Monday morning rolled around, and Jason felt the tension mounting. He didn’t want to see Zach again. This is why you don’t fuck employees.
He’d already berated himself Saturday night and all day Sunday. Now he’d have to face his mistake every goddamned day for the next however many. Before the sky was barely pink, a truck pulled in down the street from the two end brownstones they’d marked as the first to renovate.
Zach jumped out and looked his way. At least he looked shamed. He should after that stunt he pulled. The last two days had also allowed all kinds of thoughts to swirl in his head. Did Zach have a thing for Jax? Had Jason been the next best thing—the unmarried, unattached twin.
It wouldn’t be the first time someone had wanted Jax more than him, nor would it be the first time someone had settled on him instead. Anger coiled in his belly as Zach approached him and the two demo guys Jason was reviewing the plans with.
“Morning,” Zach said, his voice low. He didn’t seem capable of meeting Jason’s stare.
“Marshall, Tomas, this is Zach. He’s Jax’s foreman.”
“Nice to meet you,” Tomas said, offering a hand.
Zach took it and then shook Marsh’s as well.
“Just call me Marsh.”
Zach nodded, and still avoided Jason’s stare. “We didn’t get a chance… to finish going over everything Saturday.”
That’s an understatement. His body started to thicken as visions of what he’d planned to do to Zach filled his head, no matter how angry he was.
“What’s the game plan?” Zach asked.
Jason nodded to Tomas and let the man take point. Standing on the side, he watched as Tomas explained the plan of attack to Zach. Zach offered a couple of suggestions, and Jason almost hated the fact they were good ones. The guy began to relax some as he discussed the job with Marsh and Tomas, but then he tensed as they finished up and his guys looked to him for approval.
“Sounds fine to me. You know where I’ll be,” Jason muttered before turning to leave.
“Wait,” Zach called.
He turned to see Zach walking his way. Jason’s body tensed even more, his cock throbbing with the need to finish what he’d started.
“Can I have a moment in private?” Zach asked quietly.
Jason let out a long breath and nodded. They crossed the street, and he turned to face the man. Zach finally met his stare, and all he could see was the scene with his cock stretching that pretty mouth wide.
“I’m sorry.”
“Afraid that doesn’t quite cut it,” Jason spat.
“It’s the best I can do,” Zach said.
“Fine,” Jason huffed, looking away.
“I’m going to be working here for a while… we have to work together. Can we be civil to one another?”
“I’m being civil,” Jason said, feeling one eyebrow rise. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the guy. He’d do everything in his power to avoid Zach over the coming weeks.
“I’m human. It was a mistake.”
“First you don’t remember saying it and now it’s a mistake. Are you admitting you did call my brother’s name when you came while your cock was in my mouth?”
A hurt look crossed Zach’s face, and Jason almost felt bad. “You say I said it. I don’t remember it, but I suppose if you heard it, it happened. I know whose bed I was in. Yours.”
Jason met Zach’s stare. “Do you have a thing for my brother?”
Zach didn’t answer, but the resulting flush of red to the man’s face spoke volumes. His silence spoke even more.
“I was the available one. You saw your chance, and you took it.”
“You kissed me,” Zach spat, shoving a finger in the middle of Jason’s chest. “Not the other way around.”
“I wish I hadn’t.” A lie. Even through the anger he still wanted more of those kisses. He wanted to grab the man and kiss him then and there. Too bad Zach wanted them from Jax.
“You couldn’t keep your hands off me Saturday, so don’t make it out like I seduced you because I couldn’t get your brother.”
Rage crept in. Jason clenched his fists and eyed the man. “If you want to remain standing, you’d best keep your mouth shut.”
Zach flashed him a wounded look. “I knew whose bed I was in. Yours. I wanted to be in yours.” He stepped back and spun away before crossing the street.
Jason watched each and every step. The graceful, masculine steps. The firm body and muscled shoulders…
Just as one of the JLC work trucks filled with Zach’s team pulled up to the site, he turned away before his cock grew any harder. They all didn’t need to see how bad he had it for their foreman. He stalked down the street. Instead of returning to the jobsite, he swung by his place and went inside.
Once he’d ripped open the zipper to his pants and pulled his hard cock out, he began to stroke it, knowing he needed to get rid of the hard-on.
All he could see was Zach under him, writhing in his sheets. He glanced at the bed, the images of that evening imprinted on his brain.
That’s when the thought came to him.
And he came so fucking hard from the idea, he thought his dick would explode.
* * * *
A week somehow passed both quickly and at a snail’s pace. Zach and his team finally had the demo done on both townhouses, and he’d texted Jason to let the man know. It had taken them a bit longer this first round, as they weren’t as prepared as usual and had also tried to save as much of the original woodwork from both houses as possible. Now he wanted his new boss to inspect the houses with him and see if they found any more needs outside the ones Zach and his guys had already found.
He’d gotten a be there later and that was all.
By five, he’d already let his guys head back to San Alicia for the night. He still waited for Jason, worried he’d wait all night for no reason. He went ahead and started the inspection on his own fifteen minutes later, a clipboard and flashlight in hand. When Jason finally showed up, he was on his hands and knees, inspecting a rotten board that had been under the baseboards.
Zach quickly rose to his feet and met Jason’s gaze. “I got started without you.”
Jason was silent a moment. “By all means, continue on.”
Zach couldn’t quite gauge Jason’s mood. He walked over, clipboard in hand, and showed him the list he already had. “We can start over, and I can show you what I’ve already found.”
“Fine.”
Zach sighed and headed for the foyer. He felt Jason following slowly. Once the guy was there, he pointed to the floors. “I crawled under the house. There are a few rotten spots in the subfloor. We’ll have to carefully pull up the flooring to get to them and replace.” He paused, hating to bring up the cause of their argument, but there was no way around it. Without being able to meet Jason’s stare, he added, “Jax hired a new floor guy to do the last house I supervised, and he did an incredible job, but I’ll let you discuss that with your brother.”
Jason remained silent, so Zach continued.
“There’re some other spots in several rooms of both houses that’ll need to be replaced, as well as the areas where we’re taking down walls. So you might want to grab him if he’s available.”
Still nothing.
“I have his number if you want me to reach out to him.”
Jason stared at the floors. “No need. I’ll talk to Jax.”
Zach turned to his list and scanned the sheet, struggling to focus on it. He hated that Jason was that upset with him over a mistake, but at the same time he understood it. He hated being compared or mixed up with his brothers, who were all more accomplished than he was. Not that Jax had anything over Jason, but being a twin had to be ten times worse.
He only wished he knew how to make things better. There might not be a chance for them to return to where they were, but he hoped they could work together without the stress he now felt.
Zach slowly went through the other rooms he’d already inspected and recounted his list. Jason strolled around the dining room—the same room he’d been caught ass up in—before he finally spoke.
“Why didn’t you take down the ceiling in here?”
“These old tin ceilings are kind of cool, so I thought I’d ask you if you wanted to keep it.”
“No.”
“A lot of folks pay good money for these, especially ones in as good a shape as this set is. We need to take it down carefully so you can sell it.”
“We don’t have time for carefully right now. Just get rid of it.”
Zach was silent a moment as he met Jason’s gaze. “What can I do to make this stop?”
Jason was silent.
“Okay. Then how long will it take me to live this down?”
The man shrugged. “Dunno.”
He held Jason’s gaze, angry at the whole situation. Zach sighed before lifting the clipboard and scrawling dining room ceiling onto his list. They walked the rest of the house, the list growing. Both of them pointed out items that needed to be fixed. The sun began to lower in the late spring sky, and the flashlight became more necessary. By the time they finished, dusk had fallen.
Zach shut up the house as Jason walked down the front stoop to the sidewalk. The man didn’t say goodbye or wrap anything up… he just walked away.
“See you Monday,” Zach called out, feeling stupid for saying it the minute it came out of his mouth.
Jason glanced over his shoulder, but kept on walking.
Zach watched the man’s back, shaking his head.