WilliamThere was no way I could go to work the day after Tristan confessed his love for me. I just couldn’t. I didn’t think I was ready to face him or the awkwardness that was bound to follow. My emotions were so all over the place, the confusion, the frustration, even a flicker of something I don’t think I wanna say. So I decided to stay in bed, and was sure to completely ignore the constant buzzing of my phone, and tried to process what had happened.Adrian had called my phone twice. While Tristan’s name showed up on my screen more times than I cared to count. But I let them both go to voicemail. I just needed a day to stay sane and keep my shit together, to figure out what I was even feeling.I needed to talk to someone, it felt like there was a huge mass in my chest and I was gonna exp-lode if I didn’t talk to someone. Ellie was the only person I could think of who might make sense of the mess in my head since she probably already saw this coming. By late morning, she was sitt
William No matter how much I tried I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to fix things with Adrian. No matter what had happened, he was still a good friend to me, and the last thing I wanted was for our relationship to fall apart because of whatever mess Tristan had thrown into the mix. So, I decided to take a detour after work. I wasn’t sure what was gonna happen, but I needed some answers, and I needed closure. Maybe we could work this out, put everything on the table, and move past this sandstorm together.When I reached his apartment, I stood outside for a moment, debating whether or not to knock. I felt so stupid and immature, but I had to do this. I just couldn’t just ignore the situation. After all, this was all Tristan's fault and not his.The door swung open, and there he was. Adrian. He looked as though he’d been expecting a visit, though the look he wore on his face told me that I wasn’t welcome.“What do you want, Will?” he asked, his voice flat, almost defens
William The weekend was finally here. The much needed break I really needed from work, from everything that had been happening in my life so far. I had just ordered a pepperoni pizza, hoping for a nice a peaceful day to just sit back and relax, when my phone buzzed with a text. It was from my dad: "Don’t forget the charity event tonight, Will. Be there early. We are expecting you."My heart fell to my stomach. I had totally forgotten about the annual charity event my family and some other prestigious families hosted together. I hadn’t been in ages, mostly because I had been away from home for so long. The event was the usual Noblesse Oblige act with top companies and industries gathering to raise funds for orphanages and the homeless. It was supposed to be a night of high-class charity, something the top dogs liked to flaunt, and I had completely spaced on it. I had no choice but to go now, even if I didn’t want to but my dad’s reminder kept echoing in my mind.The pizza sat untou
William's POV A fire was burning in my head until I felt like I had a coal brassier on my shoulders, and my eyes had narrowed to pinpricks of light. I drew in breath because everything else felt impossible at that moment The smile on his face was infuriating and I found my hands clenching into fists. But if my father was aware of how I felt or whatever was going on between us, he did not show it. “Tristan.” I said shortly. My father looked excitedly at the both of us. “I simply can’t tell you how much of an honour it is that you decided to come down for the event today, Tristan.” “It was nothing. I needed some time away from the office. I’m sure William felt the same. He’s been working an awful lot doing over mistakes he’s made that would have otherwise been costly.” My father looked at me with new eyes. “Do you need help with work, William? This is the first time I’m hearing of you redoing tasks.” “I wondered the same thing too, Mr. Bracknell. I was already pleased to ha
William's POV My entire face felt soaked in perspiration and moving my tongue was easily one of the most difficult things I had done all through today, still I tried to focus my attention on Caleb, his form swirling in front of me. I tried to reach out to touch him, just to be sure that he was real, and tumbled forward. I was propped back up. Caleb’s smell hadn’t changed either. I wanted to vomit. “It’s alright,” he said sweetly. “I’ve got you.” “Unhand me,” I muttered with a leaden tongue. “What was that?” “Unhand me,” I said more forcibly. “I’m fine.” I imagine that Caleb must have pouted like he was so used to and given me a look. “William, you are anything but fine. I don’t even know who told you to come here in the first place, trying to drown your sorrows? You’re a lightweight and you’ve consumed so much already. You’re not fine.” His words pierced my head like thumbtacks, but they brought along some needed clarity. Not much, but enough to focus if I really trie
William's POV I went straight to my room and tossed myself onto the bed, rubbing at my eyes. I had no idea what was going on. There was so much I could not wrap my head around, with Tristan, with Caleb… I was completely lost, but for now, all I could do was sleep until much later in the day when I woke up, took a shower and decided to see Adrian. But on second thought, I decided to call him instead. He answered on the second ring. “William,” he said flatly causing a lump to form in my throat. I had not really thought about how I was going to broach this topic with him. “Hey, Adrian,” I said. “How’s it going with you?” “Could be better.” “Right.” “And work?” There was silence on the other end, the duration of which I felt like stabbing myself several times in the head. How could I have forgotten that he was no longer working at the company? Tristan had fired him, after all. Because of me. “Listen, Adrian, I’m sorry. I know I’ve apologized before about the entire thin
William's POV This had to be a joke! “Because the work I’ve suffered to do has suddenly been made obsolete? You’re absolutely right, Tristan. I’m flipping excited. Look at me giggling and chasing my own tail around goofily.” Tristan put the pen down and pointed at me. “You’re an idiot, William. You should already know this by now, but since you require me to spell it out for you, you don’t need to work on any of those old projects again. Including the ones that you had to redo. I’ve scrapped them all.” “Why?” “Because they were just fine the first time that you sent them. And now you don’t have to do any more work on them.” I stared into his eyes and he stared into mine. The room was charged with something I couldn’t place. Understanding slowly filtered in. “You cancelled the other jobs… you didn’t want me to do extra work.” He scoffed and stood from his chair. “I know you like grunt work, William. You want to feel like you’re useful. Like you’re doing something. But you
William's POV He reeled back, hand to his lips. There was no blood, but of course he was going to be dramatic about everything. “You hit me.” “I’m going to do a lot more than that if you don’t start talking. How many more times do I have to tell you to leave me the hell alone, Caleb?! Are you suddenly retarded?” “I’ve been trying to speak with you for God knows how long now, William! You don’t give me a chance. I call, I send text messages… you don’t even want me to open my mouth at all.” “I want you to leave me alone, Caleb. I don’t want to talk with you because you never listen. All you want to do is what you think you should do. You don’t ever listen.” “I listen.” He said, scandalized. “No, you don’t! You’re not listening even right now. You’re only interested in whatever you have to say, but you don’t understand. I don’t want you, Caleb. I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore. Is that so difficult to understand?” He stepped away from me, opening and closing hi
I stared at my father, shell-shocked.He was holding me close to his chest, but I felt more distant from him than ever before, the light receding from my eyes with every movement of his hand on my back, patting me.“It’s alright, William, he was saying, but it wasn’t alright at all, and I knew that it was not going to be alright for a very long time if I didn’t say something now. Something was terribly wrong.I pulled myself away from my father and cocked my head, trying to understand if I had heard him correctly.“Dad?” I asked, trepidation and a little confusion in my voice. “Pulling me out of Terra?” I laughed nervously. “What does that mean?”His eyes were pure and his gaze was straight as he looked into my eyes.“It means I’m taking you off the project with Terra Corporations. I had hoped back then that you would be able to handle the stress and deal with this entire thing for us at Bracknell Inc., but I see now that that was a mistake.”He had more lines on his face and even thr
I stared at my father, shell-shocked.He was holding me close to his chest, but I felt more distant from him than ever before, the light receding from my eyes with every movement of his hand on my back, patting me.“It’s alright, William, he was saying, but it wasn’t alright at all, and I knew that it was not going to be alright for a very long time if I didn’t say something now. Something was terribly wrong.I pulled myself away from my father and cocked my head, trying to understand if I had heard him correctly.“Dad?” I asked, trepidation and a little confusion in my voice. “Pulling me out of Terra?” I laughed nervously. “What does that mean?”His eyes were pure and his gaze was straight as he looked into my eyes.“It means I’m taking you off the project with Terra Corporations. I had hoped back then that you would be able to handle the stress and deal with this entire thing for us at Bracknell Inc., but I see now that that was a mistake.”He had more lines on his face and even thr
I explained everything to Ellie, starting with why she had been unable to reach me, up till the point where Tristan had left this morning and for a while, both her and her husband just stared, speechless.I took a drink of the tea that they had served me and moved back in the chair. I would be silent too if someone just unloaded everything that had happened so far onto me.It seemed like everything had happened all at once, had been fast-forwarded and then the hot looping mess had been poured into my lap. I brought the cup of tea to my lips again.“You mean to tell me…” Ellie started. She’d risen up from her chair and had started pacing round the room. “Let me get this straight. You and Tristan had sex.”“Yes.”“You and Tristan had actual sex.”I frowned at her. “Is there a point you’re trying to make, Ellie?”“What? No, I’m just…” she paced and spun. “And then he left you just like that? All alone in his house? That was kind of harsh.”I sighed. “Honestly, it’s what I would do too. I
“How do you keep getting my number, Caleb?” I shouted. “What is wrong with you?”To my surprise, Caleb’s voice was calm when he responded, “There’s nothing wrong with me, William, I’ve told you before. If there’s anything that’s the problem with me at all, it’s you, William. You’re refusing to hear me out. You’re refusing to see what’s in front of you. I love you, William. Why won’t you—”I ended the call and squeezed the phone in my hand. I unlocked it and went straight to number, blocking and then deleting it, but not before a text message from Caleb had come in:STOP FIGHTING THIS, WILLIAM. I’M STILL HERE FOR YOU. LET ME LOVE YOU. RETHINK OUR RELATIONSHIP.I deleted the text message and blocked the number.It occurred to me that every person that I probably knew was seeing this news, unless they were not online or like to keep abreast of current topics.My father had already called. Now I understood what he had meant when he said I had killed him. He had read the news already. He h
Tristan’s chest rises and falls, a perfect sight in the slice of golden morning light that’s on his face. I could stay here forever, just watch his chest, tight and flat like the skin of drum as it rises and falls with his soft breaths…“You’re staring,” Tristan murmured, eyes still closed so that he looked like an angel in sleep.I sighed happily and allowed myself to sink lower.“Of course I’m staring.”“You should cut it out. It’s creepy.”“Maybe you should open your eyes and stare too.”Tristan makes a sound in his throat but turns in my direction and opens his eyes. There’s a little bit of gold dust on his face and when he opens his eyes, that perfect hazel colour that taints his pupil reflects back at me so that I gasp in breath.This man is fucking beautiful, and he knows it.“Well,” Tristan says. “I’m staring now.”I cocked an eyebrow and reached for his hand, guiding it down my chest. “Good, that’s one part down.”Tristan didn’t once leave my eyes as my hand guided his lower
The words were like a trigger in my mind, tripping off every alarm that I might have prepared for.I found myself transfixed, tongue heavy and mind lulled into a state of submission and obedience. I fought to bring my head up from those murky waters.“Make me,” I said darkly.The door behind Tristan had closed and we were in his room now, enveloped in total silence.I could see the glitter on his face. I could see the perfection he had for cheekbones… could feel the heat that rolled off him in waves as he moved with animal grace.“I’m not going to ask you again, William,” he growled at me, the vibration shaking my core. My cock twitched, straining against the fabric of my clothes. I needed to maintain order… I needed to regain control, but the only thing I could think about was how hard and hot Tristan’s body had been when he’d pressed me against him.I could still taste him on my lips. I wanted to taste him again. I wanted to go to war with his tongue. I wanted to see what it would b
Fire exploded across my lips and all I wanted to do was put it out. But it was such a sweet, delicious fire, and I didn’t want it to ever go out.His lips were just on mine. Tristan was still gauging my reaction, but I didn’t care. I was willing to abandon myself and everything that I had felt before, right up to that moment if it meant that I could luxuriate in this moment, stretch it out across infinity…But that would have been a dream. No sooner had I thought it did Tristan’s lips peel away from mine, and I was standing there, eyes closed, waiting… wishing that his lips would come back to mine.A cool wind passed by, reminding me of the absence of the heat of Tristan’s lips.I opened my eyes slowly. He was staring at me with all the grace of a predator.“You’re alive,” he said.I tried to speak but could not get any sound to come out. There was no breath in me… I felt like I was going to fall over the next second.I gulped guiltily and stared back at him.“You kissed me,” I accuse
William's POV I stared wide until I was vcertain that my eyes were going to rupture. What the fuck was going on?I could not give myself an answer or a reason that would justify anything. I knew that Tristan was gay; I’d caught him and Adrian once having oral sex, in his office, and then he’d proposed love to me. I had not once seen with him any woman, so I was completely sure of his sexual orientation. And yet, seeing him now…I wanted to scream out my lungs and tell him to be careful. To send him back up the stairs so that no one would see him or how beautiful he looked.But Tristan was walking down the stairs with determined steps. Him, and the man beside him. His date for the evening.Uncontrollably, I began to shiver. My hand clenched into a fist around the stem of the glass that I held… I didn’t care about anything in that moment. I wasn’t seeing anyone—not Adrian who was just next to me, similarly locked in frozen spectacle—or anything right now.My gaze was entirely fixated o
William's POV“Caleb.” I repeated the words, because the first time, it had sounded like something that life could still be given to. This time, I squeezed the words out as if I could also wring the neck of the owner of that name.“How did the hell—?”“You keep pushing me away, William. I told you I love you. I’m going to keep on doing everything in my power to make this work. Won’t you give me another chan—”I cut the call and slammed on the steering so that the car honked.I groaned and held the wheel with both hands, eyes closed tightly. When was I going to wake up from this nightmare?I had blocked Caleb. I had blocked his number because that had been the last straw. I had long since unfollowed and then blocked him on all of my social media accounts, and even gotten him removed from my mailing list.And he’d gone right ahead to call me with a different line. Somehow, he seemed to have stocked himself up with a small arsenal of phones, mobile devices…My phone was ringing again. I