Leo frowned. “You accepted dinner with the man he has a crush on.” He turned to Fitz, puzzled. “Why?”
“I accepted because I’m fairly certain Noel wants to talk about Merry, and from the looks of it, I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
CHAPTERTWO
What a mess.
Jack sighed and pulled out a handful of wires. Thanks to the huge snowstorm that blew through Winterhaven a few weeks ago, the main and sub-panels in the Ice Castle had to be replaced. At first, he’d worried all the wiring needed replacing, but upon further inspection, he was relieved to find that wasn’t necessary. He hadn't known what to expect when he’d volunteered to fix the Ice Castle.
It helped that the Ice Castle wasn’t a real castle. The building had been constructed of pale gray stone to resemble a castle, but the inside was modern. He wouldn’t have been able to fix it otherwise. Restoration of historical properties was not in his skill set, and it would have taken far longer than they had time for with Christmas fast approaching.
The job might not be complicated, but it certainly took time, especially since he’d had to wait for all the replacement parts to be delivered. Thankfully, Colton had managed to call in some favors and get everything shipped quickly. Jack had to get the Ice Castle up and running so the decorating could start. There was only so much that could be done during the short daylight hours, especially without heating.
Jack started with the wires that were capped off already, wrapping red electrical tape around them. That way, when he hooked the wires back up, he didn’t accidentally reenergize those when it came time to turn the new panels on. He taped the white 220s black and started unhooking the wires and the mains one at a time. There werea lotof cables because the Ice Castle wasn’t simply a building. It had a huge ballroom where the small town hosted all its big events, which meant all kinds of lighting and sound systems were in place.
“Jaaaaack. Hello? Do you even hear me?”
Jack blinked and turned, frowning at Lucky waving from the doorway. How long had he been standing there? “What?”
“I have been calling your name.”
“Sorry, I was focused.”
“I can tell.” Lucky motioned to the long wood table to the side of the room. It was a scrambled mess of wires, fuses, electrical tape, tools, and replacement parts. “Bro, you haven’t touched your lunch.”
Shit. How had he not realized Fitz had dropped off his lunch? Surely, Fitz would have said something to him. Then again, Lucky had been calling his name for a while, and he hadn’t been aware, so…. “It’s fine. I’ll take a late lunch.”
Lucky frowned. “Um, it’s almost four-thirty.”
“What?” Jack blinked at him. That couldn’t be right. He checked his watch. “Holy shit, it is.” Where the hell had the time gone? With the power being off and no heating in the Ice Castle, his lunch was a popsicle. “Guess I’ll just wait for dinner then.”
“Speaking of dinner,” Lucky said, rocking on his heels, his hands shoved in his pockets. “I heard Fitz was having dinner with Noel tonight.”
“Is he? That’s nice.” Jack grabbed his torque wrench and went back to the panel. Ugh, some of these lugs were rusted. “He’s been making friends all over town.” His beautiful and very extroverted boyfriend was an expert at making friends.
“And…this doesn’t worry you?”
“Why would it worry me?”
Lucky hummed.
“What? You expect me to be jealous?” Jack snorted. “I don’t get jealous.”
“Bullshit,” Lucky said through a scoff. “Everyone gets jealous. It’s a human emotion.” He seemed to recall something. “Didn’t you get jealous when you saw those photos of Fitz and Joker together on the beach? Sí. I remember.”
“You mean the photos a stalker sent me hoping I wouldn’t pursue a relationship with Fitz? There’s no forgetting. I was an asshole for about five seconds, Sacha called me out on it, and it was done. I trust Fitz.” And that incident was ages ago when Fitz had first reentered Jack’s life.
“Fitz is a good man. He would never do anything so awful. What I meant is, are you not worried Noel might try to sweep him off his feet? Noel is handsome. Big. Very rugged. And single.”
Jack fastened the torque wrench to the rusted lug nut and jerked it down. Nothing happened. Damn. “I’m not worried,” he said through his teeth as he gave it another pull. Nope, that wasn’t budging. He hammered it with the butt of the wrench, then gave it another yank. It finally moved. “Ah ha! Wait.” Jack narrowed his gaze at Lucky. “Why are you telling me this?”
Lucky shrugged. “If my boyfriend accepted dinner with another man, I would at least be curious.”
“Are you saying Mason isn’t allowed to eat with anyone other than you?”
Lucky rolled his eyes. “And they say I am dramatic. ¡Santo Cielo! Mason can eat with whoever he wants, but if he were to havedinnerwith a good-looking gay man who is not attached, a man I do not know, then yes, I would becuriousas to what that man wants. I trust Mason. I do not trust this strange man.”
“Fair point,” Jack muttered.
