Chapter 3
Percy excused himself to the bathroom while CJ made a call to his clients, letting them know the situation. A good excuse, if nothing else, since Percy was about half a second away from jumping this guy’s bones and having a two-man rodeo.
He liked to think he’d have offered an octogenarian great grandmother his sofa in just the same way, with no fantasies of taking her to bed at all. But fate…had not put him to that test. They put him to the “gorgeous beefy gay blonde” test.
I think I passed with flying colors.
It was in the spirit of the season to let a poor, lonely traveler stay with him, right? His mother was a Sunday school teacher, and he was sure she’d be proud of him, taking an actual lesson from the Bible.
Maybe if Joseph looked a little more like CJ, they wouldn’t have had as many issues.
He ran some cold water, glancing around to see if he’d left any other potential embarrassments lying about. Walking out to see CJ holding his dirty underwear had been more than enough for him to deal with for one day.I need to do a little better job maintaining this place. All he needed was, like, time. And will. And focus.
And a job that afforded him any of those.
Or a housekeeper. Just make enough to hire a housekeeper.He scoffed at his reflection in the mirror before splashing the water up onto his face.Fat chance of that happening any time soon.
He didn’t want to be in the bathroom too long—raising those kinds of suspicions while he was nursing fantasies of sexy times wasn’t exactly the wisest call—so after drying his face and hands, he cracked the door open to check if the call was over—
“You feel free to try and find someone else to save your ass if you think you can.” CJ wasn’t shouting, but his voice cut clear, obviously carrying some repressed ire. “Yeah, good luck. Godspeed. I’ll take my severance and you can hope your reputation doesn’t collapse in on itself like a black hole.” A pause. “Oh, yeah. That contract you signed requires you to pay my incurred expenses, including what it costs to get me back home, as well as an hourly rate for all the time I’ve spent thus far. And I keep the retainer.” Another pause. “I thought you might reconsider how you chose to speak to me. Send me anything you have that requires immediate attention, and I’ll be there when the weather won’t kill me. And next time you want to cop an attitude with me, remember thatyouwere the one who got caught with his pants down. I’m here to make people think it was innocent.”
After a few beats of silence, Percy figured it was probably all clear, so he stepped out. “Things got a little heated?”
“Wanted to terminate the contract because I was going to be late. Just had to give them a little reminder of who actually has the power here.”
“You have the power? Not the people with the money?”
“They can have all the money they want. I know which closet every skeleton is in, and where it came from. Or at least enough of them to make things difficult.” A lazy grin cascaded over his face and he leaned back into the sofa. “Those rich people don’t like it when things are difficult. Hence why I have such a fat bank account.” He rose off the couch, stuffing a hand into his pocket and coming back with his wallet. “Speaking of which, I don’t want to hear any complaints.”
Percy’s stomach dropped when he saw him pull out two, three,fourhundred dollar bills. He couldn’t possibly—
CJ reachedintohis front pocket, stuffing the bills inside. His hand was, what, two inches away from Percy’s crotch? And to his panic and pleasure, it was his right pocket. Percy dressed his cock right, so there was barely anything separating him from CJ’s touch. No way CJ would have known that, of course. But it completely choked out any dissention he could have brought to bear.
“I’m interrupting your whole work day, and you’re saving me from the storm, and you’re feeding me. The least I could do.”
Suddenly I’m in the black for the day.Percy knew he should have said something, should have pressed the issue and at least returnedsomeof the money, if he couldn’t convince CJ to take all of it. But it took all his effort just to keep his head about him and try to keep his growing hard-on from being too obvious.
“Thank you.” It barely squeaked out, and he scampered into the kitchenette. To get the oven preheating, but also to get a barrier between himself and any potential prying eyes on CJ’s part. He flashed back to that moment when they were about to leave the shack, the way CJ had scraped his gaze up and down. He took a quick glance over his shoulder and, sure enough, CJ was checking out his ass as he walked away.
So there was a better than average chance CJ had already noticed his cock, and Percy wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. Excited, but also definitely embarrassed. And trying not to show it.
As he pulled stuff out of the freezer and got out his dented baking sheets, he looked at the cabinet next to the fridge, door taken off the hinges and packed with various liquor bottles, a thought coalesced: he’d need a little liquid courage, but he’d fess up to CJ, get any potential desires out in the open. He was a stranger passing through town, not someone Percy would have to look in the eye at the grocery store every week if his advances were taken less than openly—he still avoided whatever aisle Juan was stocking, and that had happened two years ago.
He'd need a lot of that liquid courage, though.
Chapter 4
The food was eminently fine, especially on a cold, blustery day like this. Obviously, frozen junk food could only reach heights so high, but CJ wouldn’t have complained about it even if he’d stopped at a restaurant for it. It was hearty and filling and fatty enough that it tickled that primeval urge to gorge, then curl up and hibernate.
The hot chocolate, spiked with Irish cream, ran warm through his belly, also aiding the comfort of the evening. In this little cottage house, curled up on the couch, it was something approaching perfection. Helped that roadside service had called to let him know his car had been safely retrieved and arrived at the mechanic. So whenever this storm let up, he could go see what the hell was going on with that nonsense.
The only spike of discomfort was…Percy himself. He’d been quiet ever since CJ gave him the money for his room and board. And meals. And general goodwill.
Was he that bothered by it? CJ assumed there would besomelevel of awkwardness involved, but this felt excessive. Deeper, somehow. Percy had also been slamming back the hot chocolate a lot faster, and hence the booze.
There was no clean, easy way to broach the subject. Better to just go for it. “Percy, are you good?”
He laughed, clutching hard to the sides of his mug and staring down into it. He stayed quiet, unmoving, for several seconds, and when he did speak, his voice was uncharacteristically quiet. At least, uncharacteristic for as much time as CJ had spent with him. “I, uh, caught you checking me out earlier.”
