Title: "It had seemed like a good idea at the time"
Author: aliensister aka lidda_anne
Disclaimer:
Pairings: Z/L M/A (along with M/L and A/Z)
Rating: Adult
Summary:
'Evans' twin tycoons add another million to their names." Zander Evans read out loud, leaning back in the soft Italian leather high back chair. His feet, crossed at the ankles and covered in Gucci leather shoes were propped up on the polished mahogany desk. His eyes scanned over the article with lazy interest as he lifted the steaming cup of coffee to his lips.
"Geez, can't they get anything right, it was a billion not million." Max said, with a mock huff, as if he was put out by the mistake of the reporter who had written the story. Max chuckled lightly, from the middle of the room, their large shared office, where he was practicing his putting. Max had stripped off his black suit jacket and rolled the sleeves of his white dress shirt up to his elbows but was still wearing his black tie. He was the clean shaven of the two but his hair was about an inch longer then Zan's, where as Zan had a thin goatee and short hair that was slightly spiked on the top.
Zan glanced up idly, looking over the top of newspaper he was reading from, raising eyebrow at his brother. Leaning over his golf club as he placed his ball down in place for another swing, Max looked up, giving Zan a devious smirk, which Zan returned. Even though it was technically their day off, both of them were dressed in their suits and at the office. They had spent the morning and most of the afternoon tying up the any loose ends in their latest big successful business deal. Maxwell and Zander Evans were twenty seven year olds who had the world at their fingertips. They both had started out at the bottom of their father's company, Evans' Inc. and had quickly climbed the ladder to become their father's right and left hand men.
Devastatingly handsome, the boys had had their pick of the women in their younger years, a fact that they had very much taken advantage of, but that had all changed in the last year. Their father, Philip Evans had suffered from a heart attack and though he'd recovered, he'd told his sons that he wanted to see them have families. Max and Zan, loyal sons that they were had worked to fulfil their dad's wishes. Max had become engaged to Elizabeth Parker, a sweet debutante who came from a wealthy New York family, whom he had met six months ago at business dinner. Zan had met and started to date Ava Harding, a social worker who he had met in a coffee shop.
There was a quick knock on the office door a second before said door was pushed open to reveal their father; Philip Evans dressed in his trademark grey suit. Despite the heart attack, Philip had been back at work after three months, although his workload had been extremely reduced. His sons taking the majority of the business, his job now was mostly overseeing and schmoozing some of the higher paying clients.
"Boys, another job well done," Philip proclaimed as he walked into his son's office, a proud smile covering his face as he looked between his sons. He couldn't be more proud of them, everyday they continued to make him more proud. After losing his wife, in childbirth with the twins, he'd been given two options. He could hand the boys over to nannies and private schools and go back to work, missing the one; or rather two things left of Diane, growing up or give up his lifetime work and look after his children. Philip Evans, being the unconventional and innovative business man that he was, had chosen neither. He'd wanted the best of both worlds, and he had worked to get it.
Of course it had been extremely difficult, but Philip had brought the twins into the office with him. Helped by nannies but he was the one who had cared for them, scheduling his meeting around them, his sons had always come first. They had grown up and followed in his footsteps and both graduated Harvard with honours and he had no worries that they would take over the business when he retired. The only thing that gave him any worry with his children was their personal lives. He knew their decision to start families had been because of him and his heart attack. Philip had easily fallen in love with Ava and Liz; they were both smart and charming in their own ways. He had to admit though, something about their relationships with his sons didn't seem right.
He'd noticed on her own Ava was a very strong and compassionate woman, capable of handling the troupe of rough teenagers she worked with. However when she was around Zan she became meek and had a tendency to bend to his will, he didn't think his son even realised it was happening. As for the relationship between Max and Liz, there was no passion. Certainly, not the type of passion one would expect for a couple in the honeymoon phase, ready to get married.
"Well, I say its celebration time, so come on, we're going out." He announced with a clap of his hands, chuckling as Zan grinned and jumped up from the chair. It had become somewhat of a tradition when closing a big deal, especially one as big as the one the boys had done the day before, to head out the exclusive gentlemen's club that they were members of and celebrate with a few drinks. Actually they tended to get very drunk and stagger home, up until his heart attack it had been the three of them, now he was cut down to only a few drinks. Zan was the wilder of the twins and very much had always enjoyed the party as much as he enjoyed his work, much like Philip himself until he'd met Diane and had the boys.
Max on the other hand was the more serious of the two, much more like his mother. So, Philip wasn't surprised when Max grimaced slightly frowning at his brother and father. Philip had noticed the sadness growing in his younger son for a while. It was obvious to him that his son was trying his best to throw everything he had into his relationship with Liz, trying to eradicate the awkward politeness between them. Philip could see that Max and Liz had warm feelings for each other but they way they acted was more like friends.
"I can't, I told Liz we'd go out tonight, to make up for me working today…" Max apologised with a frustrated sigh. He didn't know how he could have slipped up and forgot about their usual tradition, except that he did. Liz had been so joyous and excited about the closing of the deal that he had decided he would take her out, hoping to see more have her bright carefree mood. Only when he woke up this morning, Liz had been back to her polite self. She only pecked him on the cheek when he told he was off to work before turning back to the book she had been reading, not even looking at him when she did it.
Zan groaned and his shoulders slumped, he knew by the look on his twin's face that Max didn't really want to stay home. Being twin meant that they were finely tuned into each other, but the hesitation and disappointment on Max's face was quite clear for anyone to see. He also had selfish reasons for wanting his brother to come out with them, if Max stayed home, Zan had no excuse to Ava for going out, not that she would really protest much. Ava really never minded too much when he went out, she understood about their family tradition but he made a mental note to take her out, soon.
Zan turned to face Max, fixing him with a determined look; he had twenty-seven years of pulling Max into doing what he wanted. Catching his eye, Zan silently told him there would be no getting out of this, Max sighed, easily swayed into doing something he wanted to do and Zan grinned in victory.
"Right then, reconvene in two hours at the club?" Philip asked the unnecessary question, knowing they would agree before they nodded at him, smiling their identical smiles.
***
Max apologised again as he pulled his clean pants up onto his freshly showered body, after their father had left the office he and Zan had only stuck around for another half an hour. Making sure everything that all the paperwork had been filed before heading home to the large penthouse apartment they shared. He and Liz had decided that they would be moving out into their own house once they were married. For now, they would stay in the apartment Max and Zan had bought when they first moved out of their dad's home.
Max tried to not let it bother him as he looked around the bedroom, the room he and Liz had been sharing for the last three months, bared no evidence that she live there at all. There was a picture of the pair of them on the bedside table, but other then that, nothing. She had her clothes neatly taking up one side of closet and one draw in the bathroom; it saddened him that she seemed like a guest in their bedroom. Stepping into the walk in wardrobe, Max pulled on a button down shirt, pulled it on and grabbed a suit jacket, heading back into the bedroom. He laid the jacket down onto the burgundy chaise lounge, where his shoes were resting.
Buttoning the blue silk shirt, Max looked over at his fiancé who was perched on the end of their bed, her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap like the proper little lady that she was. Liz's long brown hair was twisted up behind her head like usual and she was dressed in a knee length floral print summer dress and black heeled sandals. Max couldn't remember a single time he'd seen her not perfectly dressed or a hair out of place, even when she woke up in the morning. Liz smiled at him politely, shaking her head.
"Max, its fine," She told him, standing up from the bed and walking over to him, pecking him on the cheek as she left the room. Max couldn't help but feel disappointed as he let out a sigh and sat down to pull his shoes on. That was how Liz was, she was polite and kind and though they were the things that had attracted him to her, now they were the things that made his heart ache. Liz was kind of cold, not in the nasty way but even when they made love, she was passive, quiet, like it held no interest for her.
***
"Come on babe, you know I couldn't say no… it's my dad and Max." Zan called out to Ava from the bathroom, as he stepped out of the shower wrapping a towel around his waist. Using his hand he wiped steam from the large mirror over the basin, grabbing his razor he started to trim his goatee. Unlike Max, he hadn't told Ava he would be in tonight but he did get why she would be a bit upset. Such a big deal meant that he'd been spending a lot of nights at the office, even when he was home he was working to some degree.
"Yeah I know…I just wish we could have spent the night together," Ava said sadly as she came to stand in the doorway, dressed in a pair of old, navy sweats that had a hole torn over one of her knees and a faded grey t-shirt. He watched her reflection in the mirror as she tied her wavy blonde hair up into a messy bun at the top of her head before leaning against the door jam. Her bare toes peeked out from underneath the raggedy hem of her sweats and Zan smirked as he noticed the fresh pink polish she had applied.
"Sexy, babe," Zan said hotly, wiggling his eyebrows at her, causing her to roll her eyes at him.
"Zan…" Ava sighed and he could hear the slight frustration in her voice. Zan felt a pang of guilt in his chest, he knew he should want to spend the night at home, knew he should want to romance Ava, like Max wanted to do to Liz. Putting down his razor, Zan walked over to Ava and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his still wet body. One of his hands wrapped around the back of her neck, he pressed his mouth against Ava's, pushing his tongue into her mouth for a quick and hot kiss. When he pulled away Zan tried not to frown and the furrowing of Ava's brow and the slight turned down corners of her mouth.
"I'll make it up to you babe, I promise." He said, he swore he would seriously try to make it up to her. Leaning down he pressed a kiss on her creased forehead before walking past her into their bedroom to get dressed.
***
Philip Evans had left around eleven, which had been about three hours ago, Max and Zan had been tipsy then and now had entered the realm of drunk. Before leaving Philip had ordered the barman to keep the drinks flowing, rationally he knew he shouldn't be encouraging his sons to drink. To him though, one night of partying after so much hard work didn't seem so bad. Both boys sat at a table with a glass of Whiskey and a bottle of beer in front of them, they'd also done shots earlier. They never let it be said that they didn't know how to go all out. Alcohol flowed till Zan and Max's heads were fuzzy and like most drunken idiots they started to bemoan their issues. Which in Zan and Max's case; was their girlfriend and fiancée.
"She's just so inhibited…so closed off." Max said, his words slightly slurred as he shook his head, whiskey sloshing in his glass.
"Even when we make love, it's almost like she's bored." He said with sad frown, downing his glassful and signalling to the guy behind the bar to refill him.
"Ava only wants to make love, and I mean it's good but, I want more… I suggested that we fuck on my desk to spice things up; she wouldn't talk to me for like two days!" Zan exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"She looked at me like I'd slapped her in the face," He muttered staring into the swirling brown liquid in his glass, in his drunken mind he could be honest with himself. He wasn't right for Ava, he didn't deserve the wonderful person she was. Silence fell over the brothers, both thinking about their ladies and sucking down drink after drink.
Another glass of whiskey and it was a light bulb was switched on over Zan's head, in his drunken haze he found nothing odd with the words that were about to leave his mouth as he slammed down his glass.
"We should swap."
"What?" Max asked looking perplexed as he turned to look at Zan.
"We should swap, you go with Ava and I'll go with Liz." Zan explained drunkenly to Max who was shaking his head emphatically.
"They're not toys, Zan. I mean, really, I think the girls would probably have something to say about it." Max announced with a roll of his eyes, trying not to think about how his body had tingled at the thought of making love to Ava. He had become good friends with her, her easy, open personality and how well conversation had flown between them. With her bright blue eyes and her soft lips that when they broke into a smile, it made you feel warm.
"We don't tell them, and it would just be for tonight, we'll pretend to be each other…" Zan said enthusiastically but Max still looked hesitant. Zan was pleading in his head for his brother to agree, he knew it was selfish of him but if anyone deserved to be with Ava it was Max. He also thought about Liz, he had a theory about the uptight rich girl. With her upbringing Zan thought she'd never had any show how to get in touch with her inner sex kitten and knew he could really show her a thing or two.
"We used to do it to dad all the time… no one will get hurt." Max thought about making love to Liz, the way her eyes remained closed, and how she never seemed to enjoy it. Then a picture of Ava popped into his mind, her joyous laughter and her easy affection and he couldn't help but imagine the way she would feel to make love to. Max gulped down the glass of Whiskey, this was so wrong but damn him if it didn't feel so right.