(Liam's POV - Wed. 2 April 2014)

"That's crazy... some things will never change..." Ally grumbles as we are both working on the presentation for tomorrow's business review. She picks up the phone and dials a number, putting it on speaker. "Spencer, this is Ally. Are you going to send me these slides or not?"

"I'm sorry Ally, I had a problem with the servers that I needed to fix," the poor IT Manager apologizes. "You'll get them in five minutes..."

"Then hurry up, it's already 5:00 and I need to finalize this before I leave!"

"Hey, when are you scheduling the second child so that we can get Liam back?" he teases her with mock irritation.

"Not any time soon, Spence, now send me your files!" she replies with a giggle.

"Yes, Boss!" he replies with a serious voice.

"Five minutes Spencer, or else I will definitely send you the boss..."

"Less than five minutes, Ally, I promise!" Spencer interrupts her before he hangs up.

"Darn!! I wonder if Spencer will ever learn to respect deadlines!" she mutters with a long sigh, returning her attention to her screen.

"I know..." I chuckle. "He's always the last one to send his slides. Though, the new guy Devon is not much better. They might start a competition..."

"Yeah, I saw that he sent them a bit late... How is he by the way?" she asks curiously.

"Hmm... I'd rather you make your own opinion on him... He went to New York with Allan on Monday afternoon, but they'll both be back for tomorrow's meeting, so you'll get to meet him then..."

"Come on, Liam, tell me!" Ally begs in a whisper.

"No, you'll see for yourself... but don't worry, he's not that bad," I reply just when the ping of an email echoes on her laptop. With a sigh, she gets back her presentation now that she has Spencer's slides and I send her Joshua's that I have been working on so that she can consolidate into one file.

Even if it's only five, I can't wait to call it a day. I feel like I have been working for at least twelve hours when it has only been eight but the last two days have been quite intense. Tomorrow we have the monthly business review and on Friday, I am moving to Allan's department, so Ally and I had only two days to catch up on everything, working together at her desk. I have insisted that she gets her usual place back while I am using one of the comfortable chairs across her desk, so it is easier for us to work and talk at the same time. Joshua is currently in the meeting room with Kelly Sykes, his Marketing & Communication Leader as they are planning on advertising about the new division in specialist publications and on participating in an upcoming exhibition in Miami.

"You did a great job, Liam!" she cheers once she has finished compiling all the slides.

"Thanks..." I whisper, blushing a little.

"Really, Liam, I'm glad that Joshua insisted to have you to replace me. It is really pleasant to come back after so many months and find my workplace in such perfect order. Thank you so much for updating all the files and giving me back something perfectly clean..." she says with joyful sincerity.

"Well, you trained me well... and I really liked it. It was a great opportunity for me too..."

"So, working with Joshua wasn't too painful?" she whispers, quickly averting her eyes to the meeting-room doors behind me. "Didn't he cause you too many troubles?" I stifle a chuckle because I obviously can't tell her that only his cock and hands can be painful at times...

"No, it was fine... He was kind and patient, so it all went well," I reply, trying to keep my eyes focused on the screen of my laptop to avoid her piercing stare, but I unfortunately look up when she remains silent. And as expected, she is staring at me with that look of unbelief in her eyes.

"Joshua... patient...? Are we talking about the man over there?" she asks, discreetly pointing behind me and opening her eyes exaggeratingly wide.

"Err... you know what I mean... I was a beginner when I started in September and he was patient enough to explain things... and he never yelled at me..." I explain, blurting out the first plausible excuse I could find.

"Thank God he didn't yell at you! He would have heard from me! He knew you were a beginner when you started working for him, so he would have known better not to yell at you..."

"Anyway, I guess I wouldn't have lasted for long if we hadn't matched..." I say a bit too quickly and noticing too late that my words could have another meaning, which of course Ally doesn't miss as she pulls out a small smirk.

"Yeah sure... a perfect match... care to tell me about that..." she whispers, making me flush.

"Wh... what...?"

"I'm just teasing you Liam!! Although... I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that you have a little weakness for the boss..." she chuckles.

"You're talking nonsense, Ally..." I whisper-shout back at her, unable to calm down my blush and making her laugh out more.

"I'm just kidding, Liam! But you have to admit that he's a rather nice-looking man, right?" she says with a wink. I just gape at her, not knowing what I should answer to that. This is so not Ally to blow out things like that. I can't say that I worked with her for long enough, but I know that she wouldn't say things like this if she wasn't getting nosy about Joshua and me. "Don't you agree?" she insists.

"Hmm... yes he is but... I'm not interested... I already have someone..." I reply stupidly for lack of a better answer.

"Liam Reed!! You never told me that!" she exclaims, now clearly interested in more confidences.

"You never asked me..." I simply argue.

"That's such a lame excuse..." she comments disdainfully. "How is he? And don't tell me that's a she cause I wouldn't believe you!" What the hell? Is it that obvious that I like men - well at least one man? We both startle when the meeting-room doors suddenly open and resume our straight positions as we had slowly leant toward each other along our conversation. Seeing how Ally lightly blushes, I don't dare looking back at Joshua's expression.

"Ally, please schedule another meeting with Kelly in three weeks' time," Joshua says with a weird undertone.

"Sure!" Ally replies, having already recovered her confident self while I get back to my emails. Once Kelly has left, Joshua goes back to his office without a word and we finish our work in silence, sometimes glancing at each other with sparkling eyes.

Ally leaves at six, and since I am going to Joshua's place tonight, I pretend that I have a few things to finish, which is the only excuse that I can think about for staying later. Joshua had a business dinner last night with some Chicago customers so I spent the evening at my apartment with Shannon, which was cool except for the awkward night I had. After Joshua told me about Jeremy's departure last week-end, my faith in friendship was seriously whacked. I not only realized how I had become attached to my Sub friend, but I also felt terribly uncertain about the concept of friendship in itself. I didn't want Joshua to worry too much and it was difficult to explain him that Jeremy's departure had affected me in a way that put into question my whole faith in friendship. I told him that I needed reassurance and to feel that things like this would never happen between Shannon and me. I guess I was persuasive enough because Joshua understood my distress and he accepted to drive me back to my place on Saturday late afternoon.

Of course, Shannon was a bit surprised to see me and it took a lot of convincing him that everything was alright between Joshua and me. I ended up breeding some lies about an unexpected business dinner that Joshua needed to attend and a working Sunday and I told him that I just took the opportunity to spend more time with him. I couldn't tell Shan what was going on for real; he doesn't even know about my other friends at the club, but my goal wasn't to unburden my worries about Jeremy. I just needed to spend one or two normal evenings with Shan and see that things were still the same between us and honestly it did me a lot of good. We didn't do that much all in all; we just watched movies, had pizzas and beers, and teased each other like we usually do, but this was all I needed and on Monday, when I got back in the office and saw Joshua, I felt deep relief that my friendship with Shan hadn't changed and gratefulness for my man who to understand my immediate needs.

Last evening with Shannon was rather quiet. He was tired from a hard day working in a bar nearby where he started on Monday. He likes the job but the customers are mainly drunkards who either try to flirt with him or insult him for no reason. I'm not sure that he'll last the two weeks that he has been hired for, but at least he is trying. The awkward moment came in the middle of the night, while I was asleep. I was suddenly awoken by Shannon who was shaking me, asking me to wake up from a nightmare that I don't have a single memory of. He said I was shouting and crying. The only evidence that he was saying the truth was my uncontrollably shaking body and wet cheeks. I tried my best to remember what I had been dreaming of but nothing came up and Shan ended up lying next to me in bed, holding me in his arms until I fell back asleep.

When I woke up this morning, still in Shan's arms, it took me quite a moment to bring back the memories of what had happened over the night. While I was cooking breakfast, I tried to remember again, wondering if it had anything to do with Jeremy. However busy I have been since Friday, I keep thinking and worrying about him. I really wonder where he could be and what the exact reasons for his departure were. All I can hope for is that he is safe. Ed called me quickly on Monday during lunch time to ask if I knew something more about it. Apparently, Aaron just told them that Jeremy decided to leave Chicago on a whim and that he didn't know when, or if, he would ever come back. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell him anything else since I got pretty much the same version from Joshua and the letter didn't say more anyway.

Ed and I promised to catch up next week-end at the club. In the beginning I thought that going back to the Black Diamond might be difficult knowing that I wouldn't have Jeremy with me, but I still have my other friends there and I know that I will need to get over the loss of my friend, however hard it is. Besides, I know that Joshua will still want to go there and will help me to move on. I believe that I should ask him tonight if we are going to go on Friday or Saturday; then I'll be able to text Ed and make sure that he's there too, although I don't worry too much about that since he goes to the club almost every evening.

At almost seven, Joshua and I meet Tony at the car but as soon as we get in, his phone goes off and he spends the whole ride talking to Allan and taking notes as his collaborator gives him some information about the contracts he has negotiated while in New York. He is still on the phone when Tony drops us off in front of the house and, after he has dropped a kiss on my lips, he heads directly to his study to finish off their conversation. I decide to go upstairs and change into more comfortable clothes before I meet Liz in the kitchen. I am so exhausted that it was almost a struggle to resist lying down on the comfortable bed and roll myself in the thick comforter.

"You look awfully tired sweetheart. Did you party out with your friend last night?" she scolds me when I walk in the kitchen, making me chuckle. I have often spoken to her about Shannon and his crazy habits during our one-on-ones while she is cooking over the past few months. As much as she rarely slips anything on Joshua when I ask her questions, she always has a thing to make me talk about everything she wants to know. That woman really has a talent at making people speak but she is also a great listener.

"Not at all..." I reply, yawning. "We stayed home and even went to bed early; Shan was tired too... Can I help you with anything?"

"No, you take a seat and drink this," she commands me, putting a glass of sparkling water and a slice of lemon on the counter. "Has work been busy?"

"Yes... between the usual work and catching up with Ally on all the latest projects has been quite intense..." I explain stifling another yawn.

"I can imagine... I briefly spoke with her on the phone last week and she sounded rather eager to get back to work. I guess it must be a little less quiet in the office now," she chuckles.

"You know her well..." I laugh out, thinking about how loud Ally can be. To be honest, she is not exactly loud, but she is always so cheerful!

"Knowing how quiet you are, that will be a change for Joshua. He will have to get used to this again... but Ally is such a sweet person too," she coos softly. "How about you...? How do you feel about working with Mr. Brightman?" she then asks after a few minutes of comfortable silence while she finishes preparing our dinner.

"It should be okay," I reply, shrugging my shoulders. "He is a nice guy too but I don't know yet how we are going to share tasks with his other assistant..."

"You know your job, Liam, and I am sure that you will adapt," Liz encourages me.

"I guess I will. From what Mr. Brightman and his assistant told me, it will also include a lot of work with the project managers and maybe the architects, so it will surely be different than what I have been doing with Joshua and I just don't know how interesting it will be."

"It will be interesting if you make it interesting," Joshua states, surprising us as usual. He looks so fucking sexy with his tie loosened and the top buttons of his shirt undone, his hair in a mess - which makes me think that his conversation with Allan must have been stressful enough to make him run his fingers through his hair quite a few times. I smile as he reaches for Liz to kiss her cheek before he walks to my stool and leans down to drop a little to kiss my lips. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll enjoy working with Allan and his team," he whispers to me.

"I'm not worrying..." I reply with a smile. I sincerely don't worry because Allan has always been very kind to me and despite my fears, I know that I will find some interests in his department. Working with architects and even designers can only gain my curiosity since these are domains that I wanted to explore in a few years in case I would get tired of my current job. I actually feel more upset by the fact that Joshua and I won't have our little moments together. It also means new colleagues, new tasks, plenty of new things, but I believe that I have gained enough confidence to make myself at ease with a new team.

After Liz has left, recommending me to get a good night of sleep, Joshua and I have dinner at the counter in the kitchen and we talk about all the contracts that Allan got in Texas in only two days which is more than what Joshua expected and he worries a little about how they are going to be able to meet the deadlines on everything. He says that he will need to think about expanding Pierce Works too as all these upcoming projects will require more and more workers on the building sites. I ask him a lot of questions about how tricky it gets to run such a huge business and he replies willingly.

"By the way... What were you and Ally talking about this afternoon when I finished my meeting with Kelly?" he suddenly asks, wearing a smug expression.

"Oh... hmm... not much... She was wondering how it went between us during her absence," I reply a bit hesitantly, not wishing to reveal the entire conversation, and especially not that part where I lied about a supposed relationship with someone.

"The little minx is nosy..." he chuckles. "She's always poking her nose where she shouldn't," he adds shaking his head.

"I didn't tell her anything, no worry..." I reassure him.

"No problem... I'll have to tell her at some point anyway, but the later, the better..."

"I agree..." I say, sticking out my tongue and before he feels like expanding on the conversation I had with Ally, I propose: "When are we going to the Black Diamond this week-end? On Friday or on Saturday?" His face suddenly takes a very lustful expression then and he gets up from his stool to swirl mine and stand between my legs, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I'd say... both maybe...?" he suggests, taking his deepest voice.

"Hmm... sounds good..." I reply, stretching my back and my arms to reach for his neck and pull him down until our lips meet. Our tongues quickly entwine, starting a very slow waltz that he clearly dominates.

"You sure you want to go?" he pants against my lips after a few minutes.

"Yes... I want to see the other guys too," I say as confidently as I can.

"So you're staying here until Monday morning?"

"Hmm... I was thinking about spending tomorrow night at my place and maybe Sunday night too...?" I squeal, making him sigh.

"Okay for tomorrow night, but I'd really like you to stay on Sunday since I'm flying out on Monday evening," he says firmly, which sounds more like a demand than a request.

"Fine..." I reply, not willing to start an argument now. I tighten my arms around his neck and we start off another kiss that he interrupts by pulling my arms down only after a few seconds.

"Go to sleep, now. You haven't stopped yawning since we left the office and you really look tired. I'd rather not know what you did with Shannon yesterday," he sighs.

"We didn't do anything... We even went to sleep early..." I argue.

"Hmm... hmm... Then go get more sleep, I'll join you later."

"You're not going to bed now?" I ask, a bit disappointed.

"No, I have some more work to do before, but I'll join you later," he replies, clearing the counter and putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

"Argh... what's the point of me staying here if you don't go to bed with me?" I ask bitterly without really thinking, making him lean back up and frown at me. Shit! I don't need him to get angry now.

"The point is that I'll be able to make sure that you sleep early enough," he begins to list in a deep voice, slowly walking back to me, "to hold you in my arms, to watch you sleep, and to wake you up for a quick fuck if I want to..." he finishes once he has reached me, concluding with a peck on my pouting lips.

"The last point would go against the rule of sleep..." I tease him.

"Not if I'm sure that you've had enough hours of sleep... Now stop talking and go to bed or I'll have to take you to the playroom for a flogging to discipline your smart mouth..." he playfully warns me.

Without another word, I briefly kiss him one last time and scurry upstairs. After a long shower and my usual evening routine, I pull on some pajama pants, switch off the lights and settle comfortably in bed, purposely on Joshua's side. I will most probably be fast asleep when he finally joins me in bed and thus I won't be able to see his face or hear him grunt, but I chuckle to myself at how it will annoy him to find me there when he hates swapping sides. I truly love how he exerts his dominance and authority on me like he just did, but I also love teasing and defying him once in a while. I also love the occasional spanking anyway. My last thought that night before I drift to sleep is that I simply and plainly love him.

Published on 29 Oct 2016