5. Gregory
CHAPTER 5
GREGORY
The last three weeks since his birthday had been a disaster; if anything could go wrong, it had. He’d even had to sack two people from his company for unprofessional behaviour, which was putting it mildly. Why he was having to deal with racism and sexism in this day and age was ludicrous. Jason had helped him out, after suggesting he hire an HR person, and had recommended someone. Gregory was meeting them later in the week. Hopefully, they could start in the New Year because December had arrived too quickly and it was now the countdown to Christmas.
He employed less than a hundred people, and half of them were remote so he’d never thought he needed HR. The last few weeks had changed his mind. His company was about the same size, employee wise, as Montgomery Equity. Not that he was thinking about Oscar. He’d been trying to put that man out of his mind. He felt ashamed that he’d fucked around with his high-school bully and then gone back for seconds. The man ticked all his boxes – not only the way he looked, but his willingness to submit. Gregory didn’t regard himself as a Dom, though he’d explored that lifestyle and done a lot of research, which was always his approach if he didn’t fully understand something. There were a lot of categories out there for sexual preferences. Gregory knew his friends would say he shouldn’t put himself in a box, but he preferred things to be categorised and neat. He saw himself as more of a Dom Top than an outright Dom. He only liked to be in control of sex and had no interest in doing it in other parts of his life. He’d also experimented with a few things, and worked out his limits. There weren’t many jocks who wanted to get tied up, spanked, and fucked by a nerd, but there were plenty who enjoyed a good dicking, which was enough for Gregory. To find someone who wanted to go that bit further would be his dream match, but he doubted it was something Oscar would ever go for, which was a good thing. It was hard enough to get him out of his head without Gregory imagining him tied down, with that delicious arse in the air, all red from a spanking and begging to be fucked.
Gregory never talked about his own sex life with his friends, but Jason was a nosy fucker and had worked it out after he saw a rugby player hobbling out in the early hours of the morning. He wasn’t sure what the others knew, but they’d said nothing. To him, sex was often transactional rather than emotional. It’s how he was wired. Gregory hadn’t really experienced affection as a child; even before his parents disowned him, they’d shown little interest. Barty’s had been a complicated birth, and he’d always had a stronger bond with their mother because of it. And boyfriends... he’d never had one, just a few regular fuck buddies when he was at university, but when they’d become attached, he’d ended things. Since then he’d just used sex to relieve tension when needed, and never did repeats. Oscar had been the first exception in years.
It had been obvious from how pliant and willing Oscar was when they’d fucked that he didn’t find someone to meet his needs often. You only had to look at him and assume he was a top, but Gregory knew better. He’d suspected it for a while, but during that encounter in his office he’d quickly realised Oscar was more than willing for Gregory to take control. And now he was getting hard in his office again.
Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts.
“Gregory,” shouted Hannah,
He jerked in surprise, his eyes flying open. She had a look of concern on her face.
“Sorry, deep in thought.”
“Anything you want to share with the class?”
He felt his cheeks heat.
“Thought so,” she said, smiling.
“You thought nothing. What do you want?”
“I know you said not to disturb you for anyone, but your dad has called half a dozen times. He said he was going to come down here if you didn’t call him back.”
What the hell was going on? His father never called him.
“I’ll call him now.”
Gregory looked at his silenced phone and saw twenty missed calls, all from his father. His stomach churned and his chest tightened. This couldn’t be good news. Hannah left him to it. He took a deep breath and called. His father answered immediately. It was worse than he expected.
“Fix this,” snapped Rupert. His father hadn’t let up since he arrived.
“How is this my problem?” he said, keeping his voice low. They were outside the intensive care unit.
“He’s your brother. He’d do the same for you.”
Fat fucking chance of that ever happening!
“You can sort this out and then let us help him. If you don’t want to do it for him, then do it for your mother.”
He looked through the window at his brother, unconscious, with tubes coming out of every orifice and his mother sitting next to him, completely broken.
“I don’t have that kind of money.”
“Bullshit. You helped him out before.”
“Exactly, and when am I ever seeing that money again?”
“I wasn’t aware we did loans for family. We gave you enough growing up. We’ve never asked you for that back, have we?”
Was he being serious? By the look on his face, he was. Barty was in deep shit this time. He’d taken a severe beating, which he’d brought on himself, but how this was Gregory’s problem was a mystery. He knew if he had the money, he’d probably give it to him, just for the sake of a quiet life. This time, he didn’t. All his spare cash was invested in his new venture with Langdon and Sebastian. They were opening a restaurant bar in the City of London, which was for the queer community. There was nothing like it in the city, and it would provide a safe hub for the community to socialise and have business meetings. They were due to open in March, and he was excited about it, but there was no way he was telling his father. They’d have another family member in the hospital if he did.
Langdon was project managing the building works – definitely more his forte. Gregory had initially wanted to build the place in Soho, as it was a place he knew well, but that market was already saturated, so it made better business sense to open in the city. Sebastian had invested in the project with them. Gregory had spoken to him for some financial advice, when he’d needed to find money for his brother last time, and Sebastian had suggested he go into the venture with them as he had the capital to invest. It was also something he cared about, and would leave Gregory with some ready cash to deal with his brother’s crap. Sebastian hadn’t asked what that crap was, but had probably guessed. He must have kept it from Charlie, though, because if Charlie had known Gregory had given his brother that sort of money, he would have told the others and they’d all have piled in with their opinions on the matter.
This was one of those situations where there was nothing he could do. Once he’d had money, it was like it could solve all problems, but this time he didn’t have money available to just make the problem go away. That was always his preferred solution – minimal drama and fuss.
“I don’t have the money,” said Gregory.
“You mean you don’t want to help your brother?”
“No, I mean I don’t have the money. Everything is invested in the business.”
“What about that flat?”
“What about it?”
“That’s got to be worth two million. You don’t need all that space.”
“You know I’m not the only person who lives there.”
“You’d leave your brother to those monsters so you can keep that cesspit you let those degenerates live in for free?”
Gregory felt like he’d been punched in the heart. Deep down, he knew his parents had only reconciled with him for his money, but there had always been a sliver of hope that they were sorry for what they’d done. That hope had just been obliterated.
Unable to process the plethora of emotions that were fighting inside him, he did the only he could – he ran. If his father had shouted after him, he’d never know, as his ears blocked out any sound other than his heartbeat. He ran out of the hospital and just kept running as fast as he could. On the busy streets of Central London, he wasn’t sure how he didn’t bang into people or get hit by a car, but he had to get somewhere safe. It was like his legs were on autopilot as he headed to the only place he’d ever felt that way.
He burst through the door of the flat, the adrenalin crash hitting him hard. Gregory couldn’t move any further, even though his private sanctuary was just a few feet away. His legs gave out, and his back slid against the front door as he crumpled into a heap on the floor. It was the middle of the day, so he wasn’t sure if anyone else was in the flat. Hopefully, they were all at work. Gregory was looking down at his hands, which were shaking, as he tried to regulate his breathing. He shivered, realising he was dripping with sweat. He wasn’t a big one for exercise, but he could run. Gregory had been running from bullies since he could walk.
He jumped when he felt a warm arm around his shoulder. Looking up, it was Jason, concern in his eyes, but he said nothing, just pulled Gregory towards him. He rested his head on Jason’s chest, and his brother gently stroked his sodden hair. It was comforting. Jason might be mouthy and appear to have a one-track mind, but he would always be there for you if you needed him. Gregory wasn’t a hugger, but this was comforting. It was always amusing when Jason tried to cajole Langdon into a hug, and thinking about it made him chuckle.
“What’s funny?” asked Jason, his tone playful.
“Just thinking of all the times you’ve tried to do this with Langdon.”
Jason snorted. “That man’s a big softie, no matter what he thinks.”
It was true. Langdon was fiercely protective of all of them, and took to the big-brother role with ease, but he had the kindest heart.
“Do you need me to send an SOS?” asked Jason.
“Can we just keep this between us?”
“Of course. Where did you run from?”
“The Royal Free.”
“That’s four miles away. You’re gonna feel that for the next few days.”
“I better get a shower,” said Gregory, gently pulling away from Jason.
“You don’t wanna talk about it?”
“Not right now,” he said, standing up. “It’s just family stuff. You know.”
“I understand,” said Jason, standing up as well.
Gregory knew that out of all of them, Jason understood the most. Paolo as well. Both of their parents were monsters for different reasons. At least Jason’s parents were behind bars where they belonged.
“I’ll get freshened up and head in to the office.”
“Do you need to go in?”
“I need a distraction.”
“Okay, well, you know where I am if you change your mind.”
He leant forward and gave Jason a kiss on the cheek. He looked surprised for a second, but smiled before going back to his room. If anyone had to be home, Gregory was glad it was Jason. He might be a pain in the arse most of the time, but he was the only one who would never push you to talk if you genuinely didn’t want to.
Gregory walked up the stairs to his master suite. He had the whole top floor to himself and he loved it. If needed, he could lock himself away up here, but he still had his best friends only a few feet away.
His suite comprised his bedroom, an enormous bathroom which had a walk-in shower and a separate bath, a walk-in wardrobe, a gaming room, and his home office. It was like his own apartment up here. None of his friends had questioned the designs when he’d bought this place and had them drawn up. The lower floor comprised all the other bedrooms and the communal areas. They all had their own bathrooms. Originally, it was only going to be four of them moving in, but Jason had come back into their lives after losing touch for several years, so Gregory had the plans changed to accommodate him. All of them would have a home here for as long as they needed it, or if they ever needed to come back. He hoped they never did, and they’d all get their well-deserved happy endings, even if it never happened for him. Gregory couldn’t imagine living on his own noe, even though it was something he’d longed for as a child.
He stepped into the shower, which could easily accommodate three people – or two people if one of them was a certain six-foot-seven someone. Remembering what he’d done with Oscar made his cock instantly hard, but it could never happen again. There was too much history between them and none of it was good, at least not for Gregory.
Needing to relieve some tension, he soaped up his hand before gripping his cock. Looking down as he slid his foreskin back and forth on his thick cock, he remembered how it had looked as he’d pounded into Oscar’s hole and the delicious noises he’d made. Gregory wondered what noises he could pull out of him when they didn’t have to hold back because of where they were. The thought of tying him down and fucking him until he came untouched again was enough to send Gregory over the edge. He moaned out his release as his come splattered across the tiles; he’d always had an impressive spurt when he came. Seeing his release dribble down the tiles reminded him of Oscar’s face, covered in his spunk. Damn it, there was no keeping that man out of his head. The best thing he could do would be to make sure their paths didn’t cross again, as he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation.