Bad Boy Billionaires 2 : The Wall Street Shark(8)

"Please come," Kenny said. "I think dad will be here, too. I told him about it this morning before I left for school." Kenny lived full time with Jeffery. It often seemed as if his main mission in life was to get his two dads back together again.

Evan didn't mention that Jeffery was in his apartment. "Okay, I'll try to be there. I really will. But I can't promise you."

"Thanks, dad," Kenny said. "I have to go now. I'll see you tonight at seven. It's room 304."

Evan said, "I'll try. Love you."

"Love you, too, Dad."

After he hung up, Evan set the phone on the table and smiled. It felt so good to hear his son's voice he stopped worrying about being nervous with Jeffery. He crossed to the other end of the sofa and sat down. Before he had a chance to say anything, Jeffery said, "He's missed you. You have to go tonight. I'll send a car for you around six thirty."

Although Evan didn't want to go out in public that soon, he knew he would go. He sent Jeffery a look and asked, "Aren't you going?" He wasn't sure if Jeffery was offering to pick him up or just send a car. With Jeffery he could never be certain. He'd learned to read between the lines.

"I can't," Jeffery said. "I have an important dinner engagement tonight. I was going to call him later and tell him I can't go, and now I don't feel so bad knowing you'll be there for him."

"I can take a cab," Evan said.

"I'm sure you can do anything."

Evan would have stopped the world for his son. He'd already missed deadlines and publishing events to put his son's needs first. And he'd never regretted it. But not Jeffery. He'd always put business first and Evan had gotten used to this. There was no use arguing with him anymore. He'd done that more than once when they'd been living together. He also knew Kenny would not be surprised. His other dad had missed school plays, singing recitals, soccer matches, and more than Evan could recall. Kenny had become as accustomed to Jeffery's work ethic as Evan had.

But just to see Jeffery's reaction, Evan said, "Maybe you could cancel this dinner engagement just this once, for Kenny's sake. I'm sure he'd like to see us both there tonight as a family. It sounds like it's a big event for him." As a writer, Evan knew what it was like to give readings of his own work. He'd always dreaded doing it. He'd never done it sober. He couldn't have been prouder of his son's courage or his ambition to become a writer.

"Can't do that," Jeffery said. "It's an important guy from Silicon Valley who flew in just to talk to me. This is big. There's a lot of money involved. This guy owns the most important online social media outlet since the invention of TV and he's going public soon and I'm his biggest investor."




 

 

Evan didn't truly grasp what Jeffery did on Wall Street because he'd always worked in the more creative end of publishing. He knew it had a lot to do with the stock market and investments- venture capitalism. Jeffery had made his fortune in the right technology stocks at a time when a lot of other investors had been laughing at them. And he'd continued to build his billion-dollar fortune by following all the latest trends in social media. At this particular time social media seemed to be booming and Evan knew Jeffery would never miss an opportunity to get involved in something this important.

Evan smiled and said, "I didn't think you would. I understand, and I'm sure Kenny will, too." Now he would have to go to the reading. He would not let his son down the same way Jeffery always let him down.

Jeffery moved closer to him and rested his palm on Evan's thigh. He ran it up and down and said, "You look fantastic. I was expecting to find you all depressed and pale like the other times you've returned from Havilland. But this time you look different. It's hard to explain."

Evan shrugged. He felt different this time, but he didn't want to get into anything too deep with Jeffery. "I've lost too much weight. My clothes are falling off. But I feel good." When he said this, he realized how true it was. He really did feel good and he wasn't sure why.

"You look like you did the first day I met you," Jeffery said. He move even closer and put his arm around him. He kissed his neck and said, "You smell good, too."

Evan laughed. "What are you doing?" He tried to pull out from under Jeffery's arm but Jeffery held him even tighter.

"I'm welcoming my husband home the proper way," Jeffery said. His hand moved higher and he squeezed the inside of Evan's thigh.

Evan reached for his shoulders and said, "We shouldn't be doing this."

Jeffery's hand went higher. "We're married. We love each other."

Although they were separated in the sense that they didn't live together, they weren't formally separated and they had been having sex regularly since Evan had moved back to his old apartment. The reason they didn't live together wasn't because of Evan's drinking problem. It was because Jeffery couldn't be monogamous, no matter how hard he tried. He hadn't lied to Evan. He'd been open and honest from the beginning of their marriage and Evan had known what he was getting into. They'd always had what some couples call an open relationship and were free to have sex with other men as long as it was safe sex and there was nothing emotional about it. At first, Evan thought it was the perfect relationship for two gay men. But then they adopted Kenny and Evan found he wanted a more traditional lifestyle. He'd tried to make the open marriage work; he'd tried to live with knowing his husband was sleeping with other men. But it finally reached a point where he couldn't take it anymore and he moved back to his old apartment to sort things out on his own.