Millennium - 38. Chapter 38

December 16, 1999

 

I got home at 10am to find Stefan irritated. “I did not realize you started work so late.”

“If you would have been here on time yesterday, we would not have had to meet today, and you could already be about your business,” I said.

“I told you there was traffic. I cannot control the populace.”

“Rumor has it there was some shopping involved as well,” I said.

“It is impossible to deal with you. You have spies everywhere,” he grumbled.

“Let’s go for a drive,” I said. He looked at me oddly. It was a crappy day, with drizzling rain and wind.

“I am interested to see how you brighten up the day with a ride in this,” he said dubiously. We got in the car and I drove down PCH to Santa Monica. There was a coffee shop I liked near the pier.

“I wanted to talk to you about my strategy for dealing with Omega, but I don’t want to involve Kevin. I don’t want him to know.”

“You do not trust him?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust him, I’m not sure that I know him well enough to trust him. Besides, he’s going to be conflicted here, and there’s no reason to put him in the middle.”

“I suppose that makes sense. Since he has not been involved with us from a business perspective, he will probably not mind if he is left out.” He took a sip of his latte. “Cody took us out last night, and then Kevin slept alone.”

I chuckled. “Cody’s getting back on his game with Kevin.” Stef giggled. “I suspect he’ll close the deal soon.”

“They are made to have sex, at least,” he said. “So tell me about your plan.”

“We have a bunch of bright analysts with little to do. I’d like to tap five or six of them to work on bringing Omega down. I figure if we focus on areas where they are vulnerable, we might be able to cause them significant problems, especially if they’re distracted by all this personal shit.”

“And you are not distracted by it?” He was digging.

“No, I’m not. I’m working on full power again,” I said authoritatively.

“Then you and Robbie have worked things out?”

“He ate fettuccini noodles off my body last night. Things are pretty good.” I watched him squirm and stifled a laugh.

“That is certainly imaginative.”

“This whole thing with the Carmichaels finally did it for me. All this time I’ve been telling him I want to sleep with other guys, when I was just afraid of committing to him. I just wanted to know he loved me, Stef, and that he wouldn’t hurt me like this again. When I found out about the Carmichaels, he was there for me, 100%. I know it sounds trivial, but it meant a lot to me. I got to see the side of him I’d been missing for so long. That loving and caring side he has, the one that was so irresistible in 1980.”

“He is flawed, and even though we all are, he carries more baggage than most. He does some very stupid things from time to time. But he is a good person. I think you made a good decision.” I smiled at him, thanking him for his approval.

“How’s JP doing?”

“I told him about Brian and he said that he was not surprised. I know better. This is gnawing at him. He will remember how he defended Brian, how he took his side initially in Brian’s confrontation with you last year. I do not know how to help him deal with it.”

“I’m coming up to Paly on Monday, so I’ll spend some time with him and try to get him to see he’s not responsible for that asshole.” I wondered if that would do any good. “I planned to interview some of our people to get my team together. I figured I’d evaluate them on Monday night, talk to you and Luke about it on Tuesday morning, and have an introductory meeting with them on Tuesday afternoon.”

“I am behind you in this venture. You are tackling quite a monolith, but they are already vulnerable. They have already committed money in our world most foolishly, but if the tech industry thrives for another year or so, they will still win big.”

“But you don’t think it will?” I asked him.

“I think it has until next June, but that is just my instinct.” He paused before changing subjects. “We have to find new places to invest our money. Luke suggested we explore the entertainment industry.”

“You mean movies?”

“There are a number of types of entertainment, but that would be one of them. Anders-Hayes has historically limited its funding of new movies, primarily because of the way the company is structured. It is designed to pay out much of its profits. Perhaps we could joint venture on some deals with them?”

I smiled at Stef. “I’ll ask Robbie. Even if we don’t, I think the fact that you’re asking him is really nice. You’re telling him you still have confidence in him.”

“If I did not, he would be sitting in a very unpleasant Board meeting,” Stef said. His tone was light, but the meaning underneath it was not. I drove him back to the house and then he was off to meet with people to plan our big party. I decided to stay out of it. It wouldn’t do any good for me to be involved, as he’d do what he wanted anyway, and this way I could focus on other things.

Kevin had gone with Stef, which left me at home all by myself. I sat down and tried to fine-tune my list of people and assignments, trying to think of ways to evaluate every weakness and strength.

“Hey Dad,” a voice said, interrupting me.

“Hey JJ,” I said. He came over and gave me a hug. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the ice?”

“Got a day off,” he said. “It’s nice to have free time, but I feel like part of me is missing when I’m not on the ice.”

“I hear you have quite a bit of potential.”

He gave me an odd look, as if that wasn’t news. He was just a little cocky about his skill. “I’m good, and I work hard. Those are the building blocks.” Clearly he’d heard that from his coach. It was good to just hang out with him, but he’d obviously come over here for a reason. I just looked at him, willing him to speak his mind. “Mom says she talked to you about me getting tutored instead of going to school.”

“She did. How do you feel about that?”

“I don’t like school. I don’t like the kids Darius and Will hang out with, and I don’t have many of my own friends there. I don’t fit in.”

“There are other options. There’s Harvard Westlake or Brentwood,” I said, naming private schools.

“I don’t think those would be any better.”

“I told your mother that I would support whatever the two of you decided, and Pop will go along with that too.” I was pretty sure about that, about what Robbie would think. It was a good risk; Robbie wasn’t likely to overrule Jeanine.

“Really?”

“Yes,” I said. He smiled and gave me a big hug, then scurried over to our house. I was kind of surprised that Jeanine didn’t tell him that. Maybe she wanted him to talk to me so he’d feel I was involved. Or maybe she just wanted me to be more involved.

About 5:00pm my world was rocked by an influx of people, and they all arrived within five minutes of each other. Stef and Kevin were first, having returned from their meetings, followed by Cody, home early from work. Then Stefan had to go back to Paly, so we had to have a long maudlin goodbye. I found myself losing patience with all these people and their drama.

“So what are you two doing tonight?” I asked Kevin and Cody.

“I’m not sure,” Kevin said, clearly waiting for Cody to suggest something.

“I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet,” Cody chimed in, clearly explaining to Kevin that he wasn’t automatically included in those plans. I watched the reaction on Kevin’s face. He hid it well, but that hit him hard. I guess I’d been through too much lately to just smile at two people who obviously liked each other but were just playing games and causing each other pain. I felt those filters that kept my thoughts from turning into words fading, then breaking.

“You two are idiots,” I said. They looked at me, surprised.

“Why am I an idiot?” Kevin asked, reacting to my statement first.

“You have this guy here that you obviously really like, but you’re playing all these stupid bar games.” I really looked at Kevin hard. “I’ve bottomed for Cody a few times. This guy knows his stuff. I found myself taking notes after I was done. You’ll sit there, all smug, playing games, and miss the ride of your life.”

Kevin looked at me, stunned. I didn’t give him time to respond, I turned on Cody. “And you’re just as bad. You’re doing the same thing he is. This kid’s got an ass that’s like a throbbing glove wrapped around your dick. You want to beat off again tonight, or you want to pull your head out of your butt?”

“I think you should get some training so you can learn to really speak your mind,” Cody said to me, deadpan.

“Ha ha ha. I have never encountered two people more sexually perfect for each other than the two of you. Go fuck.” Then we all just stood there, no one saying anything.

Cody got his shit together first. “Whadya say Kevin?” Cody asked, shooting Kevin his best grin. “You want to try me on for size?”

Kevin moved over to Cody with that sexy walk of his and pulled Cody to him, kissing him so seductively it made me hard. “I think we should stay in tonight.” He turned back to look at me. “You’re welcome to join us.”

That was tempting, especially since it was within the bounds of my relationship with Robbie. “I think I’ll save myself,” I said, smiling.

“What’s he eating off of you tonight?” Kevin asked with a grin.

“Stefan has a big mouth,” I groused, as I blushed.

“What’s he talking about?” Cody asked me.

“Come on,” Kevin said, pulling Cody toward the stairs. “Maybe I’ll show you sometime.”

I thought of Robbie and decided to call him. He answered on the first ring. “I was just thinking of you,” I told him.

“You were, eh?”

“Cody and Kevin are upstairs fucking,” I said playfully.

“You didn’t join them?”

“I’m saving myself for later,” I said. I could feel his grin over the phone. “When are you done today?”

“I don’t know. You have plans?”

“I wanted to take you to see the mission,” I told him. “Plus I want to check up on Max.”

“Come pick me up and we’ll go together,” he said. I could hear the nervousness in his voice. I pulled all my work together and locked it in my briefcase, then headed down to pick him up. I took his truck, since it would be less ostentatious in a bad part of town.

I was excited to take him to see the mission and to meet Tim. It was a cool thing I’d gotten involved in, but he wasn’t part of me when I did, and I wanted him to understand what it was all about. I got to his office and there was no one there, ironically enough: No one outside, no one inside. They must be in a meeting, I decided. I went into his private bathroom to freshen up a bit, thinking that maybe I’d get lucky.

I was finishing up when I heard his voice as he yelled over his shoulder. “I’ll only be a minute Evelyn, and then I need to see that spreadsheet model they just presented.” I heard him shut his door, and his voice got quieter. “Alright Justin, you’ve got ten minutes.”

“I usually take more time than that,” Justin said in his sexy voice.

“Very funny. You wanted to talk to me about this client of yours. You want my support. I don’t see her in this role. Give me one good reason why I should intervene with the casting people?” I heard a zipper.

“This a good enough reason?” I wanted to open the door wider and look out, if only to get a good view of Justin’s dick.

“Justin, knock it off.”

“Come on dude. One time. It will be so good. You know you want to,” Justin said persuasively. I wondered if I’d be able to resist him.

“You’re out of here,” Robbie said. I heard him march over to his door. “You hit on me one more time; I’m running your ass out of this town. We clear?”

“Right,” Justin said, being cocky.

“You don’t think I can? One call to your bosses over at Broadmore and Braithwaite, and you’re gone. You want to try me on that?” He was pissed now, yelling.

“No. I got it,” Justin said, his tone admitting defeat.

“Listen, you’ve got potential in this business, but you can’t win every battle with your dick. Spend some time learning some boundaries.”

“That’s probably good advice,” Justin agreed insincerely. I heard him leave, and I heard Robbie stomp back to his desk. I walked out of the bathroom and went over to his door. He stared at me as I did, shocked that I was there.

“He’ll be in a meeting for a little bit,” I told Evelyn. She smiled and nodded, and I closed his door. “You stage that whole thing for me?”

“I didn’t stage that at all. I didn’t even know you were here. What the fuck were you doing eavesdropping on me anyway?” he asked, getting more pissed off as he went. While he spoke I was walking over to him. I sat on his lap and chuckled as his chair groaned with both of our weight in it. I just stared at him, smiling. “What?”

“I love you, you know that?” I asked.

He grinned back at me. “I know that.”

“I was in the bathroom, wondering if I’d have as much willpower as you do.”

“He’s more your type than mine. You like your men slutty,” he said, teasing me.

“Then you’ll love Father Tim,” I told him. “Give him a chance, OK? You’ll see why I like him, why he’s still a friend, and why he stole Max away from Cody.”

“OK,” he said, grinning.

“I bet you’ve sat in this chair and had lots of guys suck your dick,” I said in my bedroom voice.

He looked pensive. “Nope, never happened.”

“Until now,” I said. I got off his lap and knelt on the floor, unzipping his pants. He didn’t argue, he just moaned and helped me pull his dick out. We didn’t have long, but I didn’t need long. I knew his body so well I could make him cum in a minute or an hour. This was closer to a minute.

“Thanks,” he said. “Let me finish up a few things and then we’ll go.” He got up to leave.

“Mind if I use your computer?”

“Nope, go right ahead,” he said, as he hurried out of the room. I went to click on the internet icon, but accidentally clicked on the recycle bin instead. It opened up and there were a bunch of pictures of him and Carson in Cancun. It was a pretty painful reminder of what we’d been through, but the symbolism was stronger than that. He’d purged Carson from his computer. I emptied the recycle bin and just surfed around on the net until he was ready to go.

We got in the truck and I drove. “I kind of miss this truck,” he said.

“When I brought you the Ferrari, I parked it next to this truck. The contrast was pretty stark. You’re hot and sexy like the Ferrari, but this is more you. It’s really solid and dependable.”

“I haven’t always been that way,” he said sadly.

“Sometimes even a Toyota breaks down,” I said. He smiled and rolled his eyes at me. “I emptied your recycle bin for you on your computer.”

“I just want to forget November,” he said.

“This is the part of the nightmare I want to remember,” I told him as we drove up to the mission. We strolled into the building and I smiled at how much better it looked. Tim had put the guys to work with the money we’d given them, and you could see and smell the improvements. The scent of new paint was almost overpowering. One of the workers there pointed to the dining hall, and that’s where we found Tim. He was sitting there with some young guys, really young guys, and Max was sitting next to him. We paused to watch the two of them interact with each other and the kids. I could see what Cody was talking about. Max just beamed with an internal happiness. It was like there was a golden aura around him, but that could have been just his blond hair.

I strode up to the table with Robbie in tow. Seeing Max had made him more comfortable. Tim saw me and got up enthusiastically. He gave me a friendly kiss and a hug. “I wanted you to meet Robbie,” I said.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Tim said, shaking his hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“I guess I have to dig myself out of a hole then,” Robbie said, trying to joke about it.

“Not at all. My impression of you was that you were a very kind, caring, and loving person, who was just temporarily misguided.” I watched Tim as he said that, watched him as he worked his own unique charm on Robbie. If anything, it worked better on him than anyone. “Would you like to see our mission?”

“Yeah, that would be great,” Robbie said.

“Brad, maybe you can help Max talk these boys into staying off the streets,” he said, and guided Robbie off on his own. The boys had no desire to hear us talk about what they should and shouldn’t do with their dicks, so they took off, leaving us alone.

“I’m really sorry for leaving like that and not saying anything,” Max said. He looked so nervous, like I’d hate him.

“You really had no choice,” I said, putting on my cocky demeanor. “If you’d have stayed there, you’d have ended up back in bed with me. No one can resist me.”

He laughed. “You may be right about that.”

“Cody told me all about it,” I said.

“I’m worried that I hurt him bad.” It was sweet to see how much that bothered him.

“Actually Max, I think you really made him happy. You’re a pain in the ass.” He laughed with me. “Seriously, his happiness for you, and the fact that you’re still friends, overrides the pain. You do this with his blessing.”

“I’ve never felt this way before, Brad. I’ve never been in a relationship like this.” He paused to collect his thoughts. “The love we share is so pure and so passionate, it’s overwhelming.”

“You need a guy like Tim. One who will love you and appreciate you, and be loyal to only you.”

“And one I can train,” he said, sotto voce. “He’s coming along just fine.” I really laughed at that. “I hear you’re spending Christmas with us.”

“I am?” I asked, surprised. We always did Christmas at Escorial.

“Maybe I wasn’t supposed to say anything,” he said nervously.

“It’s just fine Max. Tell me the plan.”

“JP called today to see if I’d come up for Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas morning we’re all flying back to spend the day here with the guys and join them for Christmas dinner.”

“Claire did this,” I said. He looked at me funny, thought about it, and nodded. “What a great idea.”

“Stef’s going to hire a bunch of the guys to work at the big New Year’s party too. Tim wouldn’t let him hire any of the guys under 16, though, and even the ones between 16 and 18 can only park cars.”

“Tim doesn’t want his mission to turn into a call boy headquarters?” I asked.

“Yeah. It took Stef a bit to get it. His morals and Tim’s morals float on different planes.” That really made me laugh. We wandered around the mission, stopping to talk to any of the guys who seemed not to mind us being there. Even though I hadn’t been around much, they all knew who I was. The coolest conversations were the ones where the guys were trying to figure out what to do with their lives. If it weren’t for Tim and his work here, they really wouldn’t have a future to plan.

We finally caught up with Tim and Robbie in Tim’s office. I smiled as we walked in, at the sight of them sitting there just enjoying each other. “You ready to go?” Robbie asked. He paused to give Max a big hug and a kiss.

“I am.”

“Whenever you’re ready, just let me know,” Tim said to Robbie.

“Ready for what?” I asked.

“You don’t always have to know everything,” Robbie said as he dragged me out of there. “And no pouting because you don’t know all the secrets of the world. If I can’t whine, you can’t pout.”

I laughed instead. “Did you have fun?”

He hesitated before he answered, which meant that he was worried he’d piss me off. “He really made me nervous. I could tell that you were totally into him last month. Of the guys you were with, at least that I know about, he freaked me out the most.” I could see that. “Now that I met him, I get it. I really like him.”

We went to a restaurant in Santa Monica for dinner. They didn’t know us, and we had to wait for a table, but somehow that made it kind of special. “You feel like talking business?” I asked.

“OK,” he said.

“Stef said the way Anders-Hayes is structured, with the high dividend payout; it sometimes limits what you can do.”

“It does. We’ve been looking at amending the charter to get rid of that. It’s going to require a unanimous vote of the shareholders. I floated that by Marcel and he wasn’t all that keen on it,” Robbie said. That sparked a big idea in my mind, but I put it off for later.

“In the meantime, we’ve got a bunch of cash on hand. Stef was wondering if you’d want to do some joint ventures.”

He stared at me, absolutely amazed. “Why? I mean, I know we’ll do well in the future, but after those last two shitty movies, no one in town will loan us a dime.”

“I’d say he must have confidence in you and your ability to do better in the future,” I said.

“He could be wrong,” Robbie said, even though he was smiling.

“Unlikely,” I told him. The waiter brought our entrees. He’d ordered a beef filet because he hated fish, while I had salmon. He took a bite and frowned. “Not good?”

He grinned. “I just don’t like eating off plates anymore.”