Chapter Thirty Two-
Noel
It's been a week. What I did was bad and I think the punishment was totally justified. I deserved it, but something went wrong in my brain. I started all of this with the intention to be the best sub ever, and being a brat doesn't take away from that. It's just that there's a fine line between being a brat and being a bad sub. I crossed it.
For a split second, I wasn't a sub or a brat. I was a bully, and I don't want to be like that anymore.
I don't want to make excuses, but it's been hard trying to find an outlet. I used drugs and alcohol and sex as a way to let loose and relax, but now it's like I'm walking on eggshells. I feel weird teasing Dax now because he just lets me do whatever I want. I called him a dickhead the other day and he just turned around and walked away from me.
I know that I'm supposed to be taking a break from being a sub, but that was my outlet after I quit all the other stuff. It was like a fun game. I tease Dax until he gets fed up and punishes me or laughs it off and fucks me until I see stars.
Now I don't have either and it's like I'm always frustrated and bored. I want something fun to happen.
I groan in frustration, grabbing the remote to turn off the porn that I bought on Dax's credit card. I guess I'll just have to entertain myself from now on. I roll off of the couch with a deep sigh and walk to the fridge, throwing the door open to grab two lunchables.
When I asked Dax to get them for me, I swear he almost threw up in his mouth, but I managed to convince him.
He went on and on about how he could hire a cook and how foods like that have a shit ton of preservatives. I reminded him that I grew up on shitty foods because Sawyer didn't make enough money to feed us all and had to use food stamps most of the time. He didn't argue much after that. He's trying. I know he is.
Every day, I visibly see him trying to correct the way he was taught to think. He doesn't refer to me as 'poor' anymore. He usually says things like 'less fortunate' now which still isn't great, but it's better.
He openly admitted that he thinks Mateo is very smart even though he never graduated high school.
He went to Will's soccer scrimmage against a girls team and pointed out his own sexism after he mentioned that he always assumed that men's teams would be better to watch.
I've figured out that if I ask him 'why' enough then he'll realize that his ideas are problematic. He said that he always thought that men's teams were more interesting to watch. After asking why a bunch, he got to the root of the problem which is that he thinks men are inherently better at sports.
Considering that's just flat out wrong, he agreed to watch more women's sports.
I know he's not perfect, but I'm no stranger to hard work. Actually, I love a challenge, and Dax is the biggest one I've taken on.
I close the fridge and climb on top of the counter to reach the cabinet that Dax puts his alcohol in. I debate for a moment, but settle for grabbing his bottle of Hennessy white.
I climb off the table and head to the front door, opening it before walking down the hallway that leads to the elevator. When I get to the entrance, I glance around, smiling when I see Fabian.
"Hey. You hungry?" I ask, tossing him a lunchable. He catches it, and tries to hide a smile as I lean back against the wall and slide down until I'm comfortably seated on the floor.
"I'm sure Mr. Whitlock doesn't want you drinking his alcohol, Mr. Grayson." He nags as I place the bottle next to me.
"I don't really care. Maybe he'll finally decide to punish me and then fuck me so hard my screams echo off the walls." I respond. I see his cheeks turn red, but he just rolls his eyes and tries to ignore me.
"And I told you to call me Noel. There's too many Graysons."
"You're so crude." He grumbles, tearing the plastic off the top while sitting next to me. He places his walkie talkie and Ipad in front of him, letting me peek at all of the security footage he gets to look at.
I shrug as we start making our small pizzas, glaring at the plastic when I end up wasting all of my sauce and cheese so there's nothing to put on the last one.
I pout and think for a moment before coming up with a brilliant idea. I smack the naked bread onto one of my pizzas and take a bite out of my amazing creation. Pizza sandwich.
I shake the silly thoughts out of my head and turn to him after swallowing my bite. "You stand outside his penthouse from 7am to 12pm almost every day. It's not like you can't hear me. Besides, you're engaged to a bouncer at a bdsm club. You really expect me to think you're all that innocent?"
"My personal life has nothing to do with you, Noel." He scolds. He's only 24, so he's not that much older than me but still I think he sees me as a kid that he wants to protect.
"Oh, you love me." I answer dismissively.
We sit together and finish our food, chatting about random things like what he's planning for the wedding and how I feel about never being at the club. After we got over the initial hatred, we've moved into a nice love/hate area.
Around people we pretend that we never talk or hang out, but when it's just us, it's different. I don't feel weird talking to him. He's a good friend to me actually. James is too. I can see why they're together.
After we finish and throw everything in the trash, I take Dax's bottle of alcohol to put it back in his cabinet. I only had a few sips, so he shouldn't be too mad when he gets back.
When I stand next to Fabian again, I peek over his shoulder at the footage, to see two familiar faces entering the first floor elevator.
"What the hell are they doing here?" I ask.
I never would've imagined that Elian would show his face here again after I hit him. I certainly didn't expect him to show up with Dax's father. Of course the two people causing the most problems would be working together.
"I'm not sure. Mr. Whitlock always asks people not to show up uninvited, but-"
I grab his arm and pull him to the side. There's a little hallway with a door that says 'employees only' that nobody ever looks down. Surely they won't see us there.
"I want to find out what they're doing so just hush." I tell him just as the bell dings. The elevator opens and eventually the two step out.
"I thought he had a guard or something." His dad mentions, and Elian just shrugs.
"He does. He must be on a break or took a day off. I doubt Dax is here without someone watching the security."
"Right well there goes the plan. I don't know how he's supposed to see you if he's not even here. I still can't believe you. I gave you one simple task, and you couldn't even do that right."
"It's not like I didn't try! I told him everything he could've wanted to hear, and it did nothing. And that stupid bitch hit me. I can't get to Dax with him in the way, Mr. Whitlock." Elian complains, huffing softly.
"Try harder. Strip naked and shake your little ass at him, or just fucking tell him the truth for all I care. I need myself back in his good graces, and I can't do that with his little tramp turning him against me." He groans in frustration before turning to Elian to roughly grab one of his arms.
Elian winces visibly, but he's not in enough pain to say anything. "I thought you supposedly loved him. Do you want him back or not?"
Elian frowns and looks down with a little sigh. "Yes. I want him back, and I'm really trying. I didn't know that he was already in love with someone else. It's harder to sway him now. Even if I do tell him the truth. He'd never believe me."
"Then either start doing better or you're out. Prove you can be useful or I'll drop you and do it on my own. You're damn lucky I'm including a disgusting homo like you anyway. All you're going to do is corrupt him, but if you can get him to agree to take over my company, then you can have him." He snaps, finally letting go of Elian who instantly starts rubbing the mark that was left on his wrist.
Mr. Whitlock gets back into the elevator and leaves Elian standing in the hallway alone. He huffs and walks down the hallway to the door, reaching his hand up, but pausing before he knocks.
He puts it down again and starts to pace. "It's fine. Just do it. Tell him the truth, Elian. You got this. He'll forgive you and he'll love you like he used to. You just have to do it." He says, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door.
I know the effort is futile. Dax isn't there.
"Dax? I know you don't want to talk to me, but can we please just have one conversation?" He asks, knocking again. When he gets no response, he sighs again and shakes his head. "Of course you're not here."
Once he gives up, he goes back down the elevator and I look at the cameras to see him leave the building. When I let go, Fabian and I leave our hiding spot.
"What the fuck just happened?" I wonder aloud, hearing Fabian snicker softly beside me.
"Mr. Whitlock isn't exactly new to these antics. He's used to manipulating his son, and I guess that kid is his newest tool."
"They're not getting to Dax. I won't let them. I don't care what they think because for once, he gets to be truly happy, and I refuse to let them ruin it."
The iPad in his hand beeps, making him look up and sigh. "He's back. You should go."
"Fabian, promise you won't say anything to him."
"It's my job, Mr. Grays-"
"If you're really my friend, you won't say anything. Please?"
He sighs and bites his lip before nodding. "I hate that you put me in this situation, but fine. I won't tell him."
I grin and rush back to the house, going back to the couch to turn on the TV. Oh... I almost forgot that I was watching porn.
It only takes a few minutes for Dax to come in. When I hear his briefcase hit the floor, I think he's mad, but when I stand and turn to him, he's walking towards me with a giant grin on his face.
Before I can open my mouth to speak, he wraps his arms around me, lifting me off the ground and spinning me before placing me back on my feet. I laugh softly and trail my hands up to his cheeks. "What's got you so happy, baby?"
"What do you want? Anything, I swear. A dog, a car, a house, an island. Anything." He asks, keeping his huge smile as he leans forward to press his forehead against mine.
I like seeing him this way. His smile is infectious and I love the way his Hazel eyes light up when he's happy.
"What's going on?" I peck his nose and tilt my head slightly.
"Guess what I did at work today."
"You got abducted and probed by aliens?"
"Close, but no. I settled a deal bigger than anything I've ever done before. It's more than double of anything I've done."
I reach up to take his face in my hands. "How much?"
"3 billion. And 50% goes directly to me." He informs me. I always sucked at math, but it's sounding like Dax just got 1.5 billion dollars richer.
"Woah. That's a shit ton of money. What are you doing with it?"
"I don't know yet, but half is yours to do with as you please. Anything you want, you can have."
I pull him to the couch, sitting him down on it before climbing in his lap. "I don't need all of that, but I do have one thing I'd really like to do. How much does college cost for the full 4 years?"
"Tuition is usually only 25,000-30,000 depending on the school, but some cost more or less. That's also not including expenses like books, housing, food, and anything else like that. Let's just say 80,000 to be safe. Why? Do you want to get your degree?"
"No, but in my family we've always tried to pick out the few that we're smarter than others, and some of us dumber ones opted out of college to give the younger kids a shot. Honestly it would suck for them to pay for me to go and then not have enough for Frankie who's a genius." I smile and lean forward to put my head on his chest.
"I want to open bank accounts for my siblings who haven't graduated yet and put enough in there to make sure they all get a choice to go or not. For Sawyer, Candace, and I, it's like that decision was made for us before we were even old enough to apply for college."
He puts his hands on my hips and rubs circles on them with his thumbs. "That's very kind of you, baby. I can get that done by tomorrow at the latest."
"Aside from that, I don't really know. I have everything I could want except one thing." I tell him, leaning in to kiss his neck before nibbling on it, trying to make a mark.
He reaches around to put his hands on my ass rather than my hips before squeezing, making me smirk.
Ever since Spencer joined and explained why he still feels dominant being beneath his subs, I've realized how right he is. All I have to do to make Dax agree to anything I say is offer sex.
Part of that reminds me of what Mr. Whitlock said to Elian. 'Strip naked and shake your little ass at him.' Elian really wants him back. I thought it wasn't just a ploy to get Dax in bed when he first showed up, but I saw the look on his face when Mr. Whitlock threatened to cut him out of whatever deal they have.
I think he still loves Dax.
The problem is that Dax only stopped loving Elian because he cheated. They were talking about Elian telling him 'the truth'. What if he didn't cheat? What if there was some explanation, and that reason for Dax not to love him is gone? Would he leave me? Would he love Elian again?
As much as I wish I had as much confidence that it would take to get over this, I don't. Maybe that's why I don't want him to know.
"Oh really? And what's that one thing you want?" He asks, kissing me again.
"My dom."
He pauses and pulls back to look at me. He stares into my eyes, letting out a sigh. "Noel, I already said-"
"Look at me, Dax. I'm perfectly fine. It's okay if you don't want me to go to the club for another week, but I hate pretending that we're normal. Please? I need my Master back."
"Very well." He says, reaching up to wrap his hand around my neck, yanking me into a kiss. I feel him squeeze slightly as our tongues dance together. God, I missed this. When we pull back, Dax leans in to brush his lips against my ear. "Then we'll be playing all night."