Page 53 of Corporate Bondage

Half an hour later, I wound up at Rosenbaum Holdings. I was a bit dazed at how I ended up there because I had intended to drive home and cook up a storm. The last ice cream batch I had introduced at the restaurant was a hit, and now I was looking to dabble with more authentic flavors. Delving into work was the best way for me to get over Keith and move on with my life. However, thinking about the restaurant only reminded me that my father wanted to ruin everything. I had lost the most important person in my life, and now I was afraid of losing the restaurant too.

Gripping the steering wheel, I tried to talk myself out of entering the building. Tate didn’t want to see me. He wasn’t the friend I could turn to with my problems anymore, but I had no one else to talk to. I needed to hear his cold hard truths today, that Keith didn’t care, and loving him was destructive and unproductive.

I already knew those who worked at the front desk so it was with ease that I got into the building. I rode the elevator to the top floor and came face to face with Tate’s old secretary Marge.

“Mr. Arcuri!” She beamed at me. “I wondered why I haven’t seen you since I’ve been back.”

“When did you get back?” I asked her in surprise, figuring she had no idea how rocky my friendship with Tate was. Anyone who knew Tate and me would have thought our friendship the Titanic. Not even God could sink it. But, the Titanic had been submerged and we were near that point as well. Only the bow of our friendship remained above water. I hoped it was enough to keep us afloat.

“I’ve been back since yesterday,” she replied. “When Mr. Rosenbaum found out how his uncle laid me off, he personally showed up at my door to give me my job back.”

“Good for you, Marge. I know how invaluable you’ve been to Tate.”

“As are you. Go on it. He’s all alone.”

“Thanks, Marge.”

I knocked once on the office door and waited for Tate’s “enter” before I did just that and closed the door behind me. He glanced up from his computer, and his smile turned into a frown. “Gio, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“If you’re busy, I can go,” I told him, hovering at the door. I’d been rejected once already today and was hoping against another.

“I am busy but take a seat.”

“Thanks.” I took the seat across from him and gulped. Where did I begin?

“Well, what did you want to talk about?”

To my abject horror, I burst into tears. I didn’t expect it and suspected neither did Tate. He looked alarmed while I tried to catch my breath.

“Gio!” he explained. “What the hell's all this?”

“You were right.” I tried to stem the tears. This was so unlike me, but my heart felt shredded. I hadn't even felt this way when I had seen Tate with Bryan. “You were right about him. We broke up which is like the third time or so, but this time I’m afraid it’s final. We are through.”

“Then why are you crying? Jesus, I've never seen you cry before."

Tate tossed me his handkerchief, and I took it gratefully to wipe the tears. Shit, I couldn’t believe I just bawled over another man. “Because it fucking sucks,” I responded. "I thought this time it would have been different. Everything was going great. He's even in therapy."

“Trust me, man, you’re better off without him. You’ll be fine. There are many guys out there who’d love a chance to be with you.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t you get it? I have zero interest in anyone else. I could make a phone call and be fucking my frustrations out, but in the end, it won’t make me feel any better. I wanted him, Tate. I still do.”

“Fuck. You really fell for him, didn’t you?”

I rubbed my palms on my trousers. “Yes. Hard. I don’t expect you to understand. I know he’s not perfect. He’s far from it, Tate. I know you think I’m blind, but I’m not. I see him. The good, the bad and the ugly. The first time I met him, he would only agree to help me with Bryan if I sucked his dick. The second time we met, I had to talk to him while watching him get sucked by a potential employee. He humiliated me by having me strip for him that day. Do you know why he did it? So he could check out the merchandise and decide if he wanted to fuck me or not.” My voice rose as so did the color in my cheeks. “The first night we had sex he whipped me so hard for days putting on a shirt was painful. He left me strung up to his ceiling for an hour before returning to fuck me and leave me with a hard dick. He—”

“Jesus Fucking Christ, Gio!” Tate’s face was full of horror. “Stop. Please, just stop. I don’t need to hear any more.”

“I’m just explaining that I know he’s a hard bastard, but I love him.”

“You could love him after all that?”

“Yes, yes, I can, and I do because when he kisses me it’s different. You don’t see the way he looks at me, like I’m the only thing that makes living worthwhile. You don’t feel the way I do when I’m in his arms. With us, it's just different. He's trying, you know. Did I mention he's in therapy? He's in fucking therapy, Tate. Does that seem like the same man who used to push Bryan around?”

Tate went silent, taking up a pencil to drum on the table. “I remember telling you that you two suited each other just fine,” he said. “My opinion has not changed. For some reason, you seem to care about him, and maybe he cares about you too. I don’t know. But why did he break up with you?” He circled the pencil before me. “Does it have anything to do with the bruises on your neck?”

I touched the bruises. For him and me, they symbolized very different things. He might have seen it as Keith being abusive. I saw it as me being there for him when he needed me most. Who was going to be there for him when he had his nightmares? Who was going to be the valve when he needed to release all his frustrations without checking his passion?

Oh Gio, if you have any idea how you make me survive.

Who was going to ensure that he survived?

“He was having a nightmare,” I simply said with a shrug. “I helped him to get over it.”

“Shit, Gio, I’m scared for you. I’m terrified one day I’ll wake up to the news that you are dead.”

“I might have believed that as well.” I had to be honest with him. “At first I was drawn to him because of how different he was. I was even attracted to his violent side. But as I got to know him, Tate, I don’t fear that anymore. He’s changing, evolving beyond the monsters that are inside him. He’s getting help. You should have seen the way he ended our relationship today, and you would realize it. There was no anger, no violence, no abuse. He simply looked defeated. Something triggered his nightmares last night, but he won’t tell me what. He preferred to end our relationship. I don’t want it to end, Tate. What must I do?”

“There’s only one way I’ll try to help,” he remarked. “And I’m serious, Gio. You might have faith in him but I don’t. I don't know the guy enough to make judgment calls about him. You were right about that. For your sake, I hope you’re right about him changing too. I’ll help you only if you promise to also see whatever therapist he is seeing. Don’t let him go alone but go along with him, both for your sakes.”

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