Markus POV

I couldn’t believe the things I was hearing. My mind went blind with rage. And heart ache. And sadness. I wanted to hurt the fuckers who hurt my sweet boy. I wanted to hurt them bad. At the same time, I wanted to meet Lewis, his parents, and Lewy and tell them how absolutely incredible they are. And I wanted to thank them for saving Owen.

Vincent was a sobbing wreck after listening to what Owen had been through. Owen just sat across from us awkwardly waiting for one of us to reply, but I didn’t even know what to say to all that.

“Do you still talk to Lewis? Or Lewy?” I asked.

“Well… It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to either of them…” Owen told me.

“How long has it been since you last talked to them?” Vincent asked, through his tears.

“Um, probably since just before Markus and I officially became a couple. At first I didn’t really realize it had been a while since I talked to them, then one day Lewis called, I rejected the call… that’s when I realized I was actively avoiding them all together…” Owen told us.

“But why?” I asked, not understanding why he would avoid them.

“I don’t really know. I just had a hard time talking to them because Lewis and his parents don’t know where I am, and it was hard lying to them… I couldn’t do that to them anymore. And then I got involved in this… special type of relationship with you… and I didn’t know how I was ever going to explain to them that what we had wasn’t a bad thing. And eventually I just stopped talking to them.” Owen dropped his head in his hands as if he were greatly disappointed in himself for how he handled that situation.

“I’m sure they must be worried sick about you. And why would you have to tell them this isn’t a bad thing? What do you mean by that?” I asked, slightly offended by the suggestion that our relationship would be view as anything other than good.

“At the time, I wasn’t sure how this dynamic worked in public settings. I wasn’t sure how our relationship would look from their perspective. And I wasn’t sure if they’d be subject to viewing anything… as in I wasn’t sure if you’d give orders in front of them, or expect me to uphold certain rules that at the time I was still unsure of myself. How was I supposed to know any of that? This is the first time I’ve been in a actual relationship, and on top of that if a D/s relationship. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t want them to think I’d gotten into a dangerous relationship with someone twice my age, and think you’re just controlling my every move. Admittedly, I might have been embarrassed, at first, about telling them that what we have is what it is. God, listening to myself explain this out loud makes me feel like shit. Just to be clear, I have never been embarrassed to be dating you, Markus. But I was embarrassed about the thought of explaining what exactly our relationship was - ” Owen seemed like he was about to start talking in circles. I understood what he was trying to say, and I wasn’t offended anymore. So I cut him off with a kiss.

“I understand, baby. Everything you were going through was new to you, and you didn’t know better. But can you do me a favor in the future?” I asked with a gentle tone, hoping he knew I wasn’t upset about the way he expressed himself.

“Sure?”

“If you’re ever unsure of anything regarding our relationship, talk to me about it.”

“I will.” Owen promised.

“So then, do you plan to contact your friends again?” Vincent asked, interrupting the moment.

“I mean, yeah I want to talk to them.. but it’s been around a year since I last spoke to them… They probably hate me by now.” Owen sounded very sad at the thought.

From that very moment, an idea started brewing in my mind. I wasn’t entirely sure how I would execute the idea, but I absolutely wanted this to happen. And I would do whatever I could to make it so, which meant I would need help. I didn’t want to make it look obvious that I was trying to be sneaky, so needed a reason to be alone with Roy to talk to him about my idea.

“Hey, how about we get some drinks and head out back to the pool?” I suggested, “Seems like we could all use a bit of unwinding.”

“Yeah, okay. Let’s do that.” Owen gave a weak half smile. I knew that wasn’t what he wanted, but he’d just have to hang in there a few days.

“Roy, help me get the drinks, won’t you?” I asked him, making sure to make eye contact with him to convey that I needed to speak with him.

“Uh, yeah sure.”

“Owen, why don’t you take Vinny and go get changed and head out side. We’ll join you shortly.”

I waited until Owen and Vincent went outside to the pool before I said anything to Roy, because I didn’t want to risk Owen over hearing me. Roy watched me curiously, I’m sure he was dying to know what it was I am being weird about.

“So I was thinking of inviting Lewis, and his family here to surprise Owen.” I finally told Roy.

“Wow. Really? Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Roy countered.

“No. I’m not. But I highly doubt that, after everything they did to help him, they hate him just because he went radio silence for a year. I’m willing to bet they are missing him and are deeply worried about his wellbeing. It could go either way, though. It could be an amazing surprise reunion for them, or it could be a complete blunder and end terribly. We’ll never know unless we try. And I want Owen to be able to talk to his best friend again. And let’s face it Roy, could you handle a year without talking to me?”

“No I couldn’t. I owe you a lifetime of gratitude for saving me.”

“You do not owe me anything, kid. But my point is, Owen and Lewy are the same as me and you in their own way. And I’m sure Owen feels the same toward him, and even Lewis, that you do toward me. So… no harm in at least trying… right?”

“Alright, you have a solid point. How exactly are you planning to do this?” Roy looked at me questioningly.

“That’s where I need your help. I obviously need to get access to his phone so I can get the numbers, but I need you to help me not look suspicious. Are you willing to help me?”

“Can I enlist Vincent’s help?” Roy asked.

“As much as I would love for him to be in on this, do you really think he’d be able to keep it from Owen? I mean the two are,” I turned to look out the window facing the pool, and saw Vincent and Owen splashing and playing around almost flirtatiously with each other, “two peas in a pod. I think it might be hard for Vinny to hide such a huge surprise.”

“You might have a point there.” Roy chuckled when he saw the two playing around in the water. “Don’t tell Vinny I said this please, but sometimes when he acts like this with Owen, it’s hard to picture him as the dom in our relationship.” Roy told me, as we watched the two goof off together.

I laughed. I could definitely understand what Roy meant by that. At first look, outsiders might think Roy was the more dominant partner between the two. But actually knowing the two of them, I knew better.

“So this plan of yours… Have you thought about a place for them to stay? And I’m pretty sure Owen said Lewis and his mom don’t know where Lewy sent him, so… is revealing that secret a good idea?” Roy got a little more serious now.

“I mean, I do have more than enough space here for them to stay here. I’ll let them use the basement guest space. And I had planned to talk to Lewy about if he thought it was a bad idea or not.”

“What about your dungeon then?” Roy asked. My dungeon was a massive part of the basement space, but there was a locking door that separated the dungeon from the guest space, so I wasn’t super concerned about that. I could just keep the door locked the duration of their visit.

“I’ll lock the door. I can just grab a few things out of there to keep in my room if I want to use anything while I have the company here.” I told him.

“Okay. And what about Owen? And these nightmares he’s been having? How are you going to navigate that?” Roy asked. That one did stump me a bit…

“I’m not trying to make it hard for you, Old Man. I’m just trying to make sure you’ve thought everything through. I know you want to do something good for him. I get it. But you can’t go into this plan half assed. It needs to be well thought out, and you need more than a few minutes to plan it out.” Roy told me. I sighed. He was right, I was getting ahead of myself.

Before I could reply, I heard the door slide open, “You two coming anytime soon, or what?” Vincent asked us, dripping salt water all over my floor. I looked at him, then down at my wood flooring, then back at him, which seemed to have given him a clue as to what was about to come out of my mouth because he backed up so that he was no longer standing inside.

“Sorry. Could you also grab some towels, we forgot them.” Vincent gave me an apologetic smile.

“Good timing. Roy, grab some towels. I think I’ll risk enlisting some more help after all.” I decided on the spot. Roy had a point, this was going to require more than some half-assed plan, and who better to help than Owen’s best friend – or at least one of them.

“Help with what?” Vincent asked.

“A huge surprise, and you have to keep every tiny detail of it secret from Owen.” I answered.

“Oh I love surprises! What are we doing? And what do you need my help with?”

As quietly as I could, because the door was now open, I told Vinny, “So here’s the thing. I want to invite Lewis and his family here to have a reunion with Owen. Issue is, as Roy pointed out, I have no idea if it’s something Owen even wants. I don’t know if he’s ready to see them again, after not speaking to them for so long. And if I do this, I can’t half ass this. I want you to talk to Owen about them. Kind of get a feel for if he’d want to see them again, or talk to them or anything. But do it in a way that isn’t like blatantly obvious you’re trying to get information out of him.”

“OH! I love this idea! Absolutely, I can do that!” Vincent was giddy with excitement at the idea of helping me do something special for Owen. Just before I was about to speak again, I glanced over Vinny’s shoulder and saw Owen headed our way. Luckily, Roy had perfect timing because he came back just in time to make changing the subject convenient.

I cleared my throat, “So you take those outside, and we’ll be out there in a minute.”

“Hey, I’m getting lonely out here, aren’t you coming to play?” Owen asked, teasing me with his seductive tone.

“Oh, I’m coming to play alright,” I told him, heavy with suggestiveness. Owen blushed, “Just you wait, Mio Tesoro. I’ll play with you real good.” I winked at him. That line even made Vincent blush, which surprised me, because it usually takes a lot more than a few suggestive comments to make him blush.

Without saying another word, Vincent ushered Owen back toward the pool, telling him something about needing to apply more sunblock. I dried up the water mess Vincent had made on the floor with the extra towel Roy had brought, then we quickly mixed the drinks and went to change. Less than ten minutes later, Roy and I had finally managed to go outside to enjoy some fun with our guys.