Page 85 of All Tied Up

“Uh… well… I’m not sure I know how to figure that out.”

Neil narrowed his eyes. “Why do these numbers keep changing each year then?”

Sebastian cringed. “I send him the reports and he tells me what it should be.”

“And you’ve never asked him to explain how he makes the calculations? That doesn’t sound like you.”

Sebastian could feel himself cringing again. Neil’s mild disappointment in him—more curiosity really—had him returning to the constant disappointment he’d become to Henri. “Um… Yeah. It’s just… really weird talking to him. Like, we were together for five years and running the lodge with him for three. I thought this was going to be our future. Now he’s just… maybe not resentful about tying up his money into this. That’s not the word. But he’s made it clear that this is his investment and he wants the money back.”

Neil had been flicking through things in QuickBooks, probably trying to hunt down records of Henri’s involvement, but he turned to face him.

“I’m sorry,” Neil said simply. He placed a hand on Sebastian’s cheek. “That must have been terrible to go through, and I’d hate to have it hanging over my head.”

“Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.”

Neil traced along the shell of Sebastian’s ear, a tender gesture that was the strange reversal of the touch Sebastian had given him just a few moments before. Now Neil was the one offering comfort. It was nice to know that it was there, though. Really nice.

Neil was so different from Henri. Their submission looked similar from the outside, but on the inside, Neil had a deep well of calm. His desire to please wasn’t just about kink, but also from care and affection, or at least Sebastian liked to think so.

Neil kept holding Sebastian’s gaze, a thoughtful compassion on his face. “I’ll look into this. I think you’re both trying to buy him out and give him a share of the net revenue, but that should be a fairly straightforward process, where his percentage guides the share. And you’re allowed to take out savings for the operation reserve first.”

“I don’t think he’s trying to cheat us,” Sebastian offered dully, muscles still clenched tight.

Now he felt like a real idiot. He’d poured over every aspect of the finances he could figure out, but that wasn’t something he’d ever questioned. He just hadn’t had the emotional energy for it. And a small part of him felt like he still owed the boy for all the ways he hadn’t been sufficient.

“Even if he’s not trying to cheat you, you still need a solid buy-out or investment payout plan. But I understand that this is emotional as well as financial. Would you like me to figure it out when you’re not around?”

Sebastian sighed again. “Yeah, I think so.” He shook his head. “Sorry to be falling apart on you like this. I promised you a weekend of fun and here we are doing my finances while I’m a mess over an ex-boyfriend.”

Neil gave a tender smile. “I have to say this has been the best weekend of my life so far. I, uh, I know it’s temporary, but this actually makes it feel more real. Like, you’re a real person not just a fantasy Dom. And, um, I like that.”

Neil was such a sweetheart. And he thought Sebastian was a fantasy Dom? Neil seemed like the one who was too good to be true.

“Hey, do you want to get back to the budget?” Neil asked, reading him well. “We can just pick up where we left off.”

They’d been talking through it line by line. “Sure.” That would give him the chance to shake all of this off. Had he been overpaying Henri? They’d never set up a financial contract between the three of them, which in retrospect had been stupid. But they’d been young and in love. At this point, he was just happy that Henri hadn’t sued to get it all back at once.

Neil closed all the balance sheets and switched screens, cuddling up into Sebastian’s side. Sebastian let himself absorb that closeness, trying to recapture that sense of peace he’d been feeling before.

Neil helped a lot, his smooth scalp rubbing against Sebastian’s chin every time he tilted his head. Sebastian inhaled, enjoying the clean scent of his skin with something a bit spicier underneath.

“So…” Neil eventually spoke up. “I notice that furnishings and equipment have been almost equally high each year since you opened. Usually there are a lot of outlays during the first few years and then it tapers off. Want to walk me through it?”

It took Sebastian a moment to think through what he was talking about, but then he was glad for the distraction. “Um… I mean, the first few years were a bit higher. But then, uh… I think this year we upgraded to two commercial washers and dryers.” He pointed at a column. “This was the gym in the basement. This year was, uh, we had to replace the commercial dishwasher and… ugh. I’d have to go back and look. Oh, and the cabins took a lot longer to build than we expected so we weren’t outfitting them until… we should probably go back to QuickBooks for that one.”

Neil switched to the accounting program and looked it up. “Ever considered hiring a laundry service?”

“Uh… no, actually.” This was a good type of conversation. Hopefully without any more emotional landmines. He took a deep breath, intentionally relaxing his shoulders. “I just assumed it would be cheaper doing it in-house without the overhead.”

Neil shrugged. “Maybe. I’d tally up your hours if you’re doing it.”

“It’s more something that a few of us take on when there’s time. We should probably have a better system, but we have enough sheets to swap out all the linens in each room about four times before we run out, so it’s more about walking by the machine and tossing in the next load. Anyway,” he shrugged. “I kind of like doing it.” It was calming. He liked the soft smells and the growing pile of neatly folded sheets.

Neil was calming that way, too, in his soft blue sweater and warm eyes.

“Well, in that case, you should probably keep doing it, or at least doing some of it. It’s funny how different you and Jamie are, and how well you two fit together.”

“Yeah. All of my favorite tasks are punishments to him.” Sebastian was smiling again now. Jamie had been hilarious on Friday.