Gap Year - 73. Chapter 73

March 10, 2004

Palo Alto, CA

 

Will

The plane started down the runway, picking up speed, which for some reason made me glance at my watch. It was 8:30am and I almost groaned at how early that was. A yawn finally escaped from my mouth; I was sure it was only the first of many. I’d been pretty exhausted from all the drama yesterday, but the real culprit for my fatigue was the sexual extravaganza I’d had with Tony and Mason last night. I caught their eyes and Tony smiled, then it turned to a grimace as he tried unsuccessfully to hide his yawn. Despite our yawns, Mason remained composed. Mason’s father was a banker, and he was an engineer, so maybe that’s why he seemed to have more control over his facial gestures.

“Thanks for flying us down to LA,” Mason said to Luke Carruthers, assuming that Luke was providing our transportation. Luke was my father’s and Stef’s partner in Carruthers & Schluter. He looked like he was in his fifties, but he was still really attractive. I sure as fuck wouldn’t kick him out of bed. I found dealing with him to be refreshing because he evaluated things almost completely based on data. He generally didn’t see all the schemes that my father and Stef could sniff out, and that made him almost drama-free.

“It’s not my plane,” he said with a slight smile. We were flying on my father’s Gulfstream and I was sitting in the ‘control seat’, as I called it. It was the first front-facing seat on the right side of the plane and was the one with the phone that linked directly to the cockpit.

“You’re welcome,” I said, since I was basically my father’s representative.

“I thought your dad was going with us?” Tony asked.

“So did I,” I said, and smiled at Luke. “It’s awesome to have you with us instead.” I’d shot him my most flirtatious smile, which caused him to grin shyly and shake his head a bit. He was adorable. This dude had to have racked up some serious numbers when he was younger.

“Right,” Luke said. “You remind me so much of Stef when he was younger.”

“That’s one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever gotten,” I said sincerely. Everyone nodded, since even Mason had figured out how awesome Stef was. “So how did you get stuck with this gig?”

“Most of our deals are pretty standard, but when we’re getting involved for more of the long haul, we generally assign those projects to me or your father,” he said. “Since he’s still tied up with Triton business, it seemed fair for me to tackle this one.”

“Thanks for doing that,” I said. “Dad was pretty reluctant to dive back into Anders-Hayes.”

“Why?” Mason asked. Tony looked at him funny for diving into our conversation, but since we were talking about it in front of him, the topic was fair game.

“His partner, Robbie Hayes, was the President of Anders-Hayes,” I explained. “The company will have some good memories for dad because of Robbie’s involvement, but also some bad ones because it was sometimes a source of problems they had.”

“I thought he’d pretty much dealt with all that,” Luke said. “Kind of makes me nervous when he’s uncomfortable getting involved.” Luke was probably thinking of my father’s latest meltdown and was wondering how reliable my father was as a business partner.

“Dad has pretty much wrapped his relationship with Robbie into a package, written a summary report, and locked it away in a file cabinet,” I said, using a business analogy. “If he gets involved again, he may end up having to re-open that file cabinet and he may even have to re-write the summary report.”

Luke nodded as he got clarity. I was pretty sure that the concept of compartmentalizing all of this stuff would appeal to him. “Makes sense,” he said. “Thanks for explaining things.”

“I’m the world’s best ‘Brad’ interpreter,” I joked, getting a laugh from him. I turned back to Tony and Mason. “What are you guys planning to do here?”

“I was hoping we could borrow a car and just explore the area,” Tony said nervously.

“This is your lucky day, because there’s a Ferrari 360 Modena just like mine that you can use,” I said.

“What am I supposed to drive?” Luke joked, acting like he’d been planning to use the Ferrari.

“You’re super-important, so you’re not allowed to drive; you are driven,” I said to him in a somewhat snobby way.

“Yeah, right,” he said.

“If I take the Ferrari, what are you going to drive?” Tony asked.

“There’s a Toyota truck. I’ll take that.”

“Dude, let us take the Toyota and you can drive the Ferrari,” Mason said.

“No,” I said firmly, but knew they needed an explanation. “Here’s why. I drive a car just like that one all the time, so it’s no big deal to me. Tony absolutely loves it, so that helps make sure he stays in a good mood. Plus I really want you to have fun and enjoy the area, and driving in a Ferrari kind of does that on its own. And finally, the Toyota sits higher so I can look down and see the hot dudes in the cars around me.” They chuckled at that.

“Well thanks,” Mason said, only he seemed just a little bit annoyed. I assumed that was because I was putting some pressure on him, hoping he’d enjoy it so he’d move here and let Tony work with movies.

“Who are you going to work for?” I asked Tony, just to pile on that argument.

“Anders-Hayes said they might have an opening for me,” he said. “Basically, I’d be working with their producers to help them keep on top of what’s going on.”

“He’s good at being on top,” I said to Mason, making both of us laugh. “Seriously, that sounds like the job Robbie had when he first started.”

“Maybe you’ll end up running the place,” Mason joked. “Anders-Hayes-Carbone.”

“They’ll think the mob is involved,” I teased.

“Right,” Tony said, and did this gesture where his face made the motions of him rolling his eyes, but his eyes didn’t roll. “I haven’t even seen this place.”

“Why don’t you come with me today?” Luke asked Tony. He saw Mason get annoyed and tried to placate him. “You can come along too,” he said to Mason.

“Really?” Tony asked, full of awe.

“What are you going to be doing?” Mason asked.

“I have to work with the executive team to go over their budgeting and organizational structure,” Luke said. “I just thought you both might find it interesting.”

“Sounds interesting to me,” Mason said, and seemed to mean it. Tony was already totally sold.

“Then it looks like you’ll need to ride with Luke to LA, and I’ll take a car to Malibu,” I said. “Give me a call or text me when you’re done and we’ll figure out how to hook up.”

“Dude, don’t worry about us,” Tony said. “We’ll find our way back there eventually.”

“Sounds good,” I agreed. I gave them a piece of paper with the door code to the house, along with phone numbers for Jeff and Cody. When the plane landed, Luke and I chilled for about fifteen minutes while they frantically changed into business attire. When they were done, the three of them took one limo to LA, while I took the other one to Malibu. I dragged Tony’s and Mason’s luggage along with me.

I collapsed back in the seat and actually dozed off for the rest of the ride to our house so I was kind of dazed when the driver woke me up. “Fell asleep,” he observed unnecessarily.

“I did,” I said groggily, then smiled. “I’d appreciate it if you’d put the bags in the entry.” I went up and punched in the code, and he piled our luggage there. I tipped him then took my stuff up to my room and unpacked what I needed. It made me smile that Travis had clothes in the closet and the drawers, showing me that he’d moved in, but I was also a little annoyed that the room was kind of trashed. I took a few minutes to pick up his shit and throw it either in the trash or the laundry hamper.

I wandered through the house to find that no one was home. It was 10:30 and I was bored. I got an evil idea and walked out of our house and headed seven houses down to where Cam Squires lived. It was very unlikely that he would be home, and even more unlikely that if he were he would be free. I smiled, thinking that with no risk there was no reward, walked up to his entry and hit the doorbell button. I looked at my watch, and decided that the rule was to wait for a minute, hit the button again, then wait for two minutes, then leave. When my watch said it had been a minute, I hit the doorbell. It had been almost two minutes and I was just getting ready to leave when I heard Cam grumbling. “I hope this is fucking important.”

He opened the door and I was overcome with lust at the person in front of me. Cam must have just gotten out of the shower, because his hair was still wet, his skin was damp, and he was wearing a towel. “I was hoping you’d be at home,” I said in a sultry way.

He gave me a huge grin and ushered me into his house. “It is so good to see you,” he said, then seemed nervous.

“I’m sorry to come by without calling, but I’m wondering if you have fifteen to thirty minutes to spare,” I said. As I spoke those words, I walked toward him, ran three fingers down his chest and over his abdomen until I got to his towel, which I undid, letting it fall on the floor. I moved lower and sensually massaged his dick.

He moaned. “I do, but then I have to leave so I won’t be late for a meeting,” he said. I got what he was doing. I’d been pissed off at him for fucking me then kicking me out of bed, so he didn’t want that to happen again.

“This is a quick hook up,” I said, as I moved in and nuzzled his neck. “The challenge is to have the most fun we can in the next half hour, then we both go off and do our thing.”

“I can definitely do that,” he said. He all but dragged me back to his room. He took charge and using his long sinuous movements, he managed to bring us both to a spectacular orgasm in 17 minutes.

“That was really well done,” I said, making us both laugh.

“I don’t like to set a goal and miss it,” he said, and smiled at me. We lay there panting for two minutes, then I got up to let him know he could get ready.

“Thanks for letting me interrupt your day,” I said, as I got ready to leave.

He stopped me and gave me a nice kiss. “Interrupt me whenever you want.” I grinned, left his house, then went home and crashed, relishing a chance to catch up on my sleep.

A knock on my door woke me up. “Will, are you in there?” I heard Cody ask.

“Come in,” I said, and forced myself to wake up. I stood up to greet him. He laughed when I had to rearrange my dick to hide my hard-on before I hugged him.

“Good to see you,” he said, and gave me one of his sexy kisses. “Want to do lunch?”

“Sure,” I said, and noticed that it was almost 1:00. I took a few minutes to spruce up my appearance, then we went to a fancy restaurant in Malibu.

“Did you just get in?” he asked as we sat down to eat.

“I managed to land in Burbank, get to Malibu and unpack, walk down to Cam’s house to get him to fuck me, then get back in time to take a nap and have lunch with you,” I said, smiling.

He laughed. “You’ve been a busy boy.”

“I have,” I agreed.

“Heard there’s a lot of shit happening at Escorial,” he said.

“No shit,” I agreed. I told him all about Jack and Claire, along with the Board meeting and my talk with Claire last night.

“So how is everything today?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I crashed before Marie, John, and Claire got back from dinner, then we were gone before they were up, so I don’t know.”

“I hope that Claire and Jack can work through this,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “It’s really sad when people I thought were forever couples break up.”

“It is,” I agreed. “I have no idea where Jack is on this, but I really think it would do Claire some good to be single for a bit.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because it’s really easy to rebound right after a break-up,” I said. “I think that if she’s cool on her own, she’ll be in a better place to find her next real boyfriend.”

“Why doesn’t that rule apply to you and Zach and Travis?” he asked.

“You’re accusing me of using Travis as a rebound?” I demanded. Cody just sat there smugly, as if reveling in the fact that he was right. “It’s different, and he’s not.”

“How come when your father says ‘it’s different’ you give him a bunch of shit about it?” he asked, making both of us laugh.

“Because he uses that line when he’s wrong and doesn’t want to admit it, while this time it’s actually real,” I said. I went ahead and explained that so he didn’t keep poking me to the point that he pissed me off. “Zach and I have been breaking up since fall, so it’s not like this is something new I’m dealing with.”

“You seemed to be pretty into each other when you first got down here last time,” he said, but it was more of a question.

“We have a deep bond, we probably always will,” I said somewhat philosophically. “But in the end, our romantic relationship had hit its limit a while back. Anything since last summer has just been me denying reality.”

“I can see that,” he said.

“I also had a relationship with Connie in Australia,” I said, reminding him of that. He looked at me, a bit confused. “I think that was probably my rebound.” I thought about Connie every once in a while and smiled when I did, but I had no real desire to hurry back to Australia and try to re-spark our relationship. The fact that his messages to me had dwindled down to almost nothing told me he must feel the same way.

“Makes sense,” he said. “So what was the deal with Cam?”

“The deal?” I asked. “Dude, that was no deal, that was just fun. God was it fun.”

He laughed. “Travis seems pretty happy here.” I wondered if he was talking about Travis right after we talked about how I fucked Cam to try and make me feel guilty.

“I’m glad,” I said, then looked at my watch. “I can’t wait to see him.”

“He doesn’t really hang out downstairs all that much,” Cody said. “He pretty much stays in your room.”

“He’s an introvert, so he probably needs to do that to quiet his mind,” I explained.

“You mean he hides?” Cody asked. I almost laughed at how appropriate it was that an extrovert like Cody had no idea how an introvert like Travis functioned.

“No, he recharges,” I said. “Dude, you go out and end up in a group of people and it fires you up.”

“Yeah. So?”

“Travis goes out with a group of people and it’s like his battery power is slowly drained away,” I explained. “He told me it gets to the point where, if his energy reserves are totally drained and he’s in a situation where he still has to make small talk with a bunch of people, he experiences physical pain.”

“No shit?” he asked, all surprised.

“I figured you’d at least have a couple of clients who were introverts,” I said.

“How can a movie star be an introvert?” he asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Because a movie star can be great on the stage and still find large groups and bars draining,” I said. “It’s about how you recharge. Some of them probably have to be alone to bounce back.”

“Never really thought about that,” he said.

“You should read up on it,” I said. “Maybe it would help you do a better job with your clients.”

“I already do a good job with my clients,” he objected, bristling at my slam.

“So you can’t improve?” I asked. The waiter brought the bill and Cody paid it.

“Maybe,” he said, slightly annoyed.

“Thanks for lunch,” I said. “It was good.” That was true, as the food ended up being good, but I didn’t think that it was good enough to overcome their pretentiousness.

“You going to be around for dinner tonight?” he asked.

“Here? At home?” I asked him, surprised. Rosa had moved to Massachusetts and there had been no need for a full-time cook/housekeeper.

“I hired a guy named Carlos,” Cody said. “He’s in his late twenties, been in and out of jail a few times, and needed a place to start over.”

“I’m glad you did that, but hiring an ex-con isn’t usually a recipe for good dinners,” I teased.

“You’ll find out tonight at seven,” he said cryptically.

“What made you decide to do this?” I asked.

“There was never any food here, and we all ate out all the time,” he said. “Even the junk food was expired.”

“Makes sense,” I said, remembering the stale pretzels I’d eaten last time I’d been here.

We got back to the house and Cody led me into the kitchen where there was a dude who was probably about 5’8” tall, looked thin and wiry, and had tattoos all over his body, or at least over the parts that I could see. He was bustling around the kitchen with what was either a scowl or a look of determination. “Carlos, this is Will,” Cody said.

“Hola,” he said, and smiled at me.

“Hola,” I replied, as I shook his hand. “I hear you’re a good cook.”

“Well they sure as hell didn’t hire me for my looks,” he said, then laughed. Based on LA standards he wasn’t attractive at all, but if you dropped him in Little Rock he’d probably be able to get laid.

“Nice to meet you,” I said. I escaped to my room and closed the door, savoring just being alone. My mind immediately shifted gears and sent my eyes shooting out the windows, but the vision that greeted me was disappointing. It was in the 70s today, so not too cold, but the weather was overcast and the waves were dead. I sighed in disappointment, walked over to my couch, and crashed.

I was awakened from a deep sleep when I felt a body on top of me. I opened my eyes and Travis was looking down at me, grinning. “Why the fuck aren’t you in the water?”

“It’s good to see you too,” I said, and pulled his head down for a really nice kiss. He got up, held out his hand and hoisted me up, then led me over to the windows. The waves had been dead before but now there was some serious surf. “Let’s go,” I said.

We all but charged down to the surf room, hurriedly put on our wetsuits, grabbed our boards, and headed into the water. “Hurry!” Travis said, as we saw a beautiful wave give some lucky surfers an amazing ride. Despite the crappy weather, we had a blast. We spent two hours surfing before I finally caved and made us go in.

“Dinner is at seven,” I told him.

“We’ve got another half hour,” he said, since it was 6:00.

“We have some things to take care of,” I said with a leer.

“Fuck the waves,” he said, cracking me up. We went through the opposite routine, ripping off our surf gear and charging up the stairs, then we made love in the shower. We threw on some casual clothes and collapsed on the couch with a soda.

“That was fun,” I said, smiling at him.

“I think every time we fuck it gets better,” he said.

“I think you’re right,” I agreed.

“You doing okay?” he asked, referring to the shit show I’d dealt with at Escorial.

“I’m doing okay,” I confirmed. “How about you?”

“I’m doing good,” he said. “I really appreciate you letting me stay here.”

“Dude, that is not a problem,” I said earnestly. “You are always welcome here.”

“I just don’t want to jam your groove,” he said, cracking me up with his 70s phrase.

“I like that you’re here, and I really like that you’re staying in my room,” I said with a leer, making him chuckle. “You are not jamming my groove.”

“Thanks,” he said. “For the first time in a long time, I have a place I can call home that’s comfortable, where I feel safe.”

“You feel safe here, where there are a bunch of dudes who are just dying to fuck you?” I teased.

“They’re too scared of you to try anything,” he grumbled.

“Smart boys,” I said, agreeing with him.

“It’s just so laid back,” he said. “Everyone does their own thing, so I have a lot of space, but they’re also really friendly so if I want to just hang out with someone, that works too.”

“I’m glad this works for you,” I said, and gave him a nice kiss.

“I’m really glad it works for you,” he said, cracking me up. My phone rang and it was Tony, telling me that he and Mason were going out to dinner and would be home late. After I hung up, we went down and had a really nice dinner. Carlos was an excellent cook, which was surprising as fuck, but I made a point to compliment him several times. As we ate, I could see what Travis liked about this environment. It was very relaxed and very masculine. Kevin and Cody seemed to drive the conversation, and that meant I spent most of the time laughing.

Travis and I escaped back to our room and went up to the bedroom level, stripped down, and made love again. When we were done, I ended up laying flat on my back with him on his side with his head propped up so he could talk to me. “You’re glowing,” he said, and gave me a kiss.

“So are you,” I smiled, then ran my fingers through his wavy hair. I swallowed and broached the topic I knew I needed to talk to him about. “I’m having lunch with Zach tomorrow.”

“What?” he asked. “Why the fuck would you want to do that?”

A steely look from me calmed him down. “He sent me a letter,” I said. I rolled over and grabbed a copy of it from my nightstand and handed it to him.

He read it then collapsed on his back, and I was shocked shitless to see a tear fall out of his eye. “Nice letter.”

I rolled over so I was on my side, looking at him. “What’s wrong?”

His sadness turned to anger. “You know damn well what’s wrong,” he said loudly. “You’ll have lunch with him, you’ll decide you still love him, then he’ll drag you back to his room where you’ll seal your reconciliation with a fuck.” If I didn’t already know how insecure he was, this would have really pissed me off.

“That will not happen,” I said to him. “Zach and I are done.”

“Then why are you having lunch with him?” he demanded.

“Because Zach is part of my extended family, and I don’t want to cause tension and create problems because of this,” I said. “And because I have to give him a new vehicle, so he has something to drive.”

“You’re fucking buying him a car?” he demanded, and was starting to lose it. “Did you fuck up his Expedition?”

“I don’t know,” I said. He blinked at that.

“What do you mean you don’t know,” he demanded loudly.

I put my hand on his chest. “I’m trying to have a conversation with you, trying to explain all this shit, so don’t yell at me.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, and looked away from me.

I explained to him about the dudes I’d hired to slash Zach’s tires. “So I don’t know if I was responsible or not, but regardless I made my point and it’s time to basically fix things.”

He looked really nervous after I finished my lengthy diatribe. “Why do you have to fix things?”

“Because I don’t want this coming back to bite me in the ass,” I said. “Zach clearly understands that I can seriously fuck up his life. Burning up his truck was a little extreme, so if I get him a new one, we all walk down the road like we were before.”

“Only he remembers it’s a bad idea to fuck with you,” he concluded.

“Hopefully,” I said. He’d seemed nervous before, but now he was seriously agitated. “What’s wrong?” I asked gently.

“I feel bad that you’re cleaning up my mess,” he said. At first, that kind of flew by me, but then reality dawned on me.

“You had his truck torched?” I asked. He looked away from me, but I put my hand on the side of his head and turned his face toward me. He looked at me, his eyes drilling into mine, and he just nodded.