Gap Year - 100. Chapter 100

April 25, 2004

Malibu, CA

Will

“Are you going to share this letter with Jake?” I asked Travis.

“I probably should have done that,” he said, and looked guilty. “I’m sorry. I’m still processing all of this. I’m not thinking real fast.”

“You’re doing just fine, but I think that note would answer some of Jake’s questions,” I said. Travis just stared blankly, in a confused daze. “Can I fax it to him?”

Travis shook his head, as if trying to physically clear the cobwebs from his brain. “Yeah, that’s fine,” he said.

He stared in my general direction, still in his daze, as I jotted a quick cover note and faxed the letter to Escorial, where it would end up in Grand’s study. “I’m going to call them and explain that I sent it,” I told him.

He nodded. “I forgot something. I’ll be right back.” I knew he was just giving me some privacy to make this call, privacy I didn’t need, but I smiled to thank him for the thoughtful gesture.

He left, and I dialed my father’s number. “We just landed,” he said, as he answered.

“Cool,” I said. “I faxed a copy of the letter Tom Buck wrote to Travis to Grand’s fax machine.”

“Alright,” he said nervously.

“Tom Buck talks about Jake, and I think Jake will want to know what he said,” I explained.

“I’m surprised Travis didn’t share that with him when we were there,” Dad said, the irritation in his tone easily discernible.

“Travis is having trouble handling this, kind of like the rest of us. Only for him, it's worse,” I said.

“And how are ‘the rest of us’ handling this?” he asked, in a slightly smart-ass way.

“Well, some of us are reacting by being snarky and sarcastic,” I said, using that same tone.

“Sorry about that,” Dad said sheepishly.

“It’s fine,” I said, because I’d made my point and pulled him off his bitch stand. “For Travis, it’s like he’s a zombie.”

“A zombie?” Dad asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “He’s not connecting all the dots, and he’s thinking of things kind of sporadically.”

“So that’s why he forgot,” Dad concluded.

“That’s why,” I said. “I have to run, but I figured if I let you know, you could help Jake handle this.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I can do that. And I’m sorry if I was bitchy.”

“It’s easy to do with this going on,” I said, then ended the call. I left his study and found Travis hanging out in the great room.

“I’m hungry,” he said, and his stomach growled, making me laugh. Just at that point, Darius and Big walked through the door that connected the two houses. I paused to notice how different they were. Darius was wearing black jeans with a shirt that accented his slim body. Big wore blue jeans and a shirt that was roomier, as if it had to be to give room to his massive, muscular frame. He stood at least three inches taller than Darius, and his overall bulk seemed to make that difference more pronounced. Big walked into a room like he normally did, with his cocky strut demanding that people make him the center of attention. Darius was so much classier. His gait was smooth, and everything about him oozed charisma and confidence. Big demanded that people notice him and worship him, while Darius just acted like he expected them to.

“Hey there,” I said, and got up to greet them.

“Hey,” Big said somberly, his attitude announcing to all of us that we should feel sorry for him. Darius was standing slightly behind him, and rolled his eyes at me to indicate he’d been dealing with Big’s morose drama and it was wearing on his nerves. It was no surprise that Big would dominate a room, even if it was by projecting his pity party onto everyone.

“Travis is hungry,” I said. Big blinked at that, because that wasn’t the correct response to his sad-sack act, but he adapted quickly enough.

“You want me to cook you fucking dinner?” Big asked in his joking, obnoxious way.

“I want to go to the Paradise Cove Diner,” Travis said. I raised an eyebrow at how assertive that statement was.

“You guys want to join us?” I asked, making it clear that was what we were doing.

Big looked at Darius, who shrugged to show he was fine with that. “I can drive,” Big offered.

“We’ve got a driver,” I said, getting a dirty look from Travis, who was probably planning to ditch the guard.

“A driver?” Big asked, even as he got ready to give me shit about that and to try and make me seem like a pussy for not driving myself around.

“Kick-ass,” Darius said, intervening in his helpful way. “That way we can drink as much as we want.” He got up and walked over to the bar and started concocting some sort of cocktail, while I tracked down the guard and told him our plan. As soon as I got that done, Darius handed each of us a shot glass. “Drink!” he ordered.

We downed the shots. Darius poured us another round, and after we downed those, we headed to the big Escalade limo that the guard was using to shuttle us around. Normally I would have had them take a regular SUV, but since the driver had been tasked with lugging everyone to the airport, this was the vehicle he’d used. It worked out well in this situation. We piled into the Escalade, I reminded the driver where we were going, then I put up the privacy screen. I opted to pull out a joint and add weed to the shots we’d already done. The alcohol and marijuana had started a nice buzz, but based on the mood of our group, that probably wouldn’t last too long. We got to the diner and Big decided to take the lead in scoring us a table. He assumed that hitting on the hostess would accomplish that, oblivious to the fact that he was annoying the fuck out of her. “I’ll see what I have available,” she said coldly.

“I’d really appreciate it if you could find something near the windows,” I said, and handed her a $20 bill.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, in a much perkier way. Big gave me a dirty look, but I just stared back at him boldly. She came back and ignored him, focusing her attention on me. “Found one.”

“Thanks,” I said, and led our party to a table with a nice view of the Pacific.

“Must be a lesbian,” Big grumbled.

“Nope, she was scoping hard on Darius,” I said.

“Duh,” Darius said, making me chuckle.

“Fucking bitch,” Big said.

“Look asshole, it’s 2004,” I said, unwilling to let him denigrate this woman who had only been nice to us. “Women want to be treated with respect, not like some brainless idiot who will melt at the sight of biceps.”

“You’re gay,” he responded in an almost accusatory way. “What would you know about seducing women?”

“I am gay,” I said, winked at him, then continued on in a really sultry tone. “And I do appreciate your big biceps, the bulge in your pants, and the way those pants perfectly frame your cute ass.” It was adorable that Travis was seriously annoyed with me.

“Dude, knock it off,” Big said. “That’s gross.”

“That’s just how women feel when you treat them like that,” I said coldly. Darius was having a hard time not laughing his ass off.

“Whatever,” Big said, and picked up the menu like it required serious study.

“Get the clam chowder,” I told Darius.

“It’s good,” Travis agreed. Our waitress came up and took our drink order, and didn’t bat an eye at the fake IDs Travis and I showed her.

“Let’s see it,” Big demanded. Travis handed him his fake ID. “I should turn it in.”

“If you do, you will seriously piss me off,” Travis said.

“I’m so afraid,” Big said, taunting Travis like he was in middle school.

“You should be, Big,” Travis said, in his iciest tone. “I am done putting up with your bullshit.” His volume had gone up considerably when he’d uttered that last sentence.

“My bullshit?” Big demanded, making sure his voice was even louder than Travis’s.

“Indoor voices,” Darius said firmly, calming everyone down.

“Yes, your bullshit,” Travis said, but much more quietly. Rather than using volume to emphasize his words, he reached over and snatched his fake ID out of Big’s hands. “All my life you’ve tried to dominate me and push me around. You’re like a bully on a leash. And I’m telling you that if you can’t treat me with respect, I’m not going to be around you.”

“I didn’t realize you were so fucking sensitive,” Big said. “Shit, I’m the only member of the family who gave a shit about you yesterday. You could be nicer to me too.”

“That’s probably because I’m the only family member worth giving a shit about,” Travis snapped. “In case you haven’t figured this out, Big, it’s pretty much down to you and me.”

“Yeah, well at least you didn’t see your whole net worth wiped out,” Big grumbled.

“No, instead I had to go into hiding to avoid getting killed by the hitmen Curtis hired to off me,” Travis said.

“He was just posturing,” Big said soothingly. “He wouldn’t have had you killed.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Travis demanded loudly, so loudly that I nudged him under the table to remind him to keep his cool. “When I got back to the US and was staying in Palo Alto with Will, they caught a guy stalking me. He pulled a gun on our security, and ended up getting shot.”

“No shit?” Big asked. “How can you be sure he was after you? Maybe he was after Will.”

“That’s possible,” Darius said, implying that I was so unpopular, people were trying to assassinate me on a constant basis.

“Ha, ha, ha,” I said, deadpan.

“Because when they captured the dude, he was carrying this,” Travis said, and handed Big the copy he’d made of the paper they’d taken off of Angel Kurtz.

“Shit,” Big said.

“The dude told the cops who hired him to come after me,” Travis said. “Want to guess who it was?”

“Dad,” Big said, shaking his head.

“Bingo,” Travis said. “So yeah, that’s what I’ve been dealing with for the last month, running all over fucking Europe trying to avoid getting killed. So tack on all the bullshit from last night, and it’s been a lot to fucking handle.”

Big was stunned by all this, but also annoyed that his plan to play the woe-is-me card was trumped by Travis’s ordeal. “This isn’t easy for any of us,” I said, trying to be helpful.

“Oh yeah? How does this even impact you?” Big demanded. I should have realized that he’d focus his frustration on me, but I was even less willing to put up with his stupid ass than Travis.

“Well for starters, I just found out that my step-father is your uncle, and Travis’s half-brother,” I said in a very snarky way, letting him see my annoyance.

“Trippy,” Darius said, shaking his head. The waitress brought our drinks and soup, and that served to mellow things out.

“Sorry I jumped on you,” Big said to me.

“It’s all good,” I replied, because I wasn’t really all that concerned about my issues, at least not at this gathering.

“This whole thing has totally rocked my world,” Big said, shaking his head sadly, going back into his depressed mode. “I’m not just talking about all this relationship crap, where everybody fucks everyone else and creates all these problems.”

“Yeah, and fucks people they shouldn’t,” I said. We all nodded at that, but Big was on a roll, so we let him ride the mope express.

“My whole life, my plan has been to take over Buck Industries,” he said. “Now that’s gone. Everything is gone. I don’t know what the fuck to do.” Darius and I listened to him stone-faced, we were both mentally rolling our eyes without actually moving them.

“You didn’t seem to enjoy working for the company all that much,” Travis said, and seemed kind of confused about that.

“Dude, who can get excited working for Dad? He’s a total douche at work,” Big said. “Besides, all he wants to do is fight the same old battles.”

“The same old battles?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Big said, acting like I should know what that meant. “He’s focused on arguing about water rights, zoning battles, and labor wars with the people he hires to farm the land. I mean, those are important, but there was other shit in the portfolio with potential.”

“It pretty much looked like just oil and farming to me,” Travis said.

“You’re wrong,” Big said. “I think the real potential was in mining.”

“Mining?” I asked. “What is this, 1849 and you’re going to strike gold?”

“Gold is so last century, dipshit,” Big said, and that was so funny we all laughed. “We had a plot of land near Coalinga that could have gemstone-grade deposits of benitoite. Do you know how much that’s worth?”

“What’s benitoite?” Darius asked.

“It’s one of California’s state gemstones,” I answered. “It’s a really pretty dark blue color. There’s only one mine in the state that produces it.”

“How do you know this shit?” Darius asked, rolling his eyes at what a nerd I was.

“Because I actually paid attention in class,” I said, in my bratty little brother way.

“Dork,” Darius replied succinctly.

“So you think there was a benitoite deposit on our land?” Travis asked.

“I think so, but Dad didn’t think it was worth pursuing,” Big said. “He just ranted at me that I should focus on getting the lazy Mexicans to work.”

“What an asshole,” Darius said, as if we didn’t already know that about Curtis Buck.

“True that,” Big said in disgust, then got animated and continued on his mining kick. “We also had some land on the Clark Mountain range, and there’s a good chance we could have found rare-earth metals there.”

“How do you know all this shit?” I asked, stealing Darius’s question.

“Because I majored in geology,” Big said. “I like rocks.”

“Makes sense, since that’s what your brain is mostly made up of,” Darius joked.

“Probably,” Big said, deflating Darius’s taunt by agreeing with him. “Doesn’t matter anyway. It’s all gone.”

“Not necessarily,” Travis said.

Big ignored him and got belligerent, and of course he directed that at me. “I guess that since you guys jumped in and snapped up the bones of Buck Industries, you’ll win big in this deal.”

“You’re assuming you’re right about this, and that there’s all kinds of valuable shit buried under the ground,” I responded in my smarmiest way. “You, the dude who has an undergraduate degree in geology and no real experience.”

“I’ve been working with our team of geologists since I was in high school, asshole,” Big snapped. I glanced at Darius and could tell that surprised him, and even Travis didn’t seem to know that Big had done that. He turned his ire onto Travis. “I guess you just fed them all this information on Buck, and they waited and swooped in. What did you get out of it?”

“Fuck you, Big,” Travis said. His voice was much too loud, a fact I communicated to him with just my eyes. He continued on in a much calmer tone. “I didn’t tell anyone shit. Will figured it out.”

“Right,” Big said skeptically, giving me a patronizing look that just about released my deepest rage demons.

“Dude, he’s smart as fuck,” Darius said, referring to me. Big looked at him and rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”

“He is,” Travis said, and their praise calmed my ass down. “I was going to vanish until I was eighteen. I knew the company was fucked, but I was going to jump in and buy it out as soon as I got control of my trusts. Only Curtis colluded with my lawyer and had them release that announcement early.”

“Should fucking sue them,” Big grumbled.

“Working on it,” Travis said, which surprised me, because I didn’t know he was in the process of going after Fellowes. For a space cadet, he was remarkably busy. “Will talked his family into snagging the deal instead. I’ve talked to Stefan about it a lot. He’s offered to sell the assets to me, or do a joint venture with him if I want to.”

“He did that?” Big asked, blinking in surprise.

“He did,” I said, probably shooting fire out of my eyes when I spoke.

We focused on eating, none of us saying anything for a bit. “I’m sorry I tore into you guys about that,” Big said, mostly to me. “I should have gotten the whole story first.”

“It’s fine,” I said, because I really didn’t think we needed more drama about this.

“So what are you going to do?” Big asked Travis.

“I don’t know,” Travis said, and got that confused, dazed look that seemed to manifest whenever he thought about this whole nightmare. “They don’t want a bunch of farmland and oil wells in their portfolio, and I don’t want to deal with that either.”

“I see your point,” Big said, nodding. “I mean, it’s always been our heritage, but I don’t know if I want that either.”

“The company was everything to Grandpa Buck,” Travis said. “I almost feel like I owe it to him to make sure that stuff stays in the family.”

“That’s bullshit, Travis,” Big said.

“I’m kind of surprised to hear you say that,” Travis said, then he saw Big’s eyes narrow and explained. “You’ve always been the one of us who’s the most traditional, and who’s most into our dynasty and our legacy.”

“Yeah, well things change,” Big said. “Think about how fucked up our family is. Why the fuck would I want to defend a heritage like that?”

“I see your point,” Travis said. He smiled and shook his head slowly, while Big rolled his eyes.

“I think we’re all better off just moving on,” Big said. “I’ve still got ten million left. I’ll survive.”

“What about your mining plans?” I asked Big.

Big shrugged. “I can do something else.”

“Or we can carve out the properties you think have potential and sell the rest,” I suggested.

“You kind of said it yourself, in your own asshole way,” Big said. “What the fuck do I really know about that shit? And mining takes a shit ton of money.”

“I don’t think anyone has to be in a massive hurry,” I said. “I mean, holding land that isn’t producing anything is expensive, but you can take a little time to come up with a plan.”

“I can buy up those tracts that you want, and we’ll let them sit there until we think it’s a good idea to develop them,” Travis offered.

“You want to go into business with me?” Big asked. “I haven’t always been all that nice to you.”

“No, you haven’t, but I’m thinking maybe you’ll learn to change,” Travis said. It wasn’t his words that struck me, it was his tone, which was cold and unyielding. “Regardless, I’m not willing to be your punching bag anymore.”

Big looked like he might explode, then he calmed down. “Fair enough.” It was a stunning reversal in the power dynamic between those two brothers, where Travis was suddenly the dominant one.

“What are you guys going to do about Taylor?” I asked.

“Fuck her,” Travis spat. “She’s been a total cunt to me my entire life. She can rot in hell for all I care.”

“Dude, not saying you’re wrong, but she’s completely fucked up,” Darius said.

“Which is a really good reason to keep her the fuck away from me,” Travis said.

“I think what he’s saying is that when Taylor realizes what a cunt she’s been, and she digests all that’s happened, she’s probably going to need our help,” Big said thoughtfully.

“Then you can help her,” Travis said. “I’m not lifting a fucking finger.”

“Your choice,” Big said. “I always knew Dad was this fucked up and twisted human, but Mom is the one who surprised me.”

“Why?” Travis asked.

“I mean, she fucking raped Jake, and she was always hitting on my friends,” Big said. “I guess she’s into younger dudes.”

“She didn’t hit on my friends, at least not that I know of,” Travis said. “She ever sleep with any of your buds?”

“I had a few suspicions,” Big said, and his eyes subtly shifted toward Darius, who looked alarmed. I started giggling, and the dirty looks l got from the three of them hit my humor button and I started laughing.

“What the fuck is so funny?” Travis asked me. For some reason, that just made me laugh harder. “What?”

“Did you fuck Miranda Buck?” I asked Darius.

“Asshole,” he said, but the attention had shifted to him.

“Did you?” Travis demanded.

“Once,” Darius said.

“Dude, you banged my mom?” Big asked, acting all outraged.

“Once,” Darius repeated.

“She was asking about you when I met up with her at that GM fashion show, and was going to look you up,” I said, piling on. It was so much fun to make Darius squirm trying to deal with his slutty ways, especially since he usually did the same thing to me.

“I must have been good,” he said to me.

“That is fucked up,” Big said. “When did this happen?”

“When I was sixteen,” Darius said calmly. We all looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate, so he finally rolled his eyes and obliged us. “I went over to your house, you weren’t home, and your mom hit on me.”

“So you fucked her?” Big asked.

“I mean, yeah,” Darius said. “Dude, I’m not the only one.”

“How many of your friends did she have sex with?” I asked.

“I’m not going to go there, and talk about what other people did,” he insisted firmly, then he sighed. “Look, she hit on me, and it just sort of happened.”

“Kind of like it did with Jake,” I said. What the fuck kind of predator was Miranda Buck? Christ.

“Yeah, only since I’m not gay, it wasn’t traumatic like it was for him,” Darius said.

“It wasn’t fun?” I asked.

He shrugged. “At the time, during the moment, it was alright, but afterwards I felt pretty skeezy,” Darius said, then focused on Big. “That’s one of the reasons I didn’t say anything to you. I just kind of wanted to forget about it.”

“That’s bullshit,” Big insisted, still pissed off at Darius.

“No, it’s not,” Travis said. “Dude, Mom preyed on him. It’s not his fault, it’s hers. He was fucking sixteen. Don’t you get it?”

“When I was sixteen, I would have fucked pretty much anyone,” Big said, then guffawed in a macho way.

“Well that’s you, not me,” Darius said. “It’s not like she raped me, and I definitely put myself into it, but it freaked me out, so I just put it aside like it didn’t happen.”

“Now I’m going to be wondering who else she banged,” Big grumbled.

“Your mind probably can use the exercise,” I said to him acidly, since I was losing patience with him.

“Very funny,” he snapped, but since Travis and Darius were trying not to laugh, I decided that he was right about that.

“So what’s your deal?” Big asked Travis.

“What do you mean?” Travis asked, confused.

“I watched you two through that dinner last night, and I’ve been watching you guys tonight,” Big said, referring to Travis and me.

“Duh,” I said, trying to push some humor into this conversation. “We’re both smoking hot.”

“Right,” Big said, and shook his head in frustration. He’d have probably killed me if I’d been his little brother. “You guys are pretty tight. Tighter than if you were just friends.”

“You think we’re a couple?” Travis asked him.

Big shrugged. “It’s not like I don’t have gay friends, and you act like they do when they’re together. Plus Will’s out, so it just seems that way. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.”

I was having a hard time trying to figure out who to focus on. Big seemed pretty mellow about us, which shouldn’t have been a huge surprise other than I assumed he’d be annoyed about it like Curtis had been. I chided myself for projecting that asshole’s bigotry onto Big. I shifted my gaze to Travis as I watched him wrestle with the situation for just a bit, then he got a resolved look on his face. “You’re not wrong,” Travis said.

“That’s cool,” Big said. “Thanks for telling me.”

““I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before,” Travis said. “I just kind of figured things out recently, and Curtis had a morals clause in my trust."

It was refreshing to see how outraged Big was at that. “What a bunch of shit.”

“Yeah, it was,” Travis said sadly. “So I don’t have that hanging over my head anymore, but I’m still not ready to broadcast my gayness to the world.”

“I won’t say anything,” Big said. The waitress brought our bill, and Travis grabbed it.

“I got this,” Travis said, then grinned at Big. “I have more millions than you do.”

“For right now,” Big said, cracking us up.