Alex & Lang - 7. A & L Ch 7

Located 850 metres in a straight line and 1.85 kms by road, north-west of the CI Resort and former Casino, on Golf Course Road, where I had plans to build a holiday home there, where we can stay whenever we are in the area.

As a sweetener to get the purchase freehold, I offered to pay for the construction of a 600-metre sea wall, located just 200 metres offshore, and just 50 metres north of the offloading facility nearby, so as to protect ships that are anchored there. It would also be useful for our family when we bring our large yachts to the area.

The sea wall would consist of concrete blocks dropped into the ocean to create the wall, which will be just 50 metres wide, and just ten metres above sea level at high tide. The bottom end of the seawall will be just in line with the northern boundary of the CI Resort, at about 550-metres from shore, but there will not be any bridge link between the sea wall and the island.

I made the purchase using my own funds from a separate Swiss bank account, that I am fairly sure that Sebastian or the Family Corporation does not know about, and I had set up a separate company – known as O’Malley Investments, named after my late grandmother, and it is especially for smaller investments that I didn’t want Sebastian to know about, and this was one of my first purchases for this new company.

When we left the island a few days later, after the weather had improved a lot, as the past few days had been strong winds and high seas, forcing the yacht to be relocated to a sheltered bay on the other side of the island, we all settled in for the next few days of sailing, towards the Australian western mainland.

During the trip back home from the Mediterranean, I had been slowly been getting to know Lang, and now that I have met his brothers and cousins, I was even more sure that I had found my life partner, but I was still not sure if he has the same feelings for me.

On the first night since leaving Christmas Island, I was struggling to get some sleep, and feeling frustrated, I picked up the phone near my bed and pressed the button for Wyatt’s cabin.

“Sorry to wake you Wyatt, I would like you to do a special task for me right away and as quietly as possible please,” I asked, when Wyatt answered the call almost right away. “Yes sir; I was just reading a book so I’m not busy at all,” Wyatt replied, and I smiled at this.

“Can you please quietly go to Lang’s cabin on the lower deck, and ask him to join me in my suite please, as soon as possible,” I asked, “Yes sir… and about time,” Wyatt responded, before ending the call, halting my chance to respond to his comment, and I laughed, and I glanced over at the bedside clock, which read 11.02 pm, so it wasn’t extremely late, realising that I should have checked the time before making the request.

What felt like hours, but really was only ten minutes, there was a knock on the door, and I called out to enter, as I stood in my study nervously pacing, Mr Atkins is here as you requested. Goodnight, sir,” Wyatt said, and as I heard the door close, a face peered around the corner, and I smiled.

That evening, was the happiest I have been in a very long time, as Lang and I, in Wyatt’s words ‘finally’ got to know each other intimately. And when I opened my eyes the next morning, a pair of bright blue eyes; were looking at me, and he was smiling.

“Good morning my handsome prince,” he said in a loud whisper, as we heard a door close, “Handsome? You need to get your eyes checked Mr Lang,” came a voice from the passageway. “Wyatt, for goodness sakes go away, we are not to be disturbed for the rest of the morning,” I groaned at my faithful and loyal staff member.

Wyatt chucked, as I heard some rattling and the door open again, “Very good sir, your breakfast for two is on the study desk,” Wyatt said, before the door closed, and we were alone again. “Is he always like that?” Lang asked me, and I groaned and rolled my eyes.

“Yes, and sometimes worse, but he did save my life when we were attacked at the airport last year, so I cannot complain, as he is also my best friend,” I replied, as we climbed out of bed, both still totally naked, we headed to the study to eat our breakfast.

The next two days were absolutely wonderful, with Lang and I spending most of our time in my suite, or the owners lounge, where we just relaxed and talked. “What happens when we get back to the mainland?” Lang asked me, after we had finished eating morning tea, just a few hours away from us arriving in Exmouth.

“Well, if you will accept me as your boyfriend, you will have no cares in the world. You my dear Lang are now a Man of Leisure, where you can enjoy all the comforts that I have and own, plus I have arranged for you to have a credit card, with a $25,000 a month spending limit,” I replied, and Lance almost spat out his small mouthful of tea, when I mentioned the credit card, which I retrieved from my pocket and placed on the table.

“Holy… I… Are you really serious about this?” Lance eventually said, and I smiled and nodded my head. “You my dear boyfriend, can do whatever you want… well almost anything, I will not share you with anyone; that is my one and only condition.

If you would like to work or go to University, I am happy to support you with any of that, and when you get tired of work or study and want a break, we will just turn this yacht around and head out to sea, or jump on a jet and fly off into the blue sky’s,” I replied.

I saw Lance looking shocked, puzzled and confused all at the same time and I smiled. “I know this is a lot to take in, and apparently according to my cousin, Sir Lewis had pretty much the same reaction, when Sebastian asked Lewis to be his husband. I know we are very early on in our relationship, so we will take this as slowly as you need to, and see how you go with getting settled into the life of the partner of a very wealthy man,” I said to Lang, who just nodded his head in understanding.

After a period of silence, Lang looked at me, “Do I move all my stuff to here now?” Lang asked me, “No need, Wyatt is in the process of doing that as we speak,” I replied, and a look of shock fell on Lang’s face, and I chuckled. “Sorry, he did this under my instructions,” I said to Lang, who smiled.

“Does anyone else know about this… this new arrangement?” Lang asked me, “Yes, Sebastian and Lewis do know, as I had to arrange for this credit card through the company, as well as Wyatt of course, as he will do almost anything that you ask, within reason of course. No doubt most of the crew have their suspicions on what is happening, since you have just spent over two days alone with me in my suite,” I replied.

Lang groaned on hearing this and I just laughed, “Relax, you are now part of a very special family, who will be welcomed and loved with open arms,” I said to Lang, which made him blush a little. Once we had finished a shower and dressed, we headed down to the main deck, as we approached the Exmouth Marina.

Since our family has visited Exmouth so much over the years, Sebastian had purchased 4 ½ acres of land, located at the end of a cove, and next door to the Marine Services company. Sebastian had an earthwork’s company build a private 120-metre-long canal, with a jetty located on each side of it, so as to securely moor any of the family’s yachts, if there is a need to shelter from a cyclone, which are frequent in the area.

I knew that Sebastian’s yacht is currently located at our base near Garden Island, having checked its locator beacon, just to be sure, so I knew that the canal should be free for us to just slip in. With our own facilities, we didn’t need to pay for any mooring or other associated fees, with the property having a crane to lift the yachts out of the water, and place them on a transport cradle, which is on a railway line, that goes directly into the large shed next to and on the eastern side of the canal.

Apart from the shed, canal and jetties, the property also has four other buildings on the property, a large two storey very solid looking house that has two master suites and a guest suite on the upper level, and two staff suites on the ground floor. Next to the main house, there is a large open sided bungalow that contains, an undercover swimming pool, a recreation area, with billiards table, table tennis, a bar, barbeque & kitchen and lounge area.

The third building consists of eight units, each having two bedrooms and one bathroom that are used to accommodate the yacht crew when they are in port. The final building is a caretakers cabins, used to accommodate the husband-and-wife team that for the past few years, have looked after the property and gardens, and all of the well established landscaped tropical gardens, that shield the buildings for privacy and weather protection, with a high security garrison fence surrounding the property on all sides, with a security gate from the canal jetty’s to the property.

“What is this place we are approaching?” Lang asked me, as we approached the canal, with the Captain having swung the yacht around so we would be reversing into the canal. “This is our own private Northern WA base, we also have a base for our family yachts, near to Garden Island just south of Fremantle,” I replied.

“Holy cow, when you said very wealthy, you were not kidding were you,” Lang commented, and I chuckled at this statement.

“You will have to get used to it dearest, and I personally have a home in Switzerland, and I recently sold my home in East Fremantle, but I still have use of the Twins house in the western suburbs, but for now I am happy to be living onboard this yacht,” I replied, as we watched the crew secure the yacht to the large bollards on each side of the canal.

About ten minutes later, a large four-wheel drive stopped in the car park of the marine services business next door, and I smiled when I saw Sebastian, Lewis, June Cooper and Xavier step out and head into the store. Moments later, I saw Wyatt dive into the water, from the main deck, with just board shorts on, and I laughed.

“Was that Wyatt who just dived into the water?” Lang asked, and I nodded my head yes. “He just spotted his brother enter the Marine Services store next door, and I guess he couldn’t wait until they drove around to the main gate;” I replied.

“They... Who else is with him?” Lang asked, “My cousin Sebastian, his husband Lewis, and former Housekeeper Mrs Cooper, it appears that they all decided to come up for a visit,” I responded, as I looked around to see if I could spot Sebastian’s yacht anywhere, but there was no sign of it, so I guessed that they must have flown in.

Now that we were secured to the canal, we headed back upstairs to our private lounge, and I called the Chief Steward, since Wyatt had disappeared on me, and ordered for some drinks to be served, in approximately fifteen minutes time.

About five minutes later, we heard the happy chatter of two men and I smiled, knowing that it was Wyatt and Xavier, and just after the chatter stopped there was a knock on the door and Xavier entered. “Hello sir,” he said to me smiling. “Hey Xavier, it is good to see you again. Please inform you yacht jumping brother, that I had to arrange drinks for our guests, since he disappeared on me,” I responded, and Xavier laughed out loud.

“Shall I get the walking plank out of storage sir?” Xavier responded, with a big grin on his face. “Don’t even think about it bro,” came a response from behind him, and Wyatt entered, with a towel over his head as he continued to rub his hair dry.

“Sorry about that boss, it was a reflex reaction when I saw Xavier,” Wyatt said to me, when he turned to face me, and I just smiled and nodded my head, accepting the apology.

“Xavier, this is my boyfriend Langley Bartholomew Atkins, who now resides in my suite,” I announced to Xavier, “Yes sir. I have been updated on that. Welcome to the Wagner and Devonport Family,” Xavier responded, speaking directly to Lang, who smiled and nodded, before he turned to me, and frowned.

I laughed at this, “You filled in your full name when you joined the yacht as a crew member,” I explained to Lang, who I could see was thinking about what I said and nodded his head in understanding. “I hate that bloody middle name,” Lang growled, and I just smiled.

The lads excused themselves, and exited the lounge, and about five minutes later, Xavier announced the arrival of Sebastian, Lewis and Mrs Cooper, who entered, and there were hugs all around, even Lang was welcomed into the family with hugs, which he was not expecting.

During drinks, Sebastian announced that he, Lewis and Xavier would be staying at the house during their three-day visit, and that Kyle, Sue and the boys would be arriving the day after tomorrow. When asked what our plans are once Kyle and family have arrived, “I think we will go and spend some time at my newest project, to see how it is progressing,” I responded.

“I hear that it is doing very well, and I have some additional news about most of the islands out that way,” Lewis announced, which made me pay more attention. After you had been granted the lease of the island, I did a lot of research and submitted a proposal to the Federal Government, and much to my surprise, the proposal is been seriously considered.

As the former Administrator of the Indian Ocean Territories, I submitted a proposal that all Australian Islands and Reefs that are beyond 75 kilometres or 40 nautical miles from the Australian Coast be included within the boundaries and jurisdiction of the Indian Ocean Territories of Australia.

When this has happened, I recommended that all of this new area immediately become a National Marine Park, with no mining whatsoever permitted within 12 kilometres or 6.5 nautical miles of any of the Islands or reef systems,” Lewis announced. “Wow, that is awesome, but one question, why such a short distance in regards to mining restrictions?” I responded.