2
Jack
“Idon't understand.” Doug had probably explained himself while I was attempting to multitask. Most of the time I was pretty damn good at it, but my baby brother wasn't making any sense. He was talking about having a housewarming party. I wasn't sure that really applied when he was moving back in with the guy he’d been with for over a decade.
“Eli is worried about Jordan,” Doug explained. That was nothing new. Eli was usually pretty easy-going about most things, but it seemed his indifference didn't extend to their boy. “He hasn't invited anyone to the apartment since he moved in. And he keeps calling it our place, as in mine and Eli’s, not his.”
“So, the two of you decided you were going to put on this charade of a party as a way to… What exactly?” I closed the lid of my laptop so I could give Doug my complete attention.
“We’re hoping that he won’t feel as out of place if everyone is getting together.”
“Eventually, the two of you are going to have to find a way to make him understand he isn't a guest in your home.” Far be it for me to tell anyone else how they should deal with the boy, but the two of them coddled Jordan far too much. It wasn't good. If they didn't curb his bad behavior, eventually, he was going to start lashing out. At that point, it would be nearly impossible for them to regain the upper hand. Doug had enough of that from Eli, who’d kill him if he found out Doug and I had been talking about their predicament as well.
“I know.” Doug let out a ragged sigh. “It's just so damn hard sometimes, Jack. He gets this pouty look on his face and his eyes go all sad like a puppy dog, and I can't bring myself to discipline him.”
“Well, maybe it's time for you to put your own shit aside and…” Okay, so maybe I was going to tell him where I thought he was going wrong. It was a hazard of the job, I supposed. I had seen enough bratty little subs who didn’t take their D/s relationships seriously. But this wasn't just anyone. It was Doug, and I had over forty years of bossing him around. It became second nature to me.
“Have you ever considered that when he plays all sad and mopey, he’s testing the two of you?”
“I've considered that,” Doug admitted. “But I don't know. I think more of it is him still trying to get used to being in a healthy relationship. He's never been with anyone who didn't treat him like crap.”
“From what you told me, his ex was a pretty decent guy,” I argued. There was a knock on my door before Sam, one of my assistant managers at The Lodge, walked into the office. I held up a finger to acknowledge he was there and let him know I would be a minute.
“If you can't make it, we all understand.” And here was the beginning of the guilt trip. If I didn’t nip this in the bud, Doug would launch into a lecture about how I needed to trust my employees and step away from time to time.
“Never said I wouldn't be there just because I don't understand why you’re going through all this trouble.” Eli had tohatethe idea of a bunch of people in their home. He was one of the most private people I knew when it came to his personal space. That spoke to how much both of them loved Jordan.
“Do you seriously not understand? Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't do the same if it was your boy who was struggling to settle in?”
That would require having a boy, and it'd been a few years since I found myself in that position. The last relationship I’d been in had ended because Colin accused me of being married to my work and said he was tired of feeling like the mistress. When I realized he hadn’t been totally wrong about that, I stepped back from pursuing anything with anyone.
“Fine. Maybe I do understand a little bit,” I conceded. “But don't expect me to bring you a housewarming gift. You got everything you're getting from me when the two of you originally moved into that place.”
When Doug and Eli initially approached me about the dilapidated building down in the district, I thought they were nuts. But when Eli came to me with a solid business plan and a set of crudely assembled numbers, it didn't take too long before I began to see what drew Eli to the property. Eli knew that my weakness was potential. I had offered to buy into Club 83 as a silent partner. I wasn't keen to make my interest in the bar public knowledge since I owned another club nearby—albeit one that had fewer bands, a hell of a lot less clothing, and a series of private, semi-private, and public rooms. Eli's was the club where everyone turned a blind eye to the sexy hijinks that went on. The Lodge was a place where everyone would gather around to watch.
“I'm just warning you to be careful so he doesn't develop any bad habits. I see how much the three of you love each other, and I’d hate for anyone to get frustrated because expectations aren’t being met.”
“Jesus, Jack.” I flinched at the unexpected outburst from Doug. Okay, so maybe I could've been a bit more tactful in what I said, a bit more tender in my delivery, but that wasn't me. I was straight to the point with my employees, anyone I played with, and always with my friends and family. “You do realize that not every relationship is a business transaction? We don’t have benchmarks we’re hoping to meet.”
“I do.” But I was woefully out of practice with any interaction that was more than a simple transaction. “I'm sorry, Doug. I didn't mean to come across crass, but I worry about you. You were a wreck when you and Eli split up. You can't really blame me for doing whatever is necessary to keep you from going through that sort of pain again.”
“I know, and I appreciate it. But don't let Jordan hear you saying shit like that. He’s finally starting to sink into his role outside the bedroom, and I'd really like to keep it that way.”
“Good. I'm happy for you, Dougie.”
“Don't call me that,” he grumbled.
“I've been calling you Dougie for forty-three years. What makes you think I'm going to change now?”
“Well, it would be nice if you could respect that's a nickname that would've been better left in our childhood,” Doug complained. “Remember when Eli and I first got together, and he heard you call me that? It took me almost a month to make him understand I didn't find anything amusing about him wandering around the club calling out for me by that ridiculous name.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “That was great.”
The two of us chatted a bit longer about what was going on in our lives—nothing, because Doug was still lost in his new boy, and trying to plan an exit strategy to get out of the job he currently had crunching numbers. I was proud of him for finally deciding he didn't need to have a traditional job in order to be successful. He had taken a lot of shit for his art when we were younger, but the truth was, he was way too talented to do nothing with it.
Eventually, Doug told me he had to get going because it was almost time for Jordan and Eli to go to work and he wanted to spend some time with them. “Good. Send both of them downstairs with sore asses.”
“Oh, I intend to.” Doug chuckled and I grimaced. There were some things you simply didn't need to know about your brother’s sex life, and since he wasnota disciplinarian unless he had to be… “Anyway, if you can make it out to our place next week, we’d love to see you. Otherwise, we need to figure out a time for the four of us to get together for dinner or something.”
