Hope & Despair- Full Circle

by Alan Wild

  His corniness had them both cracking up, and a feeling Noah had never experienced before started to build in his gut. Not knowing what this feeling was about, he knew it was Oliver causing this high. His existence stirred something inside of him, and he was drawn to him like a magnet. “I can’t let go, and I don’t want to turn back. I fall into his embrace and enjoy the moment. I can only hope that Oliver meant what he said, and he wants me in his life,” Noah thought.

  Once they were dressed, Oliver pulled Noah over to the bed. They laid down facing each other, and he asked Noah what he thought of the team. After giving Oliver’s question a thought, he said, “Everyone is great. You can tell that you put so much consideration when you brought everyone together. They all work well together, and they like each other.

  What is more apparent is that they all really care for you.” Oliver said, “I like to think so, I’ve worked with most of the team in the past. I worked to get the best people together.

  I had no idea who Willa was. I hired her after she did some work for me. She was working in her apartment with little contact with her clients, she usually worked anonymously. I asked her to work on finding some information for one of my jobs. It was really amazing how quickly she worked. After the first case, I put her to the test and had her look into my information. All that I gave her was my name, she called me back within five minutes and told me that she already looked into my information before she accepted the first job. She told me all the information that you could find on credit reports, public records, previous addresses, but she also included my bank records. She also found that my Dad had unclaimed funds from a bank account he opened in 1974. I hired a financial advisor to help me manage my money. Willa looked into the guy and gave me some sound advice. The guy was working with some shady people. Willa was concerned that he moved my funds so quickly and was afraid that some would go missing. I got his information from Anthony’s files. I should have known Anthony would be tied up in some shady crap. I got a new financial advisor from Darian; the new guy already earned his pay. He knows his stuff.”

  “Darian said he would help me with the inheritance, how well do you know him?”, Noah Asked. Oliver said, “I worked a case while Darian worked for the opposing law firm as their investigator. He was so detailed and provided information that I couldn’t find. Darian is also an attorney.” He told Noah about Darian, about how he went to law school and has a private investigators license. “The Man has a flawless reputation for being honest, and he does everything by the book. That’s why I hired him. He is going to help build an outstanding reputation.”

  Noah said, “I am glad you trust him. I will talk to him later about bringing my unclaimed inheritance together. I want to set my family up and make sure they are taken care of. I know they didn’t help me with my grandmother’s estate, and they probably don’t deserve it, but this is more money than I need or can spend in my lifetime. I feel bad that I moved my mom to an assisted living home, but now I can buy her a nice house and make sure she has a team of caretakers.” Oliver said, “You are such a kind, loving man, that is what I love about you. You don’t have to help your family, but you want to help. After everything you have been through, you still choose kindness and love.” Noah didn’t know what to say, he just blushed and said thank you.

  Oliver said, “I know it might be too soon for you, but have you thought about maybe staying with me after we figure out what is happening with the case? Have you thought about your house and what you want to do with it? Ugh, I am doing it again! Let's go with one question at a time. What do you think about moving in with me?” Noah had thought about it and wasn’t sure what to say to Oliver. He grabbed his hand and looking in his eyes, said, “I spent my entire life hiding from one thing or another. I am overwhelmed by so many things, but when I am with you, I feel that anything is possible. It is like you give me the strength to be a better person. For example, I haven’t ever experienced anything like we did in the shower. But with you, I completely at ease and open to things I’ve never done.” Oliver smiled and said, “I love everything you did, and I love it more because I got to share it with you.” Feeling the heat rising up his face, Noah quickly covered his face with his hands and moaned.

  Oliver laughed and said, “Noah, you were amazing. I can honestly say that I’ve never experienced anything like it.” Oliver pulled Noah over and kissed him again. He was still blushing, and he sheepishly told Oliver, “I have a confession. Everything I learned about sex, I learned on the internet. I watched videos and fantasized that I would be able to do those things one day.” Oliver kissed Noah’s hand and said, “Normally, they say practice makes perfect. I disagree because you were perfect, but I think you should keep practicing with me.” Noah couldn’t stop the grin from leaving his face. He said, “I would love to stay with you, I am worried that I will be too much to handle. I haven’t lived with anyone other than my family. I am pretty sure that I am weird, and I can be oblivious to some pretty obvious things''. Oliver said, “As long as we talk and have open conversations, there is nothing that we can’t work through.”

  “I agree, and I promise that I will work to talk things out with you, and when I feel overwhelmed, I will just take a break.” Noah then kissed Oliver a little longer than he intended.

  Oliver pulled back, smiled, and said, “You know, if you keep that up, we won’t finish the conversation. So, Noah, what do you think you are going to do with your house?”

  “I honestly have no idea. I think I might sell it or rent it. I don’t know if I want to mess with renters though”. Oliver said, “We will have to hire a crime scene clean up company to take care of the mess. I am sure your insurance will cover that, but I guess it doesn’t matter with today’s discovery. We will hire someone to fix anything that is broken, then you can decide what you want to do with the house.” Noah didn’t think about that, how naïve he was being. He felt that he would walk in and have everything look like it did before he left for Florida.

  Oliver kissed him on the forehead and said, “I am sorry that we are in this mess, but I am so happy that I finally had the chance to welcome you into my life. I truly believe that we are destined to be together. Now, let's go see what everyone wants for dinner.”

  Chapter 12

  Oliver Thaddeus

  “I can’t stop smiling. I am so happy that Noah agreed to move in with me,” Oliver thought. They walked into the room with everyone working away, and once they spotted the two, they all began to snicker and smile. “I am sure that their dirty minds are on overdrive. I love that about them,” he thought. Looking at the group, he said, “I have an announcement to make! Noah agreed to live with me”. Everyone around the table started to cheer. Noah felt his face turn hot; his smile could not be contained. He grabbed Noah’s hand and headed to the kitchen to figure out dinner options.

  Once they were looking in the freezer for options, Willa came in and gave them her blessings and said, “Ollie, I need to borrow your man candy” Oliver tried to figure out exactly what this woman was saying to him. “Does she want my man bits?” he thought. “Willa, what in the hell are you talking about?” She said, “Girlfriend, do you need a moment to untangle your man panties? I want Noah to give us more information. Dario thinks we need to look into Granny’s lawyer.”

  Noah smiled and gave him a kiss and said, “I will be right back, then we can figure out dinner.” While Noah was giving additional information, Oliver started to pull out several options from the freezer. Then he moved to the pantry to make sure he had the ingredients needed. He joined everyone at the table, and said: “Hey team, I know you had sandwiches for lunch, how does Italian sound for dinner?” Ajay said, “I love Italian men, Italian food and Italian everything but boss, you don’t have to feed us. We can go out and get something.” He gave him his best-offended look possible and said, “I love to cook, and it would be offensive to me if you passed up on my cooking to go eat a burger packed full of preservatives and artificial flavor enhancer
s.”

  Ajay said, “In that case, I am in. I love anything Italian. Let me know how I can help.”

  Everyone else agreed that Italian food would be amazing. Oliver excitedly went back into the kitchen and planned the menu. Noah walked in, and he, like Oliver, still had a smile on his face. He couldn’t help himself, so he grabbed him for a quick hug and kiss. Noah asked what he had decided for the Italian feast. I said, “We will feast on Italian sausage with peppers, stuffed shells, spaghetti with meat sauce, lasagna and garlic cheese bread and breadsticks.” Noah’s eyes were huge, and he said, “That is better than any buffet restaurant. I had my share of buffet restaurants in Florida”.

  Oliver said, “Pssshhh my cooking is better than any buffet. Did you know that the food from the buffet restaurants is all premade? They just heat it up, mix it or fry it, and that is it. The only thing that I am going to cheat on is the pasta. I even made the Italian sausage myself.

  He began his process of preparing the Italian feast. Noah asked, “How can I help without getting in your way?” Oliver took him up on his offer and asked him to grab the Kitchen Aid mixer, flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, eggs, and yeast. He quickly dished out instructions as they worked side by side, preparing the food. He made sure to tell Noah how well he was doing. He seemed hesitant when Oliver gave him the instructions. He said he had never made homemade bread before.

  Oliver was busy mixing ricotta cheese with eggs, mozzarella, spices, and parmesan cheese. He just couldn’t get enough of the man, so he looked up for a quick glance at Noah just as he turned on the mixer. Flour flew all over Noah. He couldn’t help it; he busts out in hysterical laughter. He grabbed Noah and wrapped himself around him, and said, “Oh my God Noah, you are so adorable and sexy hot all in the same package. I just want to hug you and never let you go!” Leaving Noah flummoxed, he gave him a quick peck and set off to grab the broom.

  With the mess cleaned up, Noah started over, and this time he paid attention and gave him directions.

  They worked well together. Noah began to tell Oliver about his grandmother a bit. He said, “She used to bake a cake for every holiday. It wasn’t like it was homemade

  or anything, it was always a box mix. Every time she would bring the cake, there would be a corner missing. She told us that she needed to make sure it was good before bringing it over. She was crazy and sometimes brutal with her honesty. I spent most of my holidays with hurt feelings because she would tell me that I was fat or she would say ‘didn’t your mother tell you about deodorant?’ her favorite was when one of us kids said something she didn’t like, she would say ‘Children are to be seen not heard’ She was a hurtful woman. Still, when everyone told her to go to hell, I stayed around for more abuse. It just didn’t come as much as I expected. When it was just us and alcohol was nowhere in sight, she was almost pleasant. I learned my patience from dealing with that woman.”

  Oliver just smiled because he wanted to learn everything about Noah. “I am sorry that she was so hurtful. I know that it was painful when it happened, but I believe that we all grow from our experiences. I know I did.” Noah asked, “What was your childhood like?”

  “It was pretty bland; I grew up with both parents. My mom said she didn’t have any favorites, but everyone knew hands down that I was my mom’s favorite. My dad was good to us. He had a temper at times, but so did my mom. We did everything all the other families did. We spent holidays with our families. I was close to my family, but after my parents died, we all scattered. I still speak to my sisters and cousins, but not as much as we had in the past. Facebook has made keeping in touch so much easier, though. My sisters both live here in Colorado, but they have their families.

  I thought that I would move back to Colorado, and everything would fall back to the way it was before my parents passed away. I was fooling myself. Nothing had changed at all; in fact, it is like they didn’t even know that I was gone. I also got in contact with friends I grew up with, but they too had moved on. I love Denver, but I prefer the warmer weather and the ocean. I decided on the things that I didn’t like about Colorado, I could avoid. I just have to pay people to do the things that I do not want to do like shovel snow and mow the lawn. Denver is the perfect city to start the agency. I have the contacts, and I want it to be so much more than just a private investigation agency. I want to offer security services, security systems, home surveillance, and the primary service is private investigations.”

  With everything prepared and ready to go in the oven, he helped Noah work forming the breadsticks. Noah had his dough ready and in front of him, and he asked, “How do you want the breadsticks rolled?” Oliver took the opportunity to do something that he had always wanted to do. He greased his hands and stood behind Noah with his arms around him and hands intertwined with his. He whispered in his ear, “Let’s just do it together.” They rolled out the first few, and Oliver could tell that Noah was having the same problem that he was. Things were rising up, and it wasn’t the dough. Oliver delivered a scorching kiss to the side of Noah’s cheek. Then he let his tongue slide up his earlobe. He pulled away and whispered, “Sugar Tits, this is just not working. I want to do things that will make your toes curl, and If I did that, dinner would never be ready.” Oliver reached down and gave his ass a gentle squeeze. Noah jumped, and Oliver just let out a little chuckle and gave him a hug from behind. He rubbed his crotch against his ass and said, “See what you do to me? You drive me fucking crazy, and I love it!”

  Dinner was finished and ready to serve. They decided that for the occasion, they would just set it out buffet style. Once he had called everyone for dinner, Oliver’s phone began to ring. Looking at the screen, he recognized the phone number as Ray’s. “Hey, Ray, so how is it going? He said, “The nurse came back to let us know that Nate will be good as new in a week or so. He will be off work for a while, but that is to be expected.” He was relieved that he would make a full recovery. Oliver had only known the guy for a while, but he liked him, and he was a good person. He asked Ray if he had family or anyone to take care of him while he was recovering. Ray said, “His family lives in Wyoming, so I don’t know if they can come to be with him or if he has friends to stay with him.” Oliver told Ray, “I would love to help, just let me know what you need from me. If he needs someone to take care of him, I can figure it out. I have a full house here, but if he does not want to be alone when he is released, I can find a place for him here.” Ray said that he would let him know. Oliver asked Ray if he had lunch. He said, “I could have someone bring you something, or if you want to get out of there for a while, you can stop by my place, I just finished dinner. I made Italian food, and you are more than welcome.” Ray said that he would love to, but he had plans for the night, so he was going to go home for a shower then grab a bite.

  Oliver said, “Why don’t you just stop by here, then you can get a good meal, and you and Dario can go on your date.” Ray paused and took a breath then he said: “But I need a shower, I have blood all over me.” Oliver asked, “Where do you live? You can take your shower then come over. The food will still be hot for you when you get here, just like Dario!” Ray chuckled a bit then agreed to stop by. Oliver joined everyone and let them know Ray would be joining them a little later. He asked them to save him some food. Ajay laughed and said, “Ollie, you cooked a ton of food. Even if we all went back for 3rds or 4ths, you would still have a ton of leftovers.” Oliver smiled and said, “I agree, but still, ya never know.” He decided not to wait for Ray to arrive. He made a plate and joined everyone at the table. Of course, he sat next to Noah. Once in his seat, he reached under the table and rubbed Noah’s leg. He realized that he got so much more than just his leg and drew his hand back. Both Noah and Oliver had turned five shades of red in no time. Owen was sitting on the other side of Noah. He dropped his napkin, and when he returned to his seat, he looked at them and laughed.

  Oliver couldn’t help but join in. Willa asked, “What is so funny? Do share Romeo,” Owen spoke up and sa
id, “I dropped my napkin and had food on my face. Gah, can’t take me anywhere.” He turned to look at Owen and thank him for the nice save when he caught Noah and Owen laughing and doing a fist bump. It warmed my heart to see Noah interacting with the team. It was also great that Owen fitted in nicely. Once everyone had their food and Ajay had seconds, Oliver asked, “So who is going to stay here with us?” So far, everyone who was going to stay had already gone home and packed their bags. Willa decided to stay, she said she could get more work done with a faster computer system than her laptop, so she brought her desktop computer. Summer and Darian both said that they would stay during the day and at night, but they both would go home to sleep because they lived close. Summer said, “It will feel like we are staying here. We can’t pass up meals like this, are you kidding?”

  Oliver asked Owen if he was planning on staying as well. Owen said, “I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to stay.” He let him know that he was a vital part of the team, and they would love for him to stay. Owen agreed to stay and said he would run home after dinner. Oliver said, “Great! I would like to have a chat with you, Ajay, and Noah after dinner”.

  Everyone was enjoying the Italian food. Oliver made sure to give Noah credit for making the garlic cheese bread and the breadsticks. “He had really done a great job.” Oliver leaned over and asked Noah, “So, are you ready to be my sous chef? Together we could feed the world”. Noah had his usual smirk that Oliver found irresistible. He said, “Sure, that would be an adventure I couldn’t pass up.