Lost and Found (Twist of Fate #1)(81)

It wasn’t ideal, since I’d already started to think of Lucky as mine, but I knew we couldn’t rush into making our own relationship legal, because that could likely cause issues down the line. Additionally, we figured with me still legally living in Colorado, it would just slow things down if we both applied to adopt Lucky at the same time. Lucky himself had more say in his future since he was sixteen. He’d already met with representatives from Children’s Services twice— once to talk about what Ed Durant had done to him and the other kids, and once to assure them he was completely on board with the adoption.

While the adoption might only take a couple more months, Bennett and I had talked the night before about staying in New York through the following spring so Lucky could finish out his sophomore year. I couldn’t say I was thrilled about staying in the city for so long, but I’d decided to make use of my time by taking some courses in business management. Bennett and I had decided to purchase the lodge as well as the wilderness expedition business together. I’d balked at the idea of Bennett putting part of his savings towards buying Gary out, but he’d reminded me that it would be our business. We hadn’t ironed out all the details yet, but the bottom line was that Bennett and I would be working together to make the business everything it could be.

And I couldn’t wait.

For his part, Bennett was struggling with how to tell his parents both about our relationship and the fact that he wouldn’t be taking over his father’s company. His anger at his father for the role he’d played in splitting us up as kids had made him want to drive right out to Greenwich the moment we’d stepped off the plane, but I’d reminded him that he needed to deal with the foundation first. Knowing his father, the man would punish Bennett for his defection by taking it out on the kids Bennett loved so much.

The way Bennett had explained it, the foundation was currently more of a pet project for the investment firm. Bennett’s goal was to actually have the foundation become its own entity sponsored by several companies in addition to The Crawford Group. He wanted the foundation to stand on its own so it could get donations and support from multiple sources in the community and help even more at-risk kids. But to do that, he needed his father to throw in his support long enough to ink the deal with the other potential sponsors.

That deal was happening today.

At this very moment, my man was preparing to go before a group of thirty representatives from some of the most successful companies in the city to pitch them his idea. If he was successful, he’d get enough support to finally break free of the leverage his father continued to wield over him. In as little as a few days, my Benny could finally be loose of the chains he’d worn around his neck for so long.

“Xander, you home?”

“In here, Lucky,” I called as I turned the stove down to keep from burning dinner. Bear, who’d been lying by my feet, jumped up and took off towards the front door. I’d been lucky enough to have a friend drive Bear out east with him on his way to meet up with family in Boston, which meant I’d been able to fly out with Bennett, Lucky and the rest of the group.

The dog returned moments later, happily trailing Lucky who dropped his backpack onto the kitchen table and flopped down into one of the chairs. He dropped his cheek on his hand and stared into space.

“Uh oh,” I said as I went to the fridge and pulled out two cans of soda. “What happened?” I asked as I slid into the chair next to him and placed the can in front of him.

“Can we just move already?” he asked.

I sighed. “What did he do this time?”

“Nothing,” Lucky muttered. “Literally nothing.”

Despite the kiss Bennett and I had seen Lucky and Calvin share, whatever had been blooming between the boys seemed to have run its course, at least on Calvin’s side. During the remainder of the trip in Colorado, things between Lucky and Calvin had gone well and there’d been no more fights or Calvin talking shit about Lucky. Lucky had even felt confident enough to confide in us that Calvin had kissed him. But if the older boy had felt anything, it hadn’t lasted. As soon as we’d stepped off the plane in New York, Calvin had iced Lucky out.

To Lucky’s heartbreaking disappointment.

The only good thing was that Calvin hadn’t resumed his cruel taunting of the younger boy either.

So, there was that at least.

“Did you try talking to him?” I asked.

Since I was the one home when Lucky finished school, I was often the first to hear about his problems. When Bennett got home, we usually discussed things over dinner as a family. After learning Calvin had been ignoring Lucky completely in the three weeks since we’d arrived, Bennett and I had suggested Lucky try to pull Calvin aside to try to talk to him.

Lucky nodded miserably. “Said he was too busy. I thought maybe if I told him we could talk someplace where no one would see us, he’d go for it.”

While I wasn’t exactly worried that Calvin might hurt Lucky if they were alone together, I couldn’t discount the fact that something else could happen between the two of them. And while it freaked me out that someone as young as Lucky could be engaging in any kind of sexual activity, I wasn’t completely naive either.

“Um, Lucky, we should probably talk about that…”

“About what?” he asked.

“Yeah… um… being alone with a guy you like.”