by Aliana James
Alec had one hand on the spray nozzle, the other on his chest as if it would hold in the laughter. He sprayed him again square in the chin and water dripped down the front of his shirt. It was time for payback.
He scooped up the bucket and moved toward Alec but he was too fast and Travis slipped on the wet floor and dropped the bucket. Water sloshed all over the kitchen floor as Travis fell on his butt.
Alec scooped up the bucket to stop the spill and then continued to laugh.
“You’re a child,” he said. “I’m soaked and have to change again.”
From his spot on the floor, he had a great view of Alec’s crotch and with the wet shorts could make out the perfect outline of his dick. His started to harden in response.
“Oh, poor baby.” Huh, poor baby. He’d show him.
“You’re cleaning this shit up.” He scolded. “Help me up.”
Alec stood over him. He was positioned between Travis and the cabinet, perfect for what he had in mind. When Alec reached to help him, he leaned further forward and caught Alec off guard, pushing him against the counter with Travis plastered to the front of his body.
He maneuvered his hand between their two bodies and rubbed Alec’s dick through his wet shorts while he nibbled on his neck.
“Mmm,” Alec growled, his hands moving to Travis’s ass.
Travis shifted so that his dick rubbed against Alec’s and without warning, Alec’s hands moved from his ass to his face. Alec turned his face to meet his and held it for a moment before kissing him. The soft brush of Alec’s lips on his had him chasing his mouth for more.
His tongue darted out to lick along the bottom of his lip as it latched on to it and gently sucked. Alec growled and tilted his head to get a better angle. Gentle was gone, replaced by a need neither of them knew what to do with.
He inserted his tongue deep into Alec’s mouth and sucked on his in return.
“Oh, God. I love kissing you,” Alec said.
Travis needed more—more friction, more kisses. He ground his dick hard into Alec and devoured his lips. Alec pushed him back, and he stood shocked in the kitchen with his hand pressing on his dick. If he didn’t come now, he’d explode.
“What the—” Alec cut him off with a kiss and knelt on the floor in front of him.
“Let me.” Alec shoved his hands away, pulled his pants and boxers down and Travis’s dick stood straight out in front of him.
Travis gripped the side of the cabinet and whimpered as he watched Alec lick under his cock and then slip it into his mouth. One hand kneaded his ass, and the other fondled his balls. It was an assault on his senses. He didn’t want it to end. This was new, his dick between Alec’s beautiful lips. He wouldn’t last; it was too good.
“Alec…” he warned as his balls tightened up, and Alec pulled his hands off the cabinet and placed them on his head. He tried to back off but Alec redoubled his efforts, his beautiful lips sucking him and his hands massaging the underside of his sack.
“Oh, fuck!” His release shot down Alec’s throat and he watched in awe as he swallowed every bit, licking until it got too sensitive for him to continue.
Alec pulled up his boxers and pants, tucked his dick back into them, and zipped him up. He kissed him hard on the mouth and the taste of himself on his lips caused him to groan.
He patted Travis’s chest with a smirk. “That should make up for the mess.”
“What about you?” He walked toward him but Alec stopped him with a hand on his chest and shook his head.
“I need to clean this up.” Alec gave him a peck on the lips. “My husband is a neat freak.”
“I’ll help.” He moved to the sink, to grab a towel, and Alec tapped him on his shoulder.
“Why don’t you take a shower?”
He smiled at Alec and leaned in for another kiss. “You could join me.”
“Then this will never get cleaned up. I’m sure my mother will be calling me back and I don’t want to get distracted again.” Alec rolled his eyes.
A cell phone chimed, and they both laughed. He rinsed the towel and switched it out for Alec.
“That must be her now,” he said as he dried his hands. It was his cell phone that chimed again with another message.
Shit. Peter’s test results.
“I’ll be right back.”
He ducked out of the kitchen and dialed Peter’s number. Fingers crossed that the doctor’s visit had went well. Peter had been through three surgeries already to repair the damage to his leg.
“Hey.”
“Hi,” Peter answered. “Hold on.”
He walked into his bathroom and dropped his wet clothes in the hamper. He pulled on a pair of underwear and gym shorts. He’d take a shower later.
Peter thanked someone and said goodnight.
“Italian.” Peter came on the line. “I’m starving.”
Huh, so was he. Alec provided a nice distraction, so he couldn’t technically complain. Where was their food?
“Hold on a minute.” He walked back to the kitchen. The floor had towels all over it and Alec was on a step stool trying to clean the range hood.
“Hey, Alec, when is the food coming?”
Alec glanced at his watch before he answered. “Should’ve been here already. I’ll call down.”
“Thanks.” He picked up his phone. “I’m back. How was the doctor’s visit?”
“Good. The leg is slow to heal but it looks like I won’t have to have another surgery.”
“That’s great news. What about your arm?” Both Peter’s leg and arm on his left side had been crushed in the accident. It was a miracle he had use of either of them.
“The arm? That’s the bad news. You remember the tingling I was having in the tips of my fingers?”
“Yeah.”
“Nerve damage. They want to go in but now they tell me that there’s a fifty-fifty chance of it getting worse after surgery—not better. I can barely do anything as it is.”
He watched Alec answer the door and pass by with the pizza box.
“Travis?”
“Yeah, I’m here. I’m not sure. How soon do you have to decide?”
“The doctor wants an answer soon. Apparently, the best chance of fixing it is now instead of waiting. I don’t know anymore.”
Alec stuck his head out of the kitchen, frowned, and disappeared again.
“It sucks, for sure. But think about this, suppose you decide not to and it gets worse. What then?”
“Travis, is that your way of helping?”
Alec placed a plate with a calzone and a beer in a cold mug in front of him. Damn, that looked good.
“Listen, check with your doctor, but I’m sure if you decide to do nothing it’ll get worse.” He remembered his father’s options when he got injured: they all sucked. His father had to make the decision to do something otherwise his leg and back would have gotten worse. Lucky for him, the right decision was made and even though it still bothered his dad, it wasn’t as bad as when he first got hurt.
Peter answered, “I thought you’d be more helpful with this. I have to let them know this week.” The grunting had graduated to whining.
“Calm down. We’ll figure it out, okay? I promise.”
Alec returned with his plate of pizza and cold beer.
“Fine, but I need your help.” Peter hung up. Damn it, Travis hated when he did that. He was going to worry all night.
“What’s the matter? Everything all right?”
No, it wasn’t. But to tell Alec that would be like lighting a long fuse.
“Travis?” Alec took a bite of his pizza.
“Yeah, no, everything will be okay.” He didn’t know.
“Peter’s okay?” Alec grabbed a napkin as the cheese dribbled off of his chin. “I could kind of figure it out from what you were saying. He needs surgery?”
He needed to bounce this off of someone. Alec may not help. He thought money fixed everything.
“Tell me again why he calls you every two seconds
?” Alec asked. “I know you mentioned that he has no family here, but you can’t be his only friend.”
“Forget it.” Travis glared at him.
“Ok. Sorry.” Alec mimed his mouth closing and waved for him to continue.
“Peter’s arm and hand were squashed in the car accident. He’s developed a strong tingling sensation in the tips of his fingers. The doctors said it’s nerve damage. Now they say they can operate but there’s a fifty-fifty chance of him losing all feeling and use of his hand and arm. There is a strong chance of it getting worse if he does nothing. If it were you, would you do the surgery? And…” He held up his hand to silence Alec. “You have no money, only what your insurance, which sucks, covers.”
Alec scrunched up his lips, apparently the first response Alec had been ready with no longer qualified and he watched him think about it. He picked up his calzone and almost finished it before he spoke.
“I would get the surgery,” Alec said as he picked up his plate and stood.
“Why?”
“Why not?” Alec paused and frowned. “This is a no-brainer to me. Why would you go through the rest of your life wondering what would have happened? If he doesn’t have the surgery, isn’t he going to wonder what happened if he did?”
Alec shot him a dirty look and rolled his eyes as Travis’s phone rang. The display said it was Tyler and he answered it as he picked up his plate to follow Alec into the kitchen.
He smiled as he remembered what happened earlier. Maybe he could return the favor.
The plate was yanked out of his hand and Alec shooed him out of the kitchen. He guessed not.
Chapter Eighteen
Alec
Already behind in site visits at 9 a.m., the last place he needed to be was in the city. His assistant rescheduled most of his morning. If he got stuck in traffic on the way out, his afternoon appointments suffered. All he had been told was there’s a meeting at nine-thirty and he needed to be there.
The long corridor to the elevator banks took extra time he didn’t have, and he jogged the last few steps to the last elevator.
What did his grandfather want now? He thought about the last two reports he sent to him. Everything looked good. In fact, they were ahead of schedule and on budget. There wasn’t an issue in his mind.
The elevator doors opened and as he exited, he spotted his brothers standing by the reception desk. Both flirted with the receptionist, who couldn’t keep her eyes off of them. Some things never changed.
“What are you troublemakers doing here?”
Troy, officially the baby brother since he was the younger twin by five minutes, grinned back at him and greeted him with a hug.
“We were summoned.” Trevon hesitated then he gave Alec a one-armed hug.
“I can’t believe you’re here. Why didn’t you let me know you were coming to NY?”
“Huh.” Trevon grunted. “You mean like you let us know that you and Travis got married.”
The whole family had given him shit, one after another, over the ceremony at City Hall.
“Your mother was pissed—hell, our mother was pissed. And Christ, you should have heard Paulina go on and on.” Troy cringed. “It was bad.”
He locked eyes with Antonio, who walked toward him. Still the odd man out, something Alec needed to work on.
“Alec.” Antonio extended his hand, and he shook it and then placed his hand on Antonio’s shoulder.
“Antonio, meet my brothers, the twin troublemakers of the family,” He joked. “Troy and Trevon.”
They all shook hands and then turned as a woman ran out of the elevator and nearly tripped over herself in the process. He rushed forward and caught her in time.
“Jesus, Jacqui, where’s the fire?” His little sister, without fail was in a rush to somewhere.
“Hey big brother.” She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How are you? How’s Travis?”
“Good.” Jacqui’s current graduate course load didn’t allow for random trips on a weekday. He turned and spotted his uncle in the corner speaking to someone. He didn’t see his grandfather yet but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. On his left stood two of the corporation lawyers along with a couple other people.
“Antonio, what’s going on?” His siblings weren’t involved in the day-to-day business at Bennett. They were there as shareholders. In addition to his grandfather, each of his children and grandchildren had shares in the company. It was normal procedure to have all the shareholders present when a vote was needed.
Antonio shook his head. “I know as much as you do.”
Thalia and Julian were still missing. His father currently resided in a jail in Mexico. Grandfather refused to send a lawyer and had cut him off from the family funds. His father hadn’t called him, which only meant that his uncle must have stepped in to do something.
Troy introduced Antonio to Jacqui, and they continued talking with one another. A short, stocky man clapped his hands.
“If you would all proceed to Meeting Room A, we can get started.”
Jacqui paused to walk beside him and reached out to squeeze his hand.
“Just another round of Bennett drama.” He caught her eye, and she smiled. Even though they only saw each other now and then, his sister had a way about her that always managed to ground him. She continued holding his hand as they entered the meeting room.
The meeting room housed a long table surrounded by chairs suited to fit a group of forty. Chairs lined the walls, which during normal meetings held support staff. Each seat had a pad with a pen. On the table sat some danishes and coffee.
If he could grab a quick cup, it would help him get through this meeting. His cousin, Thalia, turned as they approached.
“Thalia.” Jacqui greeted her with a hug and then with a look sat next to the twins.
“Hey, you. How does Grayson like his birthday gift?” he said to his cousin.
Thalia’s eyes narrowed. “I’m annoyed with you, but we can get into that later.”
“Take a number.”
“If everyone would take a seat, please, so we can begin.” The man clapped his hands. “Thank you. For those who don’t know me, my name is Marcus Filmore and I am a partner in the law firm of Filmore and Associates. I have been asked here today as an impartial mediator at the request of Mr. Weston Bennett.”
His uncle requested the meeting. He sat up in his chair and noticed the twins exchange a look and Thalia glanced at the pad in front of her.
“Since everyone here has the last name of Bennett, I will refer to the party in question by his or her first name. I have several affidavits from doctors stating that William Senior is unfit to lead this company. There have been two costly errors in business dealings in the last three months. Dealings that according to this additional paperwork has cost Bennett Industries millions of dollars.”
He needed to say something. Those deals, yes, they had cost money, but they were the right call at the time. Thalia’s hand landed on his under the table and she squeezed his, hard. They locked eyes, and she gave a very small shake of her head.
“Weston has called this meeting of the company shareholders to vote for a new CEO.”
The door opened and Julian pulled a chair over from the side to sit directly behind him. Antonio shifted over to make room. All of them sat at the far end of the table with his uncle, the lawyers at the other end. Grandfather was not present.
He held a significant share of the company and his vote counted. How could they take one without him?
“Excuse me,” he interrupted. “William Senior is not present and has voting rights.”
“Yes. You are?”
“Alec Bennett.”
Marcus nodded and rifled through the stack of papers in front of him.
“I have an envelope for you. William Senior knew that there would be a vote and insisted you have this.” Marcus handed the envelope to a member of the staff, who walked it over to Alec.
Weston pointed to the e
nvelope in disgust and argued with the man to his right. The one on his left tried without fail to silence him.
The shares in Bennet Industries were only held by family members. His uncle and his father both tried to take the company public but didn’t succeed. This was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. He had no idea how his cousins would vote. If his uncle held a proxy for his father, he had more leverage than they accounted for.
Weston tried to stand but the man on his left tugged on his arm. “Sit. Let Marcus handle the meeting.”
Alec looked at the envelope in his hands.
“Well, aren’t you going to open it?” Weston shouted.
He shouldn’t be surprised at his tone, but he was. His uncle never lost his cool.
“No, not right now. Mr. Filmore, please continue, as all of us have had to rearrange appointments to be here.”
“The purpose of today’s meeting, Alec, is to vote for a new CEO for Bennett.” Marcus turned to Weston.
“I nominate myself, Weston Bennett, for the position of CEO of Bennett Industries. I hold the proxy of my brother William Junior and he confirms my nomination.” Weston, smug and satisfied with himself, relaxed in his chair. The men next to him smiled and nodded.
Oh, hell no! He looked up to see all eyes on him. Why were they all looking at him?
“And for the record, I will note, that due to the proof in my hand William Senior has resigned immediately as CEO so you will need to vote a new one in today,” Marcus continued. “Does anyone have additional nominations before we take a vote?”
Weston smirked at him from across the table and looked at Antonio. Antonio stared at the table in front of him, not meeting his father’s eyes. His uncle looked to where Julian sat and then at Thalia.
A grunt sounded next to him as Thalia muttered, “Not in my lifetime, asshole.” She sat up and placed her hand on Alec’s.
“Mr. Filmore, I nominate Alec Bennett for the position of CEO of Bennett Industries.”
“Thalia…” he whispered.
“We would need a second to confirm your nomination, Alec.”
Before he answered, Jacqui and the twins rose their hands to second his nomination. Weston slammed his hand on the table.