“I can’t believe you told them!” Simon said to Karl.

They were meeting at Pete’s tonight, and the guys had greeted Simon with a sarcastic cheer.

“I think he’s walking funny,” said Pete.

“Today our boy has become a man,” added Rex.

“This is total bullshit,” said Lucas, his arms folded.

“How could I keep it from them?” asked Karl. “I had to explain why you weren’t going to be here tonight—because, remember, you weren’t going to be here tonight, you were going to be with your new looooover.”

Simon blushed and looked away, but that really got the guys started. Even Karl, who viewed Simon’s love-life with the horrified disdain only a brother could muster, was laughing.

“Where is this promising young man?” asked Pete. “Are you so ashamed of us that you couldn’t bring him into our presence?”

“Yeah, this reception is exactly why I’m not bringing him here,” said Simon.

Truth was, he wished he was with Evan right now. Nothing against the guys, but every moment away from Evan had begun to hurt. I wonder what he’s up to right now. I wonder if he’s thinking of me.

They’d promised to see each other later tonight, though. That gave Simon something to look forward to, something to think about other than what the guys must think of him.

On the whole, they were taking it pretty well. He didn’t mind getting flamed for it; that was natural. Lucas, on the other hand, seemed really bothered by it.

“Let me be the first to congratulate you on what we’re all assuming is the loss of your virginity,” said Pete, and Simon threw a couch pillow at him.

Rex said, “Seriously though, I never saw it coming.”

Pete laughed. “That’s what he said.”

“One of our own, dating the Actual Enemy. Perhaps there will be peace in our time,” said Rex.

“In Evan’s defense,” said Simon, “you know he was never one of the bad Crays.”

Lucas shook his head. “You’re naive, Simon. They’re all bad.”

Simon grabbed a beer out of Pete’s fridge. “I know, I know.”

“Do you? Because if you really understood that, I don’t think you’d be sleeping with him,” said Lucas.

The room went quiet. Even Pete looked fidgety.

“He’s not like his cousins,” said Simon. “But you know, as much as the Battle of the Quarry was a real thing, it was ages ago. We’ve all grown up. You can’t use something that happened fifteen years ago to judge people now.”

The silence in the room had turned to shock.

“You…you’re disrespecting the Battle?” asked Rex.

“Dude, it was the most important thing that ever happened to us,” said Pete.

That stung.

“It happened when we were kids, though. Tons of things have happened since then. Important things. We can’t just live in the past, can we?” asked Simon.

He looked around the room, surprised by what he saw, the discomfort, the disbelief. Couldn’t they see that even though they were best friends, the Battle was part of childhood mythology, and they could grow out of it? They were acting like the friendship would just dry up and blow away, if they ever stopped believing all Crays were evil.

“It’s not even our feud,” he said.

Lucas stood. “All right, this is bullshit. Guys, I’m going home.”

“What? No, dude, stay,” said Pete.

“I can’t watch one of my best friends make the biggest mistake of his life, and then lecture us about how it’s not a mistake, and we all need to get over our foolish childhood fancies.”

Simon shook his head. “That’s not what I said.

“It’s what you meant, though. I thought you were smarter than this, Simon.”

“I know Evan. He’s not a bad guy. He’s got a good heart, and he’s—”

“Dude, I’m not even talking about Evan,” Lucas interrupted. “As much of a waste of oxygen as he is, I’m really talking about their family. Do you honestly think Archibald Cray is going to let your relationship happen? Oh joy, my rich nephew is going to date a commoner who works at the company! You really think he’s going to think that?”

Simon started to respond, but paused. It was the exact same thought both he and Evan had already had. Archie wouldn’t like this. “He can’t control our lives,” he said finally.

“Oh, please. He controls every penny Evan gets. We all know about the damned trust fund. He could order Evan to leave you right now, and what choice would Evan have? None.”

“You’d be surprised,” said Simon. “Evan knows how to stand up to his uncle.”

“Do you really want to test that theory? Do you want to risk getting your heart broken if you’re wrong? I mean, damn, Simon, you talk about the Battle like it doesn’t mean anything, and I get what you’re saying, but you’re so mistaken, it’s like you haven’t learned anything. That family is so pathological. Archibald wants nothing less than total control over every branch of the family, every employee in the company, everything.”

Simon chose his next words carefully. “I don’t want to sound like I’m belittling your opinion, Lucas…but aren’t you a bit biased here? Isn’t this just because your two families have been at each other’s throats for ages?”

“Holy shit, Simon, are you serious? You think all this is, is some fucking family grudge? Do you think I’ve been sitting in a fucking cave since high school? No. I have met the guys Ash and Callum have dated, that Archie made them break up with. I have heard this story again and again. Isn’t it strange to you that three of the most eligible bachelors in that line have never had a long-term relationship? Why do you think that is? It’s because Archie keeps an iron grip on them. He’s never going to let go, not until the day he dies. Goddamn it, I’m not trying to make you hate Evan, I’m saying you have to be careful, because I know you. You’re innocent, Simon. You’re going to get really, really badly hurt here.”

Shaking his head, waving off all the entreaties that he stay, Lucas walked out.

It was silent for a little while, then everybody stared at Simon, who was still facing the door with a stricken expression.

“That was…awkward,” said Pete.

“I’m really sorry,” said Simon. “I guess I shouldn’t have come tonight.”

* * *

The next day, Archibald Cray showed up in the records department again.

Evan hadn’t come in yet, but was due soon. Simon hadn’t seen him last night. After the thing with the guys, he’d just felt sad and disgruntled, and didn’t want to wreck Evan’s mood by talking about it. Oh, yeah, that’s a good sign, keeping things from your new boyfriend.

They’d texted a little back and forth, then Simon had gone to bed and stared at the blank wall for a long time.

“I was visiting Sales, then thought I would drop by,” said Archibald. “A little informal meeting to see how the presentation is coming. Although I note Evan hasn’t shown up to work. Is that common, his coming in late?”

Simon’s heart sank. All he could think of was Lucas’ warning from last night. But how could Archie possibly know whether Evan and Simon were together? He couldn’t. It’s not like he had spies or something. On the other hand, his voice seemed to drip evil.

“Not at all, sir. He has been a model employee since he got here,” Simon said.

Archibald raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I see. And has he made progress on his presentation, this model employee of yours?”

“He’s going to do fine, sir. I promise.”

“You should hope so.”

When Evan finally did show up, Simon pulled him into the records room. At first Evan took this with a big, hungry smile, and put his hands on Simon’s hips. He said, “I missed you, man. We ought to—”

It was hard to get the words out. Just seeing Evan had gotten Simon worked up again. Evan’s hands, so strong and firm on his hips, promised more than they could possibly deliver right now, but there was that instinctive response, wanting to kiss Evan, to run his tongue down the side of Evan’s muscular neck, to slip hands inside his suit, to release him from all these inconvenient clothes…

He shook his head. “Listen. Archie was here. I think he means trouble.”

“Of course he does. He hates me. But you don’t have to worry about that. Let me take care of him.”

Evan was tugging Simon’s shirt-tail out of his pants, but Simon held his hands to stop him.

“Seriously, we do have to worry, don’t we? We have to be sure he doesn’t find out about us.”

He wanted to say more. He wanted to tell Evan about the conversation he’d had last night with Lucas, the dire warnings. But if Archibald Cray had kept his own sons from dating anyone, wouldn’t Evan already know about that? Wouldn’t he already be aware of every danger, far more than Simon would?

How would that go, exactly? One of my best friends is the mortal enemy of your family, and hates all of you, and he thinks this is a bad idea.

Yeah. Couldn’t tell Evan that.

But the mention of his uncle did cause Evan to pause.

“Look, I believe you, okay?” he said to Simon. “This is what he does. He scares people. I’ll go up and talk to him a little later. Give him a progress report. Won’t mention you at all. He’s got no reason to suspect you and I have anything going on, so don’t worry about that part.”

Simon lay his head against Evan’s chest. “I’m still going to worry.”

“Okay, I respect that. Now let’s get those pants off of you, so I can give you something else to worry about.”

Simon pushed him away, laughing. “Work, my friend. That’s what we’re going to worry about today.”

What kept surprising Simon was what a quick study Evan was. He still had in his mind this image of Evan as the affable but dumb rich kid, even after getting to know him, even after falling for him and sleeping with him. But Evan wasn’t dumb at all; he quickly grasped all the presentation software Simon showed him, and even brushed aside some of Simon’s offers to help design it. “Quit, you’re just going to old-lady it up,” he said.

“Hey!” objected Simon, nudging him in the ribs, but he found himself enjoying sitting here, watching Evan take notes.

Evan’s idea was the same thing he’d said that first day: Modernize the department. At this point, Leonard’s grave warnings about computers having no future seemed shortsighted at best, delusional at worst. It was time to bring the department into the twenty-first century, so they could function like an actual modern company.

Evan said, “It doesn’t make sense that family personal business, like the trusts, is all mixed in with company business. It’s offensive, even for someone who knows nothing about numbers, like me.”

Simon beamed. “I’m glad you’re taking this so seriously.”

Still, he was shaken. Why couldn’t he get rid of this sense of foreboding? He felt like he needed to warn Evan of trouble on the horizon. But what trouble? Evan had some blind spots, sure, and he was prone to being overconfident, but what could possibly go wrong now? He had a job to do, he had Simon looking out for him, everything was great.

Maybe it’s because it’s my first real relationship, and I’m terrified that something will go wrong.

When the office phone rang, Simon jumped. His hand hesitant, he picked up the receiver and answered.

“Simon, this is Ash Cray. Please send Evan upstairs.”