Page 20 of Corporate Bondage

Chapter Nine

(Gio)

Thump! The knife sliced through the meat and hit the cutting board. I repeated the motion, letting out my frustration. I didn’t need to cook. My refrigerator was filled with food that just needed to be heated, but cooking made me feel better. The rhythmic sound of chopping vegetables and meat on the cutting board was therapeutic. It drew me away from the present where thoughts threatened to overwhelm me.

I opened the fridge and removed a can of beer. I glared inside the stocked fridge. This was all Keith Eardley’s fault. The man had me twisted up in knots so much that I couldn’t even think straight when it came to Tate and Bryan. I should have been thinking about Tate and how to make my next move. He now knew I loved him. He’d allowed me to comfort him on the anniversary of his wife and daughter's death, but we’d had little contact since. I sensed he was avoiding me, but to be truthful, I hadn’t dwelled on it much because Keith Eardley was all I could think about.

Just this morning, I had woken up with a hard-on from hell, precum already leaking, and all because of the nightmare of being back in Keith’s office. He had me kneeling in that same chair, my ass exposed. In this dream, we were having sex. Worse, I liked it. He was filthy and spoke dirty. He wasn’t kind, and he held me by the neck, and my horny dream slut I hadn’t known existed loved every bit of it. I didn’t dare think about what my dream slut was trying to tell me about Keith. Just no! No fucking way was I looking forward to being dominated by that cocky bastard who just wanted to humiliate me.

Yet, you’d almost nutted just from him touching your ass. He took me by surprise, I argued with myself.

Yeah, then why did you get a manscape? Front and back?

“Just shut up,” I growled then howled when the knife slipped and sliced into my thumb. This was the deadly effect that Keith had on me. If I gave myself to him, he would destroy me.

I stuck my hand under the tap and turned it on, washing away the blood. The cut was deeper than I thought. Thankfully, I no one expected me to cook tonight at the restaurant. I had cut back on the number of hours I hung around the kitchen and taken a more active interest in the business side. I wanted to expand, make the restaurant bigger and more competitive. I wasn’t going to do that from the kitchen.

I reached for the medical kit I kept in the kitchen and took care of the cut before returning to the meat I had been seasoning. I stacked everything in the freezer and cleaned up the kitchen, disinfecting my work area. Everything in my kitchen was state of the art, unlike the other areas of my house. In the kitchen I was king. I spent more time here than anywhere else in my house. I was always tinkering with new sauces and new ideas to introduce to the restaurant.

I glanced at the clock, noting that it was time to shower. I wanted to stop at the restaurant and check that everything was running smoothly before continuing to Tate’s mother’s house. She had called me yesterday and mentioned her birthday party. I’d been hurt Tate hadn’t invited me along. I went to every one of his mother’s classic birthday parties, even when he had been married. This was just another evidence to me that Bryan was behind Tate’s change of attitude toward me.

If I had any sense of self-preservation I would stay away, but I’d come too far now to turn back. I was in this for the long haul.

I had just finished my shower and contemplating between two suits when my cell phone rang. These days, each time my phone rang, I was nervous that it was Keith calling to collect. I released a sigh when I saw it was just my mother. I didn’t call home as often anymore because my dad and I didn’t always see eye to eye, but my mother was okay as far as mothers went.

“Hi, ma, how are you?”

“Giovanni, baby, you don’t call your mother anymore?” she asked, her tone sad.

“Sorry, ma. Things have been busy a little hectic lately.”

“Too busy to call your mother?”

“I’ll make more of an effort. Promise.”

“Good. Your father, brother and I are planning a trip to San Diego,” she answered. “Your father has some business to attend to, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see you.”

I barely managed a groan. Ma coming alone was great, but all four of us in the one location didn’t always bode well.

“Alright, ma. I’m going out now. I’ll call you back to get more details about your trip.”

She still talked for a good ten minutes before she finally said goodbye. I dressed quickly, wondering why my father who rarely left Los Angeles was traveling to San Diego. Just what was he involved in this time? My father Piero Arcuri ruled his family with an iron fist, and growing up I’d had no friends. Even if other kids would have wanted to be friends, their parents forbade it because everyone knew Piero Arcuri was involved in shady dealings. No one just couldn’t prove it, and the casino acted as the best coverup.

Tate was the best and only friend I’d ever had. It had taken college for me to find that friend who didn’t know anything about my family. Tate had a clue, but not the extent of all my father did. I didn’t even know all he was involved in. I wanted to run a legitimate business and hadn’t been interested in learning what went behind the scenes at his casino.

I dropped by the restaurant with the intention of spending just a few minutes, half an hour at best. Tate’s mother hated tardiness, and I wanted to be on her good side this evening. I understood the woman well and charm always worked on her. She didn’t get along well with Tate, but for some reason, she always took a liking to me. She used to pry information from me about Tate when I would tag along with Tate for the holidays. She wasn’t exactly as bad as Tate thought her to be, just misunderstood. Once when she was drunk, she had even confessed to me that she resented the bond between Tate and his father.

Everything in the kitchen ran smoothly, and I was satisfied with my staff. Whether I was around or not they worked just as hard, understanding that we were all affected by the success or failure of this restaurant. I paid at competitive rates and had incentive packages for staff members. Happy employees made happy clients after all.

The mayor and his wife were dining at the restaurant tonight, so I paid my respects. While talking, I could feel a tingle, that odd feeling that someone was watching me. I turned slightly, still talking to the mayor, to survey the room, and my heart did a sort of pitter-patter to see Keith staring right at me. When I had given him my card, I never meant it as an invitation for him to dine here.

I tried to ignore him. Nothing in our deal said we had to be friends while we worked together.

I wished the mayor a good night and headed for my office in the back, desperately needing a moment to myself. Keith had taken me by surprise tonight, and seeing him filled my cheeks with heat. How could I even approach him when the image of me kneeling in the chair for him still burned in my mind?

At my office door, a hand wrapped around my waist. I went still, a musky woodsy odor filling my nostrils. I thought I had imagined that scent when he'd bent over me in his office. It hit me now and desire mingled with fear twisted in my gut.

“Open the door,” he whispered against my ear.

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