Jake nodded. “I get that.” He sighed. “I’m sorry you had to deal with your ex, and that this brought it all up. If it helps, I think he’s a piece of crap, and he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”
Quinn rolled his eyes, doing his best not to let himself smile, even though Jake was a smile factory. “I think he knows exactly what he’s missing. He lived with me for a year.”
“Sure. And are you the same person you were when you got together? Or when he split? I bet not. I bet he doesn’t know this you, who took care of your grandpa as best you could when he had nobody else. And who’s all smart and shit about numbers and money. And who reaches out to the lunkhead working on his house to play video games when he doesn’t have to. And who worked on his yard even though there was already a whole crew doing it for free.” Jake shrugged. “I think he’s missing someone pretty great.”
That time, Quinn couldn’t even try to fight off the smile. It trembled across his lips as he looked Jake dead on in the eyes. Those wonderful blue eyes. “You’re just saying that because of the brain damage after your concussion.” Quinn sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t come see you.”
“Hey.” Jake reached across and cupped his cheek, rubbed his thumb gently along Quinn’s jawline. “No apologizing. We weren’t exactly in an awesome place. Besides, I was terrible company. Just ticked off the entire time because I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. I would have made terrible company.”
“I think you would have been all right.” Quinn leaned forward, lips parted—
“Nope.” Jake pressed his other hand into the center of Quinn’s chest, holding him in place. “You’re drunk, sweetness.”
“Drunk minds speak sober truths.”
“Drunk minds also try to play hide and seek and end up falling off the roof. Ask me how I know.” He shifted back just a touch away from Quinn, but still kept his hand there. Warm. Strong. Rough. “I would love to kiss you again. I’d love to do more than that. But you’re feeling emotional and you’re not all put together and thinking straight.” He brought his hand up, pressed a finger into the center of Quinn’s forehead. “If you still feel that way when you don’t smell like a distillery, you know where I’ll be.”
Quinn’s stomach clenched, but the longer he looked into Jake’s eyes, the easier it got to accept. He wasn’t saying no, clearly. And there was no animosity. This wasn’t a punishment for the silent treatment. Or for snapping. Or for anything else.So why do I feel so nervous?
It clicked and heat rushed into his cheeks. If he’d been sober, no way in hell he would have voiced it out, even after realizing it. But as Jake said, he wasn’t sober. “Are you leaving, now?”
Jake smiled, then settled back into the couch, turning toward the TV and slinging an arm across the back. “My ride left, so I have to wait for them to come back. Don’t convince yourself you’re going to drive me away. I wouldn’t make a dumb fucking mistake like that Hunter asshole.”
Quinn settled in as well, moving slowly, testing the waters. Jake let him lean against his shoulder, even squeezed Quinn a bit tighter.That’ll have to do. “I would offer to set up Armored Spirit for us again, but my reflexes aren’t going to be up to snuff.”
Jake shrugged. “I seem to recall wiping the floor with you when you were stone sober, but whatever you need to tell yourself.” He gestured toward the screen. “We can just watch some old footage from when I was still young and pretty.”
You’re still pretty.
Chapter thirty-seven
Jake
Absolute god damn madcapnonsense. That’s what the end of the job turned into as they all did their level best to finish everything up. Yet somehow, Jake was getting more sleep than he had during the worst of it, which meant he was getting plenty done every day. The entire gaming room was set up and ready for Evander to finish and style it. Since there was no more real carpentry work left to do, Jake tagged alongside Bunny, filling in with odd bits and bobs. Usually with someone watching over his shoulder, since anything besides carpentry and woodworking was…well, best left to professionals in any other circumstance, but this was all hands on deck.
Literally, as Jake kneeled on the back deck, doing some touch-up work on the staining. Just like with most jobs done at any sort of accelerated speed, things took damage in the process. They’d done the front porch, but plenty of furniture and appliances hadbeen dragged in through the back as well, and some of them had done a number on the wood. None of it seriously got damaged, thankfully, but he’d been doing plenty of wood-filling, sanding, and staining to polish everything back up.
“You got a minute, Jake?”
He looked up to see Evander leaning on the railing, holding two large, iced coffees.
Jake pushed to his feet and dusted his hands off. “What’s up?”
Evander handed over one of the coffees, then took a long drink from the other one, then finally sighed and started talking. “I never actually really apologized for everything. I was running my mouth and I shouldn’t have, and…if I can do anything to make it up—”
“We’re good, Ev. Don’t worry.”
“So you and Quinn are okay?”
Jake nodded, but it was at the very least a little white lie. Maybe more honest even than that. He wasn’t sure. He and Quinn had parted on friendly terms, and Quinn was texting him off and on. But no texts that went as far as those pics did before, and they weren’t talking at all about what was actually between them. If anything, it seemed like they were very much dancing around the subject. But Jake wasn’t going to be the one to bring it all up. He would wait it out, hope for the best, and be ready for them to truly drift apart from each other once this job was done.
That was my idea in the first place. Why am I acting like it’s some terrible fate?No amount of reason and logic soothed the burn of that reality.
Ev didn’t need to know any of that to get them through this conversation. “Quinn and I are keeping things on the level. We’re okay, though.” Jake gestured between himself and Ev. “Andwe’reokay, too. Don’t freak.”
“Too late.” Evander spread his arms wide and walked forward, and Jake took the hug as offered, squeezing Evander againsthimself, and inadvertently getting a whiff of him at the same time.
“You smell like paint and that god awful body spray they always used in the boys’ locker room in high school.”
