Justin had spent the better part of the first hour of the speed dating event watching Finn face-plant every time a new man sat down at his table. At first, he’d been surprised at how nervous Finn was. Public speaking was a personal strength, and he’d mastered the art of small talk by the time he was ten. Yes, he was well aware that not everyone was particularly skilled, or even cared about perfecting social niceties. But watching someone else struggle so obviously, someone who kept trying but failing to make a go of it, had made Justin more than a little embarrassed for the man. With each subsequent date, Justin had gotten a few steps closer to Finn, silently encouraging him on, only to cringe when Finn inevitably stumbled and his “date” shut down.
He’d been about to step in, to maybe offer a few pointers, when the blond sat down at Finn’s table. Gone had been the awkward man, and in a snap, he’d been replaced with someone who was most definitely in love—or at the very least in lust. Justin moved close enough to catch most of the conversation. Well, what little of it there was. Leo was self-indulgently talking so much, it was a wonder Finn hadn’t bonked him over the head with something.
He’d have heard the end of the conversation if it hadn’t been for Eli informing him of the impending break. When Justin had turned back around to see how Finn was doing, Leo had been in the process of arranging a date.
None of this particularly mattered to Justin. He didn’t know either man, or what their past relationship was, if anything. And as Grady would have pointed out if he were here, it was none of his goddamned business what was going on between the two men.
Still . . .
While he’d only been in town a week, he’d spent the bulk of that time at Ringside, so he’d seen Finn multiple times in the days since their awkward introduction. Finn rarely spoke to anyone beyond Eli; he appeared to be quite competent when it came to fighting, and when he wasn’t looking at the heavy bag, he was staring at Leo. Justin couldn’t help but feel sorry for Finn, knowing that he had feelings for a man who didn’t seem to know he existed.
Finn licked his lips, and his gaze slipped to the table. While others in the room were laughing and carrying on, Justin sat there, knowing that, any moment, Finn would have his words organized.
Finn finally met his gaze. “Why would you want to help me? It’s not like we’re friends.”
Justin smiled in that way he used to do to drive Grady crazy. “I’ve been told in the past that I’m not the nicest of men. It’s part of the reason I moved to Toronto in the first place.” It was his turn to look away. “Consider you doing me a favor. An opportunity to redeem myself.”
“What do you need to redeem yourself from?”
“As I said, I’m a bit of an asshole.”
Finn chuckled. “You don’t strike me as one.”
“You haven’t known me long enough. I guarantee by the end of this little project, two things will be true. One, I’ll have you conversing like a prize-winning orator. And second, you’ll probably want nothing more to do with me.”
Justin half expected Finn to stand up and get the hell out of there at this point. Instead, he cocked his head and smiled. “I guess I can’t claim you didn’t warn me.”
Finn held his hand out. Justin responded in kind, almost as a reflex. The slide of skin on skin drew a tingle up the middle of Justin’s spine. Strange, he almost never reacted that way. Letting the handshake go on a tad longer than normal, Justin finally pulled away. “Excellent.”
“Does this mean I can skip the rest of tonight’s thing?” Finn’s body relaxed, and his head dipped lower. “I never knew trying to do so much small talk could be this draining.”
Maybe it was because Finn didn’t know Justin, that his tone was one of relief and comradery. Maybe he was exhausted and for a moment his guard had dropped. Whatever it was, when Finn looked back up at him, Justin would have done anything to save him from further harm.
“I could use some help.” He stood up just as Eli was letting people at the food station know that they were about to get started again. “Come on.”
Finn’s grin could have powered a small building for a year. “Awesome.”
Eli saw them coming, and the look on his face was one of approval. “Hey, Finn. How’s your night been going so far?”
Finn shrugged. “I have a date.”
“Really? That’s awesome. Devan will be so happy to hear that.” Eli smiled as he squeezed Finn’s shoulder.
“I’m going to steal him for a while.” Justin couldn’t help but straighten when Eli’s gaze narrowed on him. He really was quite intimidating. “With his permission.”
“I’m done in.” Finn stepped closer to Justin, which helped ease Justin’s tension. “I figure I can help out a bit rather than bail completely.”
“Sure. Have at it.” Eli clapped his hands as he walked away. “Okay, everyone. Time to get going. We’re going to shuffle people around, so you get to meet as many different people as you can. And it looks like we’ll have one empty spot, which will mean one empty table per round.”
Finn began to check the coffee urns. “Thanks again. I don’t think I could have handled much more of that.”
Justin started picking up the abandoned coffee cups, napkins, and sugar packets. “It looked painful for you. But we can work on that. You’re a natural once you’re relaxed.”
Without saying much else, they fell into a rhythm, cleaning the mess as the chatter of voices echoed behind them. It felt strange having someone at his side to help, even for something this small. Justin had become a solitary person mostly out of necessity. It was normally easier, faster for him to do things on his own. When Grady had been younger, he’d tried to get him to help, wanting to treat him as a friend. But the animosity that had grown between them had made it impossible for that to continue. So, Justin had gone it alone.
“You’ve just moved to Toronto?”
He started at the closeness of Finn’s voice next to him. Justin pushed his glasses up his nose. “I have. I’m from Vancouver originally.”
“I’ve never been. I’ve heard it’s nice out there.” Finn reached across Justin, their arms brushing.
Justin had to take a breath. Finn was cute, but far too clueless for that to have been anything other than accidental. “Mountains and ocean. You really can’t beat it.”
“I haven’t gone farther west than Stratford. School trip to go see the Shakespeare festival one spring. I nearly threw up on the bus.”
Justin barely stopped himself from smiling. He could picture Finn, probably scrawny, definitely geeky, sitting in the middle of a noisy school bus, trying to keep his shit together. “Charming.”
“They did Hamlet. I don’t remember who any of the actors were, but the lead had this voice . . . deep and commanding and way sexy, that had me riveted.” Finn stopped and looked at him. “Actually, your voice sounds a bit like his.”
Justin cleared his throat and hoped he wasn’t reading too much into Finn’s words. “Let’s get these things downstairs.”
They walked down the stairs to the small kitchenette that the gym staff used for their lunches. Justin had laid claim earlier that morning for the first time, thankful there was a microwave he could use. Cooking wasn’t a skill he’d mastered in his life. Far better to let someone else cook the meals.
“Apparently, they have someone who comes in and cleans the kitchen. I was told all we have to do is put any dishes in the sink.” Justin did exactly that.
“Why not put them in the dishwasher? It’s right . . . you know. There.”
Justin had asked the same thing. “Nolan said it has to do with their contract. I’m here on their good graces, so I don’t want to be doing anything that will cause them problems.”
“What do you mean? You’re not living at the gym, are you?”
“Hardly. Upstairs. I’m working on a project for Zack. We’re going to be converting the apartments upstairs into executive suites.”
Finn’s frown deepened. “I didn’t even know there was anything above the yoga studio. Well . . . yes, I did, but not that Zach owned it or that it wasn’t already occupied.”
“It’s phase three of what Nolan is calling their master plan.” Justin wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a diabolical plan or not, but given how much grinning Nolan tended to do when talking about the future, Justin had no doubt that it was. “I’m helping them with the development side, given how busy they both are with the gym.”
“Huh.” Finn finished sorting the recycling. “Let me know if you need help. I can run cable for any tech stuff, and I’m pretty handy when it comes to carpentry. It’s the least I can do if you’re going to help me with my Leo problem.”
Justin paused but kept his gaze averted. It was strange how Finn had no issues speaking to him, when he’d clearly been struggling only a short time earlier. It shouldn’t be that hard to help him, and if it meant he had the added bonus of some company, then he had nothing to lose. “When are you free for your first lesson?”
Finn’s face was beet red when Justin glanced over. “Ah . . . well . . . tomorrow?”
Maybe not quite as relaxed as Justin had assumed. “Come to my place. Or what little there is of it. Better to use the interior stairwell for now. Right over there.” He pointed to the large steel door across from the kitchen. “We need to replace the exterior doors and fix up the security gates, so it’s not exactly safe on the outside yet.” His hand came close to Finn’s shoulder, and Justin could almost feel the tension radiating from him. “Seven o’clock work?”
Finn nodded.
It didn’t take a genius to realize Finn had reached his conversation capacity for the evening. “If you’re looking to escape, this is probably the best time. I’ll tell Eli where you’ve gone.”
Finn’s shoulders dropped. “Thank you. I’ll cab it.”
“I’ll let him know.” Finn hesitated to leave, and Justin could imagine what was going on in his brain. “If you want to bail on the lessons at any time, simply don’t come. I won’t be offended.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Finn continued to hesitate for a minute, tapped the counter with his fingertip, and then bolted.
Justin wasn’t sure if he felt sorry for Finn and his social awkwardness, or admiration for him doing his best to push his boundaries. Justin wasn’t normally one for putting himself out there, not when there was a chance he wouldn’t come out on top. He was social and a shrewd negotiator, but he’d gotten there through years of crafting his persona, learning how to manipulate the situation to what he wanted it to be. His exterior was polished, practiced, and in no way designed to let anyone in.
Nothing good ever came of that.
So yes, if Finn showed up tomorrow night, he’d help him build up the wall Finn would need to be able to put himself out there, to make it so no matter how he felt on the inside, no one would see the turmoil. Justin was an expert on that, after all.