Chapter 1

10 Years Later

Mason

My alarm had been going off for about three hours, and I just kept hitting snooze. It was Saturday, so there was no reason for me to get up early. I stretched my arms over my head and yawned, then relaxed back into the comforter. I stared up at the penthouse ceiling fan, watching it circle round and round above my head. The sun was shining through the edges of the blinds, casting strange shadows across the ceiling. They moved with the blades of the fan, and I smiled, thinking about how lucky I was to have such an amazing place.

My father owned the York Hotel chain, one of the most luxurious hotel conglomerates in the world. I lived in the penthouse suite in his Manhattan building. It was huge, with all the amenities, and I had housekeepers and maintenance at my fingertips. Of course, I’d had to make it my own, though. I had stocked the place with the latest in surround sound, the newest and biggest flat-screens, and all the latest gadgets. I had a system to control everything from the temperature of the suite to the temperature of the water coming out of the faucets. I loved technology. I always had. If I weren’t being forced into the family business, I would own a tech company in a heartbeat.

I had tried to talk my dad into starting one up a while back, having had ideas that would blow the current cell phone business out of the water, but he thought they were stupid and had turned me down. It was par for the course with my father. He and I had never been close. He was such an asshole and always had been. I had just decided that was who he was and there was no fighting him on it.

I pulled myself up and over to the edge of the bed, groaning. I rubbed my back at the ache that shuddered up my spine. The hotel had replaced the mattress twice, but it was obvious I was going to have to buy one myself. I couldn’t keep sleeping like that, so I made a mental note to stop by the mattress store the next time I had the chance. I stood up and stretched, but it wasn’t helping, so I changed into my bathing suit and headed out to my private pool. It was a warm day in New York, so I didn’t have to heat the water. I jumped in and started my laps, the water rushing over my body. I did several laps and then got out and headed to the kitchen to make my usual green smoothie. I ate as healthy as I could on a daily basis and did at least twelve laps in the pool a day. It was important to me to take care of myself.

I took my smoothie out onto the balcony and sat looking over the city. It was a gorgeous day, and I was going to have to waste it by being around my father. I shook the thought from my head and tried to enjoy the rest of my morning. I finished my smoothie and walked back inside, stopping as I passed the hallway mirror. I didn’t have a shirt on, and I flexed my muscles and watched droplets of water shimmer on my tanned skin. It looked like I was doing something right with my workout and eating regimen. I hadn’t been a vain person when I was younger, and I tried not to think of myself that way as an adult, but I appreciated my hard work. I had a perfectly sculpted body. My muscles were shaped exactly how I wanted them. I wasn’t too big or too small, just the perfect size. I didn’t want to be a giant meathead, but I wanted women to look at me naked and think how lucky they were to have a man like me in their bed.

I leaned forward and brushed at a small spot on my cheek. It was just a piece of lint. I had grown into my face nicely through the years, and I had to say my chiseled chin and perfect smile were all that much more becoming when paired with my body. I looked clean-shaven and well-groomed, not at all how I had been when I was younger. I used to have a beard and hair down to my shoulders. I wasn’t sure what I had been thinking, but it may have had something to do with my father hating it, and I loved anything my father hated. It took me a long time to let go of that look, but staring at my smooth skin in the mirror, I was glad I had. I couldn’t imagine living the life I led now but with a ponytail and beard—though I’d heard beards were back in style. I smiled at myself in the mirror and walked into the bathroom so I could hop into the shower.

I flipped on the water and let it run to get to the perfect temperature. I took off my shorts and washed my face, looking down at my junk as I dried my skin. I was well-endowed, something I had always known but didn’t think about until I moved out of my parents’ house and started my own life. I was pretty lucky since that was a special treat for a girl when I got her home. I was good looking, physically fit, and structured perfectly to please any woman I wanted. I went out all the time and picked up women, though I usually went back to their place instead of mine so that not everyone knew who my father was. I didn’t need to use my money to pick up chicks.

I looked up into the mirror, and my mind flashed back to the first time I’d had sex. It had been in my bedroom while my parents were out of town, and it had been with Ava, my childhood sweetheart. I had to say, for all the horror stories I had heard about a guy’s first time, that one was still on my list of hot rolls in the hay. I groaned and pulled on my cock, getting hard just thinking about fucking Ava Spencer. Of course, that was impossible now, but still, it was obvious that though my mind might rarely think about it, my cock was all for it. Ava was the perfect girl in my eyes: sweet, innocent, and really hot. She had curves in all the right places, and though she was a little plumper than the girls I usually slept with now, her thickness had been one of the biggest turn-ons for me when I was that age. It was like she was a real woman made perfectly to fit with my body.

I chuckled to myself, not believing that after all these years, Ava had popped into my head. I kind of wondered what she had been doing and if she was in New York anymore. It would be interesting to see her after so long. I took a deep breath and hopped in the shower, realizing I was running late. There was no time to reminisce about the past, and looking backward only inhibited the future—at least that was what my father always told me. He had all sorts of little useless tidbits to give me on a regular basis, none of which I really listened to. I did use that one, though, when it came to women, never treading where I had already been. It made everything too complicated, and no matter how much my parents begged me to find a woman I could settle down with, I was not having it. I was having a good time, and I was young. Why did I need to settle down and be miserable like most of the married people I knew?

Regardless, the time to reminisce had passed, and I needed to kick my ass into gear. I had to get ready for the day and the dreaded regular Saturday lunch I was expected to show up at with my parents. They always went to the same restaurant, where they were surrounded by the same rich assholes, and complained about the same thing on the menu. You would think after twenty or more years of complaining, they would stop ordering that specific item, but I’d learned really young that they liked to complain. It made them feel important. My mom wasn’t as bad as my father, of course. She was sweet most of the time, but he was a tyrant.

In the shower, I did my normal routine, exfoliating, scrubbing, and making sure I was trimmed and ready for anything I might fall into that night. When I was done, I got out of the shower and dried off, wrapping my towel around my waist and grabbing my phone. I scrolled to John’s number and waited for him to answer.

“Hey, dude,” my best friend said. “You caught me at the perfect time.”

“Good,” I said. “I don’t want another instance of you answering your phone while you’re balls deep in some chick.”

“Hey, you called twice in a row. I figured it was important.” He laughed. “And she didn’t care.”

“I figured as much since she said hello in the background. How was last night?”

“Oh, man, so I picked up my date, and she was looking super hot,” he said. “We went out, ate dinner, and she was totally flirting with me. Then she excused herself to the bathroom and came back looking white as a ghost. She got sick out of nowhere, man. I sent her home after that.”

“Aw, didn’t get your dick wet,” I said, laughing.

“Actually.”

“Oh god. Please don’t tell me you called that Shelly chick. She’s insane.”

He scoffed. “No, man. I got rid of her forever ago. I actually met this chick in the lobby of my apartment complex. She was asking for directions, and I gave them to her.”

“Directions to your dick.”

“Pretty much,” he said. “She was hotter than my date, so I wasn’t going to complain.”

“You are too much,” I said.

“What are you doing? You want to go grab lunch and beers?”

I groaned. “Aw, man, I wish. It’s Saturday. I gotta have lunch with my parents. I do not want to go, but I already told them I would definitely be there.”

“Why did you do that?”

“I was drunk when my mother called.”

“Oh, you failed,” he said.

“You wanna come along and save me from my father?” I asked. “You know he likes to talk to you about your job. He thinks you’re a responsible young man.”

“Ha! If he only knew. But, yeah, sure. I’ll tag along.”

“Cool. Be ready in fifteen,” I said. “And wear a suit, asshole.”

“Got it,” he said before hanging up.

At least I wouldn’t have to stand my father without company. I headed out and picked up John on the way to the restaurant. To my surprise, the afternoon wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be. Hopefully that was a clue for how the rest of the week would go. The last thing I wanted was to spend my time listening to my father bitch about me and how I lived my life. If that were the case, I would just go back to reminiscing about Ava and jacking off in the quiet of my hotel room. Anything would be better than my father’s tirades. At that point, though, I was happy enough to leave lunch without a fight.