“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Remi wished Dimitrios were here to brush his hair back and pet him with his big, warm hands. The alpha made Remi feel small and beautiful, things that he rarely allowed himself to feel. His entire life was made up of school and family and work, but since he’d met Dimitrios he’d felt lighter, like some of his burden was lifting, or at least that he’d had a chance to rest before saddling all his worries again. Remi was a happy person, and he enjoyed life’s little gifts, but he still had some anxieties and worries.
Remi worried about disappointing his parents, who had been hard-pressed to accept his decision to move to New York and study culinary arts. He worried about his future and whether he’d be able to really make his dream of owning his own restaurant come true. He worried that he’d die alone. He got anxiety about a lot of things too.
Remi knew he let the opinions of others cloud his perception of himself too much, and he tried too hard to get others to like him. One perfect example was his inability to be honest with Cade. He already got so much animosity directed at him because of their relationship and he didn’t think he could handle the landslide of hate that would pile on top of him if he broke the alpha’s heart even more. Plus, Remi was a very empathetic person. He felt the pain of others more sharply than even his own and he found it hard to make someone else sad.
Dimitrios made him feel… better. He made all of Remi’s overthinking quiet down and allowed him to have that perfect, uninterrupted internal silence for a short time. It was something the omega had never had.
Maddox had tried to get him to try meditating a few times, but maybe he wasn’t suited to it, because the entire time they were “meditating” all Remi could think about was how the position pressed his ankle bone into the floor and how his a lower back was itching and the little clicking noise the ceiling fan was making was really annoying. Maybe that zen place wasn’t something Remi could reach on his own. He needed someone else to guide him there. He needed Dimitrios to guide him there.
Chapter 10
Traveling and Tribulations
Dimitrioshatedtravelingatthe best of times, and this was far from the best of times. He was horny, and for once actually had something he could do about it, but was being cockblocked by his own fucking company. He was starving, since he hadn’t eaten, tired from staying up so late the previous night, and he was all around feeling less than forgiving. Leon seemed to sense this and left him alone to read over the documents they’d been given on the capabilities of the factories they were touring.Dimitrios:Hey, pretty boy. It’s Friday and I’m headed home. I should be back at my place at 7ish. Can you stay the weekend? I want to take you shopping as a reward for being such a good boy for me while I was away.
This entire situation was a monumental pain in his ass, and Dimitrios was actually looking forward to giving their current manufacturer the boot. He’d put up with their garbage long enough, and now they were taking up time that he could be spending firmly planted between Remi’s creamy thighs, licking him open and getting his pretty boy ready to take his cock.
Gods, Dimitrios wanted nothing more than to have Remi with him right that moment, to push him into the first class bathrooms and fuck into his mouth and watch the lovely omega swallow everything down. He wanted him to walk back to his seat, knees red and lips puffy and swollen from use… but no. He was here dealing with this bullshit, instead of finding new things his sweet vanilla baby liked in bed.
So overall, Dimitrios wasn’t in a great mood.
They arrived in California at 4 o’clock and took a cab first to their hotel to check in and drop off their belongings, then to the factory they were touring. They had been met by one of the owners, an obnoxious and somewhat oily-seeming alpha who showed them around the facility.
All the bowing and scraping was already giving Dimitrios a headache as he was told what kinds of equipment they had and what types of manufacturing their facility was capable of. It had been apparent from the research he had been provided, as well as what he’d done himself, that the owner who was giving them the tour was lying wildly about the capabilities of their factory. Not a very promising start.
When Dimitrios called him out on his claims, the man backpedaled so fast, he was stumbling over his words and trying to justify his blatant lies. It was clear he was used to dealing with people who knew very little about manufacturing and was probably used to getting away with these kinds of lies.
However, Dimitrios designed and engineered most of the products they sold. He was no novice when it came to the manufacturing side of their business, and he knew exactly what they needed to make their products up to their specifications. There was no doubt in his mind that this place would be just as bad or worse than their current manufacturer. No point in making a change if it wasn’t to better the company.
So, Dimitrios unenthusiastically finished the tour and he and Leon took another cab to a business dinner Leon had arranged with one of their biggest vendors.
“Why can’t these people just be honest?” Dimitrios sighed heavily as he and Leon were driven to the restaurant. “I would be willing to put money into a factory and help update their facilities to meet our needs, if I could just find someone honest.”
“I know, Dimi. You’re preaching to the choir here. I’m wondering if we might actually have to build a whole new factory, but that would be such a logistical nightmare. While I know that you know a lot about manufacturing on a purely knowledge level, neither of us are experts. Let’s hope one of these other places turn out to be what we’re looking for.” Leon replied just as they stopped outside the restaurant.
Dimitrios handed the cab fare over to the driver and he and Leon walked into the posh restaurant. Dimitrios was still starving and he hoped that he’d be able to satisfy at least one of his needs.
He and Leon were both surprised to find that the alpha they were supposed to meet was already there, and he wasn’t alone. He had two young omegas with him, one male and one female. They were clearly his children, the resemblance was uncanny. Dimitrios had to consciously keep himself from rolling his eyes. This wasn’t the first time that a business meeting had turned into an attempt at matchmaking.
He and Leon were both rich, successful, handsome, single alphas. It made sense why omegas sought after them, and Dimitrios didn’t really hold any grudge against that, even if he didn’t particularly like it either. At least that was better than the weird vendors and contractors who seemed to want to forge lasting business arrangements by basically selling their children for profit.
Dimitrios and Leon shared a glance that spoke volumes. His business partner obviously wasn’t happy about this situation either.
“Dimitrios, Leon! Let me introduce you to my children. This is my daughter Emily and my son Henry.”
Dimitrios and Leon shook hands and tried not to grimace when they realized that the only way for them to sit was across from each other, like two couples on a double date, since their father was at the head of the table.
They took their seats and made polite conversation, trying to keep the topic on that of business, but generally failing as their attempts were waved off by their host. It was becoming increasingly frustrating to try and ignore the less than subtle ‘hints’ the father was dropping about his children being single. After nearly half an hour of it, Dimitrios decided to finally play his hand.
“I know that the New York Arts Gala is coming up at the beginning of next month. You both get invitations every year don’t you?” Their host said, joyfully. “Neither of my children have dates yet. Maybe you should consider going together.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I actually already have a date. It’s an omega I just started seeing recently. He’s going with me.” Dimitrios said, trying to look disappointed when he was actually ecstatic.
“Ah, well… I suppose it can’t be helped. What about you Leon? Are you taking anyone?”