Lev crosses his arms, and looks between me and Carlos with a look of shock and curiosity. Dima sits back in his chair and taps his fingers on the desk and watches Carlos. Deliberating. Looking for hidden traps.
“And what does Simon have to do with this?” Dima asks.
“He’s here because he is my partner. Boyfriend. Whatever you want to call it, he will be living with me from now on.”
That makes my ears perk up.
“Wait, what? Simon is not living with you,” I say.
“Not the time, Simon,” Carlos says, and I want to slap the bastard.
“This is the fucking time. I don’t remember you asking me to move in.”
“I told you you weren’t leaving. I couldn’t have been any clearer.”
“He’s right, Simon,” Lev says, and I look at him with my mouth wide open.
“Right about what?”
“If he already told you that you weren’t leaving, then that’s it. Why is that so hard to understand?” Lev says.
“I was the same with Seb. It’s natural, Simon. You’re where you belong,” says Dima.
“Hold on, why are you okay with this? It feels like you’re sending me away,” I say, shocked at their indifference on this.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Simon. When you know, you know. And Carlos knew you were his. I think there is something wrong with you, because our guys never had an issue,” Lev says.
“That’s not what I remember. Didn’t Dima kidnap Seb until he gave in?” I snark.
“That was different. He was a normal person that didn’t understand this world. He’s happy now. You should know this, Si. This is all you’ve ever known.”
I can’t believe this right now. Am I in an alternate universe? I turn my head to look at Carlos who is grinning like a cat that got the cream. That fucking controlling prick. All of them are controlling motherfuckers.
“Anyway, back to the proposal. Why?” Dima says, changing the subject that I’m still focused on. I’m not a piece of meat.
“I was looking at expanding anyway before the whole Brazil thing. I got to thinking after I received the money that I wanted to invest and I thought, who do I trust and who do I work well with, and thought of you guys. I can put a huge investment in, and I’m sure we can expand outside into other states. I think we would mesh well and become disgustingly richer than we are now.”
“Huh,” is all the response we get from Lev.
“Look, I’ve had numbers drawn up and will get them emailed to you. Think about it and let me know. There’s nothing to lose in just considering it.”
“Okay, we can do that,” Dima says. We all stand and Carlos shakes their hands, but not before dickface wants to make another announcement. I might as well not be here.
“Another thing, now that me and Simon are official, we plan to be open to the guys and everyone else.”
“It’s hardly a big coming out, they already know, Si,” Lev says.
“How long have you suspected, as I only told Dima?” I ask.
“Since you arrived. I have a knack for sniffing out cock lovers. Not sure how the others know, but probably because you never shut your mouth about this guy. It was fucking obvious,” Lev says with a deep chuckle.
“This is still hard for me,” I say.
“We know, ignore him. It’ll all be fine, Simon. Nobody is going to take you away or leave. Everyone knows anyway, you just need to confirm it,” Dima says.
“Come on. Let's rip this thing off like a bandaid,” Carlos says as he places his hand on my lower back, forcefully pushing me along so I don’t escape.
Everyone is in the entrance hallway when we leave the office, ready to go see the new properties. I feel sick and my neck is on fire. A strong hand holds mine and I stop and look down at our entwined fingers.
