27
L awrence had been in meetings all day, and he had one more before he could call it a day. The end of the year was always busy for them, or at least for his co-workers. They scrambled to close deals and get contracts signed. It was annoying, honestly. Especially when he was pulled into their meetings to help them. He was being nice because he could let them suffer on their own.
He’d already surpassed his goal for the year. Unlike many of his co-workers, he’d started the year off pursuing clients and had met his goal by the end of August, while they’d decided to start the year slowly and relax. To each their own, but now they had ground to make up, and for several of them, he wasn’t sure how they would. The office would close Friday and not open back up for two weeks since both upcoming holidays fell in the middle of the week.
Lawrence had assumed that since they knew their raises and bonuses were based on performance, they would have done the work.
His phone rang, and it took him a second to realize it was his cell, not his office phone. He was glad because he was very close to throwing it against the wall if he had to deal with another co-worker asking him for help. He was doing so to be nice but also because one of his stipulations was that they had to put his name on their contract to give him credit for the help. It would look good when they had evaluations at the beginning of the year.
“Hey, Mom,” Lawrence greeted.
“Hey, son. How’s work? ”
“It’s been a long week, and it’s only Tuesday. I hope yours is going better than mine.”
“It sounds like it is,” his mother responded. “Is it busy because it’s the end of the year or…?”
“People decided to wait until the eleventh hour to meet goals, and they’re scrambling. I’m sure a few of them started trying a couple of months ago, but it’s hard to get contracts signed close to the end of the year. Many companies would rather not show that change and cost on their financials before the new fiscal year.”
“I see. Well, maybe this will be a lesson to them.” She paused before shifting the subject. “I got a call from your father today.”
He refrained from rolling his eyes. He hadn’t spoken to his father since he’d called him and the rest of the bigots out two weeks ago. Lawrence wasn’t shocked he’d called his mother, just surprised at how long it’d taken him.
“That happened two weeks ago. Why’d he bother calling now?” he asked, leaning back in the chair.
“I think he was embarrassed that you knew and needed to figure out how to ask if I were the one that told you. He wasn’t too happy about me doing so.”
Lawrence shrugged even though she couldn’t see him. “If he was going to get upset about someone else telling me, he should have done it himself. He can’t pull the ‘he was waiting for the right time’ either because that should have been when I came out. He also could have called me to talk about it.”
“I agree with you. I think the entire situation hurt him. He was caught off guard.”
“ He was caught off guard?” Lawrence scoffed. “He lured Remy and me down there for the sole purpose of getting us in a prayer circle to pray the gay away like it was an infection that needed an antibiotic. He called and asked me to celebrate with him and told me to bring Remy so he could try to save his soul through us. I have a hard time caring that he felt caught off guard. Maybe he should be honest with himself.”
“It’s hard for him to do that. Your grandfather was very religious and strict; Dennis got used to hiding who he was. ”
“That man is dead,” Lawrence responded. “Has been for years. He's hiding now because he cares about the opinions of strangers far too much. That’s his issue. Not mine.”
His mom sighed because it was clear he didn’t care about his father’s feelings or why he was suppressing who he was or doing what he had. That was his cross to bear—his fight to take up arms, and Lawrence wouldn’t let him make him feel bad for who he was because he was happy in his skin.
“Why didn’t you tell me that happened?”
“So you could hop on a plane and try to pull out Claudia’s badly sewn-in tracks? I chose to pass.”
Silvia laughed. “That heifer does get on my nerves, and she needs a new hairdresser because the one she has hates her.”
Lawrence spoke to his mother for a few more minutes, confirming the time her flight was supposed to land on Saturday morning so he could pick her up. Remy’s parents were flying in Saturday afternoon, and he still needed to wrap everyone’s gifts since they were doing Christmas at Remy’s condo. His apartment wasn’t small, but his boyfriend’s would be more spacious.
Sitting there, he contemplated emailing his co-workers and letting them know he couldn’t attend the meeting. He felt like dipping out early since he had a few errands. Cayman Industries was having its Christmas party that Friday evening, and he needed to pick up a new tie for the suit he wanted to wear. He couldn’t find the one he liked to wear with it and figured it might have gotten lost or left the last time he took it to the cleaners.
His internal debate went on for several minutes before he decided to suck it up and go to the meeting. He had already said he would and knew that if things went well, the deal could close that day, and it was one more he’d have his name on for helping at the last minute. He could look for a tie afterward and visit his boyfriend since he hadn’t seen him in a few days.
R emy sat at his desk, checking to ensure the packages he was waiting for were out for delivery. They were presents for Chloe and her son, and he wanted them to have them before the office closed for the holidays. While the entire company received Christmas bonuses based on performance, he also got Chloe something to show how much he appreciated her work throughout the year. He’d wrap them when he got home and bring them to her tomorrow.
He didn’t have any more outside meetings for the year, and aside from the final in-house meeting, the department heads would have tomorrow morning to ensure they were all on the same page for the list of products, collaborations, and mergers that were to take place once they returned after the new year. He was finished with work until then. Remy was only there now in case there was an emergency. After tomorrow’s meeting, he was calling it a year. He knew Kieran would work until Friday, though in his opinion, there was nothing to do. Remy would not be doing so.
A knock on his open door pulled his attention, and he found Alijah standing there.
“Hey, come in,” he said, leaning back in his chair.
“Hey. This isn’t a bad time, is it? Chloe said I could come in.”
“As you can see, I’m swamped,” he joked, but he knew why she was asking.
Being married to Kieran meant that people at the company jumped through hoops to appease her the way they did him. They’d see her, even if they were busy, and stop what they were doing to take care of whatever she needed.
“You’re coming to the Christmas party this year, right?”
“I am.” The first year she’d worked there, he’d still been in China over the holidays, and he’d gone to see his parents last year. “I’m bringing Lawrence with me.”
Alijah smiled at him. “I’m sure he’ll have fun, and Henry from legal will stop throwing sly looks and passing flirting comments at you once he sees you together.”
Remy chuckled. “We’ll see because telling him I was in a relationship didn’t seem to work.” He’d seen Henry once since he’d come to his office, and the other man had still given him the same energy, fluttered his lashes, and made some comment about how nice he looked that day.
“I don’t think he believed you, but I’m sure he will after the party. That isn’t why I came in here. Chayse wanted me to ask if you’d be interested in participating in a Valentine’s Day auction for charity.”
He tilted his head. “The one that Gorgeous has put on the past few years? Don’t they normally auction off women?”
“Yes, and yes, but they’re changing it up next year. I think it has something to do with a few women making a fuss about women being treated like livestock. In Gale’s words, she’s an equal opportunity cattle rancher.” They shared a laugh at the joke.
“I see, and she wants me to be a part of it, even though I’m not single.”
Alijah nodded. “Kieran and Nik are participating. I don’t know about Paetyn and Cruz.”
Remy wasn’t too surprised that Kieran was participating. It usually didn’t take much convincing from Alijah to get him to do most things.
“I don’t see you letting anyone outbid you for Kieran or Chayse for Nik. So, why not just write a check.”
“The auction has become a fun back-and-forth banter. It’s entertainment.”
“When do they need to know?”
“By January third,” Alijah responded.
“Mm.” Remy rubbed the beard of his goatee. “Let me see how Lawrence feels about it, and I'll let you know.”
“Works for me,” she responded, standing. “I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow. Have a good evening.”
“You too.”
He turned his attention to his computer screen once alone. It was a little after three, and he decided to review the agenda Chloe sent him for tomorrow's meeting. He’d planned on doing it in the morning but wanted something to help the rest of the day go by.
R emy was lying on his couch later that evening when his front door opened. He didn’t bother to get up because he knew it was Lawrence. His boyfriend had texted him half an hour ago and told him he was coming over, so he’d left the door unlocked for him and accepted the request from his app to come up to the floor a couple of minutes ago .
“I brought food,” Lawrence stated as he entered the living room. “You haven’t eaten already, have you?”
“Shouldn’t you have asked me that when you told me you were coming over?” Remy teased.
“Just say you don’t want it. You don’t have to be an asshole,” Lawrence shot back, doing an about-face and leaving the living room.
“Woah, hey,” Remy stated, getting up, brow furrowed as he followed him into the kitchen. “I was joking. What’s wrong?”
Lawrence didn’t respond, pulling a plate from the cabinet. Remy watched him momentarily, and when it was clear he wouldn’t get an answer, he placed a hand on Lawrence’s waist, only for the other man to move away from him.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Still, he didn’t receive an answer.
When Lawrence went to pass him with his newly made plate, Remy took it from him and sat it on the counter. With a frustrated groan, Lawrence exited the kitchen towards the hall.
“Stop,” Remy stated, his voice leaving no room for argument. “Come here. We’re not doing whatever this is.”
Lawrence paused for a minute before his shoulders sagged, and he returned to Remy, standing in front of him. He gripped the younger man’s chin, making him look him in the eyes. He wouldn’t ask him again; his boyfriend seemed to sense that because he sighed.
“I was helping my co-workers and team members all day with meetings because, for some reason, most of them decided to fuck around until the last couple of months.”
Remy was aware of that; Lawrence had previously told him about it and how their raises and bonuses were calculated by performance and contracts. However, he knew there had to be more that caused Lawrence to be upset. He knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t act like this because of something going on with someone else.
“The last meeting I helped with today was a client I had on my books for next year to start the year off on a high note. My fucking co-worker tried to poach them by telling them that I wanted them to come in and sign before the year was up. It was the only reason they wanted my help because my name was already listed as their point of contact. They tried to use all of my hard work to help them get a contract signed at the end of the year and slap their name on it along with mine.”
Remy had long ago stopped believing that people you worked with wouldn’t try to get over on you or use you at every turn if they thought they could. The fact that Lawrence was so willing to help meant that he would always be on someone’s radar, but for the other person to think he would allow them to take a client he’d worked with and establish a rapport with was almost unbelievable.
“I apologized to my client for the mix-up and told them I’d see them at our previously scheduled meeting when the new year came if they still wanted to do business with me. Luckily, they were fine with that because it could have cost me a contract that had the potential to be almost as substantial as my largest one.” He took a deep breath. “When the client was gone, my co-worker and I had words, and I tried to rise above and be the bigger person because I hold a higher position, but then he put his finger in my face, and I snapped. I probably shouldn’t have, but I cursed him out six ways from Sunday. It got loud, and when our boss came in, that jackass tried to blame the whole thing on me. I saw red, and I walked out.”
“So you came to take it out on me instead?” Remy asked with a raised brow.
“I…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, you shouldn’t have, but it sounds like you had a stressful day. Next time, talk to me.”
“I did, and I will. I got a call on the way here that I have a meeting with my boss and human resources tomorrow, and I guess it wound me up again because I thought I’d at least calmed down a little.” He groaned. “They’re probably going to write me up. They might even fire me.”
“You did walk out, baby.” Remy pulled him into his arms. “You want me to buy it for you?”
“Yes,” Lawrence responded.
“Done.”
“No, Remy. I was kidding.”
“I wasn’t.” He leaned down and kissed him. “Say the word, and it’s yours. ”
Lawrence kissed him again. “I’ll think about it. Let’s eat, and then I’ll apologize properly for taking my frustration out on you.”
Remy nodded, releasing him and making a plate. He’d tell Lawrence about the auction after he’d helped him work out the day's frustration.