Chapter 6
Atlas
It was Saturday night, and the day after my interview. I barely slept a wink last night in my excitement, imagining ways Hugh and Linden would dominate me. I also rolled around in my head about how I could feminize myself more than I already did.
Lipstick. Hugh liked lipstick. Something bold and bright. But what did Linden like?
After my shower, I pulled on a pair of boxer briefs and joggers when I received a text. I looked at my phone to find a new group chat set up by Hugh for Linden and me.
Mr. Cross: You’re all set, Princess. You
start on Monday the week after next.
Me: I can’t wait. ??
Was the fire emoji too much? It was too late to take it back now.
Mr. Cross: Careful, Princess. I may just
drag your ass over here now and punish
you for that.
Mr. Pierce: Now we’re talking.
And there went my cock. Shit. I fanned myself and giggled like an idiot.
Mr. Cross: Go get tested. We’re doing
this bare. Linden and I have already
been and are clear.
Me: Yessir! I look forward to my first
day!
I fell back onto my bed and kicked my feet as I squealed. God, I couldn’t wait. No joke. I was excited to see what was in store for me.
I got out of bed and headed to the kitchen with my hair still dripping. My stomach was bitching at me for food. Emma and Luna were busy in the living room doing their thing, and Ryder was digging in the refrigerator, pulling out bread and meat to make a sandwich.
His skin was paler than normal, and he had dark circles under his hazel eyes.
Emma dropped her knitting, and Luna looked up from her laptop, both concerned, but he waved them off.
Mostly, he seemed tired to me. He was still sexy with his brown hair spilling onto his face.
And his outfit was to die for. Ryder paired his black slacks with a short-sleeved button-up shirt with holes all over, almost as if it were crocheted.
Hot. Dating a wealthy supermodel sure had its perks.
I sat at our communal table as he made his sandwich.
“Guess what?” I asked.
Ryder eyed me under his thick bangs. “Uhm, you’re suddenly straight.”
I gasped and feigned shock. “Ew. I would never.”
Emma and Luna cracked up, and Ryder cracked a smile. He must not have felt that bad if he was making jokes.
“Well, I give up then.”
“I got the job!”
“You mean with… Cross Corp, right?”
“Yep! Even better? My bosses, Mr. Cross and Mr. Pierce, are dreamy! I haven’t started working yet since I had to give the coffee shop and restaurant my two-week notice, but I got to meet them!
” I threaded my fingers together, pressed them against my cheek, and batted my eyelashes, making everyone laugh.
“Hugh and Linden are adorable and sexy and… Oh, I cannot wait to work for them.”
Ryder took a large bite of his sandwich and eyed me. “Don’t fuck them, Atlas. Or if you do, just… be careful.”
“Don’t encourage him,” Emma scolded. “He’s going to lose his job before it even begins.”
“Tsh… You’re no fun, Emma-boo. I’m the king of being discreet.”
Luna snorted a laugh and shook her head. “Sure you are. About as discreet as an elephant in a china shop.”
I waved a dismissive hand. “Ignore the sourpuss. I’m not going to fuck them, but a boy can dream, right?”
I was totally going to fuck them, but my roommates didn’t need to know that.
“Be careful, Atlas,” Ryder reiterated.
“But of course!”
It was dangerous. It was risky. But any apprehension I had before was long gone. I was dying to be the center of Hugh and Linden’s world.
Elena Stavros was an imposing, five-foot-nothing woman who made a mean spread for dinner.
If you want a meal and a month’s worth of leftovers, hang out at my family’s house.
She was not only an amazing cook, but she also owned a hairdressing business, so her black hair was always perfect.
It wasn’t nearly as curly as mine, but she kept it long and pulled up in a neat bun and away from her face.
Mom pulled the spanakopita out from the oven, not a single loose strand of hair to be seen.
The kitchen was rich in Greek spices and meats. I took a deep breath of it when I walked into the kitchen, my stomach growling. Always make sure to starve yourself before coming to my parents’ house because there will be more food than you know what to do with.
The house was noisy as my dad and two brothers watched a football game on the television, yelling at the team. I had no idea who was playing, nor did I care.
When I reached my mother, I kissed her on the cheek. “Hi, Mama.”
She eyed me with black eyes that matched mine.
“Atlas, you’re too skinny. You need to bulk up.
Who wants a stick for a husband?” Mom wasn’t trying to be mean.
That was her love language. She set down the casserole dish onto a hot plate on the counter and patted my face. “You are too handsome to be so thin.”
I rolled my eyes, not bothering to tell her that marriage probably wasn’t in the cards for me. That would only give her a heart attack. And handsome, my ass. “You’re just biased. You have to tell your kids that,” I retorted.
She raised a brow at me, giving me that ‘don’t you dare contradict me’ look.
“Are you saying your mama lies to you? Is that what you’re saying?
Because you better not be calling me a liar, Atlas Christos Stavros.
If you were not handsome, I would simply tell you that you’re smart or something.
” Mom grabbed the large bowl filled with salad and handed it to me.
“You are handsome, smart, and talented. Any man would want you, so I do not understand why you’re not married yet.
Anyway! Do not argue with me! Now go put that on the table. ”
“Mama! I’m only twenty-four!”
“And I was married at twenty-two.”
There was no point in arguing with her. I rolled my eyes again, smiled, and took the bowl to the dining room, where I put it on the table. I didn’t agree with her about my attractiveness. Yeah, she was definitely biased.
After the table was set, Mom walked into the living room and turned off the TV.
My father and brothers didn’t dare complain once we had to sit down to dinner.
If she worked her ass off cooking, they could work their asses off, prying their eyes from the game; otherwise, Mom would give them an earful.
Dad sat down at the head of the table as Mom served everyone.
It wasn’t that we couldn’t do it ourselves or that she was so traditional and waited on her family hand and foot.
Oh no. She didn’t trust us. Mom didn’t trust that we would eat enough.
So, whatever she put on our plates, we had to eat it all.
If we weren’t licking our plates clean, she would feign hurt that her cooking wasn’t good enough. Mom was the ultimate guilt-tripper.
“Atlas, how are you, Son?” Dad asked.
“Good. I had a job interview.”
Mom stopped piling the food on Dad’s plate. “Oh, what job? You’re going to stop serving coffee and waiting tables?”
“Yes, because they hired me.”
“What would you be doing?” Andreas, my older brother, asked. We look a lot alike, except that he was way taller and more built. Both of my brothers were. They got my dad’s build, whereas I ended up being built like my mom, slight and short.
“I got hired at Cross Corp as a PA. The two VPs need an assistant. You know the one? That huge general contracting firm?”
Dad nodded thoughtfully, suddenly looking impressed. He’d be familiar with the company since he was a construction foreman. “Yes, they’re growing rapidly, and they went public last year. Impressive. And the VPs, you say?”
“Yep. I want to do something else with my life. It’s not like I’ll end up an artist, anyway.”
I had some experience working as an assistant, but I’d mostly been a barista during the day and a waiter at night.
I was sure there were more qualified applicants.
Hugh and Linden probably wouldn’t have hired me had we not fucked.
That was the truth of the matter. I should probably care more about that, but at the end of the day, I only applied for the money. The benefits were extra.
While my parents could nag with the best of them, I was forever grateful they accepted me exactly the way I was.
Coming out to them as gay had been stressful and awkward, but they loved me no matter what.
And while they wanted me to go to college to become a doctor or a dentist, they never got mad at me for choosing a different path. College just wasn’t for me.
My younger brother, Athan, was currently attending George Washington University, which is very hard to be accepted into.
He was also on their varsity baseball team.
I wasn’t made for sports. I was jealous at first. Sometimes I wish I were as smart as my brothers, but everything about me was different from them, like I’d been adopted or something.
Being the middle child didn’t help either.
Andreas worked as a programmer for a big tech company.
So, both of my brothers were doing well.
Me? I was the creative one who barely made a dime on his art.
After we were all served, Mom finally sat down and plated her own food. “Well, I am proud of you. A PA for two VPs is an important job,” she insisted as she piled roasted lamb onto her plate.
I took a bite of the salmon. The fish melted in my mouth.
I’d never be as amazing a cook as my mother, but I sometimes cooked for my roommates to practice my skills.
They seemed to like it, anyway. They especially enjoyed every Sunday, when I would come home, carrying enough leftovers to feed the four of us for a week.
As we dug into our meals, the dining room was filled with conversation, all of us practically talking at once.
Athan was chatting with Mom about his new girlfriend, while Mom asked if the girl was marriage material.
Andreas was talking to Dad about his recent promotion, and I sat there enjoying dinner, waiting for the moment when she would pin me with her eyes and demand to know when I was going to find someone to marry again.
It was her favorite topic. Her life wouldn’t be complete until all her boys were married off.
And sure enough, her dark eyes met mine before she glanced away and served Athan a heaping pile of salad without being asked. “Atlas?”
Here it comes.
She had that look on her face that said she was about to set me up, like she’d done countless times. I loved my mother down to my soul, but damn, she was meddling.
“No, Mama.”
She sat up straight. “Tsh. You don’t even know what I’m about to say.”
“I don’t want to be set up again. The last time you did that, I ended up going out with a guy who refused to come out of the closet. I mean, if that works for him, fine, but it doesn’t for me. Do you know what a pain it is to hide yourself? Besides, he wasn’t my type.”
She waved a hand at me. “Please, how was I supposed to know? His mother insisted he was out.”
“Being out to the parents is not the same as being out to the world.”
“Anyway, this is different. I feel it in my bones.”
No matter what I said, she would push, so I took a bite of roasted potatoes and let her get it off her chest.
“Mrs. Dimitriou, you know, the lady who comes in twice a week to have her roots done?”
The dining room went silent suddenly. My brothers were both smirking at me with that ‘better you than me’ look.
Ugh. They’d been through countless setups, too.
But since they were both dating, I’d become the center of attention in my mother’s matchmaking schemes.
I sneered at them, and they started laughing.
“No, I don’t know her, Mama.”
“Oh, sure you do. I’ve talked about her. She’s a regular. Her son, Samuel, is… what are they called? Ah, pan… sexual. Is that right?”
I sighed, groaning inwardly. My stomach was about to explode, but I had to keep stuffing my face until my plate was clean, so I took a small bite of spanakopita. “Yeah, pansexual. That doesn’t mean he’ll be into me, Mama. It has to be the right person. And that person could be a woman.”
“Well, you’re the perfect person. I am certain he will like you.”
God, I loved that my parents accepted different sexualities, not so much the setting me up on dates. “I don’t want to date anyone at the moment. What I need to do is focus on my new job. Let me sort out my life first.”
I didn’t bother explaining that my insecurities ran pretty deep, even if I came across as confident. It was all an act. It was hard for me to find someone. Sometimes, I just didn’t bother and chose to have fun. It saved me a lot of heartbreak.
After dinner, I hugged my dad and brothers goodbye before I headed home. Mom walked me to my car, both of us carrying bags of food containers for my roommates and me.
We put everything into my car, carefully setting the bags on the floorboards to prevent them from rolling around as I drove. I closed the passenger side door, and Mom pulled me into a fierce hug before kissing each of my cheeks. Then she hugged me again.
“You’re coming next Sunday, right?” she asked.
“I’m here every Sunday, Mama. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“You are my favorite. Just don’t tell your brothers.”
We were still holding each other as I laughed. She loved us equally because she told my brothers the same thing all the time. “And you’re my favorite mother.”
“Psh. I’m your only mother.”
I kissed her cheeks, hugged her one last time, and climbed into my car. As I drove off, I glanced in the rearview mirror several times, watching her wave goodbye. She would do that until she could no longer see my car.