Worlds Collide (Fan Service #6)

4. CJ

FOUR

CJ

As someone who’s spent the last six years studying to be a doctor, I’m pretty used to the level of exhaustion currently weighing my bones down. At least mentally I’m used to it, but it still makes me loopy.

I’d only flown back from New York to LA three days before I got on a plane again, but I worked two twenty-four-hour shifts in that time, so as much as I wanted to maybe strike up a real conversation with Wolf now that I finally had the chance again, I fell asleep the second my ass hit the leather seats of the chartered jet.

I can’t say that it doesn’t bother me, but there’s no way I can change it. I’ll just have to find a way to talk to him tomorrow before the wedding, or maybe during.

I did manage to organize almost everything before I flew back to LA, including step number two, but I didn’t have time to have that talk about step number three with Adam. Now I’ll have to tell him at the same time as I tell everyone else. I don’t know if there’ll be a chance to get all our friends together for some time to ourselves with all the weekend’s activities, but the anticipation of telling them I changed my name is killing me, so here’s hoping.

Adam knows about it. Not that I’ve already done it, but that for years I’ve planned on changing my name—and why—the second I got the trust fund, so I know he won’t be surprised about that part. The other thing though... yeah, I shouldn’t think about that too much.

I think Sunday after the party and before Mike and Theo leave for their honeymoon will probably be the best time. I’ll have to find a way to keep my mouth shut until then.

Wolf and I had around two minutes alone in the car being driven by Rich, Wolf’s bodyguard, after we dropped off Derek, Hawk, Bennett, and Luke at another house someone lent the grooms, and I was too out of it to even ask him how he’s doing.

We arrived at the Alton family beach house only to be greeted by Theo himself, along with Iris who was smiling brightly. Happiness actually brimming out of her, she greets me with a hug after I shake Theo’s hands.

“How was your flight?” she asks me while I see Theo greet Wolf out of the corner of my eye.

“I slept the whole way,” I tell her with a slight smile, then follow her upstairs.

“This will be your room. Alton told us you should have your own room.” The way she says it, with a subtle question mark at the end lets me know she’s curious. It may be that I’m too tired to think it through, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t explain my relationship to the family who owns this house.

“Duke is my lawyer,” I explain after dumping my bag on a chair.

“Ah,” she says with a nod, like she understands everything now. “Baron would want to keep you happy then. That makes sense. ”

I just smile at her. I feel like my body is about to collapse and I really don’t have the energy to keep a conversation going even though it might seem rude.

“Everyone else is sharing,” she says with an... interesting expression.

Does that mean . . .

Who is Wolf sharing a room with, I wonder indignantly, though I keep my mouth shut. No need to let Iris know about my intentions this weekend. Having a room to myself means I can invite Wolf over here if he agrees by some miracle to help me out with step number three.

“The rehearsal dinner is in about an hour,” Iris goes on, sounding bored. I would be too if I were carrying the conversation by myself so I don’t blame her. “You can wear whatever.” She waves a hand then spins around and closes the door behind her.

I let out a huge breath, take out my phone, put on a thirty-minute timer, then fall face first onto the mattress and sleep takes me instantly.

I feel like I’m about eighty percent on my way to being alive, and I know exactly what will get me the remaining twenty. I spring up and take a quick shower, then throw on the first shirt and pants that I find in my bag, and I’m out the door fifteen minutes before I’m due at the Crawfords’ house.

As is usual with all wealthy families’ beach houses, there’s always someone helpful around, so I get a coffee in a thermos filled with ice, and take my time walking over to the beach.

The next day, when I wake up alone and naked in my bedroom, I realize that the coffee must’ve induced some kind of emergency setting in my brain in order for it to function, because I can barely remember a thing beyond when I arrived at the rehearsal dinner and greeted everyone.

It’s just as well, I suppose. I don’t think I talked a lot, so I probably didn’t embarrass myself?—

And who gives a fuck if I did embarrass myself?

I don’t care about representing the family name or showing that I have class . I was surrounded by the people closest to me and their families, so even if I did embarrass myself nothing bad will come of it.

I’m only sure about this because I know somehow that I didn’t talk to Wolf. If I do or say something stupid in front of him then I might very well die of mortification.

Wicks, the butler of the mansion, once more saves my life by giving me coffee and I show him my appreciation the best way I know how.

“Wicks, if the Altons ever let you take a vacation you call me up and go to my villa in Lake Como, it’s the only place on earth where life is always good, okay?”

“Of course, sir,” he tells me with a head bow and his haughty British accent that makes it clear who is the one with more class here.

“And if they don’t give you those vacations, then I suggest you get a good lawyer,” I joke and wink at him. Because I have way more experience with career butlers than one would think reasonable, I don’t expect any type of reaction, but I get a tiny smirk as a pleasant surprise.

“Miss Beatrice Alton has been on my retainer since her fifth birthday, Mr. Sounders.” Now there’s a veiled smartass response if I’ve ever heard one.

I smirk at Wicks and wink again. “Lucky guy,” I sing-song. He narrows his eyes at me which makes me laugh out loud. “You can trust that she’s safe from me, Wicks. No matter how much my parents wanted me to marry a respectable young lady from a good family, I managed to resist.” He nods at me like he expects me to keep it that way, so I shake my head with the smile still firmly in place and walk away. “Have a good day, Wicks.”

“You too, sir. Enjoy the festivities.”

“Here’s hoping,” I mutter to myself as I open the door to the porch. I once more take my time walking along the shore.

I’ve only ever come to the Hamptons with my parents before. Not to take a vacation or have any type of fun at the beach of course, but to attend charity galas and the most exclusive events of the summer for the filthy rich.

I’ll never have to step foot in that kind of event ever again if I don’t want to. Which I don’t.

My gaze lands on the huge tent on the patch of beach in front of the Crawford house and I wince internally. There’s nothing more filthy rich than the Crawford heir’s wedding in the Hamptons... But today and tonight will be nothing like those events I was thinking about.

Theo and Mike are cool, kind, and down-to-earth people. Despite the fact they both grew up well-off, they’re still humble and hard workers who have done everything they can to make their mark on the world by themselves.

The advantages they’ve had because of their privileged upbringings are undeniable of course—just like mine—but it’s Mike who goes to the gym every day to get as strong as he can be and who studies tape constantly. Not his parents.

It’s Theo who wakes up most days at ungodly hours to start preparing the day’s treats at his bakery, certainly not his father .

And I’m the one who bled, cried, and sweated for the title of Summa Cum Laude at Hopkins, not my parents.

We were all lucky to be born to privileged families—yes, even me—but we didn’t choose to. What we do choose to work on is what makes us good men.

Because I am a good person. I am.

Diana and Peter believe it—and I hope they keep believing it when I tell them I’ve known I’m bi for more than a decade and didn’t say anything—and they’re the two adults I trust the most in this world.

They know their stuff.

I walk up the porch steps just as Wolf comes out of the house.

It feels like every cell in my body comes alive at the sight of him.

Finally, I can really start my life. I haven’t ever been able to be myself but that all changes today.

With Wolf.

This is my reward for sacrificing so much of my identity for the past decade. I couldn’t let all that blood and trash money stay in my mother’s greedy hands or go to my uncle. Now I’m making sure to use it to put some good out into the world, so I expect the rest of my life to be filled with fun, happy moments, and they will involve everyone gathered around the table.

I won’t let the rest of my life be the sad, boring, dreary gray it’s been up to now.

There have been some good times, of course, but now I’m going to set new goals, and they will all be focused on my happiness.

“Morning,” I tell the table at large but looking straight into Wolf’s stormy eyes. He looks annoyed, pissed off is more like it, and fucking delicious.

As we all settle in to have a big breakfast I think carefully about how I’m going to proposition him, what I need to say to get him to be the first man I have sex with. I’ll probably need some liquid courage tonight, and that will more than likely be easy to achieve since it’s a very open bar.

Come hell or high water I’m gobbling him up tonight.

Wolf Storm better get ready to be seduced.

I go back to my room and get into my suit after a more thorough shower, then go right back to the Crawford house to see what I can help with when it comes to preparations.

Iris has everything under control it seems, and sends everyone who isn’t family out to the beach to have pre-wedding drinks almost an hour before the ceremony is set to begin.

That’s when I stand around my friends, hear about their summers, their families, their jobs, and nervously drink down three glasses of champagne before Iris finally instructs all the guests to find seats in the area besides the big tent where the officiant is already waiting for everyone.

The ceremony is the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen. Mike and Theo leave no one with a single doubt that they’re perfect for each other and forever devoted to their relationship. My eyes stray more than a handful of times to Wolf during the vows. He looks pensive and calm. He isn’t scowling at all and his eyes never leave the grooms as they each vow to give everything they have to the other man.

When it’s over, the whole group of friends—that’s gotten a lot bigger since our college days—is called to go over to where the official photographs are being taken, and we wait in the summer sun for our turn .

I love seeing the way Derek absolutely loses it when Mike and Theo walk over for hugs of congratulations, and I can’t help but look for Wolf. My stomach bottoms out when I still don’t find him when we’re directed by the photographer to pose. I open my mouth to alert them that we’re missing Wolf when I hear him right behind me.

“You gonna stand in front of me for the shot, little rich boy?” The deep, lazy drawl has goosebumps breaking out all over my body, and maybe that’s why I stumble in my haste to move aside.

I get my balance just in time, and squeeze in between Bennett and Wolf. He wraps his arm around me loosely and I need to force my face into a relaxed, happy smile because the sudden, stark need to feel his strong hold around my waist is fucking distracting.

I walk next to Adam as if in a daze when we’re told to go to the tent for cocktail hour, or something like that, and next thing I know I have a lemon gin and tonic in my hand and am taking the first refreshing sip.

Okay, CJ. Just breathe and be yourself, I tell myself when we get to our table and I sit between Adam and Carter. I’ll get my shot to get the whole group together when we don’t have an impatient photographer pushing us along.

Derek still looks wrecked by his overwhelmingly good emotions when I see him sit down at the table next to ours. I can see a devilish smirk in his husband’s face so I can guess Hawk’s teasing him mercilessly for it.

The vows were lovely, of course, but I never thought the emotionless man would ever react like this. He does have a special bond with Mike, everyone knows that, but it’s still pretty surprising.

Wolf is once again looking around stoically, barely hearing his brother and Derek bickering, I’m sure, and I wish I felt brave enough to walk over there and strike up a conversation. But there’s no way I can hit on him in front of all our friends—and especially within hearing distance—before I even tell them I’m bi.

So I stay in my seat and settle in to celebrate love and life.

There are a lot of people here who I’ve seen over the years at the million charity balls and galas my parents always made me go to, and though I greet a few of them when they walk by the table, I don’t go out of my way for any of them.

I do smirk when I realize there are some people constantly turning to look my way then away. Those are “close friends” of my parents—or as close a thing to friends as my parents are capable of having—and I just bet my recent financial changes are having the intended effects on them.

Trepidation.

I really just want them to not come anywhere close to me. If they forget about my existence then honestly, I’ll be pretty happy with that.

I don’t want them shaking in their boots from the thought of just how much power I now have over them. Over a lot of people. The last thing I want is to be anything like my grandfather or my parents, so I happily ignore them and chill with my friends.

Once we’re done with one of the most amazing dinners of my life, I see Harrison stand and go up to the stage that’s set up with instruments and a DJ booth behind it. He takes the microphone and tilts it to check if it’s on, then faces all the guests.

“Hello everyone. I’d like to thank you for joining me in celebrating the love of Theo and Mike. Please join me in wishing them the happiest of lives together.”

We all raise our glasses and Harrison points his at his son’s table.

“Now it’s time for their first dance as married men, and we have the honor of hearing Ed Trent sing them their favorite song. ”

My mouth drops slightly. I stayed away from him and his wife Samantha at Harrison’s wedding because I didn’t want to lose my cool, and I definitely didn’t see the legend anywhere in the crowd during the ceremony, but sure enough, there he is, jumping onto the stage like he’s still twenty-five and not in his fifties. He drags a stool over to the mic stand and proceeds to render a beautiful version of his song “When You Don’t,” while Mike and Theo slowdance and never take their eyes off each other.

It’s a great song for a first dance in my opinion, and how freaking cool is it that he’s here to sing it? I’m about to fanboy all over this table... damn.

The song speaks about how you cherish the person who loves you when you’re not perfect. When you’re down and not at your best. The person who stands by you and protects you when you’re vulnerable. It’s a song he famously wrote for Samantha years ago.

Once the last note rings out, and the applause subsides, he leans into the mic again.

“I do wish you the happiest of marriages, boys, and to start it off the way it’s supposed to be—fun—I’d like to invite a friend up here to help me tempt you all onto the dance floor.”

And then Wolf is jumping up on stage as well, and shrugging on a seriously sexy-looking electric guitar. He gets another mic stand and places it next to Ed’s.

“Come on,” Wolf growls into the mic. “I know Theo and Mike don’t want to be alone on the dance floor. And I know you’re all very well put together, and all fancied up, but you’re gonna have to let loose and unclench your assholes to really enjoy this one.”

There’s a beat of silence where a few snickers—one of them Ed’s—can be heard in the tent, and I burst out laughing right before Wolf strikes the first chord of an infectious riff .

Everyone is walking to the dance floor the next second when Mike starts jumping up and down like a dork and Theo follows suit.

I look over at Harrison while I’m still laughing at Wolf telling the elite of New York City to literally relax their asses, and see the groom’s father covering his face with both hands and Tristan laughing uncontrollably next to him.

Then my eyes shift back to Wolf.

I laser in on the way he expertly handles the guitar, only looking down casually a few times even though I can tell it’s a tricky song to play, and I know nothing about playing the guitar. The movements, the confidence, the fucking swagger is giving me all kinds of ideas. I trail my eyes up his torso while he plays the solo and when I get to his eyes, I see they’re solely focused on me.

And he looks beyond angry.

Or maybe it’s not anger, I’m not really sure, but it lights my blood on fire.

That is until Carter slides up next to me and hands me another drink. Then I focus on the party again. The dance floor is full of people as Ed sings a cover of “LUCKY PENNY” by JD McPherson. It’s pretty ironic, how all these rich people sing about a lucky penny only bringing them bad luck. I bet they’ve never picked up a lucky penny in their lives, but they do look like they’re letting loose on the dance floor.

The rest of the reception is just as fun and entertaining.

I get to catch up with Adam about how his brothers are doing and we discuss Kevin’s desire to become a sports agent at length. At three in the morning, it’s only our friends’ group left in the tent.

We’re all sitting around—and I’d bet we’re all drunk—on the dance floor. For some reason we started dragging chairs from the table over here, and now we’re in a happy circle.

Sebas and Adam .

George and Glenn.

Josie and Bidy.

Bennett and Luke.

Theo and Mike.

Derek and Hawk.

Carter.

And Wolf.

I know this is the moment.

These are my people. It’s time to tell them all about the real me.