(A/N  ATTENTION! Another note to make sure you have read Breaking Finn before you read this book.  Some people have mistakenly read this book first - must have skipped the intro which clearly says to read Breaking Finn first - but this is a sequel to Breaking Finn and will not make much sense unless you have read Breaking Finn first.)

Chapter 1

Finn

"Little Dude!  Little Dude!"  I could hear the shouting before I saw the source.  As soon as I stepped out of the secure area at LAX, arms were grabbing me in a tight hug.

"Benj, I'm taller than you now, you can't call me that." I grinned.

"Shaddup, you'll always be my little dude."  Benji grabbed my carry on out of my hand and my backpack from my shoulder.  "I'm so glad you're here!" I cringed as he screeched the last part.

"Hey, I can carry those," I tried to grab one of my bags back.

"No! I've got them.  Come on, Jax is waiting in the car outside.  All your stuff came yesterday, it's in the guestroom at the house.  Your apartment won't be ready for about six weeks, they're going to paint and spruce it up a bit after the guy who lives there now moves out at the end of the month."  Benji was going a mile a minute.  "I don't know why you wouldn't take Ajax's old apartment, he's not using it anymore."

"Benji, it's a penthouse apartment in the center of L.A.!  It's just too much for me.  The apartment you found me near campus is perfect...and more in my budget."

"Rent at the penthouse would have been free!"  Yeah, but Nico has an apartment there too, I thought, even if he's no longer using it, I'd feel it every day as a reminder of him.

"Stop!!  My new apartment is perfect for me.  But tell me, how do you like living out in the suburbs?" I asked as I followed Benji out of the airport.

"It's great!  The house is beautiful, we've got a huge backyard, I mean like acres huge; there's a pool, a patio for barbecuing, nice gardens and a perfect field for playing soccer.  We have the boys come over whenever we can; play a little ball, have some fun, get them out of the city for a bit."

"Do I finally get to meet your young artist friend?"

"Liam.  Yes!  He's excited to meet you.  I've shown him the painting you sent me for my last birthday and your on-line portfolio.  He hasn't tried much painting yet, except in crappy High School Art classes, but his sketches are amazing Finn.  The best I've seen since looking through one of your sketchbooks.  Do you think you can teach him how to paint, I'm sure if he's given the basics he'd take right off."

"Of course!  I'm going to turn the second bedroom in my apartment into my own little studio, so I can set up a schedule to work with him once a week if he's interested."

"We hardly use the boathouse, so Ajax said you can use that to paint while you're here.  There's plenty of room and the light is great in there."

"Are you sure he won't mind?"

"Not at all, he loves your work.  The painting you sent him as a housewarming is hung in a place of honour right in the living room.  There he is!"  I looked ahead and saw Ajax getting out of a black SUV with a big smile on his face.  The small set of nerves that had me a bit tense, relaxed.  I had been worried about seeing him, I'd only seen him once since I moved to New York and I wasn't quite sure if I was going to be welcomed with open arms when I moved back to L.A. or if he'd be angry that I was back.  I knew that Nico had not come back to California, Benji had not seen him since that day in Miami, but he was still Ajax's brother and I was an integral part in his leaving. 

"Finn, it's good to see you!" Ajax said with a warm  hug.

"Thanks Ajax.  Good to see you too!  Oh, and thanks for letting me crash at your place until my apartment's ready."

"Of course Finn,  you're family."  When I looked at him with confusion, he added, "Benji's little brother is my little brother."  Ajax patted me on the back and gave me another hug.  "Come on kiddo, let's go home."  I blinked back a few tears suddenly overcome by emotion.  I didn't think seeing Ajax like this would bring up all those feelings I've repressed for so many years, but in some ways he was so much like Nico.  They weren't biological brothers, but as similar as any blood brothers could be.  "You okay kiddo?" He asked.

"Yeah.  I'm just really glad to be back in L.A.  I missed California." He patted my back again before opening the door to the back seat and ushering me in.

"You must be starving," Ajax said as soon as we were underway, "how about we stop and get a bite to eat on the way home."

"Sure".

"Can we go to Golden Leaf Estate?" Benji piped in, "It's on the way home and they have the best food!"  Benji turned back to me, "the head chef, Christine, is Portuguese and she is amazing!  It's a winery too, they bottle the only red wine I actually like, we'll get some to bring home, I bet you'd like it too.  Can we go there Ajax?"

"Why not baby," Ajax agreed looking at Benji fondly.  I saw him pick up his hand and squeeze it.  Their relationship had certainly grown in the last few years, the love between them was apparent.  Ajax would do anything for Benji and to Benji, Ajax was his world.  I had to look away, I wasn't going to let myself get pulled into old emotions that would just bring me down.  This was a new start.  Miami was behind me, New York was behind me and I was going to make a new life, standing on my own two feet in California.

Lunch was amazing.  Christine, the chef came out and served us our lunch herself.  Ajax introduced me and she told us all about the food she had made for us.  We hadn't ordered off the menu, Benji told me when we go there that the best thing to do was order the 'Chef's Service'.  Basically, it's whatever she feels like making, but he said that it is always the most creative and carefully crafted meals he's ever had when they came before.  Ajax said his friend Rob owned the winery and restaurant, and Benji added that Rob's boyfriend/sub Peter had become his good friend.

By the time we got to Ajax and Benji''s house I was exhausted.  I was able to let Benji give me a brief tour, while Ajax went to his office to take care of some emails, but then when he showed me my room I fell into bed.  It was only a little after 5:00 p.m., but with the long flight and time difference I was whipped.  All of my bags and boxes had been delivered and were in my room, but I could unpack what I needed tomorrow.

"Finn, Finn, Finn, Finn, Finn!"  Ugh.  I forgot how excitable Benji got when he was happy.  But who's kidding.  I love him for that. My big little brother (what I called him now that I was like 2" taller) was currently bouncing on my on the bed.  Sun was streaming in the window so I figured I had slept right through the rest of yesterday and the night.

"Wake up!!  You've been sleeping forever!  Ajax wouldn't let me wake you up last night, but he's gone off to work now and I'm bored and lonely." 

Benji was going to be 23 later this summer, amazing.  Peter Pan, the boy that never grew up.  That's who my Benji was.  I grinned up at him, his hair going wild in different directions.  "I love you so much Benji."  His movement stopped and he stared down, his face turning soft and his eyes glistening.

"Awww, I love you too squirt.  I'm just so happy you're here.  Everything's so perfect now.  Me and Ajax have our own house...and now my best friend, my little baby brother is here.  I feel like so many things are coming together now."

"Good.  Now get the fuck off me I have to pee."  I gave Benji one of his own classic grins and he let out a hearty laugh.

"Okay, shower too lil' bro, you stink.  I'm going to start some breakfast so don't take too long."

"And just like that, our Hallmark moment is over," I sighed.

After breakfast Benji helped me unpack the stuff I'd need for the next several weeks.  Then he took me for a drive over to the campus to show me around; classes were out for the summer, but I still got to see the art building and a gallery of student art.  We drove past the building where my apartment was and then grabbed some lunch.  Afterwards we stopped by an art supply store and I picked up the supplies so I could get back to work as soon as possible.  There were two galleries in L.A. that were interested in showing my paintings and I didn't have anything, except ones I was keeping, to bring with me.  Everything was either sold or already showing in galleries on the east coast.

Benji had a shift at the Boy's Club, but I chose to get my temporary studio set up instead of going with him, promising that I would go another time.  I felt a little under the gun with the gallery requests and I didn't want to lose these opportunities that some of my contacts in New York had set up.  I was also feeling a little overwhelmed and needed a few hours alone to get my head together with all the changes happening.  Henry had sent me an email right before I left that he was finally coming back to New York.  He had ended up staying in Europe all this time, starting his study of architecture at a University in Italy.  I didn't quite know why he had chosen to stay and I never quite got a direct answer, but I was pretty sure he had met someone that first summer which had thrown all his plans into the wind.  I don't know what the status of that was now, and I really wasn't interested, it didn't change my plans to move back to California.  I would always be his friend, but the chance of anything beyond that had been lost a long time ago.

I set up the canvases I had purchased in the pool house and unwrapped all the paints and brushes.  Benji was right, the lighting in here was perfect for painting, especially in the morning when the sun shown in the large bay window that overlooked the rolling hills of their back property.  Yeah, pool house was a loose term.  When I had set up everything I even began to sketch out the view of the back yard on a canvas that I set up horizontally.  I enjoyed doing landscapes, though I had most recently finished a series of abstract paintings influenced by my friend Elliott's sculptures.  Those paintings along with Elliott's sculptures were now showing in The Clearing Gallery back in Brooklyn.

By the time Benji and Ajax had arrived home, I had finished sketching and had begun to apply a base coat of paint.  When Benji came down to tell me we'd be having dinner on the terrace, I cleaned up my brushes, washed my hands and went inside to help.  Ajax gave me a stack of plates, forks, knives and everything I needed to set the table outside, while Benji flipped the steaks on the grill.

"This looks great," I said as I breathed in the aroma of the food once we sat down.  "I'm sorry I didn't get inside to help sooner, I sometimes lose track of time when I'm painting."

"Don't worry about it Finn, Maggie, our housekeeper made the salads and put the steaks in the marinade when she was here earlier, all we had to do was throw them on the grill," Ajax assured me.

"Ajax, is it okay if I have a beer with dinner," Benji asked him, which caught me a bit by surprise.  I hadn't been around the lifestyle for so long that I wasn't used to watching a grown adult ask another for permission on what they could drink.

"Yes, you may have one baby, how about you Finn, would you like a beer?"

"Yes, thank you," I replied nodding. 

"Why don't you get one for each of us then," Ajax directed at Benji as he stood up to run into the kitchen.  Ajax looked over at me with an amused expression. 

I shrugged my shoulders, "I guess I forgot about all that."

"Our relationship has changed a lot Finn, Benji is much more than my sub, much more," he stressed, "but he still finds comfort in my direction.  He still needs the structure of the Dom/sub relationship, but if that ever altered, I would change for him.  I love him with all my heart."

"I know Ajax, I understand.  I know how much he loves you too, and...I guess he relies on the boundaries and structure.  I just haven't been around it in so long, I forgot."

Benji came out a few seconds later and we ate our dinner and enjoyed an early summer evening on the terrace.

"Benji, when do you work at the Boy's Club again?" I asked.

"While school's out I'm working every weekday afternoon, why?"

"I was going to paint all morning tomorrow and if you want, I'd like to go with you in the afternoon.  Meet the kids, meet Liam, I'll bring my sketchbook and maybe he'll show me his.  If he's interested, I can work out a deal with him, I'll teach him how to paint and he can help me clean brushes and keep the pool house tidy."

"That would be perfect Finn.  These guys, Brett, Aiden, Jonah and Liam don't like charity, but if you make him like your assistant, that would work.  He's very quiet and shy though, but I think he'll open up with you."

"How old is he again?"

"He's 16, his brother and the other guys are 19 now.  The three of them are working at the Boy's club helping with the younger kids, otherwise Liam probably wouldn't go anymore.  But Brett has an old car, so he could drive him out here, or I can pick him up, we'll make it work out."

"Cool, I look forward to meeting them.  It sounds like Liam is a lot like me when I was that age."

"The only thing, you'll have to get Jonah to accept you before you can get near him."

"Is that his brother?"

"No, Brett is, but Liam and Jonah are very close.  Jonah looks out for him, they have a very strong bond."

"Okay, just give me about a half hour notice tomorrow before we have to leave and that will give me enough time to clean my brushes and get changed."

"Sounds like a plan bro."