Chapter 15

“What are you going to make?” Leo asked.

“I don’t know, last time I cooked for her I did a miso soup and other things but she might need something more substantial or heavier now.”

“Why are you not sure?”

“Because I don’t want her to vomit again and feel worse.”

“What about a stew?”

“Sounds good. Let’s see what we have here.”

They checked quickly with William being more used to moving around in Leah’s kitchen.

“Ooh… Kimchi.” Max said next to William checking the fridge, and getting a big kimchi container from it. “A cultural woman with taste.”

“We can make a kimchi stew.” Said Leo following Max to check how much kimchi they had.

“Oh, I wanted a seafood and vegetable stew.” Said Theo with a few bags in his hands, sounding disappointed.

“Shrimp,” Max exclaimed seeing one of the bags.

“Can we mix them?” Leo asked looking at William who was the one more used to cook.

“We can try. You will eat it either way if it tastes bad, while I do something else for her. Let’s hope for the best.”

They started to prepare everything and were quickly done, just waiting for the stew to be done. They all tasted it and approved, so William took a bowl and served it for Leah and another for himself, while Leo served the rest. He brought the plates to the table and then went to wake her up. When he sat next to her he saw she had not fallen asleep yet.

“The food is done.”

She rubbed her face and sat up, her face twitching a little probably due to the pain in her lower back. They both walked to the table and sat down.

“What is… Stew?” she asked confused.

“Yeah, I tried to make a kimchi stew with some extra ingredients. Thankfully you had all the ingredients needed.”

“Did you add spiciness?” she asked grimacing a little.

“No.”

“I wanted to.” Said Max. “Why is it so soft?”

“I don’t do well with spicy. You can grab the spicy sauce from the fridge if you want.” She said before tasting the stew.

She smiled at William, approving of the taste and Leo leaned a little to the front with a smile.

“We helped him cook.”

“Thank you, it tastes good.”

William rolled his eyes at Leo’s attempt to get her attention and continued eating. Leah ate slowly, testing if she was going to get sick but she proceeded till the end. She moved back to the sofa and sat there for a while, squirming due to the pain. After 10mins she started to whimper, not wanting to be sitting anymore, so she lay on her side again.

“Will you be ok alone?” William asked sitting with her again, wanting to offer himself to stay with her.

“I doubt I’ll be. Melissa will appear at any moment now.”

“Hmm, I don’t want to be here for that,” Theo muttered sitting on another sofa.

“Do you know each other? Why do you two look like you want to bite each other?”

“I’ll probably get poisoned if I do that. I don’t know her, but I’m not eager to do so either.”

“What? Why?”

“She is rude.”

Leah looked at him confused for a while and then seemed to come to the realization.

“She was just doing her job. I’d probably punch her if she lets anyone on my floor without my consent.”

“But you let us in before, it’s a no-brainer it would be fine again.”

“I didn’t let you in.”

“Last time, when you were in a meeting.” He tried to remind her.

“Right, but I didn’t let you in. I didn’t even know you were in the building. That was probably Benjamin; he is the only one besides me with permission to let people on the higher floors.”

Theo crossed his arms and legs, sulking at the fact he could not come up with another point as to why she was rude to him. Right at that moment, the front door opened and Melissa entered, making Theo’s face sulk more. She grimaced when she saw him but quickly ignored him and move to Leah.

“Hello. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Right.” She looked around looking at the men, ignoring Theo. “Hello, again, how are you doing?”

“Pretty fine. We were calculating how long it will take for you and Theodore to marry.” Leo said.

Her facial expressions froze and her eyes went to Theo who was looking at Leo as if he was going to throw him out a window.

“That sounds stupid.”

“This sexual tension between the two of you is too much.”

“There’s no sexual tension.”

“No? When was the last time you got laid?”

“Last night,” Theo said without a care.

“What? We were together.” William said but stopped himself when he remembered a woman that had approached them. “With that girl?”

“Damn, no sympathy for the rest of us who went home to an empty bed.” Complained Max.

“And what you wanted, a threesome?” then he looked at Leo. “A foursome?” and then at William. “A gang bang?”

“You are watching too much porn. I don’t want to see any of your dicks.” William said.

“But you also have to get laid.” Leo pointed a finger at him. “Unless you are together, and you cannot do it right now, in her condition.”

“We are not in that type of relationship.” He stuttered looking at Leah for validation and for her to contradict him, but that didn’t happen. She just looked uncomfortable.

“Then you need it,” Leo repeated and William understood this was his way of throwing him to the wolves with Leah.

“Yeah, when was the last time you had sex with someone?” Theo asked, happy to not be the subject of the conversation.

“I— I…” William looked at Leah trying to remember when exactly they had sex last time.

“Since you got her pregnant?” Max asked shocked after reading his expression.

“No. Not since then.”

“Then, how long?” Max tried to make him confess in front of Leah that he had only been with her since he met her.

“Oh, so you have done it a few times…” Melissa murmured while smirking at Leah. Leah looked at her with a bored expression.

“Yeah, but the main topic of the conversation was when you and Theodore are going to get laid.” She threw back at her.

“Yeah, but if you were not so occupied looking at William's ass you would notice that topic was exhausted a long time ago because that won’t happen, ever.”

“Lisa, you were the one to teach me to never say never.”

“Whatever, don’t count on it,” Theo said, standing up. “You all make me want to leave already, so I’ll follow my heart.” He got closer to Leah and kissed her cheek. “Take it easy, gorgeous. The world won’t fall apart in your absence.”

“My company might.”

“Then that means, you don’t have a good COO.” He said while backing off and putting a hand on William’s shoulder. “Are you leaving?”

William didn’t want to leave but with Melissa here he didn’t have a solid excuse to stay. He leaned toward Leah to kiss her cheek, but he moved so fast she got startled, making him kiss her on her lips. He was going to apologize but then decided not to.

“As he said, take it easy. Even if your company falls apart, you can build it up again. I can help you if you want.” She smiled at him. “Have a good night, honey.”

“You too.”

“Did you eat already? I can call a delivery,” Melissa told Leah.

“I already ate. Liam made Kimchi stew.”

“Sorry, there’s no more left. I didn’t know you were coming.” William said standing up.

“Kimchi stew? He knows how to make miso soup and kimchi stew? You have to marry him.”

“Please…” Leah rolled her eyes.

“You don’t find a man like that everywhere. You have to trap him.”

“In our situation, a baby sounds like a trap enough.”

“Ridiculous, he can just go for milk at the supermarket. You need legal papers to trap him.” She kept joking and looked at William. “I volunteer myself.”

“Please, who wants to marry you here?” Theo said grabbing William’s arm and pulling him away from the woman and walking to the door.

“I volunteer in his place,” Leo said standing in front of Melissa. “I can learn how to cook really fast.”

“Leo move your ass here.” They heard Theo’s voice from the doorframe.

Leo chuckled and kissed them both goodbye. Max got close to Leah and kissed her too.

“Call if you need something. Even if it’s just cravings.”

“Right. Take care.”

Before William left he heard the two talk.

“Four hot men kissed you, but only one kissed me. Why are you always so lucky with men?”

“I can arrange for Theodore to come back and kiss you.”

They didn’t hear an answer from Melissa. Walking down the hall Max talked to Theo.

“Would you?”

“What?”

“Go back and kiss her.”

“If she wasn’t on my wrong side already, maybe.”

“You two got heated too soon for no reason,” William said.

“But that maybe means you find her cute,” Leo said to him.

“She is hot.” Theo corrected. “But she is annoying.”

“She is not, that is just the sexual tension wanting to be released.” Leo massaged his shoulders, but Theo pushed him away and entered the elevator.

“Like I said before, there is no sexual tension. She is hot, but that doesn’t mean I want to take her home.”

“But if the opportunity comes, would you reject it?”

“She already said it won’t happen, so there is your answer.” Theo quickly added before anyone talked again. “What about you, Max?”

“Me?” he asked confused.

“What has been all these weird look exchanges between you and Benjamin Knight?”

“Why are you so desperate to remove the focus from you? If you want to topic to end, just say if you would sleep with her or not.”

“I already said. I just remembered they are siblings and that he has been eyeing you a lot whenever we are around. Then I remembered when we were younger you once mention you were bisexual.”

“So?”

“So… what has happened?”

“I have never seen Mr. Knight outside of Lumily.”

“We will have to ask Leah or Melissa his preferences, although I did see him looking at your ass when we were at Lumily the first time,” Leo added.

William stayed quiet, but he did remember seeing Benjamin looking at Max’s body as if wondering what he looked like without clothes.

“So, would you sleep with him if the opportunity arises?” Theo asked getting closer.

Max put a finger on his forehead and pushed him away.

“I prefer women, and unfortunately I don’t like men just because they are hot. So I’ve never considered him.”

“What the hell you look in a man, then?”

“Personality, I guess.”

“So you are into us?” Leo asked. “I mean, we are amazing.” Max smiled at him.

“I moved on from you all in my twenties.”

“That could have been the other day, Maximillian. You are just a few months older than Will.” Theo frowned.

“I moved on from you first, don’t worry.”

“Who was last, then?” Leo asked. William smirked knowing the answer. Max frowned and looked away, not liking the topic. “Me?”

“When is this door opening?” he muttered.

“Wait, me?” Leo repeated. “Is it because I’m the flirtatious one?” Leo seemed to start to panic. “I remember flirting with you too when we were younger but I was just teasing. I didn’t mean to play with your feelings, I’m sorry, Max.”

Max actually blushed at his apology and the rest stayed quiet. Leo did look like he was sorry for confusing Max.

“That was a long time ago,” Max said making Leo gasp.

“So I did make you feel like that.” The door opened and Max escaped from the place, Leo quickly following. He surrounded him with his arms, hugging him but continuing to walk. “I’m really sorry, Maxie.”

“Enough, it’s not like I don’t know that’s just your personality, and as I said I already got over it.”

“Seriously?”

“I swear,” Max said truthfully.

“Thank God, 'cause I don’t know what I’d do if you tell me you’re still into me.”

“Are you saying you would sleep with him to not break his heart?” William joked but Leo looked at him seriously.

“I don’t know.” He said with a hint of fear. Leo was the type to do things he didn’t like to not hurt others. “But how would that go? Who would be the bottom and who the top? Do you do both?”

“I’m not a bottom.”

“I don’t see myself as a bottom, either.”

“Leo, relax.” Max got his arms off him and turned around to face him. “I’m not into you, anymore. It’s been like that since I was 26. I haven’t seen any of you in that light since. I’m not interested in anyone at the moment. If I ever get interested in you again, I’ll let you know and you can worry then. Not now.”

“Ok,” Leo whispered, still not sure.

Max sighed and looked at Theo.

“I just asked you if you would kiss Melissa Knight, look at what you’ve done.”