by C. E. Wilson
“I don’t know either baby. I guess we need to ask Clayton tomorrow about it. I don’t want to bother them tonight. Let’s keep opening these envelopes.”
The next one Cade opened was a check from John and Clayton for twenty thousand. Cade’s eyes got big, and he handed the check to Bradley. He shook his head. “I don’t think they can afford this, but what do I know. One is a doctor, and the other is a lawyer.”
They put it in a pile with a few more checks. When they were done with the envelopes, they started counting the money and checks. They had a total of fifty-six thousand dollars and a house whatever that meant.
They decided to put the money and checks in a bag and go to bed. They would deal with everything the next day.
They woke early the next day, and Bradley called Clayton. Bradley was curious about the house from Sam and Alisa. Clayton answered on the first ring. “Hey, little brother. You're supposed to be enjoying your husband, not calling your brother.”
“I have a question for you. We opened all the envelopes last night and in one of them was a note from Sam and Alisa saying one house. What does that even mean?”
“It means that Sam and Alisa want to buy you and Cade a nice big house. He said that since your John’s little brother that you’re his child so he had bought each one if his children a house when they got married, and he will do the same with you. If you tell me what you want in a house, I’ll get my realtor friend to send me some houses that meet your criteria. I’ll bring them over tonight, and you and Cade can look through them and see what you like.”
“Oh, Clayton, that is way too much. We can’t accept a house from Mr. Willis.”
“Yes, you can and will. Sam a billionaire, Bradley, he can afford it. Now, what do you want in a house?”
“Well, the first thing is an inground pool. Cade loves to swim. Then maybe three or four bedrooms. I guess like your house with the pool would be good. I think we are going to need a Nanny when we get our children so maybe a small cottage-like you have.”
“I’ll take care of it, and I’ll be by tonight after I get off work. I should have some houses to show you then. If you find what you like, I’ll tell Sam, and he can buy it for you.”
“Ok, I’m not comfortable with this, but if you say it's ok, then we will do it. I’ll see you tonight then. Have a good day at work.”
Cade came into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “What did Clayton say about the one house thing?”
“Sam and Alisa are buying us a house. Clayton is going to get some papers from his friend an bring them over tonight so we can pick out a house we both like and Sam will buy it for us.”
Chapter 21
Cade’s mouth dropped open. “That’s too much when he isn’t even related to us baby.”
“I know I said the same thing. Clayton said that since I’m now John’s brother, Sam looks at me like I’m his child. He buys his children a house when they marry. He said that Sam is a billionaire and can well afford it.”
“Well if Clayton is sure then I guess we can do this. What kind of house are we getting?”
“That depends on us. I told Clayton I liked his house, but we had to have an inground pool.”
“We are getting a house with a pool?”
“Yes, that’s what I told Clayton, and he said that wouldn’t be a problem. Also, a cottage out back for our Nanny we will need when we get our children. I want to get established in our work before getting children. What do you think about that?”
“Yes, of course, we need to have a nice bank account before we get children so we can give them what they need.”
They decided to go to the company and talk with them about a job now that they had their licenses. They drove over to the company and went inside. They spoke with the CEO of the company. He told them if they went to work for him, they could not do any work outside of the company and any plans they drew up belonged to the company. Even what they did at home. Bradley shook his head. “I don’t think we need to work here. What we do at home belongs to us, and we already have people that want us to do things for them on the side. Cade, I’m ready to go home. I guess we will just start our own company.”
Cade nodded. “I agree. Thank you, sir, for the interview, but we have decided to decline your offer, and we will start a company of our own and be your competition.”
The CEO laughed. “You haven’t got a chance. We have been here much longer and have built a good reputation, and you can’t compete with that.”
Bradley stood, and Cade got up to stand beside him. They both turned at the same time and left his office and got in Cade’s truck. They went by the bank to deposit the money into their account. They decided to go home and try and figure out what to do about jobs.
When they got home, Cade made coffee and Bradley went and got a legal pad and pens. They sat down at the table and started figuring out how many projects they would need to make it on their own. They knew they did not want to work for a company that had that many regulations and to steal their work at home didn’t sit right with either one of them.
They figured they would start with Sam’s needs. If they did an excellent job for him, he would be able to keep them in business with his friends. They also had to keep in mind Clayton had men in his office that wanted some plans drawn up. They were talking about what to charge when there was a knock on the door. Bradley got up and went to answer it. It was Link. “Hey, big brother come on in.”
“Is Cade here? I need to talk to him about something important.”
“He’s in at the table. Do you need some privacy?”
“Not really. You will know soon enough, anyway. I just need some advice.”
“Yeah, come on in. I’ll get you some coffee.”
“Thanks, Bradley. I’m a nervous wreck about this.”
Bradley put his arm around Link’s waist and guided him into where Cade sat. Link sat down, and Cade glanced over at him and turned his attention to Link. “Hey, brother, you look like hell. What’s wrong?”
“I need to have a talk with you and Bradley.”
“Ok, we’re here for you Link. You can talk to us. We won’t judge.”
“Ok here goes. I think I’m gay.”
Both Cade and Bradley sat there, staring at Link. Cade was the first one to speak. “You think you’re gay?”
“Yeah, I mean I don’t know if what I feel means anything or if I just want it to. I don’t know how to say what I feel.”
Bradley asked, “Are you attracted to men or women?”
“I think women are pretty and all, but I don’t want to have sex with them. I have had several dates with Alex, and I want him. I know this is a shock. It is for me. I just don’t know if what I feel for Alex is just a crush or I just want to be good friends.”
“Do you want to sleep with him?”
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“Do you normally sleep with your friends?”
“No, I never slept with anyone before. Not a man or a woman. That’s why I don’t know if I’m gay or straight.”
Cade glanced at Bradley. He said, “Well, since you want to sleep with Alex and don’t want to sleep with women, I would say that you’re gay or at least bisexual.”
“I don’t think I’m bisexual. I don’t want women at all. I don’t even want to take them out. I have more fun with Alex than I ever did on a date with a woman. I guess I dated women just because that’s what was expected of me.”
“What’s your plans with Alex?”
“I don’t know just yet. I want to keep dating Alex. We have perfect times together. I really like him a lot.”
“Then go for it, brother. I don’t see anything wrong with it if that’s what you want. Mom and Dad won’t have a problem with it. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know. I just needed to talk to you guys so I could get my head on straight. I wanted you two to verify that what I’m feeling is gay.”
They talked for a little while. There was another kn
ock on the door. Bradley went and opened the door to find Clayton with a hand full of papers. He invited him in, but Clayton was in a hurry. “Look over these and see if you like one of them. They are pretty much what you wanted, but you might like some and not like some. Just put them in different piles. That’s what we did. A yes pile, a no pile and a maybe pile. I’ll get Karen to show them to you, and then you can decide on what you want.”
“Thanks, Clayton. Are you sure you can’t come in for a cup of coffee?”
“Sorry but I have to take Gabrielle in for a checkup at her doctors. I’m going to be a few minutes late as it is.”
“OK, thank you. I will call when we decide what we want.”
Clayton got in his car and left. Bradley took the papers in and laid them on the table. “What’s that baby?”
“Oh, Clayton dropped them off. It is the houses that we are to look over and see if we like any of them.”
Cade nodded. “We’ll look at them later. Link, will you stay for dinner? Bradley is a pretty good cook.”
Link looked at his watch. “No, thanks but I need to go. I’m taking Alex out to dinner, and I’m supposed to pick him up in just a little while. Thanks for the talk. I sure needed it.”
Cade walked Link out to his truck and said goodbye. Bradley pulled the stack of houses over to him. He picked up the first one and read it. It was perfect, and had everything they wanted. He was excited for Cade to see it until he looked at the price. It was six hundred thousand dollars. He almost choked. He wondered if Clayton had seen the price.
Bradley moved the picture of the house to the yes pile. He looked at the next one, but it didn’t have a pool. That one went to the no collection. The next one had a pool but not the small cottage, so he put it in a maybe group. If they needed to, the nanny could stay in the house in an extra bedroom.
Cade came back in and sat down across from Bradley. “What are you doing, baby?”
“Was just starting on these houses.” He pulled some from the bottom and handed them to Cade. “Before you look at those look at this one in the yes pile.”
Cade picked it up and looked at it. He grinned. “This one is perfect for us, baby. I love it.”
“Look at the price, though.”
Cade found the price, and his face dropped. “Oh, that is way too much. He will never go for that.”
“We’re going to put it in the yes pile anyway. It is perfect. I’ll talk to Clayton if we don’t find one that is cheaper and has the same things.”
“What are these other two?”
“This is the no pile. No pool. This is the maybe pile. No cottage but we could live with it.”
“Shouldn’t we go over these together?”
“We will once we get a yes and a maybe pile. It will save time looking at the no pile too.”
“Oh, I see what you're doing. Ok, that will work out well. If I say no is that going to be debatable?”
“No, if you say no or I say no then we don’t have to go over them. We have to agree on the house.”
“Ok, that sounds good.”
They spent the rest of the evening looking at the houses. They ended up with a few in the no pile and over half of them in the maybe collection and three in the yes group. Then they looked at the yes collection together. They stayed yes. They looked at the maybe collection, and a few went to the no collection and one went to the yes group.
They studied the yes pile, and that first house was the best one of the bunch. They both agreed to it. Bradley said, “Tomorrow evening I’ll call Clayton and see what he says. Maybe since he gave us this one and it was on top that Mr. Willis was planning on spending that much.”
“I think it’s too late to start cooking. How about just heating something up. I’ll do it. How about some beef stew? We both like that.”
“Yeah, I guess I got caught up in these houses. I wonder if we move into the house that Mr. Willis buys us if we can get out of the lease on this one.”
“I’m hoping Dad only signed a month to month lease. That way we won’t have to worry about it.”
Cade went into the kitchen to heat up the stew. Bradley’s phone rang. It was from Clayton. “Hey, little brother did you and Cade decide on a house yet?”
“Well we did, but it is six hundred thousand dollars. I’m sure Mr. Willis isn’t going to want to pay that much.”
Clayton laughed. “He will think its wonderful. Susan’s house was two million, and our house was a million and a half. So, he isn’t going to even stutter when he hears six hundred thousand.”
“Next problem would be if we can get out of the lease here.”
“There isn’t a lease there. It belongs to Sam too. He bought it for an investment. John told him you needed to have a house to come home to, so he called Dad and set it up with him and George.”
“Oh, ok, that will work. Can I get that lady’s phone number and see if we can set something up tomorrow to go see that house? You know what one I mean. You had it on the top of the pile.”
“Yeah, that seemed to have all your requirements. It’s a pretty house on the outside. I haven’t been there. I’m just going on the picture on the ad.”
“It is, and we both think it will be perfect. It even has a large office in it. That would be great since we are going to try and start our own business. We talked to that company in town today, and the man said that even if we do a project at home that he owns it. We didn’t like that.”
“Legally he can’t do that, but is that the type of person you want to work for? I wouldn’t, and Sam already said he would help you and Cade get going.”
The boys went to see the house the next day and loved it. A week later they were moving into it. Sam kept his word and got the boys started in the business, and they had to put jobs on hold they had so much. They eventually adopted a little boy and then a little girl. They were very happy.
Note From the Author
Thank you for reading my book. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
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If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me at
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The first book in this series is Clayton James.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V1TL85H
