Gap Year - 92. Chapter 92

April 17, 2004

The Tonto

Torre Annunziata, Italy

Will

“That was intense,” Travis said, as we reboarded the ship. We’d spent the day exploring the ruins of Pompeii, helped along by a guide that Grand had hired.

“Dude, the remains of those people who were suffocated were freaky,” I said, remembering their facial expressions. “That could give me nightmares.”

“My favorite part was the whorehouse,” Travis said, making both of us chuckle.

“I know, right?” I said. “Just look at the picture above the entrance to the room and you know what’s going to happen to you if you walk through that door.”

“It’s like a more graphic version of the red-light district in Amsterdam,” he said.

“I guess the Pompeiians were focused more on what happened in the room, while the dudes in the red-light district are more worried about what she looks like,” I noted.

“Guys are so shallow,” Travis joked, making me laugh.

We found Marta waiting for us as soon as we set foot on the ship’s deck. “I am assuming the two of you are hungry?” she asked, as she greeted us. “Stefan is in the dining room, pretending to eat.”

“Then that’s where we’re going,” I said. “Thanks Marta.” She smiled to acknowledge my words, then we went in and greeted Stef warmly.

“Did you not bring JP back with you?” he asked.

“He was finishing up a conversation with our guide,” I said, and gestured out the window and over to the dock where Grand was still trying to escape from that garrulous man.

“That dude could talk,” Travis said, shaking his head.

“It is amusing to watch JP suffer from the guide’s loquaciousness,” Stef said. It took all my self-control not to laugh at the way he used such a big word, and at the same time how badly he slaughtered the pronunciation. His English was perfect, but his French accent made words like ‘loquaciousness’ tough for him to say. We focused on Grand’s facial expressions, which were probably not discernable to the guide, but for us it was clear he was desperate to shut the dude up. We stood there laughing at him until he finally escaped and boarded the ship.

“You finally got away,” I teased, as he came in and sat with us.

“He was perhaps not my best personnel decision on this trip,” Grand said loftily, which made us laugh all over again.

“Yeah, but that place was really cool,” Travis said emphatically. I’d been impressed with how he’d embraced our trek through Italy. We’d spent a couple of days in Rome, then backtracked a bit to Florence, then we’d come down here to Naples.

“Tomorrow we will spend our day on Capri,” Grand said.

“Sounds good,” I said, then changed the subject. “Did you figure out what you’re going to do?” I asked Travis, referring to when he wanted to go back and how he was planning to deal with all the shit at home.

“I’ve been talking to my mother,” Travis said with dread. “She wants to see if we can resolve our family issues at a dinner for my birthday when I get back.”

“What issues is she planning to resolve?” Stef asked.

“Well, she won’t tell me who my father is until then, so that’s an issue,” Travis said bitterly. “That’s made our conversations pretty unpleasant.”

“I can imagine,” Stef said. “I am sorry. I tried to get that info out of her as well and got nowhere.”

“Makes sense that both of you would be frustrated,” I said. Travis was incensed about this, because he’d been justifiably adamant that he had a right to know, while Stef was used to getting his way, and was irritated at having the information withheld.

“Is that the only issue?” Grand asked.

“No,” Travis said. “Curtis has convinced Taylor and Big that the implosion of Buck Industries is my fault, so now they hate me.”

“They believe him?” I asked, stunned.

“Taylor thinks he’s a god, so of course she would buy into his bullshit,” Travis said bitterly. He’d always seemed to have a pretty civil relationship with her, but it was becoming more and more obvious that Travis all but detested her. Of course, he hadn’t told me why, but we had bigger things to worry about so I didn’t push him.

“She is seriously misguided,” Grand observed, making us chuckle.

“No shit,” Travis agreed. “Big believes him because he’s been conditioned to obey my father. It’s probably more of a knee-jerk reaction.”

“Maybe he’ll see reason,” I said hopefully.

“I doubt it,” Travis said. “They’re looking at me, sitting here with about $250 million in trusts and assets, while they end up with about $10 million each after the dust settles.”

“Have you given any thought to your plans?” Grand asked.

“Which ones?” Travis asked.

“I think there are two issues we need to resolve,” Grand said in his officious way. “First of all, I would like to know when you need to be back in Malibu, and the details about this dinner. I also think you need to work out what you want to happen to the Buck properties.”

Travis nodded. “My mom is throwing a dinner party for me at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She’s planning to book a private room, which is probably a good idea so we don’t disturb other diners.”

“No shit,” I agreed, thinking of how volatile that could be. “When is this supposed to happen?”

“Saturday, April 24,” he said, then got flustered. “I’m sorry. I should have told you all about this after I talked to her last night.”

“That is fine,” Stef said smoothly.

“She wants you all to come,” Travis said to me, Stef, and Grand. “Your father and Jake too.”

“It would probably be a good idea for us to have rooms there, then,” Stef said. Tom had been sitting there with us, being so unobtrusive we didn’t even notice him, but a glance from Stef spurred him into action.

“How many rooms?” he asked.

“Three,” Stef said, then smirked at me. “That is assuming you two are getting along well enough to share a room.”

I gave him a dirty look, but before I could say something snarky, Travis responded. “We’re getting along great,” he said, in a very sultry way. I chose to chuckle at that, instead of being annoyed with Stef.

“I agree, but if you want your own room so you have your own space, I won’t be offended,” I said.

“No, I want you to be with me,” he said firmly.

“On it,” Tom said, and vanished to get that done. We all paused to eat a bit, and contemplate how efficient he was.

“If I did not already believe you were a good judge of character and potential, your recommendation that I hire Tom has firmly convinced me,” Stef said to me.

“Thank you,” I said, trying not to be annoyed at how he’d questioned me about Tom when we were in Australia. “So when do we have to go back?”

“I mean, that’s really up to you,” Travis said. “I’ve been talking to my attorney, the good one, and I need to meet with him as soon as I get back to the states, as long as it’s after my birthday.”

“I am wondering if you feel safe going straight back to Malibu, or if you would like a more protected environment?” Grand asked.

“I don’t know,” Travis said. “I mean, as soon as I meet with my attorney and sign the papers he’s working on, the main reason for Curtis to have me killed vanishes.”

“Maybe,” I said cautiously, and then kind of freaked out when they all focused on me. “He’s going to be out for revenge. I don’t know if that’s going to be a big deterrent or not. Besides, if he put out a hit on you, it may take him a while to cancel it.”

“Kind of like how I had to call the dudes off from hurting Zach,” Travis said, remembering how that worked. Grand and Stef looked at me curiously but read in my expression not to go down that rabbit trail right now.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“So where would I go?” Travis asked.

“I was thinking that Escorial would be a safe place for you to stay until you went to LA for your birthday celebration,” Grand said.

“That would work,” I agreed. Security at Escorial was top-notch, especially after last year’s nightmare war with the drug lords.

“Sounds good,” Travis said, but was a little skeptical.

“You’ll be safe there,” I told Travis in a reassuring way.

“Then that’s the plan,” Travis said. It made me grin to see how he was willing to totally trust my assurance on that.

“Then I would propose that we go back on the 22^nd,” Grand said. “I would advise you to have your attorney meet you in Palo Alto on the 23^rd to get your paperwork done. We can then fly down to Beverly Hills on the morning of the 24^th.”

“I think I can make that happen,” Travis said.

“I will work with Jake to make sure we have adequate security for all of us when we fly down on the 24^th,” Grand said.

“Thanks,” Travis said, then got a little morose. “I wonder if I’ll have to watch my back for the rest of my life.”

“I think much of that will be resolved at your birthday dinner,” Stef said. “Did you decide what you want to do with the Buck properties?”

“I did,” Travis said, resolutely, then got nervous. “As long as my plan is alright with you.”

“Well, to be sure I must hear it first, but I am confident that we will agree,” Stef said playfully.

“I’ll be right back,” Travis said. He left, presumably to go back to our cabin.

“What was the issue with Zach you referred to?” Stef asked.

“When I convinced Travis that we basically needed to stop this war with Zach and make things better, he’d been planning to have some guys beat the shit out of Zach,” I said. “He called off the dogs, but warned Zach to be low-key in case there was a delay in the message getting through to them.”

“Interesting,” Stef said. That may or may not have been his whole thought on the issue, because we were interrupted when Travis returned carrying a sheaf of papers.

“I thought about this whole thing, and I decided I was being an idiot, trying to save a bunch of land that means nothing to me,” Travis said.

“Explain that,” I said, trying not to make it sound like a directive.

“I’m trying to save a heritage that isn’t mine,” Travis said. “I mean, I loved my grandfather, but he’s dead, and this isn’t going to bring him back. And my brother and sister hate me, so why would I give a shit about my family and its legacy?”

“Makes sense,” I said.

“There are a couple pieces of land that I’d like ultimately to own,” he said. He handed Stef a list with two things highlighted. “That first property is just scrubland north of the Valley. I like to go four-wheeling there.”

“And what is this one?” Stef asked, pointing at another entry.

“That’s land up near Big Bear,” Travis said. “Good for skiing and snowmobiling.”

“Then we will make sure to hang on to those and we will let you buy them when you have access to your money,” Stef said, then paused.

“What are you thinking?” I asked, to prompt him.

“I think that I will let things stay as they are right now, at least until the end of the month,” he said.

“Why are you doing that?” I asked him.

“Because there are a lot of things we still do not know, most especially we do not know who Travis’s father is,” Stef explained. “I want Travis to have the flexibility to factor that into his decision.”

Our eyes all rocketed toward Travis, who nodded. “Thanks for that, and for everything. I appreciate you letting me keep my options open.”

“It is not such a big sacrifice, and I have become quite fond of you,” Stef said, and winked at Travis in a slightly playful way, which cracked all of us up.

“I think you’re pretty awesome too, Stef,” Travis said, then turned to Grand. “I’d probably like you a lot more if you didn’t make me do a bunch of homework.” That was hilarious.

“I am reminded of Nike’s motto, not the goddess, but the shoe company,” Grand said. “No pain, no gain.”

“So you say,” Travis grumbled. “I’ll be back up in half an hour.”

He stood up, and I followed his lead. “I will see you then,” Grand answered.

We walked down to our cabin, went in, and Travis closed and locked the door. I raised my eyebrow suggestively, and we both cracked up, then our eyes met and the mood changed. I’d spent an amazing day with him, looking at him as much as the scenery. I guess all the lust had been suppressed, buried because of the need to be polite, but that one look had set it free. “Now,” I said urgently, as I began to pull my clothes off.

He was naked before I was, and when I finally kicked off my boxers, I looked up to find him in front of me, then his mouth was on mine, and his body was slowly pushing me backwards. I felt the edge of the bed and was so impressed with how he braced himself to help me collapse back onto it with him landing gently on top of me. We made out for a long time, our mouths locked together as his naked body moved against mine. I was tempted to grab for the lube and get him to fuck me, but the frotting sensation was so intense and surreal, I just relaxed and let myself totally get into it.

He was on top of me, and that let him set our pace: control I willingly surrendered to him. I focused on responding to his moves, matching his thrusts, and running my hands up and down his torso to urge him on. He broke off our kiss and moved his mouth next to mine, panting into my ear. “This is so fucking hot.”

“Fucking awesome,” I heard myself say, and then felt my orgasm start to rise. “Gonna cum!”

“Right there with you!” he said. I started to blow first, thrusting against him so hard that it was as if I was trying to merge our bodies by physically smashing them together. Just as I was finishing, he started to cum, using his body to slam me back into the bed. When we were finished, we were both so out of breath he rolled off of me and onto his back so we could breath. “Every time I think sex can’t get better, you prove me wrong.”

I rolled onto my side and smiled at him. “We’re good together.”

“We are,” he said, and got a little apprehensive. Instead of freaking out, I hopped out of bed, grabbed a towel, then came back to the bed and wiped us both off. “Thanks,” he said, and gave me a sweet kiss.

“You’re welcome,” I said. “You suddenly got all uptight. Why?”

“Just trying to figure out what to do with my money if I get assassinated,” he said.

“You mean sex with me was so good you were worried it would kill you, and made you worry about your mortality?” I teased. He smiled at me, then got annoyed because I wasn’t being paranoid like him.

“I think being knocked off is a real fear,” he said seriously. I gave him a light kiss, then moved closer to him so I was on my side, my head propped up by my hand, while he lay on his back, with his head angled toward me.

“So what are you going to do with your cash?” I asked.

“I’m going to leave the money in trust for any kids that Taylor or Big may have,” he said. “I figure that way it can ultimately help their kids have the advantages of being a Buck, advantages they would have had if it weren’t for my father.”

“Makes sense,” I said. “What if the kids are assholes?”

“That’s why I need to have a trustee who is smart enough to figure things out, and who knows me well enough to know what I would have wanted,” he said. He looked at me meaningfully, and I got that he wanted me to do it.

“Dude, I don’t know,” I said skeptically.

“Do this for me, Will,” he said earnestly. “Please?”

“It’s probably not even going to be an issue,” I said, trying to back away from the whole topic.

“I just spent almost a month hiding out because getting killed was a real threat,” he said firmly. “I mean, if you don’t want to do it, I can try to find someone else in the future, but at least for now, can’t you help me out?”

“You’re such an asshole,” I said, and saw him get all disappointed, thinking I was going to say no. “You know that if you ask me like that, I’ll have no choice but to do it.”

He smiled at me, put his hand on the back of my head and pulled me down for a loving kiss. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. “In the meantime, you have problems to do.”

“Fuck you,” he grumbled. We both got out of bed and he put the same clothes on that he’d been wearing, while I put my bathing suit on instead. He went into the dining room while I went out onto the deck by the pool. It was too chilly for the pool, so I slipped off my suit and got into the hot tub. The hot water enveloped me and seemed to find its way into every crevice of my body. I had planned for this to be relaxing, but it was turning out to be erotic. I smiled, thinking about how much fun sex had just been with Travis. My smile was eliminated when my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and was not a little shocked to see that it was Zach.

“Hey,” I said pleasantly as I answered.

“Good to hear your voice,” he said. “Heard Travis was with you. Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” I said. “We’re hanging out on Stef’s yacht, touring the Italian coast. Grand’s making sure we get some culture.”

“That sounds like fun,” he said, and sounded jealous. Couldn’t blame him for that.

“Well, it’s fun for me, but Grand has appointed himself as Travis’s education coordinator, so I’m lounging in the hot tub while he works on his math assignment in the dining room,” I said.

We laughed together at that, and it was nice to share a pleasant moment with him. “That’s fucking hilarious,” he said. “I heard he met up with you in London.”

“He hired some people to keep him safe from Curtis’s assassins, and they ended up almost as his captors,” I said, then told him the basics of how we managed to rescue him.

“You did really well,” he said, giving me credit for sprinting Travis to the safety of Stef’s ship.

“It was a team effort, mostly coordinated by Grand,” I said, thinking of how working with him on that whole plan had been a major learning experience.

“I’m betting it mostly wasn’t,” Zach said in an admiring way. That should have been endearing, but it made me feel almost creeped out, like he was sort of hitting on me. He must have gotten that because he changed his tone. “I heard some rumors and thought I’d pass them on.”

“Gossip,” I said in a chipper way. “Cool!”

“Right,” he said, and chuckled. “Travis was right to be worried. There was a contract out on him.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, completely outraged. I mean, that had been my fear, and Travis’s fear, all along, but in the back of my mind I kind of thought that Curtis wouldn’t really go through with it.

“No,” he said nervously. “You cannot let this get out!”

“I’m only going to tell Travis, Grand, and Stef,” I promised, since I knew I couldn’t promise to keep this from them.

“Well tell them to keep their mouths shut,” he grumbled, caving to the inevitable. “He had to call off the hit.”

“He had to call it off?” I asked, emphasizing ‘had’.

He started laughing, but I didn’t, because an attempt on Travis’s life wasn’t funny at all. “I’m sorry,” he said, referencing his seemingly irreverent response. “It’s just that after Buck Industries went bankrupt, everything caught up with Curtis, and now he’s totally broke.”

I laughed with him, then, seeing the humor in having Curtis’s plan to kill Travis foiled by his financial ineptness. “He couldn’t afford the hit?” I asked.

“Could. Not. Afford. It.” Zach said, emphasizing each word. “I found out because he was trying to talk Taylor into pitching in some cash for the effort.”

“I heard she hates Travis,” I said.

“Curtis hates Travis, so Taylor hates Travis,” Zach said fatalistically. I found it annoying that it didn’t bother him that his girlfriend was such an idiot, but I wisely said nothing.

“So did she kick money into the ‘kill Travis’ pool?” I asked snarkily.

“She told him that she has to ‘hang on to what little money she has’,” he said, imitating Taylor when he uttered that last phrase. “Dude, she’s still got a little over $10 million left. It’s not like she’s broke.”

“Probably seems that way to her,” I said, then chided myself for sympathizing with a spoiled rich girl, exposing myself as a spoiled rich boy who thought $10 million wasn’t enough.

“Maybe,” he said.

“I figured that when Travis turns eighteen, none of this will matter,” I said. “I mean, then Curtis won’t get Travis’s money anyway.”

“I don’t know,” Zach said skeptically. “Curtis Buck totally blames Travis for everything, and I think he really does hate him. I mean, not like we mean when we say ‘that dude hates me’, but like he really hates Travis.”

“Dude, what the fuck?” I asked, not getting it.

“I heard that Curtis had this whole deal lined up to save his ass, but you guys fucked it up,” Zach said.

“He did?” I asked, confused. “We did?”

“This lawyer, his name is Guy something or other, he filed Travis’s lawsuit early, and had a group of investors that was going to buy out Buck. They had already worked out a deal to retain Curtis, and pay him enough money to maintain his lifestyle, more or less,” Zach said.

“Guy Fellowes?” I asked.

“Yeah, that guy,” Zach said. “You heard of him before?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “He was the lawyer who helped Travis hide out in Europe.”

“Holy shit,” Zach said. “Thank God Travis got away from them. I heard that the plan was after this deal was done, and the company was bought out, then if Travis met with an untimely death, his money would replenish the family coffers, and Curtis had a deal with this group that he could buy back the company from them.”

“Wow,” I said, stunned. In a sense, it was like Curtis had a deal similar to Travis’s deal with Stef, and either way, it was Travis’s money that was supposed to buy out Buck Industries.

“The big idea was that by bankrupting the company first, after Curtis got ahold of Travis’s money, he could buy back the whole company and he’d actually be in better shape than he was before,” Zach said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because he’d own it all, with Taylor, Big, and Travis out of the picture,” Zach said.

“Dude, how did you find out about this?” I asked.

“I cannot tell you that,” he said firmly.

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see that gesture on my part. “OK, I understand that, but let me ask you this: are you sure this is legit, and that the conversation wasn’t staged for you?”

“You think I’m that stupid?” he demanded, all pissed off.

“You are not stupid, and in fact you’re pretty fucking smart,” I said, because I felt bad that I’d insulted him. “I should have known you’d be able to figure out if it was legit or not. I’m sorry.”

I heard him sigh. “I get what you’re saying, and those assholes are evil enough to try and trip me up, but on this, I know it’s legit. I overheard a conversation that I definitely was not supposed to hear.”

“That’s good enough for me,” I said. “Thanks.”

“It’s all good,” he said. “I gotta run. I’ll call you if I hear anything else, but if not, I’ll see you on the 24^th.”

“Will it be safe?” I asked.

“Miranda and Curtis had a huge argument, and the end result was that the dinner on the 24^th is guaranteed non-violent,” Zach said.

“Do you believe that?” I asked, but in a genuine way.

“I think so, but I’d still be careful,” he answered honestly.

“Good advice,” I said. “I’ll see you on the 24^th.” We ended our call, and I got out of the hot tub. The sensuality of that experience had long since evaporated. I dried off with the towel, slipped on my bathing suit, went to our cabin and grabbed a t-shirt, then headed up to the dining room to interrupt school time with my news.

I paused by Stef’s cabin and knocked softly. “Enter,” I heard him say.

I walked in, worried that he’d be in the middle of fucking Tom, but he was sitting at his desk on his computer, probably doing emails. “Sorry to bother you, but I got a call from Zach.”

“And what did he have to say?” Stef asked.

“I was going to talk to Grand and Travis about it,” I said. “Can you take a break and join us?”

“I suspect this will be more interesting than responding to your father’s email,” he joked.

“I’m always more interesting than him,” I said, making him chuckle. I followed him out of his room and up to the dining room, where we found a very tranquil scene. Grand was sitting at the table reading, while Travis sat across from him, typing on his computer.

“This looks like a delegation,” Grand said, and put down his magazine.

Travis was hyper-focused, so Stef and I took a seat at the table and I stared at him, waiting for him to notice. He finally looked up, completely dazed as he emerged from his academic deep dive. “Hey,” he said.

“Zach called me and gave me some interesting info,” I said. “I can share it with the three of you as long as you can keep it confidential.”

“I can do that,” Travis vowed. Grand and Stef looked at me in annoyance, as if I was uttering heresy by asking them for their vow, but they both ultimately nodded to confirm they wouldn’t open their mouths about it unnecessarily.

“Curtis really did put out a hit on you,” I said to Travis, then couldn’t stop from grinning.

“It’s not funny, Will,” Travis said, and was pissed at me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and actually laughed, getting dirty looks from all of them. “When he ran out of money, he had to cancel it. He’s too broke to pay someone to cap you.”

Travis smiled briefly and shook his head. “Took away his war chest.”

“Yep,” I said. “Zach found out because he was trying to get Taylor to pitch in some money. My understanding is that she’s mad at you, but not mad enough to squander what’s left of her cash.”

“I can’t believe they’re doing this,” he said. “He must really hate me.”

“He really does,” I confirmed. “He evidently had this deal all set up so that investors would swoop in and buy up the Buck remnants, and he’d be left in charge with a fat salary.”

“There was only one other bidder, and their bid was over $50 million less than ours,” Stef noted.

“The investor group was put together by Guy Fellowes,” I said to Stef, even though I was looking at Travis.

“Holy shit,” Travis said. “He set up those people to guard me.”

“He did,” I agreed. “Evidently the deal was supposed to go down like this: they’d buy up Buck’s assets, just like we did, then something would happen to you, and Curtis would use your money to go in and buy those assets back.”

“The irony here is palpable,” Grand said. “I am worried that you will not be safe on the 24^th.”

“Zach said everyone has taken a pledge of no-violence, but I wouldn’t trust them,” I said.

“Then we will have to plan accordingly,” Grand said.