Unbreakable Bond

***

'Fucking pull yourself together.' Shane Lewis screamed at himself silently. He couldn't believe his hands were actually shaking. As if that wasn't enough, his palms felt sweaty, he had a queasy feeling in his stomach, and he'd started breathing hard. Was he having a panic attack or something, Shane wondered, getting really scared. He was Shane Lewis for fuck's fake. The Shane Lewis! Just his name put the fear of God into others. He didn't get scared...he just didn't.

Shane Lewis was the owner of one of the most powerful and successful business empires in America - SL Group of Companies. And he was only thirty-two years of age. Shane, an engineer by profession, was always described in the media as the man with the Midas' Touch. He was so smart and lucky that whatever business he ventured into became a success. When he was just twenty–two years old, Shane had been able to convince a bank manager to grant him a loan. With that money, he had successfully purchased, tore down, and rebuilt his first office complex. Shane had never looked back since.

He'd been a smart young man, who had been determined to make it. He'd probably wanted to make a point...even if not to anyone but himself, that he wasn't worthless or a nobody. And as an African American, that hadn't been a walk in the park. But with determination and hard work, Shane had achieved his goal and even more. It was therefore not surprising that his name made it to Forbes' top fifty richest men under thirty-five.

Shane was into a lot of businesses, ranging from real estate to oil. According to Forbes, his net worth was six billion dollars. Shane's all-time principle, which guided him at all times, however, was to ensure that whatever business he ventured into, was clean. Every business must be legal. That was something he would never compromise on. Thanks to his mother, Shane never forgot the saying that 'a good name is better than riches'. To him, a good reputation was worth more than all the money in the world.

Shane Lewis was a strikingly handsome black man. With a height of six' one, a sexily muscular physique, a nice close-cropped haircut, and his smart and confident personality, Shane would have passed for a movie star any day. With that kind of body, it was not a surprise that Shane was very athletic. He played football, ran track, and boxed. He'd been a late bloomer...was bullied a lot too, so when he started shooting up, he'd been so thrilled he'd thrown himself into athletics...as a hobby and also as a way to stay fit. Not only did Shane never miss a day at the gym, he actually had an ultramodern gym that had all the hi-tech equipment, in his beautiful mansion. It was therefore not surprising that his hot, yummy, ripped muscles remained as it was.

Add that devilishly good looks to his humble and charming personality, and what came out was an exceptionally likable and easy to love young man. As if that wasn't enough, his passion to achieve greatness in the business world...and success thereof, actually made him the total package. Women, who didn't even know just how wealthy he was, fell over themselves just to gain his attention. Shane Lewis was super-hot.

Shane was somehow borderline shy about his accomplishments, yet certain and fiercely focused on his goals. One distinctive thing about Shane that surprised the business world was that he never wanted to be seen. He always made it a point to stay out of the public eye. Very few people even knew what he looked like. When he made his very first business kill, Shane had changed his name from Nicolas Shane Lewis to just Shane Lewis. Since most people hadn't known his middle name was Shane, he had succeeded in hiding who he was not only from the public but also from those who knew him before. When his mother had asked him curiously why he'd done that, Shane had shrugged and responded in a hoarse voice,

"Much as I want to make it in life Ma, the thought of him even knowing I exist, gives me the shivers."

"Oh, honey..." Sylvia Lewis had whispered with pain in her voice.

"It's been years but the very thought of ever seeing him...and sometimes just the mere thought of him makes me shake with dread. I become that kid again, Ma. I hate the feeling." Shane had whispered, reaching out to wipe the tear that shuddered on his mother's eyelash. "It's okay Ma. For as long as I remain...hidden, I'm fine."

"But that's just it, baby. You don't have to hide. You did nothing wrong. You were just a kid, honey." Sylvia Lewis said with so much anguish in her voice.

"I knew what I was doing, Ma." Shane had whispered.

Sylvia shook her head sadly, her heartbreaking for her son. "You need to see someone, hon." She had said softly. "We couldn't afford it before but you can now. You have to see someone."

"I'm okay, Ma." Shane smiled at his mum. "Besides, no shrink can understand exactly how I feel. I'll be fine."

"What do you mean, they can't understand? It's their job to understand exactly how their patients feel, Nick." Sylvia Lewis had countered, sounding upset.

"Calm down, Ma." Shane had said, grabbing both of his mother's fists in his large hands. He hated it when his mum got upset. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me okay? Seeing you happy is all that matters to me in this world. Don't worry. Okay?"

"Okay." Sylvia had whispered and let it go.

"Now give us a smile..." Shane chuckled. Though he hated it when his mother got worried, he somehow felt good inside that someone loved and cared about him that much. But hey...that was his mum and she did what mothers did best...worry about their kids.

That conversation between him and his mum had taken place ten years ago. Shane never thought the day would come when he would see someone and just want to kneel over and die. He looked around the faces in the conference room and gave a sigh of relief when he noticed that no one seemed to be paying attention to him. He'd decided to personally attend the meeting because the business he was entering into with Damon Thomas-Reid was a very huge and important one. They'd both brought their lawyers and advisors to the meeting. What Shane hadn't known was who Damon was bringing to the meeting as his banker and advisor. When Shane saw just who it was, his heart had nearly jumped out of his fucking chest. Chris Donovan!

When he'd woken up that morning, the last person Shane Lewis thought he would come face to face with was Chris Donovan. He'd blinked and looked again...And there was no mistaking who it was. He would never forget that face. Shane's initial instinct had been to leave...just turn around and hightail it out of there. But what would the people he was there to meet think of him, Shane wondered. Besides, why the fuck should he run because of Chris Donovan? He said a quick prayer to whoever was listening in the heavens, to give him the strength to finish the meeting without attracting unnecessary attention to himself. He made a conscious effort to concentrate on what was being said but try as he did, Shane couldn't stop his mind from wandering down a painful memory lane...

***

Damon Thomas-Reid was getting worried. The meeting he was in was a very important one. In fact, so important that, the great billionaire...Shane Lewis himself had decided to show up for the meeting. Damon had only seen the man once at a friend's party. He'd gotten to know who Shane was because his friend had insisted on introducing them. That had been a very long time ago but Shane still looked his very imposing and charismatic self. To say Damon was surprised Shane had decided to show up for the meeting was an understatement. The man always stayed back and allowed his crew of impressive professionals to operate. Damon was however thrilled that Shane was actually attaching so much importance to their business...and naturally, Damon expected his crew to do the same. So why the fuck was Chris sitting down quietly like a mummy, Damon wondered furiously.

It was so unlike Chris to be quiet in a meeting of such importance. He was the professional banker for fuck's sake. He needed to give his inputs. Damon felt so lucky that his lawyer seemed to have some knowledge of banking. He would have been fucked. He made a mental note to give the man a raise for saving his arse. In fact, it would serve his absent-minded, rich, banker friend right if Damon insisted he gave the lawyer a reward too. After all, the man was doing Chris' work for him. Damon wished he could get his hands around Chris' neck that very moment. Damon Thomas-Reid was pissed!

What surprised Damon, even more, was Shane Lewis' silence too. When the guy insisted on attending the meeting, Damon had naturally assumed he was coming to contribute to the discussion. Not just sit quietly like a mute. Shane Lewis' reputation preceded him. The guy took control of issues whenever he was around and every major player in the business world knew that. Hey, the man definitely didn't get to where he was by being mute. Damon couldn't help but notice the surprised looks Shane's crew kept throwing their boss' way. They were obviously as shocked as Damon was.

Wait a minute... Damon turned to take a good look at his equally uncharacteristically quiet friend and started getting worried. Chris looked like he'd seen a ghost. And if Shane's demeanor was anything to go by, he was shaken as well and didn't have any intention of speaking a word. Hell, he didn't even look like he could hear a word of what was being said. Did Shane's silence have anything to do with Chris, Damon wondered. Damon watched the two for a while, waiting for either man to say something...anything. But both Chris and Shane looked like they were not even in the conference room. And just like that, Damon knew he had to bring the meeting to a close. After all, the very important issues had already been tackled. Why not put both men out of their misery?

"Okay gentlemen," Damon started in a booming voice, "I'm sure you'll all agree with me if I say this meeting has been very successful as we've handled all the major issues. The secretary will mail the minutes to all of us before our next meeting in four weeks. That's going to take place in Shane's residence by the way, since he wants to show all of us a prototype of what we have in mind. Thank you all for coming."

There were handshakes all over as everyone got ready to leave the conference room. Damon couldn't help but notice how Shane greeted only him, murmured something about giving him a call later, and quickly turned to leave the conference room as though the hounds of hell were after him. Chris, on the other hand, remained seated, looking as though he didn't even know what was going on. Damon closed and locked the door to the conference room behind the last person and turned to look at his friend.

"What the fuck is going on?" Damon bellowed without preamble, wincing when he saw Chris jump in his seat.

Damon got even more worried then. What the hell would make an over six feet fearless hunk like Chris be so out of it, he actually jumps at a raised voice? Damon was seeing a totally different side of the poised Chris. Out of all his seven friends, the squad, as they often called themselves...namely Dean, Cole, Matt, Chris, Kyle, Michael, and Ty, Chris was the most confident and assertive. To top that, Chris was smart and commanded respect like no other. He was the sole owner of two big investment banks and was a partner in a third one...his partners being his seven friends. Yes, they were all very well-to-do but were not uptight like most young rich guys.

In a way, Chris was the backbone of the group because whenever any of the guys had problems, Chris was always the last resort. He was the problem solver amongst the friends. He was also a lot of fun to be around...especially when the group of friends came together. But the Chris sitting in the conference room that very moment, was nothing like the Chris Damon knew and was used to. It looked like the problem solver needed his problem solved, Damon sighed as he went around the conference table to sit directly opposite his friend.

"Chris?" Damon's voice softened. He waited till Chris looked up into his eyes with his grey eyes filled with so much desolation. "Talk to me man. What just happened?"

Chris cleared his throat as his eyes darted away to look at the seat Shane had been occupying. He still couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Do you know Shane?" Damon asked and then almost kicked himself. Of course, Chris knew Shane. Who didn't? Well, in his defense, most people had never seen Shane physically, Damon argued with himself. "I mean personally," Damon added, hating the defeated look in Chris' eyes.

***

Chris nodded, his eyes still riveted on Shane's seat. His heart was pounding so hard, he thought he might probably be coming down with a heart condition. Chris couldn't believe he'd actually seen Nicolas Lewis after all these years. He'd never connected that Shane Lewis was the same as Nicolas Lewis. He'd looked different...bigger than the last time he'd seen him, but there was no mistaking that face, those eyes...that had been his Nick. He would know that face anywhere.

"Chris?"

"Yes." Chris' voice was barely audible. "Yes, I knew him personally."

"Okay," Damon said, looking at Chris. "How long ago was that?"

Chris shrugged. "Fifteen years, four months, six days...and some hours," Chris said quietly, making Damon whistle.

"You mean you've been keeping all this in your head?" Damon asked incredulously.

Chris gave a short bitter laugh, still not turning to look at Damon. "I calculated that during the meeting."

"Thanks a bunch, dude. Instead of listening and contributing to what was being discussed, you chose to calculate the last time you saw some billionaire hunk." Damon chuckled. "So tell me...what's up with the two of you?"

"I knew him when we were both kids, Damon." Chris took a deep breath and plunged on. "My dad took my stepmother and I to his country home for summer vacation. It was the best vacation of my life. Not because the countryside was beautiful, or because I was virtually always left on my own the whole time so could therefore do whatever I wanted. It was because Nick was there."

"Who's..."

"Shane," Chris said quietly. "He was Nicolas Lewis then. His mother was our housekeeper. She was...she was the mother I never had, Damon. My dad and stepmom were virtually always out. Only God knew where they usually disappeared to. But I didn't care because I had Nick. We had a lot of fun together. In fact, so much fun that I never wanted to leave the place. His father had died some years earlier together with Nick's...Shane's elder brother in a car crash so all he had was his mother. There was so much love between mother and son it was beautiful to watch. But Auntie Sylvia never once made me feel like my own mother wasn't around." Chris' own mother had died moments after giving birth to him. "She showered me with so much love I thought I was in heaven." Chris paused and shook his head sadly. God knew his stepmother didn't have that time and love for him.

"Nick and I...we were like Siamese twins. We went everywhere and did everything together. We even slept in my bed at night." Chris gave a humourless laugh. "We would play dominos till the wee hours of the morning. I taught him to play but he was so smart he started beating me at my own game. I was so impressed with his intelligence and skill, I gave him the dominos as a gift. He cried." Chris grimaced. "He was that grateful for the gift." Chris went quiet for a while but Damon didn't say anything. He wanted Chris to tell him at his own pace.

"I would draw him." Chris' voice was barely above a whisper. "I loved to draw even then so I drew lots of pictures of him." Damon nodded even though Chris couldn't see him. He knew Chris' hobby was drawing. "He would make funny poses for me to draw. I've never had as much fun drawing anything as I did drawing him. He was...beautiful. As fate would have it, we fell for each other. I fell so hard that the mere thought of going our separate ways after the vacation was unbearable. I wanted to share everything I had with him. You see, I was bigger and richer...thanks to my wealthy father, so though I was the same age as him, I thought he was my responsibility. He was so small and so damn handsome." Chris gave his first real smile since he saw Shane at the meeting. "No one knew how we felt about each other. He was my world. Then it happened. One evening, we were in my room watching a movie. 'Endless Love.' I'll never forget that movie. We...we started making out. We had never done anything like that before. Maybe the film got to us but...it just happened. Then he started touching me. God, it felt so good. I knew I should stop him but I just couldn't. Then he...he went down on me. I was just a kid, Damon." Chris' voice broke. He went quiet for a while to compose himself before he continued.

"I'd never felt anything so exquisite in my life. When I came, he didn't even get off my cock. He licked me clean. It was..." Chris shook his head slowly, obviously lost in pleasurable memories. "One moment, I was feeling an overwhelming pleasure and love for him, the next, I was feeling so disgusted. I couldn't believe I'd actually allowed a guy to do that to me. It's not like I had a girlfriend somewhere or had ever gotten intimate with a girl. I just felt that no matter how pleasurable what had happened was, it wasn't right. I'd heard my dad say enough hate words about homosexuals to know I was probably going to burn in hell for what I'd allowed Nick to do to me. I panicked, Damon. I... Fuck!" Chris swore and banged his fist on the table so hard some papers flew onto the floor.

"What did you do, Chris?" Damon's voice sounded strained even to his own ears. And when Chris finally turned his eyes onto Damon, there was so much self-loathing in his eyes Damon dreaded what Chris was about to say next.

"I beat him to a pulp!"

"Fuck!"