3. Sweatpants

"Sloan, my boy, you put too much pressure on yourself. You shouldn't work too hard. That boss of yours needs to stop thinking about money, he has too much of those already." Sloan's mother scolded him, and the man laughed softly and pulled his mom into an embrace.

"I love you, mom. You always know how to make me laugh. But no, mom...this is what rich people do, they work and make money, and then they kept on making money. Sometimes I think it's what they do to feed us, poor people."

"Hush, don't ever say that. You're not poor, we live well. A good suburban house with warm food in our bellies three times a day, good clothes, a car, and more. We're far from poor, what we have is better than what your great great grandparents had back in their days."

Sloan practically wanted to roll his eyes, cause that was not what he meant. But his mom always takes his words seriously. The heavy steps of his sister's children made him stop thinking about her mom's words when Sloan gave them his biggest smile and opened his arms wide for their incoming hugs.

Sloan was having his monthly family dinner with his mom, his sister, her husband, and their three children where things got rowdy very quickly. Since his dad passed away a couple of years ago Sloan decided to move back in with his mom. He didn't want her to feel all alone since his sister had moved out of the house and lived with her family. She did invite mom to stay at theirs but mom had refused, saying that she wanted to live in her home.

That said, Vera, Sloan's sister was relieved when her brother decided that he'd move back home with their mom. It was no hardship for Sloan since he was rarely at home. Between work, and his friends he goes home to sleep. But with their mom in the picture, he started to make time for morning coffees and dinners or late-night tea time with mom because she would often wait up for him on weekdays.

When everything had quieted down after Vera and her family left, Sloan was finishing the dishes. His mom was making tea, putting the kettle over the stove for them to share.

"You know, I think your sister has a point, it's time you should start dating seriously maybe a nice woman or a dashing young man who's ready to build a family?"

Sloan had never hidden his sexuality from his family and he was lucky enough that they accepted him for who he was. Though he never brought his dates home. All because he never intended things to be serious between them.

"I'm still twenty-four mom, I have time to build a family. I need savings for that too you know, and I'm not at a point in my life to support a family yet, financially." Sloan takes a seat beside his mom and drinks his tea.

"I know, but the dating process itself will take time. Maybe in a year or two, or maybe three, you will find that someone special. But if you keep working and hooking up..."

"Mom!" Sloan cut his mom, he was embarrassed that his mom knew about his hookups. He didn't even want to hear that she knew the word hookups and what it meant, that just was one of the things he didn't want his sweet mom to know.

"Hey, I'm in tune with the younger generations and what's going on socially. And... my girls from the book club were talking about their children. Look, honey, I just want you to be happy. I think hooking up is a temporary solution, you need to fall in love, and experience the whole part of finding that special someone. I'm happy for Vera and her very loud family, and I want you to be happy too."

Sloan had to laugh at her last words before continuing, "I will mom, all in good time." He put his hand on hers then they chatted about other stuff before he retreat to his room.

There, Sloan was back on his phone checking up on his emails. He tried to relax, but his mind was restless and so he decided to go out. His mom was already asleep, he didn't bother to inform her that he was going out. Sloan got his keys and jacket before he ordered a ride and decided to go to Zephyr.

Zephyr, a gay club. Yup, Sloan wasn't feeling like he wanted to hook up with a woman, thinking that he needed a dose of testosterone. Though he did not expect to see Brody there, drinking alone at the bar. Okay, that was strange Sloan had thought. Maybe he was waiting for someone? But his face was another shade of red indicating that he had been drinking a couple of shoots already. Maybe a bit too much when Sloan saw his body sway as he finished his last drink. Sloan looked around thinking his boss might be there. But when he realized that Hendry was not there and Brody was alone, getting himself successfully hammered. The young assistant sighed, thinking that he needed to call his boss and wait for further instructions.

"Yes, he's alone, Mr. Camden." Sloan feel the need to let Hendry know that he wanted his decision fast. The handsome huge hunk of a man looked just about ready to topple over from his stool and Sloan felt like he rather not be handling that sexy mess. "No, I haven't said hi. I don't want to invade his privacy, but Hendry, he looked wasted. Do you want me to take him to your place? Or his place? I think he needs to sleep it off."

"Are you with someone? I don't want to interrupt your plan, I can go and get him." Hendry asked from the other line.

"No, I'm alone. I...um, yeah, I can take him to you, or whatever..." Sloan paused his words waiting for Hendry to interrupt.

"Okay then, I'm at the penthouse you can drop him off here. I'll take care of him."

Sloan had been to his boss's place. He dropped documents and stuff at the concierge. But he had never been up to his unit and when Hendry told him to go up once Sloan's arrived it felt like he was crossing a boundary. He shook his head, ignored his uneasiness, and he walked straight to the bar, and greeted Brody.

He was in luck, it looked like the bartender buddy, Remy, was not on shift and he was greeted by another bartender who gave him a friendly smile and they exchanged greetings for a few seconds. And when Brody heard Sloan's voice, the man looked at him with curiosity in his eyes.

"Sloan? I didn't know..."

"That I go to gay clubs?" his eyes darted to the bartender silently asking how many, and the guy smirked and told them that Brody shouldn't get into a taxi by himself. 

"Come on Mr. Curran, I promised my boss that I'd take you to his. Hendry will help you sleep it off."

"Hendry, did you call him?" Brody flimsily waves, attempting to call the bartender. Sloan chuckled at his crazy gesture and helped him to settle his bill when Brody's hand lost coordination while trying to retrieve his money clip.

"He's a good guy, you know? wait you're his PA of course you know." Brody let out a drunken chuckle and slid off the bar stool after Sloan slipped the clip back into his pants pocket. The younger man had to steady him, not wanting the big guy to fall and crush his delectable weight on his smaller one. 

Brody was babbling nonsense while he sway again as they waited for their ride. The cold air helped him sober a bit, but he was still wobbling when they reached Hendry's penthouse floor.

Sloan assisted Brody onto the sofa before he decided that he needed to get out of there quickly. Because in the two years, he had worked for Hendry, it was the first time that he saw the guy in sweatpants and an old t-shirt that hugged his body, showing off his biceps and defined shoulder and chest area. Sloan had to force himself not to drool by focusing his gaze elsewhere. 

Sloan had been crazy about his boss since the first day he worked for Hendry, the hottest eligible bachelor in the city according to the country's top financial magazine. 

The handsome PA had been infatuated with Hendry Arnaud Camden for two years and counting. Sure Sloan dated, but with every person that he went out with, he always put Hendry on a pedestal and reminded himself that he was doomed. Sloan even dated women in the second year just to try and shake the funk off his systems since he considers himself a sexually fluid kind of guy. But he still didn't manage to lower his expectation of his lovers. Sloan always knew that he was out of his league in regard to his boss and Sloan was humble enough to accept it.

"Are you going back to the club?" Hendry asked when Sloan was about to dismiss himself.

"Uh, no, I guess... I should go back."

"You, look good." Hendry gave him a once over, from the black tight jeans that contour his ass perfectly and a flimsy top that showed his clavicle sexily. Sloan had skipped wearing a jacket since the night was not that cold and he didn't want to bother with a jacket.

"Thanks. You, look good too, boss," He smiled but couldn't help feeling the warmth creeping from his chest up to his neck. He cursed himself internally for his reply, Sloan knew he could give a better comeback. But watching Hendry's attire and product-free hair, it made him want to trace his fingers through it wanting to feel the warm skin under his t-shirt and find out if he was wearing anything underneath that sweatpants.

"So, I should get back." Sloan had to clear his throat feeling the sudden dryness after giving his hot boss a thorough glance of appreciation. "I'll see you at the office." Sloan pulled out his phone looking a bit too eager to book a ride.

"Stay, have a drink while you wait, and get whoever is on standby to get you back. There's no need for getting a ride when it's safer to use one of ours." Hendry was just done covering Brody with a throw blanket from the nearby sofa and he walked across the monstrosity of his bachelor pad living room to his sophisticated bar area.

"Come on, Sloan, it's the least that I can do."

Sloan sighed knowing this was what his boss would do, giving out instructions, demanding that he blindly follow them. But with those sweatpants hanging so fucking perfectly on his boss's ass, Sloan's eyes practically locked on them. He always does enjoy a good pair of sweatpants.

"Eyes up here, Sloan." He let out a sexy laugh and Sloan knew that he was busted.