Chapter 111

For a week or so, everything went back to normal. I simply made it a habit to call them "idiots" anytime I thought I might say something I'd regret later. Whatever West thought my problem was, he was wrong. I had a house full of fuck toys; there was no problem. They were idiots; you don't say 'it' to idiots.

We were all at dinner when the visitor buzzed the front gate.

"I'll get it." Yann was closest to the door anyway. He came back a good little while later.

"You go on walk-about?" Ian asked.

"No. Does anyone happen to know an 'Eddie' Alverez?" Yann looked at Juan.

Who looked like a deer frozen in headlights. "Why?"

"He has a visitor." Yann said with smug amusement.

Juan and I both looked confused. "Visitor?" I asked.

"Who?" Juan wanted to know.

"Juan Carlos Alverez. He's on his way in."

"He's here?!" Juan stood up. It was a casual family dinner. None of the boys were wearing much more than a thong. "Oh! I told her!" He muttered something in Spanish that didn't sound pleasant and involved 'Maria'.

"Hold on, Baby. Sit."

"But..."

"Sit." He sat. "Ok, first off, don't tell me your name is 'Eddie."

He sighed and smiled slightly. "No, not really. It was a thing with my father. I'm Juan Eduardo, my brother's Juan Carlos and my sister's Juanita."

"That answers my second question. So why is your brother here and why didn't I know he was coming to my house?"

"Why didn't I know he was coming to your house?" Juan countered. "I haven't talked to him in five years. At least."

The doorbell rang and everyone looked at me. Yann was at least wearing a micro-mini; it almost covered his ass. "Take him to the living room. Let him hang out there for a minute or two."

"Yes, Boss." Yann actually giggled and left.

"Papi, I..."

"He can wait a bit. How'd he get this address?"

"At a guess? My sister. I sent her a Christmas card and she promised not give out my address. But she's never understood that Carlos and I don't get along, so he probably sweet talked her into giving it to him."

"Ok. I can get that. So, why's he here?"

"Hell if I know and damned if I care!"

"He's your brother." Janos pointed out. Johan nodded. "Ja, you must care."

"Not every sibling is like you." Zane countered. "I wouldn't be happy if one of my sisters just showed up."

"It's Juan's family," Ivan said, "we can't tell him to like them."

"Well I for one, want to know why he's here." I decided. I glanced at the boys again; none of them were 'dressed for company'. "Jhon, go get them, bring them in. If he says anything too rude about the way you or Yann are dressed, throw him out." Jhon had on a thong with a nut sack but no ring so it wouldn't 'taint' his stroking time.

"Yes, Boss." Jhon rushed out.

"Papi -"

"Another word, Baby, and you'll be sitting in my lap while you talk to him."

Juan closed his mouth and frowned. I found myself chuckling.

A moment later, Jhon, Yann, and a stunned silent Juan Carlos came in to the dining room. His head turned slowly around the table as he realized that all the men in the room were similarly attired.

Then he recognized Juan. "Eddie!" He started to move then stopped. "Uh..."

"Mr. Alverez," I said, standing up. I was at least wearing house pants. "Welcome to my home. Please, join us. We were just about to have dessert." I gestured to the lone empty chair.

"Uh, thanks. I, uh, I..."

"John Jons." I offered my hand. "Your brother works for me."

"Works?" His voice had a note of disbelief.

"Yes, works." Juan snapped. "As if it's any of your business what I do."

"I gotta watch out for the family, right?" Alverez replied. It had the feel of a well-worn exchange.

"Works, Alverez." I repeated. "He's my house manager and admin assistant. Has been for a good, what, three years now?"

"Six." Juan, Ivan and Yann said at the same time.

"You left PriceWaterhouse to come here?" Alverez looked more shocked than he'd looked before. "But you'd just got that promotion! Why come here?"

Juan muttered something in Spanish. "Everything is not about money, Carlos."

"Yeah, it is." Alverez and I said at the same time.

Ian and Sean both snickered. "That explained a lot, didn't it?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Quiet; no comments from the peanut gallery needed." I snapped. They stifled themselves and I turned back to Alverez. "You gonna stand there or are you gonna shake my hand and sit down?"

"If you're going to come uninvited, at least don't be rude to the host!" Juan reminded his brother. "Try to have some courtesy."

"Of course." Alverez shook my hand and sat down.

"I'll clear the table." Zane said and popped up. He grabbed an armload of dishes and took them into the kitchen. The bells on his nipple rings jingled softly as he moved.

Ivan sighed. "You." He pointed at Alverez. "He's our brother now. You upset him, you upset us all. Capish?" He got up and grabbed the plates nearest to him. "Cutie, get the rest and put out the blue bowls!" I heard him shout before the kitchen door closed.

"My chief and his assistant." I said.

"He always threaten people?"

"Yeah!" A few of the boys said as I scoffed, "No!"

Alverez nodded. "So. Are you guys nudists?"

"More or less." I agreed. Easier than explaining the truth.

"Why are you here, Carlos? Did you want to tell me I'm disgracing Dad's memory again?"

"No! Eddie! Come on, man! Can't I just see how you're doing?"

"Ah. Checking up on me." Juan huffed. "I'm fine. There. Now you can tell Juanita you saw me, I was happy and eating too much." He looked down at the bowls that had magically appeared in front of us. "Ivan, what is this?"

"Chocolate raspberry shortcake."

"It's what?" Juan blinked at the chief.

"You've heard of strawberry shortcake? Well, same. thing. Except I used raspberries instead of strawberries. And I put dark chocolate in the shortcake."

"Oh my God, Sweetcakes, this is unreal!" Giovanni raved. "I will do whatever you want if you make this every week!"

"You do that anyway." Ivan replied warmly. He took a bite of his own portion and nodded. "Is good. Boss?"

I took a bite. My mouth had an orgasm. "That's worth a bonus. Name your price."

"Yeah?" He grinned. "Aw, but I can't take all the credit. Cutie made the cream."

"He is good at that." I commented. Half the table chuckled.

"This is excellent." Alverez agreed. "You're an excellent chief."

"Yeah. Learned from KGB." Ivan glowered at him.

"Enough! One more and you don't leave the kitchen for a month."

He muttered something in Russian, but fixed his face. "Yes, Boss."

"Same for the rest of you. Clear?"

"Yes, Boss."

"Now. Where were we? Oh, right. Why you're here. Ten years is a little too long for a drop by visit. And if it's money, I can tell you, he gets paid shit, so he doesn't have any."

Alverez and Juan both shook their heads. "I don't need money." "He always has money."

"Eww! It's contagious!" Ian pointed at the Twins.

"Vanker." Janos sighed. Johan raised an eyebrow. "Ve have vays of making you behave, ja?"

"Juicy, a wise man once said, 'shut up while you can'." Yeuhan didn't even look up from his dessert as the others laughed.

"I'll be good! I'll be good!" Ian promised.

I ignored them and went on. "Ok, not money. So what?"

Alverez frowned and spoke directly to Juan in Spanish.

"No, we cannot go someplace private and talk." Juan said clearly, in English. "This is my family and we don't have secrets around here."

"Fine!" Alverez's jaw worked for a moment and then he leaned forward. "Ok. Look. When you left Price, I figured you had something lined up. Then you dropped off the map, practically!"

"I was on Facebook daily."

"With Nita. You never replied to me. Then, all of a sudden, you stopped talking to anyone. There's an update, what, once a month?"

Juan shrugged and smiled slightly at me. "Job got busy suddenly."

"Well, Nita practically freaked. We were both worried. I mean, I checked with all your old friends and nobody'd seen you around for months at least. Pricewaterhouse wouldn't tell me anything. So when you finally sent that card, I had to come!"

"You should have at least let them know you were alive, Baby!" Yann reached over and smacked Juan's wrist.

"That's all we did know!" Alverez paused, seeming to gather his thoughts. "Eddie, Juanita wants you to come home." Juan laughed. "I mean it! I think she needs you to be right."

"You mean, she's afraid you're like Dad and you'll start molesting her any day now." Juan gave him an arched look. "Or have you already started?"

Alverez held up the back of his hand, displaying a gold band. "I been married four years, ok? Carol and I have three kids, Carl Jr, Lucy, and Eduardo."

Juan nodded. "I'm touched. Send me pictures. I'm not going back."

"Eddie, you gotta let go of the past, man." Alverez sounded like he actually cared. "You can't let something bad take your family away from you."

"Something bad?" Zane looked at Juan, definitely concerned.

"He means my Dad's sexual abuse." Juan said lightly. Alverez looked like he'd rather discuss castration, but Juan ignored him. "Mom died when I was ten. When Juanita hit puberty about three years later, Dad started touching her. Carlos tried to stop it subtly - he keep Dad out of the house, and tried to keep his mind on other things. Which was good. I think you did the best you could. But finally it wasn't enough and we came home one day to find Dad trying to rape Nita." Juan shrugged. He seemed damn calm. "So I stepped in. I told him that raping a girl was a double sin, but since I would let him take me, it wasn't rape - and since I wasn't technically a man yet, it wasn't really a gay."