Page 62 of Bottoms Up
“Marco talked Julian through the basics of where to put his money,” I told Benji on the way out the door. “There isn’t enough for you to worry with yet, but if you have any advice for him, I’d appreciate it.”
I told him how much Julian makes, gave a rough sketch of his practically nonexistent expenses, and Benji merely nodded.
We got my brother checked in, took his bags to his room thirty-two floors above ours, and then headed underground to see Julian.
All my angst about them meeting was for naught. I mean, they’d met in business settings, but this was as family meetingthe vampire boyfriend, but it was fine. Benji gave Julian one of those assessing looks that’s probably in some Big Brother Manual, but he accepted Julian’s hand and shook it without hesitation.
I’d worried what we’d do for so long underground, but Atlas took us to a high-ceilinged workout area one floor down and worked with Julian so he’d be able to handle the ropes in the canyon.
No. Really.He taught him the ropes.Julian, ex-opera superstar and connoisseur of pain, learning to tie a proper figure-eight follow-through and a clove hitch under Atlas’s grim-eyed tutelage. Honestly, I needed popcorn.
And yes, Julian can fly, but on the off chance someone was close enough to watch us, he’d have to make it look good.
Benji and I ate in the buffet on the main floor upstairs a little after seven, while Julian fed from Gavin’s flock — just blood, without the sex.
Atlas insisted we take the limo to the helipad, with a second driver who could also act as backup security.
Adventures with my brother are never dull. From packing our own parachutes to the chopper ride itself, everything hit that giddy mix of prep, thrill, and just enough danger to feel alive.
Jumping out of a perfectly functional helicopter is always a huge adrenaline rush — the noise, the sudden drop, the way the ground races up at you, and then that gut-punch moment when the chute opens and everything slows in a heart-stuttering instant, closely followed by relief the setup worked. It always has for me, but you still have to be ready to yank the reserve. Just in case.
It was all new to Julian, but he managed it without the fear most first-timers have. The fact he can fly obviously helped, but still, he followed the pre-jump checklist, packed his own chuteunder supervision, and jumped when told. No cheating on the descent.
However, I called him out for cheat-flying during the climbing portion of our adventure, and he didn’t even try to deny it. “I have no idea how you’re managing it without flying. You are shorter and weaker and—”
“And hard-headed as a bunker buster,” Benji cut in. “Though I’d assumed you’d have figured that out by now.”
The Grand Canyon isn’t a known climbing destination because the walls are soft. There are a few established routes, and now, thanks to Atlas, I was aware of an unknown route with bombproof placements, stable ledges, and natural protection lines — and not in any guidebook I’ve ever seen.
We topped out hours before dawn, and had a five-minute walk to the helicopter, waiting to return us to Vegas.
As we walked, Benji casually delivered what amounted to aHow to Grow Your MoneyTED Talk. Julian listened with the same quiet intensity he brings to everything. Still, calm, all focus.
Benji paused once we were airborne, when he’d have needed to shout, but picked right back up in the limo, guiding Julian through diversification, ethical leverage options, and asking questions so Julian could decide his risk-versus-reward comfort level.
He also asked what Julian mightenjoyinvesting in — not just what made sense on paper. Then he started showing him how to make that work.
And the way Julian leaned in, soaking it up like a man who’d never been taught to dream about a return on his own investments?
I’ve never loved my brother more.
Atlas even asked a few questions — all thoughtful, all grounded — and Benji answered those too, but never lost sight ofthe student he was there to teach. He treated Julian like a man worth mentoring. Not a pet project. Not an oddity.
Like family.
Chapter 21
Silver
Back at the hotel, I was so exhausted I sat while I showered — but Julian didn’t let me crawl into bed until he’d slaked his own needs with my body.
He didn’t draw it out, but he also didn’t bother being gentle. He bent me over the edge of the mattress, ignoring my entreaties about being too tired. He held me down with one hand, used the other to lube my asshole with clinical practicality rather than finesse, and then shoved himself in. Hard, fast, and efficient. Brute possession.
There was no stretch, no seduction — just the sharp burn of being opened, stretched wide with barely any prep. I yelped, then screamed. My knees buckled.
But he didn’t slow down. Not for a second. He just held me down and used me like a toy he expected to perform regardless of condition. A possession being reminded of its place. Its job.
He wasn’t especially cruel, but he wasruthless. Efficient. He had a cock to bury and a hole that belonged to him, and he didn’t care about my wishes.
