Page 20 of Insatiable Hunger

Unlike last time, he doesn’t fall asleep halfway through. Instead, managing to stay awake until the end credits roll.

Stretching his arms over his head, I can’t help but notice the way his top rides up as he does so, revealing his dusty-pink nipples for a brief moment before he rights himself. He glances over, clearly catching me gawking at him, and I quickly stand, clearing my throat.

“Well, it’s late. We should get to bed,” I mutter.

“Yup. Thanks for letting me crash another one of your movie nights, Zekey.”

Glancing at him, he’s wearing a wide grin. “Stop calling me that.”

Elias breezes past me, but not before patting my shoulder, murmuring, “Goodnight,stepdaddy.”

He leaves without so much as a backwards glance, while I stay rooted in place, cock now hard as steel.There’s no way I heard him correctly.Giving it a few minutes before I walk out, I eventually make my way up the stairs and into my room. Heading straight into the en-suite, I take an ice-cold shower before climbing into bed next to mywifeto go to sleep while pretending I didn’t just have to tame a raging erection because of her son.

Chapter Eleven

Zeke Alvarez

It’s a quarter past eight by the time I’m walking into work. I’m not normally a tardy person—usually arriving no later than seven-fifty—but I got little to no sleep last night and was moving slowly this morning. Caffeine was a necessity, and I couldn’t find any in my kitchen. Hilda apparently hides it, so I had to find a coffee shop. It’s not until I notice nobody sitting in their offices that I remember we have our quarterly staff meeting that I’m supposed to be running.

And I’m late.

Fantastic.

This is Elias’s fault. That goddamnstepdaddycomment has been seared into my mind, and I was unable to forget about it enough to fall asleep. Then, when I did manage to drift off, my dreams were filled with him and the memories I shouldn’t be remembering. He just can’t fucking help himself. I know he went on up to his room last night pleased as a peach.

Dropping my briefcase off in my office, I grab my MacBook and notes, heading toward the conference room at the end of the hall. I hate these types of meetings. They feel useless to me. A waste of an hour. But they’re good for“team morale,”or at least, that’s what Daphne tells me every time I bitch about them.

Rounding the corner, all eyes flick to me as I walk into the large open space. “Good morning,” I mutter, setting my stuff at the head of the table. “Apologies for being late. I was held up with an important matter I needed to attend to.”

All chatter comes to a halt as I begin the meeting; going over sales numbers, the plan for the next quarter, and any information I find pertinent for the entire team to know. There is a charity auction this evening that my office is helping sponsor. I go over the expectations for that, too, before wrapping it up and letting everyone get back to their jobs.

I spend the next handful of hours in back-to-back meetings with suppliers and distributors, but the entire time, my mind is elsewhere.

I can’t stop wondering who was in Elias’s room last night before he came into the media room? Is it the same person who brought him home the other night? It’s driving me mad. Why is he bringing his little boy toys to my house in the first place?

It’s safe to say, by the time I’m walking out of the building for the evening, it feels like the day somehow both dragged on and flew by in the blink of an eye. As soon as I’m inside my car, my phone rings. Glancing down at the screen, I hit accept, the call connecting to the Bluetooth.

“Hi, Elena.”

“Hey, baby brother.” My sister’s voice booms through the speakers as I pull out onto Bronson Avenue. “How’s it going?”

“Leaving the office now. I have to go home and grab Valerie. There’s a work event tonight. What about you? How are you feeling lately?”

“Tell Val I say hi,” she requests. “I’m doing okay. Some days are better than others. I took up crocheting recently. It helps keep me busy and I enjoy it. My neighbor, Josephine, is pregnant with her first baby. I’m going to make her a baby blanket.”

“That sounds nice, El.”

She’s quiet for a moment, letting me know she called for a reason. “I wanted to talk to you about possibly coming to visit for the fourth.”

“El, I don’t know if—”

“I asked my doctor, and she said I was well enough to travel. I’ve been doing really good, Zeke. I haven’t seen you or Valerie since you first got married, and I still haven’t even met your stepson—mynephew—and I know he’s staying there now. Please, Zeke.”

My sister is ten years older than me. About four years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She did the whole thing—surgery, chemo, radiation—and beat it. Only for it to come back last year. She’s been doing better, according to her doctors, but the thing about cancer is, it’s ruthless, and it sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Even though she’s okay at the moment, I’m always waiting for it to pop back up and ruin our lives once more.

She was my rock growing up. Elena was more of a mom to me than my actual mom. Seeing her suffer and go through something as evil as cancer, and not be able to do anything about it, has been gut wrenching. There aren’t many problems I can’t solve, whether with money or other ways, but this… this is something that no amount of money can solve. It’s totally out of my hands.

“Please, Zeke?” She shakes me from my thoughts with her pleading tone. If there’s one person I’ve never been able to say no to, it’s her.

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