“Having money or not would have had no bearing on you needing or not needing anything. Brandon, you had just come out of a very violent kink house. You needed things that money couldn’t buy. And knowing that you had money wouldn’t have changed how I treated or cared for you.”
Oh.
“Tonight when we’re in bed, ready to go to sleep and your mind begins to turn, I want you to remember that I told you I loved you before you told me about a cent. Okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded quickly.
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
James went to the kitchen and brought us back a couple bottles of water. I was dying of thirst and chugged half the bottle before I told him the next part.
“Remember the day you talked to me about being a sadist and how you are the yin to my yang? You went to work, and when you came home, I was in one of those weird upset and panicked moods.”
“I recall.”
“I had memorized the attorney’s phone number from a business card he tried to give me. I called him that day to try to get the info about my mom’s will. He wanted to meet. I was too nervous to go to his office and didn’t want to invite him here without your permission. From riding in the car with you, I had memorized the address on the side of the building to the retro diner. I gave him that address and met him there.”
“You walked?”
“It wasn’t that far. But as I was at the crosswalk it started to drizzle, and I about freaked out. He arrived not much after I was seated, and we went over all the paperwork. There are a handful of accounts; both are liquid and retirement accounts. The attorney has an automatic deposit that goes into a checking account, like an allowance. My mom asked him to set me up with a monthly figure. The ATM withdrawal at the hotel was only the fourth time that I’ve pulled money out.”
“When were the other times?”
“To get pizza when I helped Ali move in with Josh, and two other times were at the sports bar with Andrew and Josh. I wanted to buy them dinner since they were nice and took me out.”
I took a long sip from the bottle of water and eyed James. I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking, or if he was mad at me or what. I felt my nerves starting to get the best of me, and a panic attack wasn’t far on the horizon. Was he thinking about kicking me out? As much as I didn’t want to ask him, I had to.
“Are you going to ask me to leave?”
“No, Brandon. Absolutely not. I was bothered by the idea of you sitting alone with this attorney while trying to make sense of everything with him. How did you get home?”
“I walked. Well, I ran because it started to rain.”
“That’s why you were all wet and shivering when I got home.”
“Yes. I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s alright, Brandon. Please don’t mistake my meaning behind what I’m going to say next. But you’re very young to have all of those financial decisions put in front of you. Do you want me to have my financial planner meet with you, me, and the attorney to make sure things are allocated with your best interest in mind?”
“Honestly? Yeah, that’d be great. I was so nervous. It was my first time being out in public alone. He showed me my old Instagram account. He said he kept following it while I was gone because he thought I might post again and lead him to me. I almost cried at the table when he showed me my old account. It was like I didn’t even recognize myself. It was a life that I had led so long ago, even though it had only been a few years. It was emotional to look at.”
“I can’t even imagine. I will call my financial guy in the morning, and the four of us will arrange a time together. And, Brandon, anytime you’d like to go down memory lane and look at your old Instagram account, I’d love to sit with you.”
That made me feel really good, and it seemed like things were going to be okay. Coming clean to James about my inheritance took a huge weight off my shoulders. After all, he said he loved me.
As we settled into bed that night, just as he assumed would happen, my mind began to run in circles. I had a feeling that things had shifted between us, for the better. Just as I closed my eyes, James propped himself up, took hold of my jaw and guided my head to turn and look at him. He smiled down at me, and his eyes seemed to move back and forth from my eyes.
“You forgot to kiss me, pup.”
I smiled a goofy, awkward smile that pushed against his fingers. James let go of my jaw and put his hand on my chest as he lowered his head and pressed his lips against mine. I tried to get some leverage with my tongue in his mouth, but his tongue was surprisingly strong. His mouth tasted minty from the mouthwash he used before bed.
While our tongues wrestled, I reached up and wrapped my hands around his biceps. I always knew that he was in really good shape, especially for his age, but now I seemed to notice how strong he really was. James’ fingers teased my nipple while we kissed, and I could feel myself start to harden.
Suddenly, I felt an intense pinch and naturally pulled my face back in surprise. James wore a cocky smile and had a wicked gleam in his eye. He chuckled as he gently rubbed his thumb over my nipple he had pinched.
“I liked that,” I admitted.
