Page 78 of Besties
All things considered, the resolution was better than we could have expected. Elias James and his companyhadviolated many laws—including receiving stolen property, copyright infringement, and more—and the Ryland Global lawyers assured us they’d be in prison for a very long time. Their company had tanked, and the people who worked with them were out of jobs. Richie, being the kind of guy he was, told me those people who’d had nothing to do with the situation were offered employment with us, though they’d have to relocate around the country. Some took it immediately. A few said they appreciated the offer, but declined. Most others asked if they could think about it, and Richie promised our door was always open.
Watching Richie soothed my nerves. The insane amount of weight that had been dropped on his shoulders finally broke free. He was happier than he’d been in a long while, laughing and teasing with his staff. At night, in our bed, he held me down and fucked me every which way he could. And I loved it.
He promised he was still trying to come to terms with me being on top, but I reminded him I didn’t care. Richie would probably bottom, but it would be out of a sense of honor more than something he cared to try. That wasn’t what I wanted for him—or us—so I was totally happy receiving that donkey dick of his every night and twice on Sunday.
One night, after a rather strenuous round of sex where I’d ridden him, he pulled me to his sweaty chest and held me tight while still buried in my ass, his cum leaking out and making my channel slicker.
“Y’know, I never thought I could be this happy,” he whispered in my ear. “I honestly figured I couldn’t have it all, but now? This is amazing.”
He pumped into me slowly, not so much for sex, but more for the connection it gave us.
“I need to ask you something,” he said, his voice breaking. “We discussed it a bit before this all went down, but you never answered. Do you want to go back to Milwaukee? Or I guess a better way to ask is, would you consider staying here? With me?”
Oh thank fuck. “I was hoping you’d ask again,” I admitted. “That place is great, but without you there, it would never be a home.”
“We can find something bigger here. Something similar to that place.”
But I looked around the tiny apartment and realized that with Richie here, thiswasmy home. From the flickering light in the kitchen to the pull-out bed, this was where I was happiest.
“Can we stay here?”
He widened his eyes. “But it’s so small.”
His voice, though? It told me how much it meant to him to be in this apartment.
“You love it here.”
He ran his fingers through my hair. “Only because you’re here, and this was where we finally figured out we were both idiots. It’s sentimental value only, I promise. We can go anywhere, and as long as you remind me on occasion that you love me, then that’s where I want to be.”
Every goddamn day I would remind him, because Richie was and always will be that important to me.
“I’ll live anywhere as long as I’m with you,” I vowed.
“Then let today be the day we became an official couple.”
And I was perfectly fine with that.
December2023
This had been a whirlwind six months for us. Dennis Kramer, good to his word, had been working hard to mend fences with everyone he’d been forced to insult or mock. With Richie’s permission, he’d given them the full story, telling them how they’d threatened Jeff and said they’d hurt him if Dennis didn’t do what he was told.
As it was Midland Program Solutions who’d undercut Teaching Time and sold the hard work Richie and everyone else had put into the programs, all the contracts they’d signed were null and void. Schools that had cut ties with us now wanted to talk again, but this time they were apologetic for not trusting Richie. He didn’t make them suffer, though. And because they were the innocent victims in this whole mess, he worked with them to upgrade their service to the newest edition. All at no cost to the schools who’d been impacted.
All in all, it worked out far better than we could have hoped. The papers and networks picked up the story, and it was one of the most talked about things for weeks. The fact that Elias and his cronies had threatened to kill Jeff had people making donations in Jeff’s name to The Trevor Project. Jeff was stunned, and when they interviewed him, he clung to Nico, who answered most of the questions but, I noticed, never took his hand off Jeff.
Things finally calmeddown as December rolled around, but I knew it was about to take another spin once Mom got her surprise. We’d gone to New York to leave for our trip, and the day we were to board was chilly, but beautiful.
I’d never seen Mom as excited as she was when she stood on the dock and stared up at the ship, a Queen Mary II. It was massive. The brochure said the ship was large enough for 700 passengers and had a complement of 445 crew members.
“I didn’t think it would be this big for a trip to the Bahamas,” Mom said as she clutched Walter’s hand.
“That’s because it’s not,” he told her. “This ship is taking all of us on a cruise around the world.”
“What?” She stared at Richie. “How much did this cost?” she demanded.
“It doesn’t matter, Mom. Richie took off work for the month, and he talked to Walter, who said the two of you could swing the days off too. His Mom and Dad are already onboard.”
She pulled out her phone and typed in something, but Walter took it from her gently.
