Chapter four! Yay! Johnny gets to tell his father off again! Yay! Thanks to Winter-Rae, Elemental Gypsy, Kapparan, and KougasPrincess for reviewing Chapter 3! I really appreciated it! On with the story!
Johnny pulled his sunglasses off his face as he walked into his father's office building. He didn't want to be here. After all, he had all of the major teams that competed in the first beyblading world championship at his mansion. As much as he loved Tala, he simply couldn't expect him to entertain their friends for very long. His father had been very clear, however, that his presence was required in Lord McGregor's office before noon. He walked past the receptionist who was desperately trying to get his attention because she wanted to flirt with him. The already annoyed salamander stepped into the private elevator that went straight to his father's office. He punched the number harder than necessary and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator to ascend to the top floor. He stepped out of the elevator and crossed the hall to open the door that led into the spacious office. It took up half the floor while the other half was his business partner's office. Johnny walked through the door and into the office without bothering to knock. His father had called him here, but that didn't mean that Johnny was going to sit around all day and wait to be seen. He looked at the business men gathered around the conference table who had stopped speaking the moment he had entered the room. "You wanted to see me father."
"Wait in the hall for a few minutes while I finish up this meeting Jonathan. I will be with you shortly" Lord McGregor replied.
"You'll see me now or I will go home father. I have a house full of people expecting me to be a gracious host. Whatever it is you want to speak to me about will be spoken about now and it will be kept short. I do not have time to deal with this" Johnny replied in a clipped tone.
Lord McGregor stood and crossed the room. His hand came down hard across Johnny's face, but the salamander kept his footing and simply glared at his father. "You will not use that insolent tone with me! You will do as I instruct and you will not argue further. I want that trash out of the McGregor house and out of your life or all of his skeletons will be made available to the press. A friend of mine passed along his records from that rat-hole he grew up in." Lord McGregor's voice was loud and commanding. Most people would cower in fear and do exactly as told, but Johnny wasn't most people.
Instead of backing down, Johnny fought back with biting words. "No, you won't. If you do that I will merely hold a large press conference announcing my intentions of moving to London and getting married to Tala. I'm sure you are aware of the fact that England has legal homosexual marriage. You can not hurt us, father. You can not control me or my actions. I will do as I please and will not accept any further interference on you part. I am an adult and completely independent. All of my wealth is in my name and can not be taken away by you. I earned most of my money through my own businesses and through my work with the BBA. You can not ruin me and if you hurt Tala in any way, shape or form I swear I will ruin you." Johnny growled in irritation. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. "Tala is the love of my life, father, and I will not give him up no matter what."
"You are a McGregor, Jonathan. There are expectations of you. You do not get to choose your wife; I will choose a suitable spouse for you. You do not marry for love when you are a McGregor. You must marry someone of suitable rank and bloodlines to carry on the family name. A man can not give you an heir and adoption is simply not acceptable. A blood member of the McGregor clan must inherit. If you continue to live with that peasant your family will turn its back on you. You will be completely disregarded and never spoken of. You will never be allowed contact with your family for the rest of your life. Are you really willing to have that happen for the sake of some boy?" Lord McGregor's voice had dropped to a dangerous level, but Johnny remained unthreatened. If anything his father's speech had made the temperamental salamander angrier.
"I would and I have. If that is all, I will be leaving now." Without waiting for an answer Johnny turned on his heal and walked out of the office. He stayed angry the entire way back to his home. He wouldn't be able to deal with his guests until he got some alone time with his wolf. Tala would be able to relax the salamander and that was exactly what the 25-year-old needed. His 27-year-old lover gave the best massages in the history of the world and that was exactly what the irate Scot truly needed.
Johnny walked into his home and kicked his shoes off without a second thought to the cleanliness of his home. He followed the sound of voices to the game room where he found his guests and lover sitting around playing various games or just hanging out talking.
Tala looked up and met his lover's dark purple eyes. He frowned when that thought fully registered in his brain. Usually Johnny's eyes were a lighter shade of lavender or violet, but when the salamander was angry his eyes darkened to an almost royal purple. "If you'll excuse me, there's something I need to take care of. Entertain yourselves without destroying anything" Tala said before walking out of the room and guiding his younger lover up to their master bedroom. Once the door had closed behind them Tala pulled Johnny into a tight hug and a gentle kiss. He pulled away after a minute and looked his lover in the eye. "It didn't go well with your father." It was a statement, not a question.
Johnny nodded and buried his face in Tala's chest. "He threatened to give your abbey records to the press to print if I didn't make you leave. I handled it and he won't do anything worse than make my family stop speaking to me, but it pissed me off. It didn't help that he smacked me for not being completely respectful."
Tala pulled back and cupped Johnny's chin in his hand, ice blue eyes clearly worried for his partner's health. "He hit you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. He smacked me on the side of the face, but I'm fine. It probably won't even leave a bruise. Don't do anything about it wolf. It won't help anything." Johnny sighed and realized that his lover had relented and silently agreed not to exact revenge on Lord McGregor. "Can you give me a back massage? I'm so tense I think I might rip a muscle don't the smallest amount of work."
"Of course love. I'll get the lavender massage oil heated up while you get comfortable on the bed." Tala pressed a quick kiss to Johnny's lips and went to get the massage oil for his lover. He looked over his shoulder and silently marveled at his luck. He was definitely going to have to ask Johnny to marry him soon, that ring was burning a whole in the bedside drawer.
It's done! Well, this chapter is done anyway. Can you guesswhat the next chapter is going to be about? I bet you can! -laughs- Anyway, please review! Reviews make me feel so nice!