Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Harmon
I’m aimlessly staring out the windows in my office at the city below when my cell rings.
I should ignore it. I don’t want to talk to anyone.
It’s been a long and stressful day. The last thing I want to do is expel more energy, especially when I’m not sure Cassius will show up later for me to let my stress out.
But something tells me to look at my phone, that the call is important. I glance at it.
Cassius.
I jerk around in the chair, reaching for it.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” he says.
“Hi.”
“I’m sorry if you’re busy—”
“I’m not. Busy, I mean. It’s been a long day. I was just sitting here.”
“Oh, okay. Uh, well, I was hoping we could talk.”
“I would love that,” I breathe out. The ache in my chest finally lessons.
“Should I go by the office? Meet you at your house later?”
I get up from my chair. “How about you meet me at my house now? I’m leaving early.”
“You are?”
“Yes. I’ve just decided.” I grab my things and walk out the door with my phone to my ear. “Oliver, I’m leaving for the day. Cancel my meetings.”
“But you have—”
“I don’t care,” I snap, continuing on. “Figure it out.” Then to Cassius, I say, “I’ll see you at home. The phone won’t work in the elevator.”
“Okay. I’ll head there now.”
“See you soon.”
“Bye.”
I shove the phone into my pocket and stare at the numbers on the screen above the elevator door, waiting for it to show me that it’s coming up to get me.
It takes far too long. I may have to have them programmed to come directly here when the button is pressed.
Sounds selfish of me. Let’s see how I feel about it in a few days.
The car is empty when it finally comes to me, but it stops on every floor on the way down, stuffing full.
Reminder to never leave the office around this time again.
I’m grateful Cassius dropped off my car so I can drive it home, but I was upset that he wanted to ignore me so badly that he wouldn’t even return the keys himself. I was sure that meant he wouldn’t talk to me again. His call was a shock, as I assumed he was angry with me over what’s happened.
I truly hope we can come up with a solution to this problem.
I had a horrible day today, and it wasn’t only because of work.
It wasn’t the meetings and the stress about handling this situation with Ferroix.
It was the way I felt. Upset. Because of Cassius.
Thinking that I may never see him again…
I didn’t like it. And not just because of him being my slave and craving that control over someone, but it was more than that.
It was last night. Sleeping together. Holding him.
Taking him whenever I wanted him. It was the bath at the hotel.
Feeding him. It’s having him around and taking care of him, showing him that I can be a good man—and that I can be a good man to him, another man—despite what people think.
It’s the way he looks at me, like I can do anything.
I get stuck in traffic for far too long, and Cassius is at my house before I am. I hurry inside and find him in his room, sitting on the bed. I knock on the door, though it’s open. I told him I would never bother him in here unless he allowed me to, and that still stands.
“May I come in?”
“Yeah,” he says with a small smile.
I sit beside him on the bed. “Thank you for returning my keys. You didn’t have to go all the way there for that. I have other cars.”
“Of course you do,” he says with quiet laugh. “But that’s not why I went there. The lawyer had me go by to sign the papers for Chrissy. It’s official. I have custody of her.”
“Oh, Cassius, that is amazing news. I’m so happy for you.”
I’d love nothing more than to hug him, but I’m not sure the time is right for that.
“Thank you,” he says with a slight nod. “It’s… unreal, honestly.”
“I can imagine it would be. It feels too easy.”
“We’ve been fighting to survive for so long, I…
” He sighs, turning to look at me. “I like the way I feel when I’m with you.
I love the way you look at me, the way you make me feel seen and understood.
The way you teach me and care about me. I like you, Harmon, but this is such a difficult situation.
You do understand that, right? You see the position I’m in? ”
“Of course I do. I just wanted time for us to come up with a solution and—”
“I panicked. Yeah. Self-sabotage, I guess.” He sneaks a glance at me again. “Did you come up with an idea? Because I still can’t see how we will make this work. And I want it to. Trust me, I do, but I can’t do anything to jeopardize my family. I won’t. We’ve struggled for too long, and—”
“Cassius, whoa—hold on.”
I get to my knees in front of him and take his hands.
“I would never let you or your family struggle. Ever. I’ve told you this many times since we’ve met.
I understand how badly you need this, and I would not do anything to put you in a bad way.
If there is anything I need you to believe, it’s that. ”
“I want to,” he says, eyes shining. “It’s hard to trust people, you know?”
I smirk. “Yeah, Cassius. I do know.”
His gaze stays on the floor beside me, not wanting to make contact.
“I do have a solution. One that would work for both of us.”
“You do?” he asks, his gaze finally coming to mine.
I nod. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you all day. I had to come up with something. I think I did pretty good.”
“Well, what is it?” he asks impatiently.
I shift on my knees, moving forward more.
“Instead of working for me here, you work for my company.”
“How would I do that? I have no experience.”
“I’m the CEO, Cassius, I make the rules.”
There’s a bit of hope in his eyes. A lot of curiosity.
“What would I do?”
“I haven’t gotten that far. We need to figure out where you would fit in, because I know you wouldn’t be okay with me putting you down as an employee while you do nothing.”
“No, I couldn’t do that.”
“Exactly,” I say with a small laugh. “So we can discuss it.”
His eyes search mine, and I can tell he wants to ask me something but won’t. It’s an awkward question. I know what he’s thinking.
“Everything about the position will be discussed between you and I. Benefits. Pay. Hours. We will figure this out together. Whatever works for you, will work for me.”
“You’re serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? This is much easier to handle than hiding the fact I have a slave.”
I said it as a joke, hoping to make him laugh, but he doesn’t. What he does is even better.
He takes my face into his hands and kisses me.
His hands go to the back of my head, grabbing onto my hair.
I find his hips, tugging him closer, until he moves onto the floor with me, straddling my lap.
It’s not the most comfortable, being on my knees, but as long as he’s touching me, I don’t care what he’s doing.
I work at the button on his jeans and shove my hand inside, grasping his cock.
“Harmon—”
“I love when you say my name like that.”
He rides my hand, grinding against me until he comes, crying out with his face buried in my neck and his hands grasping onto my shoulders.
He takes a moment to breathe, but then he gets a second wind and he’s shoving me onto my back and taking me into his mouth, sucking me off like he’s going to win an award. He swallows every drop of my cum, then comes up to lay beside me, resting his head on my chest.
“I think this could work,” he says.
“Of course it will work. I run a billion-dollar company. I have good ideas.”
He laughs. “That is a good argument.”
“I have another good idea.”
“Do you?” he asks, looking up at me.
“Let’s order food.”
We order pizza, which is something I haven’t eaten in a long time, so I don’t have much to compare to, though Cassius did say it was good in comparison to other places he has tried.
Apparently ordering pizza is something he and his sisters do often now that they have the means to do so. I think that’s sweet.
“Come on. It’s my turn for an idea,” he says, pulling me out of the dining room.
“Where are we going?”
He leads me down the hall that goes to his room, and I assume that’s where we’re going… maybe to fuck again. Great idea, though I am full.
He doesn’t take me into the bedroom though, he moves past it and goes into the sitting room and guides me to the couch, where he shoves me onto it.
“Does this TV work?”
“Of course it works,” I say, reaching for the remote on the end table and giving it to him.
“I’m going to introduce you to a show so you’ll have something to talk to my sisters about.”
I laugh nervously. “A show I could talk to teenagers about? I’m intrigued.”
He laughs, this rich sound that has my chest warming as he navigates through the TV screen and opens one of the streaming services.
“Supernatural?” I question when he clicks on it.
“Whatever you do, don’t get a crush on Dean. Cammy already claimed him and is ready to fight.”
A rumbling laugh comes out of me, causing Cassius to look at me fondly.
“I’ll try my best.”
We get through two episodes, with Cassius explaining every little thing to me as if I don’t understand what I’m watching, before he says he has to go.
“I was serious about you not leaving, Cassius,” I say as I get up from the couch with him.
He nods. “Yeah, I know, but I can’t leave them.”
“Will you ever?”
“I mean…” He rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’m sure I will. Honestly, I don’t think Cammy would let it be any other way, but now that I have custody of Chrissy, I have to be there. I can’t risk her going back to my mother.”
“Trust me, that will never happen.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Actually, I do.”
His eyes narrow. “What do you know?”
“Things that I can’t tell you. Just trust me when it comes to this. Your sister is in your custody until she is an adult.”
He bites on his cheek, and I see the emotion welling in his eyes. He leans into me, hugging me tightly. I hug him back and kiss his neck.
“Come by the office at some point tomorrow so we can discuss your position.”
He looks up at me, smiling. “What about the contract now? Can we cancel it?”
“We can. But the stipulation is that I still pay you.”
“So, either way, you have to give me all that money…”
“Legally, yes, I do.”
“And personally, I’m sure you don’t care that you’re doing it either…”
“Not a single bit.”
He kisses me, a deep press of his lips to mine.
“I am going to miss you,” he says.
“I’m going to miss you too.”
With another smile, he leaves out the front door, and I stand there until I can no longer hear his car.