Addicted (The Addicted Series, #1)(96)

"They're in the study," Yuki replied. "John is working from home today, and Sandra has decided to start assisting him. It's quite intriguing to see when the time allows.”

"Thank you," Julian said, and the three of us headed inside. Yuki peeled off to get the rental car and our bags taken care of while the two of us headed upstairs. We found John and Mom in the study like promised, reading over a pile of documents.

"They're expanding in their European division," John said, pointing at one piece of paper. "With their growth there and the potential in their Asian division, I think they're going to be fine."

"Maybe John, but I'm still worried about their tie-ups in Russia and Greece. A lot of companies made a lot of money in the BRIC countries when times were good, but are finding it tough to pull out now that the growth isn't being sustained and the corruption of those nations starts sucking them dry like a vampire."

"Well, I see you're on your way to making your next billion dollars," Julian said after knocking on the door. "Think I might be able to get in on it?"

John set his pen down, rising slowly to his feet to come around in front of us. Julian walked towards him, and the two met in about the center of the room. I swore time stopped and everything went quiet as the two Castelbon men faced each other. Julian spoke first. "Hi, Dad."

"Hi, son," Johnathan replied, his face starting to crack. I couldn't see Julian's face from where I was standing in the room, but the embrace the two men gave each other was impossible to miss. They held each other like that for what seemed an eternity, while Mom and I stood transfixed. When they stepped back, both of their cheeks were a little wet, and I could see Julian do his best to casually wipe his face to play it off.

"Sandra," Julian said, turning to Mom. "It's good to see you again too."

"Come here, you big lunk," Mom replied, getting out of her chair to give him a friendly hug. "God you're big. You promise you're not eating Krystal out of house and home?"

Oh, he's eating me out all right, I thought naughtily, a smile coming to my face. In fact, I love it when he does. "I'm glad to see you're happy about this too," John commented as he came and gave me a hug, totally missing the reason for my smile. Not that I would tell him, even after we told them about Julian and I. There are just some things you do not tell your mother and stepfather.





* * *



Julian





After we exchanged hugs all around, Krystal and I sat down on the leather couch in the study. Dad rang for drinks, and Yuki herself brought it in, with steaming mugs of Earl Grey tea along with a sugar bowl and creamer. "Here you are, enjoy," Yuki said, disappearing silently.

I watched her go, and knew without a doubt that our rental car was already parked, and our bags were upstairs in the same rooms we'd used last time Krystal and I visited. Turning back to Dad and Sandra, who were sitting side by side on the other couch, I reached out and took a cup. "She hasn't convinced you to go with green tea all the time yet, Dad?"

"You know how it is," John said as he spooned an ungodly amount of sugar and a heavy dollop of cream into his mug and stirred. "I'm not saying I can't enjoy it after dinner or iced after I get some exercise, but for afternoons like this, nothing is better than a good British tea."

"Speaking of exercise, I wanted to tell you guys about some things," I said, taking my tea with just a squeeze of lemon. "I don't want to shock you too much Dad, but I've decided it's time I got a job."

"Really?" Dad said, sipping his tea and trying not to grin too much. "You know, if you're looking for a place to start, I can certainly find you a spot in our management program."

I shook my head, chuckling. "No offense Dad, but that's the last thing I want to do. Not that learning the Castelbon business wouldn't be interesting at some point, but I'm not you, and we've got a lot of work to do on our father-son relationship before I start reporting to you as my boss too. Also, I want to stand on my own feet, like Krystal has."

"I can respect that," Sandra interjected from her seat. "It takes guts to try and make it on your own, Julian."

"Well, not totally on my own, you know. Let's face it, even now I'm better off than ninety-nine percent of the population. But thank you. Anyway, I've decided to try and make a go of it as a personal trainer. Training is about the only thing I've done well over the past few years, outside raising hell."

"You'll learn a lot there son," Dad said, "Lot of sales and customer service. Not to pile on, but what about going back to college? Even someplace online or something would help when you want to move on to a management position."

"I've thought a little about it, but first I have to see if I passed my certification exam," I replied. "But at least I'll have someone to help keep me in check and show me how to be a good worker."

"Oh?" Sandra said. "How's that, are you getting a mentor or something?"

"What Julian's saying is that he's moving to Chicago, and is going to live with me," Krystal said, trying not to gush. I could tell she wanted to just blurt out what we came to say, but she also could tell how I was guiding them. It wasn't that we were trying to play them, but this was the sort of subject to be approached carefully. "I have a big apartment after all."