“Look, you need to let this go, Keith,” I told him. “I never loved you and you never loved me so we don’t have to pretend there was much of an emotional connection in our relationship.”
“Of course, I love you!” he declared.
“Really, Keith?” I scoffed at him. “You’ve a funny way of showing it.”
“What the hell does it matter if I love you?” he demanded. “We’re in a relationship. We are together and that’s the way I like it. That’s the way we’ll stay. Unless I say otherwise. Get your shit and let’s go.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I objected. “And trust me, you best get out of here before Tate gets back.”
“I’ve my boys watching the woods for him,” he remarked, smirking at me. “What? You think you in love with him or something?”
“I don’t believe you about your friends,” I answered. “You would never tell them you were gay and if you did, they wouldn’t be here with you.”
“They would if I’ve convinced them you were nothing but my little bitch,” he remarked with a snide smile. “We’re blood brothers. You think they’d care that I was smashing the fuck out of you. Now if our roles were reversed, then they’d have a problem.”
What a prick. I couldn’t believe I’d lived with this guy for even a day.
“I’m staying with Tate.”
Heat suffused his face at my words. Before I knew what to expect, he had landed a fist to my gut, that had me doubling over in pain.
“Fuck!” I cried out, grabbing my stomach. I could hardly breathe.
“Don’t make me get mad with you Bryan,” he declared, grasping my shirt front and pulling me up to face him. He slammed me into the wall at my back. “Did you think I was joking that your ass was mine and you’re not staying here?” His breath blew in my face from his nearness. “You let him touch you. You think I was going to let that slide? I’ll drag you down this mountain if that’s what it takes, boy.”
“Then drag me because I’m not leaving Tate.”
Chapter Thirteen
A day after being dragged down the mountain by Keith and his friends, I had my suitcase on the bed and I was packing. Each movement hurt, especially my ribs that must have been bruised when Keith landed punches in my sides to get me to leave with him. He had thought I would have given in to him but only one thing had stopped me from leaving the condo yesterday evening when I’d arrived. I’d been in too much pain. He’d made sure they were mostly superficial wounds that would heal with time but they didn’t hurt any less.
My right eye was bruised where he had punched me in the face. I’d tried defending myself, of course, throwing in a couple punches too but, I was no match for Keith. With his friends there, they had easily gotten me down the mountain. And all the time, I could only think that Tate was going to believe I’d left him to go back to Keith.
I’d tried my best to mark the spot where the log cabin was but, I didn’t even know if I could find it on my own. I’d try though because Tate had lost so much already. The last thing I wanted him to think was that he had lost me too.
I was almost finished packing when I heard the front door open. This time, there was no mistake who had entered the house. I glanced at the clock in the bedroom. He was home already and it wasn’t even noon yet. Although he couldn’t get me to change my mind, not even with another beating, I had hoped to get out before he returned home.
I was zipping up the last of the two suitcases standing on the floor when he walked into the bedroom. Dressed as he as in a charcoal jacket suit, his black shoes shiny and his face freshly shaved from this morning, very little about him could relate to the monster he had been yesterday. Except for the angry look in his eyes.
“You still trying to leave me, Bryan?” he demanded, taking in the suitcases.
“There’s nothing left between us,” I responded. “Even if there was a little, you killed it all yesterday.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Would it help if I say I’m sorry?” he asked. “I was angry and didn’t want to lose you so I lashed out at you.”
“Whether I leave you or stay with you, was never a choice for you to make, Keith,” I told him. “It was always mine and what you did is unforgivable. Nobody deserves to be treated like that and it certainly wasn’t done out of love.”
“You were going to throw your friggin’ life away for a man who lives in the mountain!” he shouted at me. “You think he can give you anything?”
“I know he’s given me a lot in those days than I’ve ever received from you,” I remarked plainly. “It’s simple, Keith. I’m leaving and whether you want to beat me to a bloody pulp or not, I’ll always want to leave, and I’ll do so the first chance I get. You fucked up, okay? I gave you a chance and you blew it. Now leave me alone so I can give another man the same chance, a man who deserves it.”
“We’re not done yet,” Keith said stubbornly. “We can have another chance. See, my friends all know now that I am gay and that you’re the man I want.”
Before I could respond, the doorbell rang. “You should get that,” I told him as I reached for the two suitcases and tried to wheel them by him. He placed a hand in my chest and tried to push me back into the bedroom.
“Don’t do this, Keith,” I warned him, frustrated at his attempt to keep me here.
“You stay there!” he barked at me and stormed from the bedroom to get the door. I didn’t stay as he ordered but wheeled the cases alongside me down the stairs. I was halfway down when I saw him open the front door.
“Where the fuck is he?”
My heart skipped a beat at the unexpected sight of Tate, pushing past a protesting Keith into the house.
“Tate!” I cried in relief. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to know why the hell you left with him?” he demanded, just as I knew he would be thinking.
“You’re not welcome in my house,” Keith argued, trying to block Tate from entering further. Both of us ignored him. I wheeled the suitcase down to the first floor and left them to stand, while I approached Tate. Seeing him here was making me emotional but I was trying my damn hardest not to show it.
“I didn’t leave with him of my own free will,” I explained to him. “They forced me down the mountain then covered up their trail.”
Tate stalked over to me and cupped my face in his hands, frowning at my black eye. “He did this?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I assured him. “I was just leaving.”
“It sure as hell does matter!” Tate disagreed and turned to Keith, his body taut with anger. “You wanna pick on someone your own size?” he snapped at Keith, collaring the other man and shoving him up hard against the wall.
“Tate, don’t!” I hurried over to him and placed a hand on his arm. “You’re better than this. We both are. We don’t need this violence. Let’s just go already.”
“You should be glad he’s a better man than both of us combined,” Tate growled at Keith. “Or you’d be flat out by now.”
I sighed with relief when he let go of Keith and took one of the suitcases. His hand on my back protectively, he guided me out of the condo. It was in the elevator that he hauled me up against him, squeezing me tightly.
“I thought you’d left me,” he murmured against my lips. “I thought the whole living in the woods thing was too much for you. And I want you to know you’re right. It’s about time I stop grieving for my family especially when I’m looking forward to us being one.”
I smiled tentatively at him. Although I had been about to run to him, I’d done a lot of thinking last night. I couldn’t let him win me over this easily. Plus, I needed to figure out my life. I had some money saved up, so I could rent my own apartment. I didn’t want to live with anyone but myself for a while. I didn’t intend for it to ruin our relationship, but I needed to rely on myself a little.
He grinned at me, then sobered. “You should have let me lay out that fucker, Bry. It would have made me
feel a whole lot better about what he did to you.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and licked his bottom lip. “I know another way to make you feel even better.”
His grin disappeared into our kiss as our lips melted. We parted when the elevator dinged and he winked at me.
“Say, Tate, I think I should be getting my own apartment,” I told him. When he frowned, I realized he had taken it the wrong way and hurried to set him straight. “What I meant is that I want us to date properly but not living together like we did in the cabin.”
He frowned at me. “Why not? You having second thoughts about him?”
“Of course not! Whatever I had with Keith is history.” I took his hands in mine and hoped he would understand. “It’s just that I miss having my own apartment and being the boss of me. For the past six months, I let Keith dictate my life and I want to get back that sense of my independence. I need to get a job, find an apartment to stay and get back on my feet.”
“I can help you with all that,” he volunteered.
I shook my head. “Having someone take charge and get me out of messes placed me into this mess with Keith. I’m doing things different between us, Tate. I want to know that our relationship is centered around us, rather than what we have. Do you understand?”
“Will I have to like it?” he asked.
I chuckled. “You don’t have to like it but you’ll have to grin and bear it.”
“You’ll need some time to find an apartment,” he pointed out. “Although I could get you one in no time if you say the word.”
“No uh.” I slipped my arms around his waist. “I can’t accept that but I can accept staying at your place for one night. I’ll go apartment hunting tomorrow.”
He smiled. “Okay. I can live with that.”
He took my hand and we walked from the apartment building. “There’ll also be no hanky-panky between us. I slept with you way too fast the last time.”
“Can’t blame you. You’ve suddenly grown good taste in men.”
I tried glaring at him, but it didn’t work. I smiled at him, with a slanted gaze. “Don’t worry. I’ll have you falling in love with this Mr. Corporate in no time.”
I thought he would have shied away from those words, but he returned my slanted gaze. “Bring it on.”
As I walked beside him, I ignored the second glances we attracted outside the busy parking lot of the apartment building. The only person I had eyes for was Tate. My attempt to do things over differently wouldn’t be easy. I could tell he was already anticipating getting me back to his apartment building but he would see how serious I was.
This time, I intended to do things the right way.
The End
Thanks for reading the prequel for My Dear Mr. Corporate which will be coming in July as a part of my Corporate Pride series. Continue reading to get all my stalker information and also a preview of my upcoming novel “Easy Does It Twice” which is set to be released June 15, 2018. It is currently on discounted pre-sale price.
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My Dear Mr. Corporate: July
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You may find minor proofing errors in this story as it is still going through one more round of edits.
Prologue
Gordon
“Mom! Mom!”
I winced at the sound of my fourteen-year-old energetic daughter, yelling for her mother as she slammed the car door shut. Normally I would chastise her for the force with which she closed the door, but I understood her excitement. This year had been a rocky one for the family. When I had bundled her and my seventeen-year-old son into the car, heading for the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration, they had gone with great reluctance. It hadn’t helped that my wife, Barbara had decided not to travel with us. As soon as we had hit the celebration, the kids had transformed, and we’d had an amazing time. I hadn’t heard them laugh so much in a long time.
“This was a great weekend, wasn’t it?” I asked my son as we got out of the car at a slower pace than my daughter.
Ollie nodded, his eyes glinting with excitement but which he would not show with as much exuberance as his younger sister. At his age, he had this thing about acting cool and the only basketball could get him to act out of character.
“It was cool,” he answered, and I restrained myself from ruffling his blond hair, so like my own. “I’m glad you talked us into going.”
“Yeah, it was great fun,” I agreed. Despite the problems that existed in my marriage with Barbara, I loved my kids more than life itself and having them spend the weekend with just me had been an extraordinary bonding experience for us. I would have to remember to do it again sometime in the future. Just the two of us without Barbara, who would whine the fun out of everybody.
I opened my mouth to ask Ollie to grab two of the bags from the trunk, but the words never left my mouth. A bloodcurdling scream rented the air and raised the hairs at the back of my neck. Charlie! The sound wasn’t her usual girlish shriek when she was speaking to her best friend about some boy who noticed her. The scream was terrifying and went on as though it wouldn’t stop.
“Charlie!” I shouted her name and broke into a run for the house. As fast as Ollie was, he wasn’t able to outrun me. The need to find my baby girl and protect her from whatever distressed her propelled me inside the house. I took the stairs two at a time, yelling her name. “Charlie!”
I followed the sound of her gut-wrenching wails, past her bedroom and to the one I shared with their mother. I halted just inside the door and stared in confusion at the sight before me. She sat on the floor with the lifeless body of her mother clutched in her arms. On the bed were bottles of pills, all empty. The phone was off its hook, as though in the last minute she had been trying to call someone.
“Oh my God, Barb!” I cried and flew towards the pair on the floor. I dropped to my knees and with trembling arms pressed my hands to her chest. No heartbeat. “No. No. No. Barbara. Oh God, no.” I touched her neck to feel for her pulse, my hand shaking. She was cold. So damn cold that she must have been like this for long. She had been dead for a few hours, long enough for the body heat to have left her.
Sick to the stomach at what we had walked into, I released the body of my wife and reached for my daughter, who was crying and rocking back and forth. “Mom, please wake up. Mom, please!” Tears pricked my eyes to see her heartbroken, a girl abandoned by a mother who didn’t love her enough to consider staying.
“Charlie. Charlie, honey, let go.” I tried to pry her away, but she refused to let go.
“No, no. Daddy, wake her up. Please wake her up.”
Pain lanced my heart at her cry. I heard the sobs of Ollie and glanced up to look at him. He hadn’t moved from the doorway but looked on in shock. His shoulders were shaking with his effort to try and contain his tears, to keep his composure. Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them away. I was the parent. I couldn’t break down now. There would be time enough to grieve later. I was all they had now. They needed me.
“Come on, baby. Let go.” She fought me tooth and nail while I worked her arms from around the lifeless body.
“Please, daddy. Please.” Every cry of hers for me to do something weighed on my heart. Why Barbara? Why? You know they need you. They love you. Surely, we co
uld have worked this out. Guilt ate at me, remembering the last conversation we had before the kids and I left home. I’d thought it was a rational conversation, especially since she had offered no objection to us getting a divorce. Now I knew why.
I finally hauled her away from the body and she collapsed into my arms crying. I hugged her to me tight, squeezing her to offer my comfort in the passing of a mother who had left her way too soon.
“Ollie, take your sister and go sit in the car,” I said, walking Charlie over to her brother. She clung to me, refusing to let go. “Charlie, honey, go with your brother. Please. Let me call the police.”
Ollie looked relieved to leave the room that had stripped him bare of any innocence he might have had left. He had just seen the sight of his mother, who had taken her own life. Fucking hell, I couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind. I was reeling with the shock of it all. When I was sure they had left, I ran my fingers through my hair, gripping the strands as I stared at the body once more.
I pulled the sheet from the bed and covered her because if I looked at her lying there much longer, I would hurl. I retrieved the phone and dialed the number of the only person I could think of calling. He answered on the third ring.
“Gordon, my man. What’s up? How was New Orleans?”
“New Orleans was fine,” I answered, choking up as I tried to form the words.
“What’s the matter? You sound—”
“It’s Barb,” I cried, hot tears finally spilling down my face. “She’s dead.”
One
Gordon
“Gordon.”
I glanced up from my computer at the office secretary Glenna who pushed her head through the door she had cracked open. I indicated to her that I was on the phone.
“It’s an emergency,” she said in hushed tones. “Carrington Academy is on the line.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
Falling for Mr Corporate Page 6
