Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 43759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
He grabbed a towel off the back of Mac’s chair. All was quiet in the
house, and the bathroom was right opposite Mac’s door. He didn’t have
tim e to waste with putting his clothes back on. “See y ou later, y eah?”
“Sure. Have a good day.”
Jez spared one last glance at Mac. Naked and covered in j izz was a
good look on him . The m em ory of it would see Jez through a long busy
day in the café. He walked out of Mac’s bedroom door, pulling it shut
behind him , and nearly crashed into Josh. Josh had obviously j ust com e
upstairs, still wearing the clothes he’d left in the night before.
Josh’s ey ebrows disappeared under his dark fringe as he took in Jez’s
appearance. Jez’s stom ach was em barrassingly sticky, and he probably
stank of com e. He was blushing so hard, he felt as though he m ight
com bust.
“Good night?” Jez asked weakly.
“Not bad.”
“I was heading to the shower….”
Josh’s lips quirked as his ey es raked down Jez’s body. “Probably for
the best.”
“Josh….” Jez said pleadingly. But he had no idea what to add. “This
isn’t what it looks like” wouldn’t cut it, because it was exactly what it
looked like.
“Chill, Jez. Your secret’s safe with m e. Mac’s too.”
The way he said it, Jez believed him . Weak with gratitude, he
thanked Josh and scurried into the bathroom to scrub the evidence away.
When he went into his room after showering, Mac was waiting for
him there, fully dressed and standing awkwardly by the bed.
“Who the fuck was that on the landing?” His tone was sharp, and his
face pale and anxious.
A flash of hurt shot through Jez. So this is how it feels to be a guilty
secret. “It was only Josh. Don’t worry, he was cool. He won’t say
any thing.” Jez towelled his hair dry.
“Are y ou sure?”
“As sure as I can be.” Jez went to his drawer to get out clean boxers.
It felt weird walking around naked in front of Mac now that the play ful
intim acy of earlier had vanished.
“Good.” But Mac still sounded doubtful. “We need to be m ore
careful.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Jez y anked on his underwear, facing away from
Mac. He didn’t trust his face not to betray him .
It was chilly and drizzling outside, and as Jez hurried through the
dam p Ply m outh streets, his heart was heavy. The shops were full of
Christm as display s, all glitter and fairy lights and stupid, expensive gifts.
The holiday s were fast approaching. Only a couple of weeks left in the
term before they ’d all be going hom e for Christm as.
Jez sighed. May be a break from this weird thing he had going with
Mac would be good for him . He felt stupid and angry with him self for the
kernel of hurt in his chest that lingered after their last conversation. Of
course Mac didn’t want any one to know about them . Hell, Jez wasn’t
ready to broadcast it either. But Mac’s reaction to Josh catching them only
served to reinforce the cold certainty that this thing between them was
going nowhere. If Jez was truly honest with him self, what they had
wasn’t enough for him any m ore. The sex was great, but it wasn’t all
about the sex for Jez now. Sleeping in Mac’s arm s last night had touched a
part of Jez that no am ount of hand j obs would satisfy.
After a stressful start to the day, things only got worse. The café was
busy, Jez’s boss, Helen, was in a foul m ood, and every thing that could
possibly go wrong, did. Distracted, he kept m essing up people’s orders,
and after the third com plaint that involved a drink or a plate of food being
sent back, Helen bawled him out in front of half the custom ers. Jez hung
his head and didn’t argue back. He knew he was in the wrong.
At the end of his shift, Helen called him into the office for a chat.
“I’m sorry I lost m y tem per earlier, Jez.” She sounded as though she
m eant it. She wasn’t usually one to lose her cool. “I’m having a bad day
—well, a bad week, actually —but I shouldn’t have taken it out on y ou.
Any way. There’s no easy way to tell y ou this, but I’m going to have to let
y ou go.”
Jez stared at her in shock as the words sank in. “But—”
“It’s not because of today.” She was quick to reassure him . “And it’s
not j ust y ou. We’re having to lay off both our part-tim e workers. But the
café’s in financial trouble, and the only way we can stay afloat is to m ake
som e staff cuts. We sim ply can’t afford to keep y ou on. I’m sorry.”
It was a sm all fam ily -run place. Helen and her husband Paul both