Chapter Six

 

 

 

At six-fifteen on Tuesday, David was ready to fire his plumbers, if only to make them leave already. When they finally finished five minutes later, he barely let them pick up their stuff before ushering them out. He was tempted to step on the gas on his way home, but the idea of being pulled over by one of Zack’s coworkers kept him in check.

Charlie wasn’t home and that let David off the hook. He didn’t want to tell his brother about the date, if he could help it. Charlie’s over-protectiveness had made him a real ass to any guy David had been interested in in the past, and now, with the age difference between David and Zack, Charlie would blow a gasket for sure. David didn’t want to deal with him now. He’d cross that bridge another time.

He took a quick shower, then dressed in a hurry in the clothes he’d picked the previous night. He didn’t have time to second-guess himself. He looked okay, and it had to be enough.

On his way to the restaurant, he started to get more and more nervous. It had been a long time since he’d last gone on a date, but he could already tell this one was different. David just… He just wanted it to mean something. Zack had been the first guy to make him think about a long-term relationship and, while it seemed stupid since he barely knew him, the pull toward Zack was undeniable.

The frustrating thing was that David couldn’t read him at all. He didn’t know what to think about the hot and cold treatment Zack had given him. Maybe they were both sending mixed signals?

David had a lot of time to worry, since the restaurant was farther away than he’d thought. He was pretty sure he would’ve missed the sign if he hadn’t been looking for it. Hidden from the road by the rows of trees, the wooden cabin gave the certain charm of romantic excursion, at least at night. The warm light coming through the windows shone on the small parking lot, and he easily recognized Zack’s bike. The two times David had seen it were…memorable. Zack in his leather jacket featured in quite a few of David’s fantasies now.

He parked his car next to the bike and got out, running his hands over his shirt and slacks and trying to squash the nerves that were making his stomach curl.

They didn’t calm down until he went inside and found Zack waiting for him at the table in one of the booths near the back. As soon as David sat down, the tension eased and he forgot about everything but the man in front of him. He wasn’t sure if he thanked the waitress, who walked him to their table or if he reacted at all to her putting a menu in front of him. He just kept staring.

Zack rested his elbows on the edge of the table as he met David’s gaze. “Hey.”

“Hey,” David replied and his voice was raspy, hesitant. Zack was dressed in all black and the way his shirt tugged at his shoulders and chest gave David ideas unsuited for a public place. And his own clothes seemed totally inadequate now.

“You look nice.” Zack frowned when David laughed. “What?”

“Sorry. I mean, thank you. I was just thinking how you look great and I don’t, so when you complimented me… You know, I laughed.”

One corner of Zack’s mouth turned up. “I wasn’t lying.”

“Neither was I.” David let himself give Zack another once-over. “You do look great.”

It was Zack’s turn to laugh. “Okay, we both look good. Let’s move on.”

“As you wish,” David said, picking up the menu.

The waitress came back with their beers, and they both ordered steaks with potatoes and salad and, when she left them again, David chuckled.

“We’re pretty predictable.”

Zack leaned back in his seat and raised his eyebrows. “I’m not ordering seafood or anything like that.” He paused. “Restaurant or not, I know what I like.”

David felt his cock twitch at that. He wasn’t sure if Zack had intended that as double entendre, but David hoped he had. “Good to know. I’m like that myself.”

They watched each other in silence until the waitress came back with the cutlery and a small bread basket, but when she left, Zack tilted his head slightly in his direction. “Tell me about yourself. I realized the other day that other than your job and the fact that you have a brother, I know next to nothing about you.”

“Not one to listen to the town’s gossip, are you?”

“There’s not that much gossip about you, surprisingly. But everyone seems to agree that they like you.”

David was ridiculously pleased to hear that. He had yet to meet a local he didn’t like, but he didn’t know if it was mutual. “It has to be my irresistible charm,” he joked.

“It has to be, yes.”

Zack looked straight at him when he said it and there was no hint of teasing, just stating the fact. David took a sip of his beer, hoping not to blush.

“I’m not sure I want to break the allure now.” He was only half-joking. “The reality is much less glamorous.”

Zack took a drink of his beer. “That’s why the reality is ultimately better.”

“Right.” David ran his hands over his thighs. “Well, you know the sob story, I’m sure—parents died, older brother raised—”

“Why do you do that?” Zack interrupted with a frown.

“Do what? You said you wanted to know more about me.”

“You made it into a self-deprecating joke. ‘You know the sob story’, like you don’t have the right to be sad about what happened.”

David clasped his fingers hard under the table. “I don’t want pity. And you know this part. Everybody does.”

“So skip it, if you think I know it. But I’m not going to offer you pity, whether you tell me or not. No need to belittle your loss.”

Before David could think of something to say, the waitress came over with their food. When she left, Zack sighed and leaned closer.

“Listen, I’m sorry if I pushed you too hard. It’s absolutely your choice what you tell me and how you’re going to do that.”

David nodded. “It is my choice, but you were right. I do go for self-deprecating jokes about this. Seems like a habit now.” A habit no one had ever called him on.

“We can start over, if you want?” Zack suggested, picking up his fork. “So, tell me about yourself.”

David chuckled and unclenched his fingers. “Okay. Here we go. My parents are dead and my brother’s the only family I have left. He’s used to being more like a guardian than a brother, but I’m trying to train him out of that.” He smirked. He couldn’t stay serious the entire time. “We’ve moved a lot, so I went through many different schools. I worked odd jobs in construction, so when I graduated, it was an easy choice what to do.”

“Do you like it?” Zack looked up at him from his plate. He seemed genuinely interested and David relaxed further.

“Yeah, I do. There are days when I absolutely don’t want to get out of bed, but they don’t happen all that often. And I like seeing things come together. Now I’m tackling renovating a house, we’ll see how that turns out.” He shook his head. “Getting all the paperwork ready was a nightmare, but I’m past that and the cleanup, so that’s good. Today the plumbers finished, as well. Hopefully the worst is behind me.”

“Why did you decide to start your own company?”

“To be my own boss and decide how things should be done.” David shrugged. “I’ve got years of experience, but whenever I would join a crew, they would make me do the simplest tasks, because I was the youngest. And I’m not so full of myself that I don’t mind doing what they tell me to, especially when the rest of the crew is more experienced, but often they weren’t. And they didn’t want to listen to any advice, because—again—I was too young to know anything.” He frowned. “I got tired of that.”

“Don’t you get that from clients now?”

“I do, but not that often. That’s another thing about having your own business. People automatically treat you differently when you’re the boss.” He paused, then smiled at Zack. “When they get over their surprise, that is.”

Zack looked down at his half-empty plate before meeting David’s gaze again. “Yeah, I’m sorry about my first reaction.”

David nodded. “Apology accepted.” They’d moved past this. He wasn’t the type to hold a grudge.

“It’s really impressive that you’re your own boss already. I don’t think I know anybody who started so young.”

“I’m glad I did.” David grinned. “And I don’t have much competition around here, so hopefully I’ll do fine.”

Zack raised his beer to him. “Hopefully.”

“Okay, now it’s your turn. Tell me about yourself.” David pointed his fork at him. “And I didn’t hear any rumors, so it’s all on you.”

“That’s a relief.” A shadow passed over Zack’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a dry smile. “I’m old news for this town, and they don’t really have anything to gossip about now. They could live off me when I was a teenager, so I think I gave them enough.”

David leaned forward. “Teenage rebellion?”

“Yeah.” Zack winced. “Classic rebel without a cause. I was acting out against everything and everyone. Stupid, really.”

“It’s stupid now, because you grew up.”

“No, I knew it was stupid then, too. I knew I was just making things worse, but…” He shrugged. “It seemed like I couldn’t stop.”

“You did, though.” David had seen a lot of rebellious teenagers over the years in different schools. He hoped they all had stopped before it was too late.

“I did.” Zack looked down at the table. “But it took me a while. I graduated a year later than the rest of my class, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. There were people whom I hadn’t pissed off too much who gave me some temp jobs, but it wasn’t until I was clerking at the sheriff’s station that I decided what I wanted to do.” He rubbed his jaw. “Sheriff Tomilson almost fell off the chair when I told him. But when he realized I was serious, he really helped me out.”

“That’s great. Good for him.” David smiled, picturing younger Zack in a leather jacket sitting in the sheriff’s office. “And good for you, huh? Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I do. There’s not a lot of crime going on around here, but we’re still busy.”

“And the uniform has to have its perks, too,” David joked then laughed at Zack’s surprised expression. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry.”

“I don’t think the uniform has ever helped me in that regard.” Zack smirked.

“You never know. The first time I saw you, you were in a uniform and now look at us,” David said, before he could stop himself.

Something flashed behind Zack’s eyes and the temperature around the table went up. David could feel a wave of heat running through him. He licked his lips and when Zack dropped his gaze to watch him, David felt his cock harden in response.

“I hope the uniform wasn’t the only selling point,” Zack said, his voice lower than before.

“No.” David shook his head. “No, it wasn’t.”

By now, there were too many of them to count.