Chapter 2

Always yours,

Aiden

Matthew was blushing as he put the card back in its envelope. The message was sweet. He grabbed his phone from the front inside pocket of his jeans and sent a text message to his best friend and lover. Thanks for the roses, babe. I love you unconditionally too, but I’ve got to be honest with you: your gifts are getting to be rather excessive over the years. For the record, you’re not the luckiest motherfucker; I am.

Matthew looked at his watch again. He had another ten minutes before lunch. He tinkered with the car, and…Voila! He finally found it. This cursed vehicle had irritated him for hours now. He thought that he wouldn’t be able to make good on his earlier promise to the customer because nothing seemed faulty with the car. Now that he knew what the problem was, he could take a few extra seconds to breathe out a sigh of relief before stepping into the small office next to the big yard. He had to call the customer to inform her of the issue with the car and the probable cost of repairs. It would have been unprofessional to renege on his promise.

He had bought this car repair business from the previous owner slightly less than two years before, after scrimping and saving like crazy to make the down payment. He had been more fortunate than most first-time business owners, though. His lovers, Aiden Eastwood and Edward Langston, had been very supportive. Moreover, they all got to live in Aiden’s penthouse, so he didn’t have to worry about paying rent every month. The utility and grocery bills were shared equally among the three of them so he didn’t end up being totally destitute, homeless, and starving. Most of his earnings could be invested in his business.

He had always been a very independent person. Even after he had been awarded a full scholarship at the university to study for his business management degree, he had continued to work his ass off as a part-time mechanic to pay rent, utility bills, and food while studying hard to pass his classes. He was determined to acquire a degree, something to fall back on in case his business plan fell through. When both Aiden and Edward offered him money to help the business, he had adamantly refused their assistance. He was going to be successful on his own terms even if it ended up killing him.

His business management degree had turned out to be very useful now that he owned this car repair business. Most importantly, he wasn’t stuck inside an office, wearing a stuffy dress shirt and tie, and doing a boring nine-to-five job for the rest of his life. He had always enjoyed working with cars. There was something very soothing about the whole process. Owning this car repair business was a dream come true. He could only hope that it would manage to stay afloat. He frankly couldn’t see himself getting involved in another occupation or working for someone else now that he had had a taste of the freedom of setting up his own hours by owning a business.

After contacting the car owner and agreeing on the price for the repairs that needed to be done, he hung up and eyed the clock on the wall. He had about forty-five minutes before he needed to get back to work. He decided that now would be a good time to grab some lunch before things began to pick up later in the afternoon. He whistled merrily and grabbed his sandwiches off his office desk before heading towards the small pantry at the back of the building. He wanted to heat up his food and drink some coffee. He would need the caffeine to stay awake for the remainder of the day.

* * * *

Aiden rubbed his forehead and sighed, partly in annoyance but mostly in anger. This was turning out to be an endless day of consecutive problems. It was true what people said about bad luck: it never came alone and always when you least expected it. It had been one lousy event after the other. First, the finance department had somehow messed up the estimated cost of the upcoming project. It was not by a huge margin and there was still enough time to fix the mistake and get everything back on track, but he was irritated by their incompetence. Then, to worsen what was already a horrible day, the suppliers were demanding cost increases on several items, which consequently would lower their own profit. He had to deal with that problem as soon as possible.

He closed his eyes and leaned back on his chair. He had to shoulder part of the blame though. After all, he oversaw the finance department. He should have been more meticulous when checking through the documents submitted by his subordinates.