“Get up.”

As soon as I heard Matthew’s voice, I jerked awake. The blinds were closed shut, and he was standing over me, wearing a full body vinyl outfit, complete with whip accessory. His butt shined against the sliver of light coming from one of the blinds.

Matthew bent down and ran the whip across my bare chest. “I was thinking you could use the whip next time, but I call dibs on the outfit,” he said.

I blinked my eyes a few times and groggily lifted my body out of bed. “I didn’t realize you’d be coming here so early,” I said, fighting back a yawn.

Tossing the whip to the side of the room, he zipped the outfit down and began pulling it off. “Is the outfit too much?”

Before he could get his ankle out of the vinyl opening, I coiled my body around him and kissed the crook of his neck. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect,” I said.

Matthew was able to break free of the outfit. He turned around and trickled his fingers through my hair. “I wanted to surprise you early because I’m thankful for what you’ve done for my family.”

I felt every cell in my body pause with guilt. Did Matthew finally find out about the project? Oh, God. “Look, it wasn’t my intention to—”

Matthew dragged his finger across my lips and whispered, “Quiet. You don’t need to explain yourself. We’re really grateful for the money, and we’ll find a way to return the debt.”

The money? I swallowed, mouth as dry as sand. “Oh, right. The money,” I said.

Matthew furrowed his brow. “It was you who paid our rent for the next three months, right?”

“I thought you could use the help,” I said.

Lost in a horrible situation, I tried to do what was right. Still, it only made things worse.

Matthew lowered himself onto the mattress and curled his body around my lower half. I traced my finger below his navel, feeling the small hairs catch against my finger. His dark eyes were practically glowing, and I couldn’t stop wondering when this dream would start to implode.

“How did this happen?” Matthew chuckled.

“Us?” I asked.

“We didn’t even know each other. Now, I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said.

“You knew it would end up like this,” I said.

“Maybe you knew, but I didn’t,” he whispered.

He lowered his eyes. “What are we doing? When all is said and done, are you going to leave me?”

I leaned over him and promised that I would never turn away from this. Though Matthew nodded his head as if he believed me, the morning felt unusual, and I felt unable to tell him just how much he meant to me.

Matthew jumped off of the bed and walked into the bathroom, practically bouncing off of his heels. “I ran a bath while you were asleep. I’d love it if you joined me,” he said.

“I’ll be right there,” I said with a gentle smile.

As soon as Matthew disappeared into the bathroom, I sat up and buried my head in the sheets. Why did this have to happen? Of all the men I could have run into on the streets of the most densely populated city in America, I ran into him.

The faint sounds of splashing came from the bathroom. “Oh! It’s steamy!”

“Coming,” I said.

I walked into the bathroom, naked, but not as hard as I wanted to be. My karma had officially stacked high enough to tumble down onto me.

Matthew was sitting in the low lighting, under a cluster of bubbles. A look of serenity matched his face as his eyes dropped. In his hand was a foamy luffa. “Come on in, mister.”

I stepped in behind him, matching his body with mine. My conscience pushed me closer to him, but my cock had softened against his backside. I kissed the back of his neck and held him underneath the water.

“Whatever happens, I want you to know how much I love you,” I said.

As much as I meant what I said, I knew how stupid it was to say it. At the time, I wanted to prepare myself for the inevitable because once Matthew was able to put all of the pieces together, he’d throw my ass onto the curb. I’d really have nothing then.

“Don’t be weird. Good things are happening to the both of us,” he said. “Just enjoy the moment.”

“You’re right. Once I am finished with my work, we’ll have all the time in the world together,” I said.

Matthew cocked his head against my cheek. “What is it that you do, anyway?”

My heart was pounding. I wanted nothing more than to tell him the truth, but that would be the end of our heaven. I told him what I said last time. “Real Estate. Just commercial, really. Big investment properties. Boring stuff. We talked about it briefly, remember?”

Matthew turned his body to straddle my waist. Placing his hand against my chest, I had to wonder if he felt my rushed heartbeat.

“That’s not an answer,” he said.

“Well, it is to me,” I argued. “And I can’t figure out why it makes a difference if I’m retiring in a few weeks.”

He let his hand fall back into the water. “I can only imagine why you’re being so weird about this,” he whispered.

I opened my mouth to respond, but I found no words to give him.

“I thought you wanted to take this to the next level. You’re supposed to be my boyfriend,” he said.

“Kitten, I help sell commercial properties. There, is that so exciting? ” I asked.

He stared into my eyes dully. “That’s how you got to be so rich?”

I dropped my smile, feeling awful again. “My parents left me with a foster family when I was younger,” I said, biting against the inside of my cheek. “Guess they didn’t have the time for me.”

Matthew closed his mouth and eagerly hugged me. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I didn’t know.”

That was just a small taste of history that I didn’t want anyone knowing. It was embarrassing.

I kissed his face and peered into the endless wonder of his eyes. “We don’t need to think about it. I have you to keep me happy,” I said.

“I like keeping you happy,” he whispered.

I pulled the plug from the drain and thought of his smooth hole, funneled open by the glass toy. “Maybe you could stay here half of the week,” I suggested, standing up. “I want us to trust each other.”

I dried myself off and tried handing Matthew a towel, but his frown threw me off guard. “Aren’t you going to hold the towel out for me, daddy?” he asked.

I grinned and stretched out the fabric. As his body connected with the towel, I enclosed it around him and kissed his temple.

“Anything for my pumpkin.”

I wanted to spend the day with him in my bedroom, but before we could get back under the covers, I heard my phone ring on the living room table. “More work stuff?” Matthew asked.

I nodded, rolled my eyes, and stuck out my tongue with forced grief. “Want to do daddy a favor?” I asked him. Matthew eagerly agreed. “Answer the phone for me.”

I assumed it was my cousin. He had been texting me a lot lately about me jumping out of the project, but it didn’t seem possible this late in the juncture.

Matthew answered the phone. “This is Mr. Underwood’s Secretary speaking,” he said, giggling with me. “Jack Dobson? Okay, and what is this regarding? Mmhm. Okay. Yes, please hold.”

Matthew pressed the mute button on my phone and held the device against his chest. He was noticeably shaken up. “I’m assuming you know a Jack Dobson? He’s calling about the Bushwick project.”

I thought about what Jordan told me the day after I got thrown in jail with Matthew. He said, “You won’t be able to outrun this.”

I couldn’t make sense of his warning at the time. In fact, it seemed like a line of bullshit. Something I could ignore. Now, it was all starting to make sense. No, I couldn’t outrun this, and Jack knew it.

“What’s the project?” Matthew asked, gawking at me.

I took the phone out of his hand and urged him to get into bed. “Just some business,” I said. I walked into my living room and tried not to dwell on the annoyed look on Matthew’s face.

“Jack, you better make this quick,” I said.

Jack’s gruff laughter turned into a throaty cough. “What’s the matter? Getting tired of me already?”

“I’m in the middle of something,” I whispered.

Looking back, I noticed the doorknob to my bedroom turn open. Matthew leaned out of the room, staring at me. I tried to play it cool, but my demeanor revealed my anxiety with each passing second.

“You know, your secretary has never answered your calls before,” he mocked.

My cheeks turned hot to the touch. “Get. To. The point,” I said.

“I’m calling to tell you that things are underway. I’ve got my men inspecting each and every corner of those buildings,” he said.

My eyes widened, but I felt absolutely numb. “Sounds good,” I whispered.

I hung up the phone and tried not to look at Matthew’s speculating face. He wasn’t stupid. Something was wrong, and he knew it. “Who’s Jack?”

I opened my mouth and hesitated on giving him an answer that might satisfy him. Eventually, I gave up and closed my lips. I had to tell him the truth. I had to.

But then, I remembered all of the guys who steered clear of me because of who I was and what I did. Money corrupted people—it was a law of the universe.

I thought about Matthew’s friends. They were wild and uninhibited, but at least he had people who cared about him. I could hardly talk to my cousin these days.

“He’s a developer. He’s a bit old school, but he gets the job done,” I said.

Although Matthew could tell something was off, he refused to pry any further. “As long as you promise not to lie to me,” he said, “I’ll always stick by you, daddy.”

And that was the worst thing a man in my position could hear. There was nothing I wanted more than to come clean and go after Jack, but it was suicide. Knowing his crew, they wouldn’t just hassle me. They’d find Matthew and go after his weak spots.

Everything I built started to erode. My business. My relationship with my cousin. Matthew. My house of cards was crumbling.

Nothing could take away from the fact that our deal surrounded Matthew’s family bar. He was going to think the worst of me now. That much was clear. It didn’t matter how late in the game I found out. I didn’t have the foresight to back out of wrong deal.

But I knew now. It gave me an opportunity to act, to tell him the truth and come out. But if I did that too soon, I risked losing him for good.

Standing in front of Matthew, I could see the faint shadow of my reflection coming from the television screen. I couldn’t believe how much of a hypocrite I was.

Sure, I was sorry. But no amount of sorry was going to cut into the truth. A part of me would always be what my parents projected onto me through their burden.

I was a rock on people’s shoulders, weighing loved ones down for my own greed. I had won their respect, but I sure as hell didn’t deserve their love.