Finn knocked on Justin’s door out of habit before opening it. The kitchen was far cleaner and more organized than it had been on his previous visit. The coffee maker was tucked away in the corner, next to a toaster, which was a new addition. There was a dish rack that had a single plate and cup turned upside-down and dry.
They painted a strangely lonely picture.
“Justin?” He kicked off his shoes and dropped his gym bag on the floor by the door.
“I’ll be out in a moment.”
Another new piece of equipment was the watercooler off to the side of the fridge. Presumably, that meant the plumber hadn’t quite addressed all the problems yet. At least the place no longer smelled of dead . . . something. He’d been concerned for Justin’s health.
“Mind if I get a drink?”
“There are a few glasses in the cupboard by the fridge.” A bang of a small door echoed through the apartment.
Still dehydrated from working out, Finn didn’t hesitate to find and fill a glass. It wasn’t until he’d filled it a second time that Justin strode out from the bedroom. “Sorry about that. Given how little I have here, you’d think I’d be able to find items when I go hunting for them.”
Finn’s gaze locked onto Justin’s body. Gone was the dress shirt he’d been wearing before, replaced by a tight-fitting black Ringside Gym shirt. If Finn had thought Justin was an attractive man in the dress shirts he always wore, then seeing him dressed in a skin-tight T-shirt blew that estimation out of the water. “That’s . . . different.”
Justin looked down at the shirt and shrugged. “I just spilled coffee all over myself. I don’t plan on going anywhere else today, so I figured I’d go casual while my shirt soaks. I do know how to relax.” The way he said that suggested it was a comment he’d had to say frequently about himself.
“Never figured you didn’t.”
Justin’s lips pressed into a tight line, as he tugged on the hem of his shirt. “I didn’t have anything else clean. I need to do my laundry today.”
“You look fine. Great even.” Finn face heated. “Sorry.”
“No reason to be.” And in a snap, Justin was back to his earlier demeanor. “Why don’t you tell me about your problem? From the look of things downstairs, Leo said something that sent you into a panic.”
The brief mental respite Finn had been enjoying vanished. “He moved the date up.”
“To when?”
“Tomorrow night. I’m not ready for that.” There was a real possibility that he’d never be ready for his date with Leo. But tomorrow night? The few lessons he’d had with Justin had already evaporated from his mind.
Justin braced his hands on his hips. “That could be a problem.”
“You think? It’s going to be a fucking disaster.” Finn’s legs shook, and he sat down on the small couch that now took up a portion of Justin’s living room. “The thought of it makes me sick. I don’t know what to do.”
“What we’re going to do is practice a few things tonight. We’ll have a trial conversation, work out possible scenarios and topics. You’ll do fine.”
Finn let out a whimper. So manly.
“I’m serious.” Justin crossed the room and sat down on the couch beside him. “You proved last night that when you’re relaxed, you handle yourself just fine. Maybe that’s what we should be focusing on instead. Teaching you how to relax.”
“I do yoga.”
“You clearly need to do more.”
“What I need is for you to go on the date with me and answer all of his questions on my behalf. That would be amazing. I’ll whisper what I want to say, and then you can make me sound eloquent.” That would make all of his problems go away. With Justin as his mouth piece, he’d no doubt end up with Leo as his boyfriend.
Wait a minute . . .
Finn turned to Justin, inadvertently pressing his thigh fully against Justin’s. “I have an idea.”
“I realize we don’t know each other all that well, but even I can tell that I’m not going to like your idea.” Justin’s gaze dropped to where their bodies touched, but he didn’t move away.
“I have a friend who’s into a bunch of security stuff. He’s an investigator, but also works as hired security for events and stuff. He has an ear piece for communication with people in the security office. I can see if I can borrow some of his equipment. You can listen in on the date and help me out with things to say if I get stuck.” Shit, why hadn’t he thought of this earlier? It would have saved him hours of worry.
Justin cocked his head to the side. “That’s by far the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll still be the one on the date and doing the talking. You’ll just be my unseen moral support.”
“It’s dangerously close to stalking.” Justin shifted away from him then, his face screwed up into a grimace. “I don’t want to be witness to your private moment.”
“If you don’t, there won’t be much of a private moment at all. I know me: I’ll panic and leave before appetizers are done.” If he made it that far at all.
Justin sighed. “Have you ever considered the idea that if you’re this nervous around Leo, then he might not be the man for you?”
Finn blinked. “No. He’s exactly my type.”
“How do you know? You’ve barely spoken to him.”
Devan had asked him that question once before, so it was something he’d thought long and hard about. “He’s the picture of the man I used to fantasize about when I was a teen. The blond hair and his smiles. The way he makes a room brighter just from walking into it. Everyone is drawn to him because he’s so easygoing. And when he looks at me, I feel special. I don’t think I’ve ever been with anyone that’s made me feel like that.”
Justin didn’t break eye contact as Finn spoke, which made Finn’s heart beat a bit faster. That was one thing Justin and Leo had in common.
Justin then nodded, but his gaze shifted to the floor. “I had someone like that in my life. I became quite infatuated after years of spending days alongside him.”
Finn hadn’t really considered who Justin would have in his life. That he’d had a life before he’d showed up at the gym two weeks ago. “Who was it?”
“Grady.”
“Grady Barnes from downstairs?”
“The very one.”
“But . . . he’s with Max.”
If Finn hadn’t been staring directly at Justin, he wouldn’t have noticed the small change in his demeanor. It wasn’t that he was angry or annoyed at what was clearly a bad situation for him, but rather, sad. “He is. And far happier than I would ever have made him.”
Sure, Finn might not know Justin well, but he was a smart, attractive man. Finn couldn’t understand why Grady, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn’t be all over him. “What happened?”
“Familiarity breeds contempt.” When Finn didn’t say anything, Justin turned his head to look him in the eye. “I worked for Grady’s father. I was essentially hired to keep Grady in line, which for the record was not an easy task. When you’ve spent ten years of your life keeping tabs on another person, it stands to reason that the object of your meddling wouldn’t want to get involved in a relationship.”
“You were only doing what you were told to do. I can’t imagine he’d hate you for doing your job.”
“Perhaps if I hadn’t performed my job with such enthusiasm, that would be the case.” Justin chuckled. “Once he and Max got together, I realized that any feelings I’d developed for Grady were wrong. I’d known him when he was a teen and watched him grow into a man. I guess that makes me a creep.”
Finn shook his head. “You’re not creepy. Grady was lucky to have you around.”
“I’m not so sure. Thankfully, we do appear to still have a friendship of sorts. I’m grateful for that.”
It was strange to see Justin, a man who seemed to have had an impenetrable suit of armor around him, struggling with an invisible wound. “I’m grateful as well.”
“For what?”
“That whatever happened in your past brought you here. While I’m aware that things between me and Leo might not work out, I’m happy to have gotten a new friend out of this.”
Instead of the smile Finn had hoped to get, Justin rubbed his hands on his legs before standing abruptly. “Go get your equipment from your friend. Let’s do this so you can get your man.”
Relief was tinged with a bit of embarrassment as Finn stood as well. “Thanks, man. I don’t think I can do this without you.” He turned around the apartment, trying to find some way of repaying Justin for his kindness. “How about I come back with my tools and I fix . . . something. What’s your contractor doing?”
“You don’t have to—”
“I absolutely do. I need to repay you for what you’re doing. And I’ll no doubt need a distraction after the date. So, what can I tear apart?”
Justin didn’t move at first, but then slowly shook his head, a small smile appearing. “I have the contractor coming to start on the kitchen next week. I don’t know, maybe we can work on the walls here in the living room.”
“Deal. The date is tomorrow, so how about I come over Sunday to help you out?”
Justin appeared to mull that over before shrugging. “Why not. I don’t have plans.” That note of sadness was back again.
The longer Finn spent with him, the more he realized how lonely Justin was. Given all Justin was trying to do for him, what he was asking Justin to do tomorrow night, this was the very least that he could do. It wasn’t exactly a hardship, being with him, so Finn was getting the better end on both accounts.
“Okay, the equipment. I can stop by here an hour before my date. I’ll show you how the equipment works, and I’ll even bring you supper.” He really had enjoyed cooking for Justin the other night.
“Sounds good.”
It was obvious from the way Justin spoke that he was expecting Finn to leave now. It was what Finn had intended to do, if he was being honest with himself. He’d come and gotten what he’d hoped he would, so there wasn’t any reason to stay.
Except . . .
He was using Justin and not giving him much in return. Sure, he’d agreed to do a little home improvement for him, but that didn’t quite seem on par with what Justin was doing for him. Finn knew he was going to owe Justin a long time if things worked out between him and Leo. “Say, are you doing anything tonight?”
His question had clearly caught Justin off guard. “No.”
“It’s just, I don’t think I can actually get any more work done, especially with tomorrow night now a thing. I was wondering, ah, maybe you might want to go out tonight. I mean just as friends. To do something. Not like a date. I don’t think I could handle two dates in a week.”
For the first time since he’d met Justin, Finn saw the other man blush. “I wouldn’t know where to go.”
His rush of excitement was a bit unexpected, but Finn took it as a good thing. “Well, you said you know Grady. Doesn’t his boyfriend own a club? At least, I thought that’s what I’d heard someone say.”
“Frantic. It’s a dance bar—very loud from the one time I was there.”
Not his ideal evening out, but doing something out of the ordinary would be good for a change. “Sure. I like to dance.”
Justin cocked an eyebrow. “That’s . . . I can’t picture that at all.”
“What? You think techies don’t have rhythm?”
“Not in my experience.”
The dark cloud that had descended on them moments earlier lifted. Finn wasn’t sure what was coming over him, but he started swaying his hips to an invisible beat. “Dude, what do you think we do when we’re waiting for servers to reboot or software patches to load? We dance.”
Justin’s face morphed from disbelief to amusement as Finn got into his solo dance. Turning around, he gave his ass a little shake and suddenly, Justin was laughing. “Dear God, stop.”
“Now that’s a sound I didn’t think I’d hear.” Finn turned back around and moved a bit closer to Justin. “You have a great laugh, and you should use it more.”
Justin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I haven’t had much reason to laugh in recent months.”
“Well, I’m going to help you change that. I have to go home for a bit, but I’ll come back. We’ll get something to eat, then go over. If nothing else, you can look forward to laughing at my wicked moves.”
“Actually”—Justin shrugged in a way that was far cuter than it should have been—“they have excellent cheeseburgers there.”
Finn’s stomach growled at the thought. “Yes. That’s perfect.” It was perfect, and that rarely happened in his life. “I’ll be back at six, and then we can head over for that cheeseburger.”
“Sure. If you’re determined to do this.”
“I am.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to change my shirt after all.”
Finn walked over to him, stopping once their shoulders were nearly touching. “You don’t have to. It looks pretty good on you.”
Without waiting to see Justin’s reaction, Finn grabbed his bag and fled.