shit together. Then we got the safe-sex lecture.”
Cris cringed, and Bennett laughed. “Yeah, it was bad enough the first time around. At least he didn’t mention getting anyone pregnant.”
“What about you? Are you still working for your dad?”
“I offered to leave. He said no. You have to understand Tata is all about family. The Petrovskis come first but he really wants one of us to take over the business someday.”
“Do you want to stay?”
Bennett stopped and smiled. “You know, I think I do.”
“Okay, then.”
Whatever Cris thought about Bennett’s position, he couldn’t change the situation. Bennett was all about family too. And the old man had accepted their relationship. He wondered how much Charles’s revelation had to do with his acceptance. Cris could work on Mrs. Petrovski. It would take time, but he had patience.
Chapter 19
BENNETT SPRAWLED in the mess of the bed like a stranded long-limbed starfish. His eyes were shut, and he snored every so often. Cris rested his head on Bennett’s belly, listening to the occasional rumble underneath his ear and content to let him doze. He was tired, but not yet ready to sleep. At some point he’d have to get up and cook, but he was in no rush to move. Every so often Bennett would snort and jump, but then he’d run a warm hand down Cris’s back, and the snoring would start again. It was kind of adorable, really. Cris made a mental note to buy earplugs.
He was lost in thought when he realized something was vibrating, so he eased away from Bennett in an effort not to disturb him and rolled off the bed to hunt for his phone. It was buried under a heap of their discarded clothes, and then of course, the vibrating stopped just as he picked it up. When he pressed the button, Cris discovered he’d missed a call from Gideon. He really hoped Gideon didn’t need him to take a shift at Cowboys and Angels that evening. The only plan Cris had was to spend it wrapped around his lover, preferably naked.
“Hey.” Cris spoke quietly as he left the bedroom, not wanting to wake Bennett, who still hadn’t stirred.
“Lionman!” Gideon boomed in his ear, so loudly Cris had to hold the phone away from his head and smack his ear a couple of times to stop it ringing.
“Is everything okay?” he asked as he cautiously put the phone back to his ear.
In the background he could hear Ariel talking to someone and music Cris couldn’t initially place. It sounded like something from the eighties. He smiled wryly when the words lion, sleeps, and tonight came together. He should have recognized that straight off. The damn song had haunted him his entire life. His parents had video of him dancing to it when he was a child.
Gideon interrupted his thoughts. “Yeah, it’s fine. But I need to talk to you. When’s your next shift? Dan’s not here, and he’s got the staff roster on his laptop.”
Cris grinned. “You mean you don’t have the password.”
“I can see you laughing,” Gideon grumbled. “Yeah, he’s changed the password.”
“You know it’s to stop you interfering with the schedule. I’m working tomorrow evening from eight.”
“Can you come by the bar before then? I need to talk to you, and it’ll be easier if Dan’s not hassling me to let you work.”
Cris yawned, scratched his belly, and headed to his coffee maker. “Uh, okay. I’ll come over in the morning. I’ve got laundry to do.”
“Not today?”
“I’m… busy.” The delay was Cris deciding what flavor coffee he wanted, but Gideon gave a bark of laughter.
“Busy? Oh right, say hi to Bennett.”
“I will when he wakes up.”
“I’m awake,” a sleepy voice announced. “Is there coffee?”
Cris looked over his shoulder to see Bennett shuffling toward him, gloriously nude and his eyes half-closed. Cris’s dick stirred just at the sight of his sleek, powerful body.
“Gimme a moment,” he said to Bennett, and he resisted the urge to fall to his knees and worship at Bennett’s cock. “Gideon says hi.”
“No, you can’t work tonight. You’re gonna fuck me.”
Bennett slumped into the corner of the sofa and closed his eyes. The man really wasn’t awake. His usual filters weren’t in place.
Cris smiled and focused his attention on the call. “Bennett says—”
“I heard him.” Gideon chuckled again. “Y’all have a great night, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Gideon.”
He heard Gideon’s snicker as they disconnected, but he didn’t care. Phone call finished, Cris focused on the task at hand—coffee, not sex—and within a couple of minutes, they sat together on opposite corners of the sofa, legs entwined.
It took Bennett until he’d finished his coffee before he opened one eye to look at Cris. “What did Gideon want?”
“He wants to talk before I go to work tomorrow.”
“Oh?”
Cris shook his head. “I don’t know why. He didn’t say. It’s Monday. I do my laundry. I’ll go in after that.”
“Do you want to go there this evening?” Bennett sounded like it was the last thing he wanted to do.
“You alr
eady told Gideon what we’re doing this evening.” Cris deliberately let need bleed into his voice. He put down his cup and stared intently at Bennett, and it didn’t escape his attention that Bennett’s dick stirred against his thigh. “What did you say I had to do?”
“I said you have to fuck me,” Bennett said hoarsely.
“You’d rather I went to the bar than fuck you?”
“No.”
Cris watched Bennett’s cock thicken in anticipation. His own body was just as happy at the thought, and he spread his legs to show Bennett.
“Fuck me now,” Bennett demanded.
“Put down your cup.”
Bennett did as he was told, and Cris crawled over to him and straddled his thighs. The crisp hair tickled Cris’s butt.
“You might find it difficult to fuck me like this,” Bennett pointed out.
“We have a ways to go before that happens.”
“We do?”
Cris kissed him tenderly. “Oh yeah, a long way.”
BENNETT HAD a hitch in his gait as he left the next morning. He’d grumbled long and loud, but as Cris watched him walk to the bathroom, he felt unbearably smug. Bennett growled at him, and that made Cris chuckle.
Bennett was almost out the front door when Cris remembered something.
“Wait,” he said, and he rushed over to a drawer in the kitchen.
“I’m going to be late for work,” Bennett called out.
“I’ll be quick, I promise.” Cris pushed around the contents until he found what he was looking for. “Aha.”
He loped back to Bennett and took his hand. “I want you to take these.”
Bennett looked down at the set of keys Cris had dropped into his gloved hand. “Keys to here?”
Cris nodded. “I want you to be able to come and go as you please.”
“I… wow, keys. This is a big deal.” Bennett closed his fingers around them. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“I’ll get keys cut for my place today.” Bennett blinked hard, his eyes suspiciously bright.
Cris kissed him and pushed him out of the door. “Get to work. Can’t have two of us fired.”
“Call me to let me know what Gideon wants,” Bennett said as he walked to the elevator.
He still walked funny and Cris’s smugness level increased.
Back in his apartment, Cris stripped the mattress, dumped the sheets in his laundry bag, and remade the bed.
Just after eleven, Cris left the laundromat and headed to Cowboys and Angels. He wrapped up against the weather as a sudden snowstorm had dumped a few inches on the streets. The city hadn’t shut down yet, but a lot more snow was forecast. He looked up at the white sky and begged it silently to get lost. If there was significant snow, the bar would shut, and that would mean no money. He couldn’t afford to take another financial hit.
Dan waved Cris over as he entered the bar. “Morning. I’ll let Gideon know you’re here, and then I’ll get you a drink.”
“Thanks.”
Dan used the phone behind the bar to contact Gideon, and then he came back. “What can I get you?”
“Is your coffee machine working?”
The recently installed coffee machine was more temperamental than Gideon’s daughter. The staff had started to call the machine Ariel Junior. Not in her or Gideon’s earshot, of course.
“Gideon threatened the company if they didn’t get Junior sorted. What do you want?”
Cris waited but Dan didn’t say any more. He knew Gideon had fingers in many pies, and he supposed Gideon could cause the company a lot of bad exposure if he wanted.
“Hot chocolate would be great.”
“Cream and marshmallows?”
Cris would work it off at the gym later. “Sure.”
“Lionman! You made it.”
One day Gideon would remember his name. One day.
He stood to shake Gideon’s hand, and Gideon sat down on the stool next to Cris as Dan placed the chocolate on the bar. This time Cris didn’t offer to pay, figuring Gideon had asked him to come in. He took a swallow of the chocolate and wiped away the inevitable creamy mustache.
Gideon took a moment and then said, “I’ve got a proposition for you.”
“Don’t tell me, you want a strip night at Cowboys and Angels.”
Gideon snorted. “As gorgeous as you are, I think our customers would prefer boobs to dick.”
“You’re probably right.”
“You’re on the right lines, though. I’ve bought Forbidden Nightz.”
Cris choked on a marshmallow and took a long time to stop coughing. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and Dan handed him a tissue to mop his eyes and blow his nose.
“Have you finished? Do you know you go almost the color of your hair when you do that?” Gideon had a smug grin on his face.
“You’ve done what?” Cris managed to gasp out.
“I bought the club. We signed the papers yesterday. And the first thing I did was fire the manager. What a useless piece of crap. How the heck did he get away with running the place like that for so long?”
Cris stared at him, his jaw open. “You fired Marlon? Who’s gonna run the place now?”
“You are.”
“I… what?”
Gideon frowned. “You seemed more intelligent than this.”
“Leave him alone,” Dan chided. “Give him a moment to realize you’re his boss. It’s a big thing.”
Gideon smirked at him. “I thought we weren’t gonna talk about my big thing, darlin’.”
“Guys, please.” Cris did not need his new—or same, if he counted the bar—boss discussing the size of his dick at this time in the morning. To give himself time to process Gideon’s… it sounded more like an order than a request, he took a drink of his chocolate and managed to get it down without choking.
“Sorry.” Gideon couldn’t have looked less apologetic if he tried—smug, yes, apologetic, no.
Cris rolled his eyes. “You’ve fired the manager of the club I no longer work for, and you want to make me the replacement.”
“Yes,” Gideon said simply.
“I have no experience.”
“I do, and so does Dan. You don’t have to do this by yourself. I’m not throwing you to the wolves.”
Cris had to be grateful for small mercies. “Why me?”
“Because the club needs someone organized at the helm. It can’t survive much longer.”
“It’s in trouble?”
“It was,” Gideon corrected. “Now it has a new chance.”
“I need training. And the club needs more than a makeover. It needs new guys. We need to hold auditions with new routines. Maybe change what we offer like what Dan’s doing here.”
Gideon’s lips twitched. “You’ll take the job?”
Before Cris could answer, Dan interrupted. “Don’t commit if you need time to think about it. Gideon forgets people need time to consider their options. He’s always fifteen steps ahead of everyone else.”
“Darlin’, the man’s already committed me to renovating the club. He’s taking the job.” Gideon sounded so sure of himself.
Cris needed to think. It was huge to go from a stripper to the manager. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do the job, but it would require his careful thought and a long discussion with Bennett. It was a shame his mouth had other ideas. “I’ll do it, if you’re prepared to put the money in.”
“Deal. We’re gonna need to close the club for several weeks in January. I’ve checked the schedule, and it’s quiet then.”
Cris scowled at Gideon, realizing he was several steps ahead of him already.
“If the club closes, what about the staff? We can’t afford to be out of work. Raymond’s got another kid on the way.”
“I told you that would be the first thing he’d worry about,” Dan said.
Gideon nodded, but he focused his attention on Cris. “I’ll offer them temporary contracts in other work. They won’t earn as much, but
at least they’ll be employed. There’s nothing to stop them going elsewhere if they want to.”
“All the staff?”
“All of them.”
“What about the bookings?”
“You and I’ll deal with those.”
There was much more Cris had to think about. He didn’t know the first thing about being a manager.
“Hey.” Dan snapped his fingers and pulled Cris from his thoughts.
“Huh?”
“You’re freaking out.”
Cris opened his mouth to deny it and then shut it again. Dan was right. He was freaking out.
“Take a deep breath,” Dan advised. “It’ll all work out. Gideon’ll teach you how to run the place.”
Gideon squeezed Cris’s arm. “I asked you because you can do the job.”
Cris inhaled as he was told, exhaled slowly, and looked at Gideon. “Thanks for having faith in me.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Why did you buy the club?”
Gideon nodded at Dan, who’d wandered away to serve a customer. “He told me to. Said it would give me something else to think about, rather than interfering here.”
Dan huffed. “That’s not what I said.”
“You didn’t say it with words, darlin’, but that’s what you meant.”
For the dominant one in their relationship, Gideon spent a lot of time doing what Dan wanted him to do. Cris thought it was sweet. He also knew Gideon would kill him if he ever mentioned it.
“Marlon was an asshole. Cris has had more ideas in the last five minutes than Marlon probably had in his entire life.” Dan rejoined them. “You bought the club because you know it’s got potential. Don’t deny it.”
Gideon huffed, but finally he nodded. “It will fit in my entertainment and media holdings.”
“A strip club,” Cris said doubtfully.
“I own casinos and strip clubs elsewhere. Cowboys and Angels is my home, but my media and entertainment companies are diverse.”
Dan rolled his eyes and grinned at Cris. “The dude has more fingers in more pies than you’ll ever know, but puritanical, he ain’t.”
“I never thought for a moment that Gideon was puritanical,” Cris assured them.