Something in Common (Dreamspinner Press Bundles)

by Talia Carmichael

  “I am… kicking his fucking head off.” Kira rose out of the chair and gestured rudely in front of her.

  Aristotle’s eyes widened and he looked to the kickboxing match on the screen.

  “Stupid fricking referee. What? Don’t you have fucking eyes? That was an illegal move.”

  “Mom!” Theron called from the doorway.

  “It wasn’t me. Aristotle was watching, and he asked me to join him.” Kira sat down and put her hands in her lap.

  “I did.” Aristotle noted Jorge was with Theron, and he was trying not to laugh.

  “Don’t give me that.” Theron came in, holding two plates of food and a bag over his arm.

  Jorge was also carrying two plates and handed one to Kira, while Theron gave one of his to Aristotle. He put the other on the table by the wolf, and the bag beside it, then focused on his mother.

  “You know you’re banned from watching any sports that involve body contact.” Theron wagged a finger at her.

  “Spoilsport.” Kira gripped his finger and pulled it toward her mouth, opening it to bite him.

  Theron laughed, pulling it away. “You have no self-control. Cursing like a sailor and….” Theron looked at Aristotle, eyes wide “Please tell me she didn’t try to act out what she was seeing.”

  “Umm… no.” Aristotle looked at Theron’s mom. “Does she do that?” He would’ve liked to see it.

  “Yes. That’s why she’s banned.” Theron looked at his dad. “The vacuum has never worked again after that body slam Mom gave it.”

  “I did that five years ago, and they won’t let me forget it.” Kira looked at Aristotle. “We have a new one, Aristotle, but do you know what my loving husband”—she butted her shoulder against Jorge’s where he sat next to her—“and children do? They keep that vacuum as a shrine of their mama’s… ummm… enjoyment of shows.”

  “Honey, it’s not enjoyment. It’s your effervescent streak.” Jorge looked over at Aristotle. “If you ever watch an action movie with her, be prepared for bruises. She gets into them.”

  “You all stop. You’re going to have Aristotle thinking I’m a nut.” Kira laughed.

  “I think you’re wonderful,” Aristotle said.

  Kira looked at him, and her expression went soft. She reached for him, catching his face between her hands. She kissed his nose and patted his cheeks.

  “Oh God, Theron. I’m in love. Can I keep him?”

  “He’s not a pet, Mother.” Theron’s exasperated tone also sounded fond.

  “I’m Mother to all of them when they are trying to be all serious but not laugh.” Kira winked.

  “Eat your food, honey,” Jorge urged.

  Kira started to eat. Theron took the remote and turned the channel.

  “Hey! Aristotle was watching that,” Kira protested.

  “Now he’s watching this,” Theron replied as he sat on the floor and put the control in front of him.

  He opened the bag and passed out drinks, then pulled his own plate closer. Theron started to eat his own food.

  Aristotle leaned close to Kira and said in a low voice, “I DVRed it. We can catch it later.”

  Kira snickered.

  “Aristotle, don’t encourage her.” Theron tweaked him on the ankle.

  “I don’t know what you’re referring to.” Aristotle smiled at him.

  “I’m realizing you say that when you’re trying to get away with something.” Theron rose.

  Aristotle leaned forward and they kissed, then settled back into place and watched TV with his parents. As they did, people came in and out of the room, watching with them, but not too many at a time or staying too long. Aristotle realized Theron must have made them aware of his not liking crowds. He rubbed his toes along the side of Theron’s leg. Theron glanced back at him and covered his foot with his hand, then went back to watching TV. Content, Aristotle laid his head back.

  Chapter Seven

  ARISTOTLE LIFTED one end of the desk.

  “You know what I find amazing?” Lawrence lifted his end, and they moved it across the workshop to the client display area. “You always find a way to put me or anybody else who’s here to work moving furniture.”

  “That’s what big strapping younger brothers are for.” Aristotle chuckled.

  “Free labor, you mean.” Lawrence stepped back into the doorway.

  Aristotle moved the piece inside and walked them to where it had to be set up. They lowered it, and Aristotle smoothed his hand over the top, pleased with the results.

  “Now the file cabinet and hutch that goes on it.” Aristotle rubbed at a spot.

  “I’m here to finish installing your computer system.” Lawrence sounded peeved.

  “Rein in the super computer-geek persona. Once we get the rest done, you can go back to it.”

  “Fine. But we can’t move the hutch, even with Dalton’s help.” Lawrence strode back to the workers and where there were other items to move.

  “I know that, and it’s why I have more help coming.”

  “Oh Christ. My back is aching already.” Dante spoke as he came into view.

  “And there he is. Let’s get this done. I have a meeting in a few moments,” Aristotle said.

  “I’m already here.” A deep baritone sounded, and then a slim man strolled into view.

  “Byron.” Aristotle shook his hand. “You’re early.”

  “You know me.” He shrugged. “I can help you with moving this stuff.”

  “Sure.” Aristotle gestured.

  In minutes, they had the hutch and file cabinet in place with the rest of the office set. Lawrence headed off to finish Aristotle’s computer.

  “I’ll call for you when I’m ready, Dante,” Aristotle said, then motioned to Byron. Aristotle led him into the office next to Dalton’s.

  “You fixed up this empty office.” Byron slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking around and nodding. “Very nice.”

  “This will be your office if you decide to become part of A. Berkus,” said Aristotle, referring to his business. “You are a good furniture maker, Byron.”

  Byron turned to look at him, his hazel eyes wide. He ran his fingers through his slightly curly brown hair, then lowered his hand.

  “You’re offering me a job? I wondered why you called me to come in for a meeting.” Byron sounded shocked.

  Although they had become friendly, Byron hadn’t pushed after their center project, or since then, for a job.

  “Nope. A partnership of 75 percent for me and 25 percent for you of my business,” Aristotle said. “I figure if I make you part of the business, you’ll be more invested in it. And that way, you won’t get enticed away by someone else who finds out how talented you really are.” Aristotle paused. “I wouldn’t offer this to just anyone, Byron.”

  “I know that, Aristotle. And I’m humbled by the offer, but I just don’t have the funds to buy into your business.” Byron sighed. “I want to take you up on it, but I don’t have that sort of capital.” Byron clenched his fist. “I was going to tell you after our meeting that I was moving out of Mapson. Gave notice on my apartment and everything. Without space for me to build, I just can’t stay here. The money I made from the Jenkins job, and the bonus, will allow me to not worry about my living expenses. I took a job working construction—”

  Aristotle interrupted. “That’s a waste of your talent.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Giving up your apartment works for what I’m offering. I was going to suggest you do that anyway and live on-site here. There’s an empty house a bit behind the larger overflow barn that was previously used for the farm manager. Or the other house they used for workers who needed a place to stay on site. You can take your pick of either. I fixed up both when I did everything else.”

  “Aristotle, I don’t need your charity.” Byron’s tone was firm.

  “Charity, my ass. You’ll be partial owner of my business. Your living here makes sense.”

  “If I live here, I’ll be paying
rent,” Byron said.

  “Fine. That’s all settled, then. What you paid for your apartment will be fine.”

  “But… I’m getting a house. It should be more.” Byron rubbed his hand over his beard, then shook his head. “Shit. Not being around you daily, I forgot how you just get people to do what you want, and they don’t even realize it.”

  Aristotle grinned because he was right.

  “Stop smiling at me. That boyfriend of yours must be something else to have you being so nice.”

  “People keep saying that, but I’m always nice.”

  “Grumbly nice, but not sweet-nice.”

  “They say that too.” Aristotle laughed, then sobered. “You know me and how I work, Byron. I’ve been swamped with orders. I need someone I can trust to do furniture the way I do it. And I’ve seen your designs. They will add to the company’s strengths.”

  “You’ll let me design too?”

  “That’s a given, since you’ll be part owner.” Aristotle put out his hand to shake. “So, are we partners or what?”

  “But the money to buy in—”

  Aristotle cut Byron off, lowering his hand. “I already thought of that. I didn’t know your finances, but figured we could work out arrangements. For every quarter, you make a payment toward buying your share of the business until you pay for your 25 percent. Although I own the business, I pay myself a biweekly salary that I came up with based on a number of factors. Experience and so on. Of course, you know from last year that we work long hours, and that happens on a regular basis. I don’t get overtime for it, but I do it to get the project done. I give myself raises periodically too. It will be the same for you. I also have set amounts for commissions on every custom project I do. The salary and commission are for my work.” Aristotle stared into his eyes. “The business takes money to run it, and from the start, even back in Rhode Island, I set it up this way. It took lots of trial and error to get it how I want it. Dante is outside now with the information on the value of the business as of this moment, and we’ll work out figures from that. You can do this, Byron.”

  “I do have the money I was paid and the bonus you gave me from the Jenkins project.” Byron lifted his chin. “So I can use that to make a down payment for my 25 percent.”

  “No matter the amount of the 25 percent, I already told Dante the down payment would be five thousand.” Aristotle wasn’t budging on that. “Okay, then. Let’s talk with Dante and see what happens.” Byron put out his hand. “Partner.”

  “Partner.” Aristotle shook his hand.

  Byron released it and then chuckled. “And I’ll accept the house and pay what renting a house would usually cost.”

  “Okay. That’s fine. We’ll do a comparison and figure it out. If you need any furniture for the house you’re taking, feel free to take it from the overflow.”

  “I’ll take the old farm manager’s place. I’ve always loved your house setup and that house reminds me of it, except the one beyond the overflow barn is a smaller version of yours with fewer bedrooms. I’m going to love having the space in the house and all those rooms on the main floor. I have some stuff I can use to furnish it.” Byron smiled wryly. “I can’t accept stuff from the overflow barn. Dalton might lose his mind a little.”

  “Why? Not that he has far to go, since he’s already crazy.”

  “When I gave up my workspace, I put my completed furniture in storage. Since I’m going to be part of the business, can I just add them to the overflow barn?”

  “It’s your business too. You don’t need to ask.” Aristotle smiled. “He’s selling off the merchandise. Just have him do yours too. But any money from that will be all yours. That’s only fair, since you had them before joining the business.”

  “But don’t you want to see them to make sure they fit the quality of work you do?” Byron sat in a chair.

  “I’ve seen your work you did with our project. Just let me know when you want to move it from storage. I’ll rope some friends into helping us.” Aristotle took the other seat and sent Dante a text, since he wasn’t sure if he was close by or at the house.

  “We’ll need the big moving truck and maybe the small one,” Byron said.

  Aristotle finished and looked at him. “Really?”

  “Yep.”

  “I want to be there when you tell Dalton,” Aristotle said.

  “You and he are both crazy,” Byron said.

  “Welcome to the funny farm.” Aristotle wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Let’s get started.” Dante came in carrying his briefcase.

  Aristotle straightened, recognizing his lawyer voice. He was pleased he now had a business partner.

  “I’M SORRY I couldn’t help Byron move after all.” Theron came in carrying a tray with drinks, popcorn, and snacks.

  “No problem. You had to go to do something for Treble Duo.” Aristotle rose from the couch, taking the tray from him.

  Theron had finally taken some of the vacation days he had for Thursday and Friday. They planned to use some of Thursday to help Byron move, but Theron was called in while they were getting ready to meet the others. So Aristotle, along with his brothers, Taggart, Dalton, and some of the friends and family he had gotten to know through Theron, moved Byron’s three storage units and the things from his apartment. When Theron finally made it back to join them, they were done. He was still feeling bad and apologizing for it. With Theron off on Friday, Aristotle decided to cancel his Friday workshop to spend the day with him. They were at Aristotle’s house and had nothing planned to do but relax, watch movies, and be with each other. Aristotle was looking forward to it.

  “Yes, it was important, but—”

  “Stop apologizing, Theron.” Aristotle put the tray on the center table and sat again, pulling Theron down with him.

  Theron sat cross-legged, then put his arms on the back of the couch. “At least Byron’s move was easy.”

  “You missed Dalton’s eyes bugging out of his head when he saw what was in those three units.” Aristotle chuckled. “It was funny as hell when he started swearing that we were working against him to get us down to one barn. But he calmed down when he really got a look at what Byron had in there. He’s really talented.”

  “He is. It was nice of him to give me one of the china cabinets.” Theron stroked his hand along Aristotle’s shoulder. “I don’t have anything to put in it, but knowing my mom, she already heard about it and is plotting to get me some knickknacks and china.”

  “It is. And the one I got looks really nice in my kitchen.” Aristotle thought of the regal-looking piece that was waiting to be filled. “Do you know he did the mosaic glass design himself? I didn’t even know he could do glass work. I was just in awe of his work with wood.”

  “When you say that, I just love it.” Theron snickered.

  “Perv.” He put his hand on Theron’s knee, squeezing it. “We’re going to get some tools for him to do the glasswork in some of our projects. Once Dalton gets some more space in the half-filled barn, we’re going to set up what he needs in there. The way Dalton was moaning over Byron’s furniture and combining some of his pieces and mine for sets, I’m betting he’ll have even more sold off soon.”

  “He will.” Theron looked at him. “Did Alex call you too?”

  “For what seemed like the millionth time. That little shit is getting on my nerves.” Aristotle shook his head. “I can’t wait for us to finish getting Alex moved into Leslie’s. He’s driving everyone crazy denying he’ll be ready to move in before Thanksgiving one minute, then asking us what he should take or not take the next because he needs to move.” Aristotle grabbed the bowl of chips and ate one before speaking again. “See, Leslie should have done like Bur did to Ramirez, moved Alex in and not told him. Then we wouldn’t have this aggravation. Hell, or Leslie should do as I said.”

  “You should know better than to tell Leslie to pile all of Alex’s crap on the front lawn and have a bonfire.”

  “It would be called
a ‘saving Alex from being killed’ fire. Leslie could dance around it, and I’m sure there are a lot of us who would join him.” He gave a chip to Theron.

  “Yes, but it isn’t safe, and Leslie is crazy enough to do it.” Theron ate the chip. “I think the only reason it isn’t bugging Leslie is because he’s just glad Alex is moving in with him.”

  “If we were moving in together and you acted like Alex, I don’t care how glad I was about you moving in. I’d have me a big ol’ fire and do the holla.”

  “I’m tempted to ask you to move in with me and then lose my mind like Alex, just to see that.” Theron laughed, leaning against him.

  “I can tell from your laugh you don’t believe me.” Aristotle handed him the bowl and retrieved the beers. He passed one to Theron.

  “I’m not sure what I think.” Theron drank, then sighed. “It’s good to be just relaxing with you for the next three days. Well, we do have to go to Treble Duo for the second Saturday reading.”

  “The kids are looking forward to it.”

  “That and Thanksgiving.” Theron blew out a breath. “I don’t know how we’re going to get to all the places we’re supposed to be.”

  “I’ll get us where we need to be.” Aristotle rubbed down the bridge of Theron’s nose. “We’ll go early to the center to cook with the kids and the others coming there, then leave about two o’clock to go to your parents’. We’ll have a little food and dessert and be out of there by six o’clock. Then you, your five lunkhead brothers, and I will be off to my place to meet up with my brothers and friends to help them finish cooking. About nine, we’ll sit down and have our first Thanksgiving at my house.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’m leaving it up to you to get us where we need to be,” Theron replied.

  “I’ve got it all figured out.” Aristotle looked at him. “Christmas, we’ll do the same thing. This year is our first of many holidays we’ll be together.”

  “Yes.” Theron kissed him briefly, a smile on his face.

  “I love you, Theron.”

  Theron blinked. Then he put down his drink and the bowl and grabbed Aristotle. Theron turned and straddled him.