Chapter 20
Hugh
I stood in front of the full-length mirror and scanned my outfit as Linden draped his body over my bed, watching me and petting Mrs. Peach.
“I don’t know. Do I look like some college professor?”
After buttoning my shirt sleeves, I tucked the shirt into my slacks.
“Professor Cross has a nice ring to it,” Linden teased.
“Ass. You know what I mean.”
“They aren’t going to care what you’re wearing, Hugh.”
“The tie is too much, isn’t it?”
Linden stood from my bed and paced over to me. He reached for my tie and undid it. “Yes. It’s just dinner, not a meeting with our shareholders.”
His pretty eyes were so blue when he looked up at me. He wore a slate-blue button-up, which made his eyes pop even more. His dark blond hair was swept back smoothly from his freshly shaved face.
I quickly looked away because I shouldn’t be looking at my cousin and thinking about how pretty I’d always found his eyes.
“Just dinner? You heard Atlas. Apparently, his mother makes a feast. It’s a big thing when all her kids are there, let alone guests.”
He smiled, exposing his perfectly straight teeth. Linden looked like a put-together surfer turned businessman. Sometimes I wish I’d pushed him harder not to take the job at Cross Corp, but I was selfish and wanted him close to me.
“I’m sorry you’re working at Cross Corp,” I said, speaking my thoughts out loud.
His brow dropped, and he frowned. “Why? I made my choice. What brought that on?”
I shrugged as he unbuttoned a few buttons on my shirt and straightened my collar over my cashmere cardigan. “I don’t know. I’ve been feeling… mortal lately. Does that make any sense?”
“Not really. Care to elaborate?”
“Sometimes I feel on top of the world. We make a lot of money, we own nice homes, and we drive nice cars. There’s a lot of privilege in that.
But lately… I keep thinking you’re wasting your creative talent.
And that maybe… I’m not so happy. I should be more grateful for what I have, but…
I’m also missing something important, but I don’t know what. ”
Linden nodded and ran his hands over my shoulders and down my arms before stepping back. “I can see and understand that.”
“Don’t you wish you were doing something else? Or had a different life? I shouldn’t wish that as so many others have less, but still… It’s nagging at me.”
“All the time,” he whispered and turned away from me to sit back on my bed.
All the time?
The guilt gutted me. Yeah, I should’ve pushed him harder to pursue his dreams.
“Look, Hugh. Your parents took me in and have cared for me since I was a teenager. I should give back to them. If Uncle Hanley needs me there, then so be it. But if you need to step away from Cross Corp, you should do it.”
“You know I can’t.”
“Chloe did.”
“Chloe is a fucking queen and stronger than I am any day. Besides, Dad rarely speaks to her since she chose her own life, and she’s fine with that.”
“Well, he’s being a dick about it. I love him, but you know how difficult he can be.”
“That’s a nice way to put it. Demanding and controlling, you mean.”
“That too.”
I didn’t know what I’d do without Linden in my life. Sure, we do a lot of sexual tag teaming, but it was more than that. I could talk to him about anything and not worry about what I’d said coming back to haunt me. I trusted Linden with my life.
And I hated how my attention kept being brought back to him since we started this adventure with Atlas.
I shouldn’t be looking at him the way I have lately.
He was my cousin. But I’d had this need to get closer to him as we got closer to Atlas.
It wasn’t the first time I’d wondered what it would be like to do something more with Linden, but I’d always brushed it aside.
Still, those thoughts had been hitting me a lot lately. Nagging at me.
We’d been back to The Backdoor twice now, and each time it’d end with double penetration and me practically wanting to crawl into Linden’s skin, as much as I was a part of Atlas. I wanted to touch him, breathe him in, and keep feeling his cock brush against mine.
I shuddered and silenced my inappropriate thoughts.
“Aren’t you nervous about tonight?” I asked him to change the subject.
“Very.”
“You don’t look nervous.”
He grinned crookedly. “You know me. I adapt to any situation.”
I slid on my belt and buckled up before holding out my arms. “Well, how do I look?”
“They’ll love you.”
“Sure, as Atlas’s bosses. What about when he tells them about us? If he does. They’ll hate us. Maybe they’ll assume we’re taking advantage of their son.”
“Maybe. I think we should worry about that if and when the time comes. But tonight isn’t that night. We’re just meeting his family. Only his brothers know about us.”
“I still can’t believe he told them, and they were fine with it.”
“He was trying to test the waters. Regardless, it shows their love for their brother. Now, let’s not keep Atlas waiting.”
I drove us to Atlas’s communal apartment and parked the car on the street to wait. Linden had already texted him that we were there.
A minute later, Atlas rushed out with a grimace on his face, though he was probably just trying to smile.
He looked beautiful. His makeup was minimal, and he only wore gloss on his lips.
His earrings were simple diamond studs, and he wore a navy-blue sweater with two large cherries knitted on the front.
“Nervous?” I asked when he climbed into the backseat.
“Yes. Not that they won’t love you. They will. But… my family can be a lot.”
I laughed, feeling more at ease now. “A lot of families are, but you say a lot of good things about them, which is a good indication of their character and yours.”
Before buckling up, he leaned forward to kiss my cheek and then Linden’s. “Hello, darlings.”
Linden reached around and grabbed the back of Atlas’s head to pull him in and give him a proper kiss on the lips. “Hello back. You look amazing and smell amazing.”
“You both do, too.”
He finally sat back, buckled up, and I drove off.
“So, be prepared that my mom will feed you all. She’ll fill up your plate, and you have to eat it all. Seriously, she’ll be butt-hurt if you don’t. We’ll leave there so stuffed we’ll need wheelbarrows to haul our guts home, but it makes her happy,” Atlas warned.
“Anything else we should know?”
“My brothers will be cool. Well, I warned them to be cool, but they may poke at you, especially at me. Dad will ask you business questions. He’s a construction foreman, so he’ll want to talk shop.
Mom will ask a lot of questions about your family, and don’t be surprised if she’s nosy about your love life.
She may even ask why you’re not married yet. ”
“Great,” I said, dripping with sarcasm, as Linden laughed.
“I just want them to know you before… you know, before talking about relationship status stuff. We have to build them up first, make them like you. Then we can ease them into it.”
I sighed as I made a turn onto Wisconsin Avenue, which would take us up to Chevy Chase. “They’re going to think we manipulated you into this.”
I watched Atlas shrug in the rearview mirror. “Then we’ll have to convince them otherwise. I’m capable of deciding for myself.”
We drove in silence, and I stewed over everything Atlas had told us. Making a good impression should come easily to us since we were always making deals at work, but this was Atlas’s family. If they didn’t like us, it could prove problematic in our relationship.
“So… I hope you like them,” Atlas said after a while.
That right there showed how important family was to him, and all the more reason to make a good impression.
“We will,” Linden assured him.
It took about twenty minutes of fighting DC traffic to finally reach the Stavros’s home.
It was a two-story brick house, but it wasn’t the typical colonial style for the area.
It was one of those homes built around the early 1950s, where everything seemed out of place, but meant to convey modernism.
It wasn’t the prettiest house in the area, but I knew his parents worked hard for it.
Chevy Chase, MD, was incredibly expensive.
“Your dad is a construction foreman, but what does your mom do?” I asked, parking the car in the street in front.
“Mom owns a hair salon.”
“Your parents must do well?”
“I guess. I mean, they bought the house way before Andreas was born. He’s the oldest. So… almost thirty years ago? I grew up in this house.”
We got out of the car, and I locked it, while Linden grabbed the flowers he bought for Atlas’s mom.
“I really wish we had brought something more, like dessert,” I said.
“No, everything we eat, my mom made. If you brought food, it would imply her cooking is inadequate.”
I huffed a laugh. “Fair enough.”
Linden leaned into Atlas with a smirk. “So, can I call your mom ‘Mama Stavros’?”
Atlas snorted, unlocked the front door, and walked inside. “She just might love that.”
I couldn’t remember the last time my hands got clammy from nerves. I casually wiped my palms on my slacks as Linden and I followed him.
The house was traditional in style and a bit dated, but it was comfortable. It was filled with knick-knacks and framed photos everywhere. The air was heavy with the scent of spices and cooked meat.
“Atlas? Is that you?” a woman yelled from the kitchen.
“Hi, Mama.”
When she came out of the kitchen to greet us, I was shocked to learn there was a female version of Atlas.
She was even shorter, with the same black hair, but hers wasn’t nearly as curly, and she had it swept up into a ponytail.
Even as short as she was, you could instantly tell that she was an imposing woman.
She gave Atlas a fierce hug and a kiss on each cheek before greeting us. “You must be Atlas’s employers. I hope he’s been behaving himself at work.”
“Mama! Oh my gawd!” Atlas looked at us pleadingly with adorable pink cheeks. “Please tell her I’ve been good.”
And there went my brain to what a ‘good boy’ he’d been. I took her hand to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. I’m Hugh Cross. And yes, Atlas has been a lifesaver at work.”
“We will remove formalities. You may call me Elena. His father is Christos.”
Then she shook my cousin’s hand. “You must be Linden then?”
“Indeed. It’s a pleasure. Everything smells so good.”
Elena beamed at him. “Thank you. I hope you are hungry.”
“Famished.”
“Well, come in, come in!”
“Can I help with anything?” I asked.
She waved a dismissive hand at me. “No, go sit with Christos and Atlas’s brothers. They’re watching a football game. Relax. Dinner will be in about ten minutes.”
Linden and I followed him into the living room, where the football game was on full blast. My cousin looked relaxed, but I also knew he always appeared that way, even if he wasn’t.
Atlas stood in front of the TV and kicked out his hip. “Rude! Come say hello to my bosses!”
All eyes landed on us. “Hello, I’m Hugh. This is my cousin Linden.”
A man much taller than Atlas walked over to us with his hand out. He had a pooch for a stomach, and his hair was thinning, but I saw the resemblance. “I’m Christos. Very nice to meet you.”
“These are my brothers, Andreas and Athan. Don’t worry if you get our names confused. My parents wanted to torture people for fun.”
“Atlas,” Christos admonished. “You and your silly jokes.”
His brothers, who were both taller than Atlas, stood and shook our hands as well.
Now that the greetings were out of the way, the awkwardness set in, at least for me. Linden was chatting it up with the younger brother, who was talking about baseball and played for GW. Linden had been an amazing player in high school and college, but he had no interest in going pro.
I glanced at Atlas, who winked at me and wiggled his arms like rubber worms. “Loosen up,” he mouthed.
Loosen up.
I could do that. If Atlas could handle my father, I could handle his family.
Sure, no sweat.