Chapter Twenty

Drake

There's an anxious energy in the office on Friday afternoon. All the employees have been notified that a major bug release is being pushed out tonight and that it should eliminate the customer issues we've been hearing about. My team, in particular, is on edge. Margaritas helped for a while, but now we're all just waiting to see how the next twenty-four hours play out.

Dia and Walt both leave at two o'clock. They'll be online at midnight to push out the new files but there's nothing more they need to do until then. By three thirty, Kathy, Ron, and Steve are also saying goodbye, assuring us they'll be on call and checking in all weekend.

Jeff is lost in thought, but I suspect he might just be stalling until we're finally alone. When we are, he looks over at me and smiles. “So what are you gonna do now?”

I quirk an eyebrow. “I need to go check in with Cooper but then I'm probably free for the rest of the day.”

Jeff’s smile turns shy in a way that makes me want to pull him into my arms and let him know he can say anything to me. “There's a new Avenger’s movie I’ve been wanting to see.”

“A movie?” I can't remember the last time I went to a movie. “Popcorn sounds kinda good.”

The excited expression on Jeff’s face is irresistible. I can’t deny him anything when he looks at me like that. “The place I go to has those recliner chairs. It's really cool.”

I don’t even hesitate. “Yeah, I could go for a movie.”

“There's one at four forty-five. Does that give you enough time?”

That's just over an hour. "More than enough time."

~**~

“I'll text if anything goes bad, but we should be okay for the weekend.”

“Thanks, man. I knew I could count on you.” Cooper looks relieved but still tired. He’s aged so much over the past two years. I hope now that this shit with Chris is taken care of, he can get back some of his old personality. Cooper used to laugh and joke all the time, but now he just seems beat-down.

“Well, my part is almost over, but you still have the daunting task of getting those customers back.”

Cooper scoffs. “I don't know about getting them back, but I definitely need to bring in some new enterprise customers soon. If not, it’ll all be for naught.”

“If you want, I'm happy to stay for a while. I can manage the engineering and R&D teams so you can completely focus on sales and marketing. You’re going to need to do some serious damage control over the next few months, but I think we can do it.”

“You know I want you back, Drake. That's why I haven't hired anybody to replace you.”

I laugh at the lack of sincerity in his voice. “You haven't hired anybody because you're too cheap to bring in a CTO.”

He laughs. “Well, there's that too.”

“We can work out the details next week, but I think it'll be good for me to be back here for a while.”

“I'm happy to hear that. Now you get out of here. You deserve some time away from this place. You probably haven’t bought my Christmas present yet so you should get on that.” Cooper waves me out of his office.

Jeff and I meet up in the parking lot at four ten. The theater is nearby, but we decide to take separate cars so we don't have to come back to the office later.

Once we have a giant bucket of popcorn, a couple of Cokes, and a box of Junior Mints, we head straight up to the top middle of the auditorium. It’s not very busy for a Friday afternoon. This movie’s been out for a few weeks, so the crowds have already died down. But I'm still a little self-conscious about being next to another man in a dark theater.

I think Jeff can sense my discomfort because he's sitting as far away from me as possible, even though we're divided by the recliner armrests.

“You okay over there?” I ask through cupped hands as if calling from a far distance.

Jeff laughs and leans closer to me. “I'm good, just giving you space.”

I narrow my eyes and reach for his hand, quickly glancing around our immediate vicinity to make sure no one can see us. “You don't have to act like I'm contagious.”

He just shrugs. “Well, I don't know how you want me to act.”

Ouch!

But he makes a good point. “I don't know how I want you to act either, and I know that's not fair because you can't read my mind… But I definitely don't want you sitting so far away from me.”

The tension on his face relaxes and he scoots even closer. “What if someone sees us?”

“No one will.”

“But if they do, will you blame me if you get outed while you're with me?”

I squeeze his hand and face forward, thinking about the question. “I might.”

Jeff pulls his hand away from mine and crosses his arms over his chest. “Then no touching.”

I frown and turn back to him. “That's not fair.”

“It's not fair for you to blame me for getting caught if you want to touch, so I guess this is how it has to be.” He’s acting like a petulant child but I guess he has a right to.

“Fine.” I cross my arms over my chest too, and we watch clips from old movies and stupid trivia on the screen in front of us.

People filter into the room while the trailers play, and by the time the featured film begins, I'm already regretting the distance between us.

“I have an idea,” I whisper to Jeff.

He turns to me with his eyebrows raised. “What?”

“How about we touch when it's dark, and if we get caught, I promise not to blame you.”

“Caught doing what?” He bites his lower lip and those bright blue eyes seem to glow, even in the dimly lit auditorium.

"This." I reach into his lap and grab his dick, kneading it through the fabric until it's hard in my hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Jeff keeps his eyes glued to the screen in front of us and nods. “Deal.”