Everything fractured Monday morning when he went into the office.

Jonas grabbed him almost immediately, looking harried. “Hey, Eric, how’s the trailer park coming along? Any progress?”

“It’s only been a few days, Jonas,” Eric reminded him. “I’m working on it; I’m trying to come at it from a different angle. I tried talking to them, and most of them are still resistant; you have to let me be flexible.”

“I know, I know, but the men upstairs are putting pressure on us. It’s one of the first properties they wanted to develop, and they’re losing patience with the fact that it’s rapidly becoming the one property they can’t have. You know how it is.”

Yeah, Eric knew: the more you told someone no about something, the more they wanted it.

“I need them to be patient, that’s all,” he replied. “You know that I always deliver, and these things take time.”

Jonas didn’t look all that reassured. “I know that, of course, but they don’t work with you on a daily basis like I do. They want results.”

“They want a miracle worker,” Eric replied, trying not to let his frustration show. Even if the Caskills had been jumping for joy over the idea of selling their property, it would take time to draw up a contract and hash out details and organize everything. Eric wasn’t a goddamn amateur.

“Maybe so, but they’re putting the pressure on me to put the pressure on you,” Jonas said. He sounded genuinely reluctant about it, which Eric supposed was a silver lining. “Just do what you can, okay?”

“Are they…” Eric took a deep breath to try and stave off the panic rising in his chest, making everything feel too tight. “Are they threatening to take away the promotion?”

Jonas sighed. “They haven’t said anything definite one way or another. But I’d really like to get moved to my department as well, so it’s both of us who are on the line here.”

That made Eric feel even worse. He didn’t want to be the reason that Jonas didn’t finally get the transfer that he wanted and deserved.

“I’ll take care of it,” he promised. “You won’t have to worry about a thing, Jonas.”

Jonas nodded, looking a little less harried. “I know, Eric, I can always depend on you. I just wanted to give you a heads up.”

Now Eric really felt like a failure.

He escaped into his office—the office where he’d gotten fucked by Hank.

God dammit.

He couldn’t possibly date Hank, could he? Not when it was such a conflict of interest. How the hell was he supposed to help out Hank’s family and keep his bosses happy and secure a promotion not only for himself, but for the boss that he actually liked? It all made him sick to his stomach.

Maybe he shouldn’t pursue it. His mom had been all for it, and when he’d been having brunch with her it had seemed possible. Anything seemed possible, if he was hearing about it from his mom. She had this way of putting things that made it seem like Eric could fly if he just put his mind to it.

But now that he was back at work, with this glaring at him … it felt a lot less certain.

Maybe this just wasn’t meant to be. Hank was just one guy, after all; there were plenty of other fish in the sea. He’d gotten this — spark, this connection with Hank, yes; and it was the first time he’d so easily slid into liking someone, and so easily been turned on by them as well — but c’mon.

Eric could find that with someone else, couldn’t he? There were seven billion people on this planet. There had to be someone.

His phone vibrated with a text and he dug it out of his pocket.

Of course it was from Hank, because the universe was just determined to laugh at him.

Movie tonight? The text read. I can pick you up at seven.

Eric usually worked later than everyone else, so seven would give him just enough time to get home and change into something more casual for the movie…

What? No.

No, he was not going to go out on a movie with Hank. He had to end this; it was just complicating things for everyone, and he was going to end up letting everybody down if he didn’t put his foot down.

But he couldn’t stop remembering how it felt like to kiss Hank. The way Hank had hovered near him during the bowling game. How it wasn’t really Hank’s fault that he was caught in the middle of all of this.

…maybe one movie wouldn’t hurt.

Sure. Here’s my apartment address.

Hopefully this wouldn’t blow up in his face.