As soon as Trevor arrived in front of Max, his gaze automatically landed on the girl's arm, which was connected to Max's. He only looked for two seconds, then glanced back at Max. Seeing the displeasure in Trevor's eyes, Max did not care for the girl who had been bothering him for quite some time this time and threw her arm away from him without hesitation. Her scent was already suffocating him, he was putting up with her because of his mother, but he could not make his baby angry, so he abruptly broke away from her and stood next to Trevor.
Trevor politely greeted both mother and daughter before turning to Gina and informing her that Maxwell was looking for Max. Obviously, Gina could tell it was a lie because she did not miss the anger in Trevor's eyes when he saw Vanessa's arm intertwined with his man's. Gina nodded at them before Trevor took Max and dragged him towards the house. Max was happy, his jealous babe was as sweet as ever. He was glad Trevor did not hold back his jealousy and got to him as quickly as he could, not caring that people would surely start speculating about their relationship.
Inside the house, Trevor abruptly let go of Max's hand without giving him a glance. He sat down on the couch in a small room where there were no people. Max just looked at him, arms crossed, leaning against the door with a cheeky smile on his handsome face.
"I thought Grandpa wanted to see me?" He asked with a grin.
Trevor gave him a grim look before looking away, "I was just helping you... I could see how uncomfortable you were because you were scratching your nose the whole time!" He grinned as well, seeing Max's frowning face as he remembered the minutes he spent around that Omega with her smell, which was like hell to him.
"You cannot imagine how bad they smell!" Max replied, feeling wronged to have to go through all this just because of his mother.
"Well, she smells good to me...the one with her arm on you," Trevor commented.
"She smells the worst! and her smell is still on me! I can not stand it," Max said as he took off his blazer. "I need to change... Can you give me a hand?" He added, asking for Trevor's hand, who took the blazer and followed Max where he was taking him.
Soon they were standing in front of a closed-door with a digital lock on it. Max opened it after entering a code and let Trevor in.
"Here is my bedroom, I think this is the only place you have not been in this house since no one knows the password beside me," Max ushered him in, "give me a minute, I did not say hi to grandpa, I'll go see him for a minute and be right back." He added before changing his shirt and walking out leaving Trevor looking around excitedly.
It was true that he had been in almost every room in this house but this one. It was always locked, and he was not really curious about what might be behind that door. Since he and Max had been living together, it had not occurred to him to look for his bedroom in the family home. He did not know why, but he was quite happy and excited to be there. It was Max's little sanctuary, a place with all his boyhood memories.
The first thing that caught his eye was a large glass shelf filled with all of Max's trophies, awards, medals, diplomas, and certificates, arranged by year, from his first year in elementary school to his college years. Trevor could see what game or competition, Max had participated in each year since he was a kid. Looking at all these appreciations, he could easily guess what Max's favourite sport was, his favourite subject in school, which period of his youth he was happiest, or which year he disliked.
Also, another shelf just beside was filled with pictures of Max and his family when he was growing up. All twenty-four years of his life were represented there. Trevor could somewhat accurately place all the major events that had taken place in Max's life, it was as if he had been there. He was happy to see all these pictures that showed every side of Max's character: sweet, kind, angry, naughty, etc.
One picture of Max caught his attention, it was Max when he appeared to be about thirteen years old and was in the hospital. His head was all wrapped up in a bandage, he was lying there and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Trevor could not help but reach out, take the picture off the shelf and look at it intently. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not notice how tears from his eyes landed on the picture. He didn't know why but that picture was making his heart hurt...
Max, for his part, was with his grandfather in his study. Like Trevor, he sat down in front of Maxwell and took a sip of the tea his grandfather had just poured him.
"How are you, Grandpa?"
"Well, I am still handsome, healthy, and rich; except that I have a little brat for a grandchild who cannot even take the time to say hello to me!"
Max just shook his head, his grandfather's favourite pastime was to nag him.
"And you, how are you these days?" asked Maxwell.
"Well, I am a young, dominant alpha, in great health, with a perfect body, and good looking! Plus, I am loaded, so I guess I am doing okay..." replied Max, chuckling.
Maxwell had nothing to say, he had started it himself. He just scoffed, "And at work? When is your father planning on putting you in charge of the company? He's so selfish, still so young, and already wants to pass the buck!"
Max could only shake his head when he heard that, "Grandfather, you were the one who pushed him into it. You said then that I was living a ponderous life! That I have to take responsibility now ..."
Maxwell remembered his own words and could not help laughing, "Yeah, right, I said that, but I did not say to leave you in charge of the company!"
"Rest assured, Grandfather, I will only be the CEO for now. Father will still be the chairman for a few more years. I have said that I will take his place when I am maybe thirty years old."
Maxwell nodded in response, "A wise decision, you should not hurry, we are still strong to be the responsible one in this family." He smiled.
Maxwell did not really want Max to take over the family business too soon. His son was still strong enough to hold that position. He wanted his grandchild to have a life without too many worries for now giving him many great-grandchildren.
"So, how are you getting along with Trevor?" Maxwell asked seriously, crossing his arms.
"We are doing okay, I think," Max was not too sure how they were doing either.
"You are not convincing at all! If you treat customers like that, we will go bankrupt!"
Max just sighed, sometimes his grandpa really knew how to annoy him. "Grandpa, you know perfectly well how well I can run our company!"
"But you can not seem to run a real relationship," Maxwell grinned.
Max looked at his grandfather with a pout. The old man was obviously making fun of him, knowing full well that he was struggling to settle into his relationship with Trevor.
"Grandpa just tells me what you are up to, every time I have tea with you I know you want to talk about something."
Maxwell smiled and straightened in his chair to take a more serious stance, "I have been watching you and Trevor... I know what the issues are between the two of you, the fact that Trevor is unruly and all." Max nodded slightly as he heard his grandfather.
"I have to admit that in a way I am glad things are not going smoothly, you two need to nurture this relationship to make it work. Being a soul mate should not be the most important thing in my opinion. Knowing that Trevor has a lot of doubts and fears that negatively affect your relationship, I also know that you tend to be too gentle, too understanding, too good when you love someone. Giving him everything he wants is not always the answer." Maxwell was sure Max was not even voicing what he was thinking while he was arguing with Trevor. He was sure he was giving the Omega everything he wanted, even if he did not agree with the question at all.
Max has always been like that with the people he loved, he was sometimes too soft, like today at the party to please his mother, he stood there uncomfortably with people he did not want to talk to just to accommodate his mother.