Page 2 of Corporate Bondage

Chapter One

(Gio)

As far as apologies went, the spread of breakfast I had prepared for Byran and Tate seemed sincere enough. After going through all this effort to prepare the meal, Tate's live-in twink would hopefully lose the suspicious look in his eyes. My best friend could stop riding my ass about being mean to his sensitive boyfriend. I had a right to be mean as hell. Who wouldn’t be? I had waited so patiently for Tate to grieve his wife and daughter. The plan was to reveal how I felt about him when a reasonable period of mourning had passed. I never expected him to walk into my restaurant almost a week ago with a new man in his life. I didn't expect there would be another for him to look at the way I longed for him to see me.

I scowled at the bacon and eggs I had prepared, not feeling so generous after all. I considered shoveling the whole lot down the garbage disposal. Last night when I had stopped by I didn't expect to find Bryan here. If it wasn't risky to drive while drunk, I would have left from last night. Tate wouldn't have allowed it so I had slept in the guestroom.

I glanced around the kitchen, feeling fiercely possessive of this space. Upon seeing the kitchen, I had decided this house would suit. It was every chef’s dream. I had imagined cooking for him here and sharing so much more intimate memories. And here he had someone else living the dream I had carved out for us.

At the sound of footsteps approaching, I relaxed my shoulders. By the time Bryan entered the kitchen, I had mustered up a friendly smile.

“Good morning.” He stopped just inside the kitchen. He frowned at me before his eyes skittered over the room.

I grudgingly admitted that he was a good-looking guy. He had nice blond hair and blue eyes which shouldn’t look so damn innocent. They weren't shacking up together just to be friends. They had practically been naked last night when I had dropped by. I saw the way Tate looked at his lean body, eyes burning with the hunger I wished he would feel for me. We had been friends for a long time. I couldn't be wrong about what could be between us. If I got this pretty boy out of Tate’s life, he would come to me. He always turned to me.

The biggest mistake I had made was to let him marry Rachel, without telling him how I felt about him, but during college, I had thought he was a straight guy. I could have kicked myself in the ass two years ago when his sister-in-law outed him as a bisexual. It was so pathetic how we both kept that part of our lives from each other. We told each other everything else, or so I had thought. Now I was looking at the next secret Tate had kept from me and plotting how to get this gold digger out of Tate’s life.

I sipped from my steaming mug of coffee, giving myself time to recover from the sudden bout of animosity I felt for the guy. “Hey, I hope I didn’t disturb you.” I gave him a decent enough smile considering all the negative energy charging through me. “I thought I would make up for my rudeness yesterday by making everyone breakfast.”

His eyebrows raised, and he had this comical expression on his face, a cross between a suspicious look and an awkward smile. “Geez, thanks. I’m not really sure how much time I have to enjoy breakfast though.”

I pulled out a chair and patted it for him to sit. The fastest way to get rid of the enemy was to learn about them under the guise of friendship. “Come on. Just a little bit to show no hard feelings. I might have gotten carried away last night, but can you blame me? Tate has been through a lot, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t have his back?”

The sluggish way he moved toward the chair showed his reluctance. I felt a little better about disliking him. The feeling was mutual. He sat where I indicated, and I poured him a cup of coffee, playing the role of host. I hoped he got the gist of what I was doing. Beneath the kindness, I was showing him that I was comfortable here. This was my rightful place, not his.

He accepted the cup of coffee I placed before him and took a sip. “I can appreciate you looking out for his best interests. He’s lucky to have a friend like you.”

All these years, I took pride in the friendship I had with Tate. The connection we had was not easily found. Maintaining such a bond was even harder. Hearing Bryan referring to us as friends irked me the wrong way. I might have imagined his slight emphasis on the word, but I didn’t take anything for granted. I came from a family where being observant could make the difference between you being dead or alive. “And, now he has you.”

“Yes, he does,” he said with conviction, the ownership clear from his tone.

Despite him turning down breakfast, I managed to coax him into a small breakfast of dry toast. To my annoyance, he declined the serving of eggs and bacon. No wonder he was so slender if dry toast was all he had for breakfast. I watched him as he ate, trying to figure out his age. He looked way younger than Tate. I guessed him for twenty-one years old, and I couldn’t help wondering how Tate had met him.

“Hey, I thought you already left.” My heart skipped a beat as the object of my fantasy entered the kitchen wearing only a pair of shorts. I wasn’t the only one staring at his broad shoulders and the thin line of hair streaking the center of his chest, disappearing into the waistband of his shorts. The pair of shorts did nothing to hide his semi-erect morning wood. Holy, sweet fuck, but he made me want to go down on all fours and beg him to let me suck his cock. The sleeping beast between my legs stirred, and I glanced away from Tate to preserve my sanity. It should be criminal to wake up looking so fucking hot. Since knowing him in college, he was always that way. We had shared a dorm together, and I would always rag him about waking up looking better than when he went to bed. He would laugh, not getting the hint. I had tried dropping so many hints during the years before he married. I always wanted him for myself.

He stopped in the middle of the kitchen and glanced from Bryan to me. “Who made breakfast?”

“I made everyone breakfast.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Sorry I crashed your night, but I didn’t know you had company living with you.”

Tate barely nodded, not even saying thanks, as he approached Bryan. That stung more than usual. He had eyes only for the blond who smiled affectionately at him. “I know I promised to take you to the office, but if you wait on me to get dressed, you’re going to be late. If I take you now, I’m going to miss a meeting I had scheduled with the Accounts department at work.”

I shared myself a plate while watching them from the corner of my eyes.

Bryan caressed Tate’s cheek. “It’s fine. I’ll call a cab.”

I looked on in disbelief as Tate took his hand and placed a set of keys into his palm. “Take the Sedan. I’ve had it serviced and it’s long overdue for regular driving.”

I stiffened. Tate hadn’t even let his wife drive the Sedan. I was the only one he had entrusted to take care of his baby. It was the first car he had bought with the money he earned, and not from his trust fund. He cherished that car, and to the best of my knowledge, he let no one else drive it except me. He was about to destroy everything that was special about us, and I felt helpless I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

“I’ll be fine using a cab, Tate.” Bryan tried to push the keys back at Tate, but he didn’t fool me one bit. This was the oldest trick in the book. He would act like he didn’t want it before he caved in, so Tate didn’t think he was using him.

“It’s either you take the Sedan, or I’m going to have to drive you.” Tate’s commanding tone sent a shiver down my spine. That was the way I wanted him to speak to me. “You don’t want to make me late for my meeting, do you?”

“That’s blackmail,” Bryan protested.

“No, it’s called options. Take the Sedan, or I drive you.”

Boy toy caved in, just as I knew he would, and took the car keys from Tate. He got up from the table, and Tate tilted his chin to kiss him. I hid my scowl by turning away from them.

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