CHAPTER 43 Rowan
CHAPTER 43
Rowan
I t’s late when we get home from the party, and we go straight to bed. I pat my tummy, groaning in the dark. “I can’t believe this is my life,” I whisper.
“What, that you had a good dinner? I feed you,” Charlie mutters, tugging me close and kissing the nape of my neck.
“You do,” I whisper. “But that mansion was like visiting another planet. All those people with tenuous connections to my father or the St. Thomas family.”
“I’ve been to some fancy dinners with work clients, but … agreed. That place is a palace.”
“Agreed.” Charlie runs a hand down my chest, and I cuddle into him even more. “I think this is my favorite place to be.”
“My house?” Charlie asks.
“Your bed, with you in it,” I say. “A month ago, I was sleeping on an air mattress with a jackass for a roommate.”
“You’ve had quite the month.” Now his hand is teasing over my zebra print briefs, and I let him play with me, my dick starting to harden.
“I have. But hands down, you’re the best part.” I groan as he strokes me. “That and finding out about my family.”
“You don’t care about the money?” Charlie teases, his hardening dick nestling against my ass.
I talk into the pillow. “If Remi had no money but treated me as nicely as he has been, I would still appreciate him. I just like knowing that I come from somewhere , you know?”
“Tell me more,” he says.
This is another thing I love about Charlie. He listens to me.
“After bouncing from house to house my entire life, thinking I didn’t have any relatives at all, it’s amazing to know who I share DNA with.”
“So, not Bree and Anastasia?” Charlie’s now reaching inside my underwear. So I kick it off. He seems fascinated by my foreskin and spends time gently moving it.
“Not them. They can … go do what they want,” I pant.
Charlie protests. “No way. We have to stop their plans. They’re evil.”
“I have my own evil plans.”
He chuckles. “Oh yeah? What are they?”
I moan, now fully hard. “If I get a lot of money, I don’t want to spend my life binge shopping. Don’t get me wrong—I’m going to own every yaoi manga that ever existed, and I’m going to wear amazing clothes. But I want to fund projects. Make the world better for people who have it the way I did: kids who don’t have food or homes, LGBTQ+ people, you know.”
“Those plans don’t sound evil,” Charlie points out, and I laugh, then gasp as he moves me onto my back and settles between my legs under the sheets.
“That’s not the evil part.”
He licks my cock. “Tell me, but you should know that the founders of my firm have a charity, Weston it looks like it’s from a cartoon—with vegetables and crusty bread. I love every bite.
Nana and Remi are talking about some new tax laws.
Remi nods. “I have an appointment with my new lawyer to work through them. Roger, my old attorney, recommended him.”
“Are you going to miss Roger?” I ask.
“Probably. I could insist he not retire until I’m gone, but he deserves to be able to spend time with his family.”
I wonder if I’ll ever understand my father fully. He’s old money conservative, but he’s okay with my tattoos, piercings, and style. He kidnapped me but then gave me everything.
I guess I’m just going to have to live with him being himself .
“Don’t you think Bree and Anastasia are going to act badly after being pushed out of their inheritance by my existence?” I ask.
Nana leans forward. “They’ve had plenty of opportunity to use what they already have to make sure they never need more. They’ve been living off the interest of billions of dollars. Do you know how much that is?”
“A lot?” I hedge.
“Yes, a lot.” She smiles.
“Plus, it’s a windfall to them,” Remi says. “They’re not part of the family by blood.”
“It’s a windfall to me, too,” I point out, chewing on my lip. “It’s not like I deserve any of this. ”
Nana says, “Here’s the thing about money: No one says you must be a good person to have it.”
“You don’t have to be a bad person, either,” Barbara says. “Money is neutral.”
“Just some have access to it, and some don’t,” Remi says.
These people. It’s so obvious they’ve never had to do without. Am I ever going to feel like I fit in with my own family?
I suppose the more important question is, do I need to fit in?
Maybe I already do, to those that matter. Remi doesn’t seem to be fazed by any part of me.
“I’ll probably want to start a nonprofit with a lot of it,” I admit.
“Then do so,” Remi says. “If you fund projects that are close to your heart, that would make me happy.”
“What if I give it to LGBTQ+ causes?” I ask, needing to test him.
“Good.” He grins. “I have a gay son. I want to be sure he doesn’t get screwed over by anyone.” Nana clucks and reaches over to hold Barbara’s hand. “And my aunt as well.”
Remi passes all my tests. He previously scored well on the do-I-accept-my-son-for-who-he-is scale, but some part of me thought it might be a fluke. I like how he keeps pleasantly surprising me. The fact that his kindness is surprising—well, maybe I do need that therapy Charlie brought up.
“I’ve taught you well,” Nana says to Remi.
We finish lunch and sit by the Christmas tree. There’s a fire roaring in the fireplace, even though the weather is clement. I’m comfortably full of good food. Another first for me: Christmas with my family. I hadn’t known what to expect or what to give people who can buy and sell countries, so I brought jigsaw puzzles for everyone, because maybe they’d enjoy something to do. Judging by the delight in Nana’s eyes, I chose well.
Remi passes me a medium-sized wrapped box, kind of like a book. I doubt he bought me manga, like Charlie did .
“What is this?” I ask, holding it tightly to my chest and glancing around to see what the others think. No one gives me a clue except for some kind smiles.
Remi’s forehead wrinkles, and he rubs his jaw. “I found a photograph of your mother that someone took at the conference I attended.”
My entire body seizes. I’m about to be ripped to shreds, aren’t I?
With trembling fingers, I open the package and stare at the photo in a silver frame.
Bianca looks a bit like me. Her hair is light, and she seems little. She’s wearing a black cocktail dress, and she’s shoulder to shoulder with a much-younger Remi wearing a black suit in what looks like a Las Vegas casino. My eyes sting.
“You like it?” Remi asks.
“Yeah. If I had any more tears, I’d be shedding them right now,” I say. “I’m not crying anymore, though. I’m all cried out.”
With my heart in my throat, I open my arms and hug my father for the first time.
It’s a dark, quiet night, though holiday displays on the houses we’re passing provide plenty of light. I met Charlie at home a little while ago, and we’re now driving over to his friend Danny’s place.
“So, it’s a good sign that you want me to meet your friends?” I ask, scraping a hand through my hair. My knee bounces.
“Yep.” Charlie navigates us smoothly to the curb in front of a cute house not that far from his. Blue lights line the eaves, and fake candles glow in the center of each window.
I snort. Charlie’s being his usual stoic self. But he’s wearing another sweater I got him, and he looks and smells delicious. His dark hair’s gotten longer, and it flops in his eyes when he wakes up. This morning, he styled it back, and I pretty much want to stare at him for the rest of my life.
We go up to the front door, presents in hand.
Danny Villasenor’s a tall, dark, handsome man who has an adorable nerdy partner named Alden Meyer. We’re welcomed into their warm home, where a few others from Charlie’s firm are gathered.
There’s a moment where they all stare at me. I suppose I’m a mythical being: Charlie’s boyfriend, when he’s never brought one around before. And I don’t exactly look like I fit with him, either. I’ve got on a gray sweater that says “Gucci” in script and shiny black pants, and I feel like a million bucks.
Charlie wraps his arms around my waist as soon as we deposit the gifts under the tree, and my heart goes haywire at him claiming me so readily in front of his friends. I know he’s my boyfriend, but old feelings of being rejected by, oh, everyone, don’t go away fast.
“It smells so good in here,” I say.
Danny grins. “My mom made tamales.”
“I’m not sure how I could be hungry again after the lunch I ate, but there you have it.”
After introductions, Danny’s first question is, “So, have you figured out how to make this guy less grumpy?”
“Yep,” I chirp. “But it’s a secret.”
“I’m sure it involves sex,” Danny says.
Charlie shrugs. “Can we change the subject?”
Another of the attorneys, August, laughs. “Absolutely not. You’ve given everyone in the office so much crap about so many things over the years. We’re happy for you, but we’re not going to take it easy on you, either. Bringing around a date.”
“Oh, he’s not my date,” I say. “We’re mated for life.”
Everyone laughs, and Charlie shrugs. “He’s right.”
“Wow,” Danny says. “When Charlie falls, he falls hard.”
“And are you really leaving the firm?” Alden asks.
Noah, yet another attorney, looks a little guilty. “I told the partners you might be looking for something else,” he explains to Charlie, who’s been sitting there all classic Charlie Cooper RBF.
Then Charlie smiles, and any tension in the room goes away. “It’s fine. Yeah, I don’t know. I might go part time, or … I’m not sure. I just want more variety in my daily life and more choice in the cases I take.”
“You want it, you got it,” August says. And since he and Noah cofounded the firm, I guess he can make the rules.
We chat some more, then sit down to enjoy Danny’s mom’s amazing food until I’m officially so full I’m pretty sure I don’t want to ever eat again.
Danny’s cat, Mamacita, comes over and rubs against Charlie’s legs. Charlie leans down and pets her. Every time she enters the room, she seeks him out, and he seems fascinated by her. He absolutely has to get a cat.
When we’re done with dinner, we all gather by the Christmas tree in Danny’s living room. Danny picks up a small, flat package wrapped in snowman paper and hands it to Charlie.
“What is this?” Charlie asks.
“Open it.”
Charlie does and bursts out laughing.
“When Noah said you were thinking of doing something different with your life, we didn’t want you to forget us,” August says. “So we made sure you wouldn’t. Shelby helped.”
“What is it?” I ask.
Charlie shakes his head and shows me. “It’s a calendar of everyone I work with.” He starts flipping through it. January has a huge picture of Danny. “This is Demi, our office manager. And Alden. And August. Owen. Noah. My sister. Shelby.” He cracks up.
“Every month, you’ll have our smiling faces to remind you of the office,” Danny says.
Charlie’s grin is infectious. “Thanks, guys.”
All in all, it’s the best Christmas of my life.