by M. A. Innes
I gave Bryan a quick what-the-fuck look before letting his hand go so we could follow her down the hall. This was strange. As we walked into the office, a gentleman was there to greet us. The director was an older man who seemed like he was probably in his mid-sixties but he didn’t look angry like I expected. Instead, he was smiling like some kind of used-car salesman who just wanted to make me happy.
“Thank you for seeing us.” I was going to try being polite at first and see how that worked. I could be an ass later if I needed to.
“It’s not a problem.” He reached out to shake our hands, looking at Bryan expectantly. “And you must be?”
Bryan gave him a calm look before extending his hand. “Bryan Grant.”
“Bryan is my boyfriend and was with me when the latest problem occurred.”
“I’m sorry you’re having difficulties. I want to see what I can do to help out the situation.” Again, he gave me another weird smile as he shook my hand. Gesturing to two chairs in front of his desk, he went back around to sit down. “Ms. Simons tells me you’re having some issues with your roommate?”
That was an understatement. I detailed the issues I’d been having with Buzz and was careful to go through the situation step by step and not leave anything out. If this had to go any further, I wanted to be able to tell my parents I’d detailed every instance. When I pulled out the phone to show him the pictures, he visibly flinched. Oh yeah, this wasn’t the first problem they’d had with him.
“I understand how upsetting it would be to come back to that. I’ve looked at Mr. Jones’s record and I know that he has a difficult course load. It’s possible that his projects may have gotten out of hand.” The director sounded like he was trying to sweep things under the rug, so I jumped in.
“Thank you for bringing up his projects. Were you aware that his projects are actually a business he is running out of the dorms? According to the handbook, that is not allowed by the university. Most of my problems with him are the direct result of his business.”
I tried to slow my racing heart and stick to the facts. “The odd hours he keeps, the fact that I have absolutely no space at all for my personal possessions, and that I have been repeatedly chased out of my own room so he can handle business calls and work on his projects—all directly relate to his work. This cannot continue.” Again, I tried to pull up that inner Dom that surfaced when Bryan and I were together. It had to be good for something else besides sex.
“I’m sure he’s not—”
I interrupted him again, unapologetically. “I was shoved out the door the other day when he needed to work on his accounting and billing. He had invoices to send.” I wasn’t exaggerating either. He’d just about pushed me out of the room.
The director wasn’t sure what to say. He leaned back in his chair and looked at me. Trying to see if I was going to back down, maybe. My parents might not have been the warmest people, but I’d gotten a first-rate education in business and negotiating tactics. I also needed sleep and some goddamned privacy. I wasn’t going to be pushed away.
“I’m not sure what options we have. Of course, we will call Mr. Jones in and speak with him about the situation but—”
Oh, hell no. Thankfully Bryan’s obsessive need to keep the handbook and review the rules came in handy. “The university has taken my parents’ money under the agreement that it will provide me with basic, adequate housing. Which according to the handbook, specifically mentions quiet hours, space to store my personal belongings, and a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
I paused for effect. “I have none of those things. In fact, if a lawyer were to look at the situation, I think there are several items that he might find interesting. I do not want it to get to that point, but I will not live like this the rest of the year. A simple meeting will not cut it.”
The director simply watched me. There was more going on than I was aware of but I didn’t care what it was. They were going to figure out something else or I was going to drive them crazy. He must have seen how serious I was because he switched tactics.
“When Mr. Grant came in, his name was familiar. Then I remembered a note I received. A phone call was made to the housing office earlier today alleging drug use in the dorms. I haven’t had a chance to look into the matter but…” His voice trailed off but it was easy to fill in the blanks.
Now he’d crossed the line. Attacking my boy wasn’t an option.
“If you are talking about Bryan’s roommate, that is another issue right there. We have done our best to avoid problems with him, but he was also going through Bryan’s things when he got home last night. A locked box for privacy does not indicate drug use.”
I gave him a look, trying to hint that he could probably guess what was in the box. “If you look at his grades and transcripts, I think you’ll find him a very good student. Not one likely to be using drugs. Now if you need to see inside the box I will accommodate you but again, that invasion of privacy will be noted to lawyers.” I let my voice drop and I knew he saw my resolve to protect Bryan. If he made us embarrass my boy that way, I’d raise holy hell and make him regret it.
The director decided to back down from that tactic. He was smarter than he looked. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary. Let me look at our options and see what can be done. Due to some renovations this year, we are at almost one hundred percent capacity in the dorms, so I can’t guarantee—”
I gave him another firm look and interrupted again. Wasn’t I turning into a rude SOB? Maybe I was more like my father than I’d thought. “I am having dinner with my family soon. I want to be able to tell them this was handled quickly and to everyone’s satisfaction.”
I also didn’t want to have to explain it to my parents, but that was another problem. “Living with someone who vandalizes my belongings and who has no respect for personal boundaries, even to the point of moving beyond social awkwardness into criminal activity, is not an option. I look forward to your phone call this afternoon.”
The director wasn’t looking like a car salesman anymore. I’d evidently gotten a lot more interesting because he nodded and stood. “I’ll look into things. My office will give you a call.”
“Thank you.” I knew he was going to be looking up my information again to see who my family was. This was one time I didn’t mind riding on their coattails. Money and power were going to be good for something. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to talk my parents into getting involved. I wasn’t sure which way that would go. However, it was a bluff I thought I wouldn’t have to follow through on.
I might not want to but I would if I had to. The director needed to understand that.
Leaving his office, there were no handshakes and smiles. It was cool assessing looks and neutral expressions. I was pretty pleased with the way thing had gone, but I wasn’t going to let him see that. As we left the building, I could feel the stress leaking out of me like a deflating balloon. It had gone better than I thought, but it was crazy.
“We still don’t have any idea why we got sent right to the director’s office.” Bryan was trying to keep calm but I could tell he was rattled.
“Yeah, that was weird.” Time to talk about the elephant in the room. “I’m sorry your roommate is a moron.”
He slumped over dejectedly and reached out to grab my hand. “He’s an idiot. How did he not guess what was in the box? I’m not crazy. He should have guessed, right?”
“Yes, absolutely. Anybody else would have figured it out. He’s just…sheltered, maybe? I don’t know what to call it. It might have helped to push things with the housing office, though.” I didn’t say anything to Bryan, but the director had to have guessed that there were things in the box he didn’t want to see.
Bryan smiled. “He thought he was going to play the get-out-of-jail-free card and instead it backfired. Thank God he didn’t ask to see the box.”
I pulled him close and gave him a hug, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. “I would have sent you out of the room
and handled it myself.”
His voice came out low, almost a whisper. “Thank you for handling that, Daddy. I didn’t know what to say.”
“That’s okay, B. I think stuff like that falls under my responsibility. Or at least, it felt that way. Keeping the snake away from you and everything.” I hugged him tighter and he laughed. “And he was using it to get back at me anyway.”
“A snake in a suit. It wasn’t your fault. I was just glad you were there. I can’t imagine handling that on my own. I would have looked like an idiot who was hiding something. I mean, I would have been hiding something, but not what they thought.” He sighed. “It would have gone terribly.”
“We’re going to figure this out. For now, we need something fun and relaxing to do. What sounds good to you? Movie still?” I wasn’t sure. I wanted to be available for the phone call but if we were going to wander around with nothing to do, it wouldn’t help our stress levels.
Bryan thought about it, then gave me a cute little grin. “How about we go over to the library and get one of the study rooms? You can read to me?”
I could hear the longing in his voice and I knew he just wanted time to be my boy. “I think that sounds perfect. We should even be able to sit on the floor together and cuddle a bit. Those rooms are pretty private.”
He pulled back and smiled. “Perfect.”
It was frustrating that the only places we could get the slightest amount of privacy were the library or the bathroom. We had to get things figured out. I wasn’t Daddy like this and I wasn’t going to lose that. The director had to fix this…and fast.
CHAPTER 13
Bryan
We both jumped when the phone went off. Startling when it was on vibrate made us both feel a little bit sheepish, but Mad just laughed. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Are you going to answer it?” It was an unknown caller. But the phone number was from the university, so one guess who it was.
“Yes. I’m going to answer.” He sounded confident, but it took him two more rings before he swiped his finger across the screen. “Hello.”
“Yes, this is he.”
Leaning back against Maddox’s chest, I could hear some of the conversation but not everything. It was the housing office. And from the sound of the voice, I thought it was the woman we met when we first walked in the door. Was it a good thing or a bad thing that it wasn’t someone higher up the food chain?
I couldn’t decide.
Either way was reasonable. They could have decided to blow off two college kids as unimportant or the fact that Mad’s family had money might have swayed things in our favor. Anything had to be better than where he was. Right? Even the worry-wort side of me had a hard time thinking of scenarios where it would suck more.
Well, my brain could think of them but I could see they weren’t very reasonable. Hopefully. I could hear the buzz of the words coming over the phone, and it was getting hard to be patient. It turned out that I didn’t have to be, though.
“Wait one minute, please. I want to put you on speaker phone so that Bryan can hear this as well. Thank you.” Maddox’s voice was smooth and had an air of authority. I couldn’t remember him sounding like that before everything started with us. Had he always had that power he could tap into to seem more in control and I’d not noticed it?
Maddox brought the phone down so we could both see the screen and hit the speaker button. “All right. Thank you. He can hear now.”
A nasally, slightly frustrated voice came through the phone. “As I was saying. The only option the university has available are apartments just off campus that we have a contract with. They’re not owned by the university but they work with us because most of their tenants are students. I’ve made some phone calls and they do have two units available right now. The school is willing to transfer the funds that were paid for your room and board to the management company to go toward rent. Because of the unfounded allegations made against Mr. Grant, the school is willing to offer him the same terms. How long the funds last would depend on which apartment or apartments you choose. The school will not provide any other monetary assistance beyond what you have already paid for this term. Any further costs for rent or utilities would be up to you. This is the only option we have available right now.”
I was shocked. This sounded perfect. Even if the place was a dump, at least we would be together. Money might be tight for a while, but we’d figure it out. Looking back at Mad, I nodded. He smiled. “Yes, ma’am. I think that should work for both of us. Can you send me the information for the apartments?”
“Yes. I’ll have that emailed to you in a moment.”
“Thank you. And the management company is aware of the funds available to us? It’s too late to go over there tonight, but I want to head over there first thing tomorrow.”
“Yes. I’ve notified them of the situation and they will be able to go over rental costs and options tomorrow.”
“I think that’s all my questions for now. Thank you for your help.”
“Have a good day, sir.” Then the call disconnected. She was glad to get rid of us.
“Wow.”
“I know, right? I was sure they would only be able to stick me in one of the sucky old dorms. This is…”
“Perfect. We get to live together.”
He gave me a hug. “And we should have some time to figure out the money side of things. I’m not sure how much they cost or how long the school’s money will last but it’s something. And it gets us out of the dorms.”
The weight I’d been carrying around on my shoulders was finally gone. We were going to be together on our terms. No more figuring out private places to hide because we couldn’t actually use our rooms. No more eating out every meal. No more sleeping alone. Oh, sleeping…
“Hey, one problem.”
Mad looked at me curiously. “What?”
“We have no furniture at all. If we get the apartment tomorrow, can we move in with nothing? I don’t want to have to wait for weeks to be with you.”
“We’ll figure it out. I’ve been looking at some of the discount stores in the area. It’s not going to be as bad as you think. I’ve got a little money saved up, so that will get us the basics.” Mad set the phone down and turned me in his arms.
He gave me a huge grin and a big kiss. “We have to celebrate.”
I liked that idea. “How? What do you want to do?”
“We’re going to grab an overnight bags’ worth of stuff and find a hotel. We’re going to sleep together tonight and not worry about anything. Then tomorrow after classes, we’ll head over to the apartments and check things out.” His eyes sparkled and I could see the plans running wild through his head.
I wasn’t going to ask about money or plans or anything else right now. We had enough to cover the hotel room and to be honest, we needed it. Having an entire night together would be awesome. I’d missed living with him.
“How soon do you think we could move in together?”
He shrugged. “She said they had two options available, so I’m thinking pretty quickly. I don’t care if we have to camp for a while. As long as we’re out of the dorms and together, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go. We’ll grab food on the way to the hotel.”
Gathering up our stuff, we headed over to his room first. It didn’t take us long to get there and soon we were walking down the hall to his suite. He paused at the door, looking at me. “So, overnight bag this time. Then if we can move in tomorrow, we’ll come back and grab the rest in the afternoon?”
“Yup. I think that’s the best plan. I don’t want to pack everything up tonight just in case. And more than likely Jay’s going to be back and I don’t want to deal with him right now.” It looked like Maddox didn’t want to see his roommate any more than I did mine. I could see his tension starting to rise.
It wasn’t like I could blame him. After everything that happened, I would be crazy, too. I didn’t want any confrontations that would ruin our evening. De
ciding that a distraction might be in order, I shoved back my embarrassment and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Are you going to get your box too, Daddy?”
Reaching for the door handle, Maddox froze. Turning to look at me his heated gaze made me start to blush. “Baby, I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
Heading into the suite, Maddox’s whole demeanor changed. Gone was the stress. In its place was a Daddy with plans to make. Buzz was in the room but he had headphones on, having some kind of discussion on coding while playing a video game. He didn’t even look up when we came in. Most of Maddox’s clothes were still in the bag on the bed so he grabbed those and then started rummaging around in the bathroom.
Within minutes, we were out the door, clothes, bathroom stuff, and toy box in tow. I wasn’t completely sure what he had in the box, and I wasn’t going to ask. He had that wicked look on his face that said he would tell me if I questioned him. Walking through the middle of campus was not where I wanted to have that discussion.
We dropped his stuff off in my car before heading up to my room. Luckily Jay was out, because I wasn’t in the mood to hear what he had to say. It took me a little bit longer to grab things than it had Mad but not much. Soon we were back to the car and heading out. Maddox had spent the time while I packed looking up hotels, so we had a plan when we pulled out of the parking lot.
Quickly grabbing food, we got to the hotel and checked in before it was too late. It was only about ten minutes from the campus, so it wouldn’t be terrible to head to class the next day. It wasn’t a five-star resort but Mad picked out something pretty reasonable.
Heading into our room, I was surprised to see how nice it was. I’d been getting the stuff out of the car when Mad checked us in, but this was way nicer than he’d talked about. “What?”
He just grinned, a big goofy smile. “I got them to upgrade us. Only paid for the regular room but he put us in their version of a suite. It’s not the Hilton, but it’s got a jet tub and big king-sized bed.”
Setting my stuff down on the bed, I walked over to give him a hug. He was so cute, all proud of getting us something nice. “This is wonderful. Thank you.”
