“No, expecting employees to generally arrive on time is a reasonable expectation. Expecting employees to somehow intuit a freak chemical spill, then magic a way around it without being late… nowthatmight make you an asshole.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your word, hoss. Not mine.” I am doing myself zero favors right now and need to shut my mouth.
He rolls his eyes and turns away from me, starting an ever-so-important series on his lats. “Also, what the hell are you wearing?”
I know that my one pair of sweatpants are a little rough, but I didn’t have enough to buy new ones. I’m wearing the white T-shirt again, and thankfully it was still clean after yesterday. “This is the best I’ve got,” I say, embarrassed and frustrated and annoyed.
Roly looks me over and I wait, hoping that they at least let me get through the first day. “Nick, this is on us. We never discussed dress code, and I’m absolutely certain Elijah will make sure that he is here on time every day.” I nod in agreement, annoyed I have to do so enthusiastically just so that Keto Spice doesn’t think I’m not being serious.Dude, I need this job in the worst way. Ihaveto do well.
Last night I’d written down my hourly wage, plus expected hours, plus what I guessed would be my taxes. Penny took me to my bank yesterday, and I was surprised to see that my account, which I hadn’t used in three months, was still active. I got a little lucky; my driver’s license, which I also hadn’t had needed in three months, is still good for another six months, so I was able to gather my account details, which had been hidden in a drawer by my old bedside table when my mom sold the house. I’d been doing a lot of cash-only work lately, and it was shocking to me how quickly the normal act of going to a bank seemed so foreign and almost impossible to me.
Hell, coming home had been a shock. I was stationed at Fort Irwin during my service, and by the time I’d come back to Austin, my crew of friends had more or less disbanded. Half moved elsewhere because Austin was so damned expensive, and the half that stayed had kids and jobs and lives in the suburbs. Instead of feeling like home, Austin felt like an echoey version of the city I used to explore with my aunt.
For the last six months of my deployment, I watched from a base in Afghanistan as my mother dismantled my entire life. I’d had a decent lawyer, decent enough to suck my savings dry, but I hadn’t lived with my aunt Katie for four years, and my mother made claims that she had a close relationship with her sister. So, when Katie died unexpectedly and without a will, I was helpless against my mother’s revenge.
By the way, in case you didn’t know, being gay is a vengeance-worthy offense, and my mom’s version of Christianity insisted on its pound of flesh.
Being gay meant that I hadn’t just lost my immediate family, but that I hadn’t even been informed of Katie’s death until after her funeral. She’d become a mother figure to me over the last nine years, and to have her ripped away like that was awful. Honestly, fuck the house and the savings and the plans for college… losing her and not being able to mourn her properly was the worst thing my actual mother had ever done to me. I like to imagine my mom’s twisted version of God is pleased as punch and is considering promoting her to Director of Punishments. I imagine that comes with a sweet benefits package.
I probably should have stayed in California when I returned, but my service was done and Austin was home, and coming here had made me feel closer to my aunt. Grief for her was a constant, dull ache in my chest, and I spent the first few weeks home sleeping on my friends Rob and Harvey’s couch, mostly drunk, mostly thinking that I just needed a minute to gather myself and then I’d go out and find a job like everyone else.
About three weeks in, I’d walked in on an argument between Rob and Harvey, and it was clear they’d been arguing about me. I was embarrassed that I’d overstayed my welcome, so I pulled myself together, bought a suit from Goodwill, and started going on interviews, figuring I’d get a job pretty quickly. It didn’t take me long to figure out that, while my skills transferred fairly easily to a corporate job, I did not. The jokes and snark that slid easily off my tongue among friends landed poorly in interviews, and my poker face, which had always been shit, told interviewers that the cube farms they’d walked me through gave me the heebie-jeebies. Maybe it was years of operations that involved going into some really scary places, always with eyes in the back of my head, but these cube farm folks were sitting ducks with their backs turned, typing away with headphones on for Christ’s sake. They had way more faith in mankind than I ever could.
So yeah, corporate life isn’t for me, which means I have to make this job work, or I’ll be back where I’d started. I just… can’t do anything without a paycheck. As I’m trying to figure out how to get the right clothes so that I don’t lose this job, Roly walks over the gift shop area and picks out four different Wrecked T-shirts and four of the nicer pairs of workout pants and hands them over to me with a kind smile. “Here, this’ll be a good start. Small, right?”
I nod and take the first new clothing I’ve had in a couple of years.
“What’s your shoe size? Ten?”
“Nine.”
He grabs a pair of Sehenes and shoves a couple of pairs of socks in them, then stacks them on top of the clothing in my hands. If there’s a word that encompasses both extreme gratitude and humiliation, I am that word right now. I know my face is red, but I bite the inside of my lip until I taste blood. Good, because in this moment I’d rather drop blood than tears.
Nick clamps his jaw shut, the muscles straining under the pressure. “Fine. Get changed and let’s get ready for early-morning crew.”
I change as quickly as I can and allow for exactly thirty seconds of emotion before sucking it up and walking out to face them again. Reviewing the prep list, I grab the towels and stack them on the counter, then set up the yoga area with freshly cleaned mats and balance balls.
Nick doesn’t say anything during this process, and I notice that, once again, he is wearing a pair of shorts that do insanely hot things to his ass, and another ironed Wrecked T-shirt, this one a forest green that brings out the slightest hint of hazel in his rich brown eyes. I kind of hate him right now for making me feel so grubby, but I’m not blind. His muscular, veiny forearms are hard to miss as he stacks weights neatly by the leg machine. It’s hard to say whether or not his ass in those gym shorts or his stern look of concentration are sexier, but at least he’s quiet so as not to ruin the effect.
Once the early-morning crowd passes through—every single one of them later than usual and complaining because of the chemical spill—and we are well set up for the rest of the day, Roly takes his leave. “Okay, well, Catherine called in sick, so I need to go help out Scout and Evie over at the pizza shop. Let me know if you’ll need anything.” Roly’d started working for Scout when her pizza shop was struggling and had been part of the team that helped turn it all around. So, when Keto Spice wanted to open a gym for combat vets, Roly knew that Scout and Jean-Pierre would pony up the dough.
“Will do,” says Nick, breaking his silence. “Roly-man—don’t overdo it. Last time you stayed till closing and still got here at five the next morning.”
Roly sends him a sweet smile and puts his hand on his hip. “Don’t you worry about me, peg leg. I’ve got energy to burn. And besides, Thane and I have a date tonight.”
He punctuates this with a waggle of his eyebrows, and I laugh. Nick shoots a severe look in my direction that makes my dick pulse. Don’t judge me—his dark eyes are chocolate hazel sex orbs, and I’m only human.
“Don’t encourage him. He’s not going on a date; he’s going to go ride that beast of a man and then hand him a pink slip. Bear killer, twelve o’clock,” he says, pointing at Roly.
Roly pretends to pull out the hem of a skirt and curtsies toward his cousin, winking at me. “Don’t let grumpy pants get to you. His last lay was a little substandard, and now he’s doubting his prowess with the boys.”
I snort into my hand and try very hard not to laugh, which means my whole body is vibrating with it. “Okay, Roly. Have a good day.”
He waggles his fingers at me and legit flounces out the door. Shit, I wish he didn’t have to go. Thankfully Jean-Pierre Sehene and Scout Martinez should be here by ten. Yeah, that sentence won't ever get old. I can hang with Keto Spice for an hour if I absolutely have to.
I’m still laughing when Nick finishes up his routine and comes over to the counter, grabbing one of the stacked printouts by the credit card machine. “While we have a break in clients, let’s go over the weekly schedule. The gym is open from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day, and you’re working the early shift. We have different classes and therapy programs on different days, and each require their own setup, which you will be responsible for.”
