7. Things Dads Do
The morning dawned brightly and when Alex left for his usual early morning run, he was thankful not to have seen Arthur awake yet. After yesterday's classes and Arthur creepily staring at him, he wasn't sure he could take much more of Arthur. It seemed that the longer Henry's father stayed with them, the more the man seemed to distrust Alex. The feeling was unnerving to Alex. He wasn't used to feeling distrusted by adults. Most adults liked him. He knew he too was an adult, but this feeling of obvious distrust made him feel like he was a teenager again and not in a good way.
When he returned the shower was running and Arthur was reading their copy of the NY Post on the sofa. "Good morning, Alex." Arthur commented slowly, not looking up from the paper.
"Morning." Alex replied, cordially. He removed a large bottle of water from the refrigerator and took a decent drink. Instead of Alex's usual four miles, he had pushed it out to five and a half, desperate not to be left alone with Arthur.
The sounds of the newspaper snapping closed and being lowered onto the coffee table reverberated throughout their smallish apartment as Alex prepared the pan on the hot burner to make his breakfast. "Have you got a moment to chat, Alex?" Arthur asked, coming into the kitchen and taking a seat at the breakfast bar to watch Alex cook his own breakfast.
Alex gathered by the dishes in the sink and the fact that Henry had told him he would sort out breakfast for himself and Arthur that they had already eaten. But while the pan was heating, Alex crumbled up some of the Greek feta cheese that he had purchased at the market the other day, sliced up some avocado, chilli and coriander.
"Sure." Alex said, not looking up as he poured the crumbled feta into the pan and shaped it into a circle shape as it moulded into a wannabe rice cake shape.
"I think you and Henry are a terrible idea." Arthur admitted to him. Alex did look up at him, but not before he slipped the shield he usually slid in place when his parents would argue.
As it cooked one side, Alex flipped it over and looked back up at Arthur for an explanation at least. Alex was angry but he wanted to give Arthur a chance to explain, before he gave the older Fox man a piece of his mind. "Go on." Alex said tersely as he cracked the first egg over the circular crumbled feta pattie.
"It's not that I don't like you, I do." Arthur rushed to reassure Alex, but he couldn't help but roll his eyes on instinct. If Arthur Fox liked Alex, he had a funny way of showing it. "I am concerned for Henry. When he is with you he is not happy. He doesn't smile and quite frankly, I don't think you have any space in your future for a man like my son."
Tossing the chopped chilli and coriander on top of the two fried eggs, Alex lowered the heat and looked up at Arthur. "Excuse me." Alex huffed, he could not believe the audacity of Arthur. To come into their apartment, as a guest, then have the balls to say this to Alex's face.
"It's true." He said simple and plainfully, as if telling someone that the sun is in the sky. "Henry isn't happy and he seems blind to his feelings when it comes to you. So I need you to do the honourable thing and walk away from him now, before Henry gets hurt."
"If Henry no longer wants to see me, or if Henry realises that I no longer make him happy, I will step aside." Alex let out between even breaths. He was trying to stay calm and not let his Mexican temper take over and blow a gasket. "Until then, I am going to stay right where I am. Arthur, I like Henry a lot. I care for him deeply. I-"
Alex stopped himself. He had almost declared his love for Henry to his father, before telling Henry, himself.
"Ok, I am a reasonable man." Arthur huffed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his chequebook and looked at Alex carefully, as Alex pulled his feta, egg, chilli and coriander concoction out of the pan and topped it off with fresh avocado and squeezed some lime juice over it before coating it all in some salsa verde. "I've tried reasoning with you and you're not willing to entertain my idea. So, how much will it cost me to make you disappear? Ten thousand dollars? Twenty thousand?"
Arthur poised his pen on the cheque book and looked at Alex expectantly. He clearly was waiting on Alex's answer.
"What the actual fuck, Arthur?" Alex huffed, slamming his hands down on the benchtop, cupping them lightly to increase the echo. The same way that his father had taught him when he had been having problems with a bully in high school. "No, I don't want your money, and I am not breaking up with Henry."
"Twenty-five thousand dollars." Arthur threw out again.
Alex wasn't even tempted. He was almost certain that he was feeling like he was in some kind of love with Henry. All he knew was that it felt deeper and stronger than anything he had ever felt for anyone before. It definitely felt more important than lust and it was stronger than the usual feeling of physical attraction that he usually felt towards a girl.
He felt like he was himself with Henry. Like he had found the other half to his whole.
"What the fuck?!" Henry's voice boomed from where he was leaning against the end of the hallway, just inside the lying area. His face was red, and he looked furious. His face was red with anger. "What in the actual fuck?"
"Henry." Arthur's voice betrayed him. For how full of bravado, he had been; offering Alex money to end his relationship with Henry, he was now shaking in his boots - metaphorically. "It's not what it seems. It's …"
"Save it!" Henry snapped. "I should tell you I have been standing here since Alex placed the pan on the stove. I saw the whole thing. What the fuck do you think you're doing? Jesus Christ, dad. Do you have something against me being happy too? Or are you just as homo-fucking-phobic as Gran is."
"Henry," Arthur tried again. But it was no use. Henry was just as stubborn as Alex.
"He is my choice, not yours." Henry declared, vehemently. "I chose him. Now I want you to take yourself, your suitcase and chequebook and get the fuck out of my home. NOW!"
"Henry?" Arthur was surprised. Within the smallest iota of the brain cell at the back of his head that Arthur possessed, when he had been plotting his plan, the thought had never crossed his mind that Henry might actually kick him out of their apartment. Henry was his kinder son, his favoured son. He was the son that Arthur was closer to. Arthur turned and looked at Alex for reprieve; it was Alex's apartment. "Alex?"
"You heard Henry just fine." Alex backed Henry up. Alex bit his tongue. It wasn't his place to get too involved. Still, … he felt Henry come and stand behind him. Henry rested one hand on Alex's shoulder in support.
"I see." Arthur acquiesced, turning and walking towards Henry's room to gather his belongings.
When he reached the hallway, he looked back to the kitchen. Henry was cupping Alex's jaw in his hands gently. Henry's eyes were soft and seemed to be doing all the talking. Henry pressed his lips to Alex's and pulled him close and held him. Henry pulled back and pressed his lips to Alex's forehead. The whole scene hit Arthur's chest and made him feel something he wasn't ready to dissect yet.
Alex's breakfast was way too cold and had definitely been forgotten.
"I am sorry, darling." Henry murmured softly. It might have been a soft murmur, but Arthur heard it from where he had stopped. "I am so sorry. I don't know what has come over him, but he doesn't get to treat you like this, Alex. You don't deserve it. You deserve so much more than this."
Arthur felt ashamed of himself. But he had to try, to save his own sanity. At least that way, when Alex broke Henry's heart down the track, Arthur would be able to say he told Henry so. He was positive that one day, Henry would see that he had only done what he had thought was right to protect him. Even if it had caused a divide between them. He could live with a small chasm between himself and Henry, knowing he had tried to prevent some massive heartbreak for Henry.
That's what parents did, they tried to prevent their child from getting hurt at all costs. They didn't let them climb to the highest point on the jungle gym and jump off - like Philip did when he was three and in his mother in law's care. Philip had ended up with a broken arm. They didn't let their child become addicted to cocaine and have them admitted to rehab against their will - then gaslight you into believing you were the problem. When the child was in their care - like Beatrice had when she had spent the summer with his mother-in-law at sixteen years old. They didn't let their child get their heart broken and utterly stopped on; smashed up into tiny little smithereens by a man that had no business being a NYU law student when he was too aesthetically pleasing to look at and could be working as an actor or a model. Like Henry, right now. The difference was this time, Arthur was here, and he could do something about it.
A man like Alex, could destroy a man like his son. Henry is like Icarus, he is flying too close to the sun and eventually, he's going to burn up.
For now though, Arthur would have to comp a room out of the production company at the Four Seasons, or somewhere equally as nice. Thinking about finding a room, then telling his wife was about all Arthur could do right now. He would try to talk to Henry tomorrow - when he was less emotional. That was when he realised his wife was going to be livid at him. She had explicitly told him, time and time again, to keep his nose out of their children's love lives.
Coming back into the living room, Alex was nowhere to be seen and admittedly, he had thought that was for the best. "Well, I am all packed." Arthur told Henry who was having a cup of tea on the sofa. For once, his son was not reading a book or working on his laptop. "Where'd Alex go?"
"You stay the fuck away from him." Henry snapped harshly at Arthur. His anger was palpable, and his temper seemed to be on a hair trigger. Even if Henry was willing to tell him where Alex was, Henry didn't seem willing to let Arthur anywhere near Alex. Henry's voice was dripping with venom and Arthur felt a fleeting moment of self-doubt.
Scrutinising his son closely, this was the first time that Arthur could honestly recall that he had ever seen Henry truly angry at another person. Henry would snipe with Philip, but that was sibling squabbles and did not really count. He had been angry at his gran, but he had never vocalised it so loudly. He had not used profanity, and his voice had never held such a venomous tone. Henry usually was a people pleaser, and this version of Henry was one he didn't really know.
He had never seen this side of Henry. Protective and fierce.
It had always been Henry and Arthur against the world. They had always been two sides of the same coin, just a generation apart. But now, Henry's loyalties had shifted, and Arthur didn't know how to shift them back to him.
"Henry?" Arthur tried a final time. But he knew that the resistance was futile. Henry wasn't giving up. He was stubborn and that stubbornness Henry had inherited from the Mountchristen side of the family. From his mother to be precise.
Catherine was going to murder him.
"Are you ok?" Alex asked Henry once he reappeared from his shower.
During his shower, Alex had time to think about the situation. Henry had never said anything to him negative about his father before and now Henry had thrown Arthur out on Alex's account. If anything, Henry had always seemed close to his father and had idolised him.
Ellen had once told Alex that everything he touches turns to shit. This incident was now his number one example of how once more, his mom was right.
Everything Alex does touch, does turn to shit.
"I should be the one asking you that." Henry muttered, coming to wrap his arms around Alex. "I'm so sorry, darling. My dad and I have been so good for so long, then he does this."
"It's not your fault." Alex replied on autopilot, trying to muffle his own tears. "It's mine."
Henry pulled back at Alex to look at him, but Alex refused to meet his eyes. "Hey, it's not your fault. How the heck is it your fault, Alex? My own father offered you money to break my heart. There is no way on this earth that is your fault."
Alex shook his head. He felt shame and embarrassment. He knew that Arthur had never been his biggest fan, but he had really tried. He had been trying with Arthur. He had put in the effort for Henry. He had even blown off his study session in the library after class to go to the market and cook them a delicious dinner. He had even sacrificed some of their morning sex to go back to the library and meet Eric to go over what he had missed. Alex had never had an adult treat him quite like that before. Most adults he met instantly liked him. This was a feeling he was not used to.
Henry's arms wrapped back around him and tightened Alex's body within their embrace.
Arthur knew what he had to do and he wasn't ready for the wrath he would face one bit. He knew he had to man up and tell his wife about what happened with Henry, before either Henry let it slip to Bea or Henry told Pez and Pez let it slip to Bea. At this point he wasn't really sure which one he would prefer - facing his wife or facing his daughter. He just thanked his lucky stars that they were both in England and he didn't have to face them together.
That would be a fate worse than death.
Arthur climbed out of the cab and dragged his case behind him, his shoulder bag slung over onto his back too, as he let himself into the studio. He was hoping to catch Gen, his PA. Genevieve or Gen, as she preferred to be called, was a no-nonsense woman with a heart of gold. No matter what Arthur threw at the woman, she could make things happen for him.
Gen had been with him from his very humble beginnings, back in London when he was with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He and Cat had just met and were in that flirtatious stage between their meet-cute and their first date when Gen came on board and started working for Arthur. She had seen him through everything. From his relationship with his wife, the birth of his children and the loss of his brother Richard
The thing about Gen was, for all the love he had for the woman, she always sided with everyone else in his life - his wife, his children or his parents over him. Mostly Arthur was convinced it was her mission in life to drive him to the brink of insanity, but she had once confessed that it was because he had once asked her to make sure he stayed humble. This was her method, and it mostly worked on him.
"Look what the cat dragged in." Gen joked, looking up at her boss and her friend. Arthur might have started off as a boss, but he quickly became her friend. Even when Arthur was a huge household name, he was just Arthur to her.
"I need you to book me somewhere to stay. A hotel, air bnb or something." Arthur admitted in a small voice, closing the door behind him and dropping his bags to the floor.
"I thought you were staying with Henry. He was so excited to have you stay." Gen mused, as she pulled up the website to see if she could find an air bnb on such short notice. She narrowed her gaze at him and cocked her head up slightly. "Oh no, what the hell did you do?"
"Why do you always assume it was me?" Arthur retorted, as if he was reading from a script. This was their bit. She somehow seemed to always know when he had screwed up. Arthur secretly thought that Gen possessed a sixth sense of some kind; like ESP or something.
"It saves time." Gen chuckled at him, before glaring at him into submission. "Seriously, what did you do and does Cat know? Do I need to get PR Cindy on the phone too?"
"I monumentally screwed up, Gen." Arthur admitted, sounding defeated. He hadn't expected his plan to backfire so badly on him.
Arthur relayed the entire saga to Gen as they went over air bnb options. Arthur was supposed to be in town for another week and a half. As much as he could afford to check into a hotel, a star like Arthur Fox booking a hotel room, after it was well known that Arthur had already been here for three days would be a feeding frenzy to the paparazzi. He and Henry had already been papped together twice, in three days. It had already been deduced in a couple of articles that Arthur must be staying with his son. It would be a public relations nightmare to book him into a hotel now. Gen was an expert in navigating PR nightmares with her estranged wife, Cindy. Just another aspect of her already overflowing umbrella of a job.
"So neither Catherine or Beatrice know yet?" Gen asked, smothering an amused smile at her boss. "You James Bond types, you do like to live dangerously on the edge in fear. First things first, don't be a coward and just tell your wife about it. She's going to find out eventually, it's better it comes from you. Second, actively listen to what your wife has to say and take what she says on board. Third, then we will all talk about how to solve this. But honestly Fox, offering your son's boyfriend money to dump your son. What the fuck were you thinking?"
"I have no excuse except that I don't want Henry to get hurt." Arthur admitted quietly. "I've never seen Henry so… angry as he was with me, before. Not even with my mother in law, the Wicked Witch of the East, reincarnated."
"That's probably because he was hurt." Gen told him straight up. That was one of the things that Arthur admired about her. "You betrayed him, Arthur. If my father had done that to me, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on."
"But…?"
"No buts." Gen told him firmly.
She looked at him hard and clicked her tongue at him. It was clear she was disappointed in him.
Almost exactly twenty-four hours later and his wife was standing in front of him, in a penthouse air bnb on the Upper East Side; giving him the exact same look that Gen had given him the day before. Catherine was dressed in a chic manner, in a pair of jeans that Arthur just had to glance at to know they were her favourite pair and a soft blue cashmere sweater. Her boots enclosed her tapping foot and her freshly manicured fingernails resting on the crossed forearms.
The look on her face was hard. It was hard because Arthur didn't know if it was anger or disappointment and he wasn't sure which way he would have preferred.
Last night when he had called his wife, to tell her that he and Henry's had a disagreement. He had barely gotten the words out about the penthouse, when she had curtly informed him that she would be in New York tomorrow. Looking back, with the power of hindsight, Arthur thought she might have already known the details about what had happened.
Which was possible, but not that probable. Henry was notoriously private and he definitely was not the kind of man to go running to mummy when things got tough. That was more Philip's style. He wondered briefly if Percy hadn't said something to Bea, but he dismissed it as foley.
"I am waiting, Arthur." Catherine reminded him, breaking into his reverie. Catherine still looked as beautiful as the day he married her. Standing tall, her auburn hair swept off her face in a half do, the rest of it cascading down her back.
Arthur was shocked to hear his wife call him Arthur. She usually called him Artie, even when she was mad. She must be really mad at him.
"I tried to stop Henry from getting his heartbroken."
"Arthur George Fox," Her voice low and masquerading as a warning. "What. Did. You. Do?"
"I offered Al-, Henry's boyfriend, a substantial sum of money to end the relationship and leave him."
Catherine smiled at her husband's slip of the tongue. Mothers were intuitive and always seemed to just know things. At least that was Arthur's experience with his own mother, Elizabeth. Judging by his wife's smile, he gathered that Cat had long suspected Alex of being the identity of Henry's mystery boyfriend.
"Oh, Artie, why would you do that?" Catherine sighed. "How could you do this to Henry?"
"Cat, Henry is miserable with him and it wears on our boy's face." Arthur let out a sigh of his own. He kept his eyes downcast. He wasn't feeling great about what he had done. "I had to do something."
He had been having second thoughts about it. He had not planned to take out his chequebook and offer Alex money, just persuade him. He had always been able to persuade anyone to do anything he had suggested - with the exception of his mother in law. But Alex had been stubborn and so sure of his decision and it had made Arthur act impulsively.
He also had not thought about Henry catching him in the act.
"Okay," Catherine drew out the word and that was never a good sign for him. She had only ever drawn out words like that on a few occasions and it had never ended well. "I am … disappointed and hurt, Artie."
He had thought his heart was in the right place.
Catherine was angry and disappointed with her idiodic husband, even if his heart was in the right place. He had thought he had been doing the right thing. But as usual Arthur George Fox was a disaster zone. Sometimes, especially when it came to Henry, he couldn't see past the end of his nose.
It had been almost six months since she had last seen Henry in person. Sure, he still facetimed and they shared long emails, trading lots of different things like literary quotes, character theory, imagery and perceptive analysis, as well 'life hacks'. She had her own relationship with Henry, separate from the one he shared with his father.
Beatrice had surprised Henry with a facetime call to tell him some exciting news about her band and she had mentioned that Henry had looked terrible. Beatrice, being the loving and caring big sister that they had raised her to be, had pressed Henry for details. After a bit of prodigy, Henry had come undone and admitted the whole sordid detail to Bea. Bea had been mortified and extremely angry on her brother's behalf.
Bea didn't actually know anything about Henry having a boyfriend until he was spilling the tea on what their father had done.
Once Bea had slapped herself for not seeing the signs that Henry was involved with someone, she secretly began her mission to seek the identity of his boyfriend out.
But first, Bea had focused on comforting Henry. As soon as she had finished her call, she had called Catherine and told her what Henry had told her.
Immediately, Catherine had contacted Gen and booked a flight to New York City. She had fired an email off to her department dean citing a family emergency to explain her absence from classes, before rushing through her packing to catch a flight. She had not had the thought to warn Henry she was going to be in town.
When she had stood in front of Arthur the day before, demanding the details, Catherine had already been well aware. It was a tactic she had found worked well with Philip and Bea when they were younger. Surprisingly, it had always worked with her husband too.
With Arthur at the studio in various meetings all afternoon, she was determined to start her fact finding mission. Catherine dressed in the navy blue blazer she had packed, her favourite jeans and a soft pink cotton button down blouse, before leaving the penthouse. The doorman hailed her a cab and she gave them the Brooklyn address of the Bankstava Books.
When she walked through the front door into reception, she instantly loved the warm, homey feeling the office gave. Not the shrill and harsh environment of the fluorescent lights that her parents' reception area with the clinical meeting rooms off to the side there, like jail cells for their inmates.
A hispanic man was at the front desk and he greeted her in kind. She explained who she was and showed her identification to the man, explaining that she was in town to surprise her son. Damon, she learnt his name was, explained that he was in an important meeting with the company directors and that she needed to wait. Damon offered her a cup of tea or coffee and offered to take a seat and wait, that they would be done soon.
Voices startling Catherine from her internal reverie caused her to look up and down the hallway where she could see her son. He was standing between a short woman who gave off severe no-nonsense vibes and was dressed in a chic teal dress and black blazer. There was an Indian man standing beside her, who had a British accent and reminded Catherine of someone she thought she knew. Henry threw his head back in laughter at something that the woman had told him, before Henry straightened up and nodded at her. She hugged her son and the man patted him on the back, as the three of them made their way towards her.
Clearly Henry was very happy working here. He had friends and was on very good terms with the directors. She had to admit her son looked really well. He did not look as pale as she had expected and he was standing tall; an air of confidence swirled around him.
As he neared closer to her, she could spy a small red mark on his neck almost fully hidden by his collar. If she had not been looking for it, she never would have seen it. But she did, and she smiled to herself.
Henry led the directors down the hall, but came to a stop abruptly as he reached the reception area. He had not expected Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor to be sitting in the reception area of Bankstava Books
"Ah, hi." Henry greeted his mum, slightly wondering if he was hallucinating her presence into his life.
Shaan and Zahra stepped to the side as Henry rushed to the woman and scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tight. He kissed her cheek and hugged her once more.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her, surprise colouring his voice. Zahra cleared her throat in a very unsubtle hint. "Sorry, Mum, this is Zahra Bankston and Shaan Srivastava. They are the directors here at Bankstava Books and they're my bosses."
"Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, it's a pleasure to meet you both." Catherine introduced herself and Henry was sure that Zahra looked like she was going to have a coronary.
"Mrs Fox -" Shaan moved first. They had met a handful of times when he had interned for her parents, back in London.
"Catherine, please." She insisted. The British Indian man's name was familiar. "Tell me, Mr. Srivastava. You seem familiar to me. Did you ever have the misfortune of working for my mother?"
"I was an intern at Mountchristen books when your father stepped down and your mother took over." Shaan explained, after he had insisted that she call him Shaan. He had nudged his wife, introducing Zahra as his wife and Zahra had been uncharacteristically quiet in Catherine's presence.
"You were there in the golden reign then, under my father." Catherine beamed at him. "Yes, it turned into quite a shit show when my mother took over."
"Indeed."
"I was wondering if I could steal Henry away for a moment, on an urgent family matter."
"Henry's finished for the day." Zahra told her, nudging Henry along. "He was only here for a meeting."
"Mum, this is my place of work." Henry started, but Shaan stepped in.
"Henry, go with your mother. She has come all this way from London to see you. It's fine." Shaan reassured him with an encouraging smile.
