HOUSE OF BROKEN SOULS Part 13
Warnings: This Chapter: None. Overall: Slash, sexually explicit content, graphic violence
The fiction includes a mental illness storyline. I am not qualified in mental health, everything I know about it is googled. It's fantasy folks, please don't shoot me though helpful criticism is always welcomed.
*Not real. The folks aren't mine. No damage intended.
Friendship
“You know what pisses me off?” Jared stomped the mud off his feet harder than necessary as he entered the site office .
“Did you need to see me?” the Building Supervisor worriedly cut in.
“Well you might want to be here when I fire your asses.” Jared knew he was being bitchy but he simply didn’t care.
“Problem?”
“You take time to put in a bid for this job. You convince me you’re a professional crew and deserve a chance. Then you get here and your men have no understanding of the contract and are using the incorrect panels. That’s annoying enough but really no reason for you to try to kill ‘em on an incomplete scaffold.” Jared stopped breathless after his tirade, realizing that he was looming over the Building Supervisor in an aggressive stance. Woah, calm down Padalecki.
There was the scuffling sound of someone else behind him and Jared turned to see Steve looking apprehensively at him . “I’ve tagged the scaffold, no one will use it until I re-inspect it with their guy. I came in to check their documents.”
Jared moved aside to let him through, then continued.
“You’ve got a day to remove the panels and order in the ones you specified.”
“but”
“You can use as many men as you like, I don’t care, but it doesn’t impact on the rest of the site and it doesn’t make its way to an invoice as an extra. ONE day.”
He left the office stomping as loudly on the way out, as on the way in.
“Fucking faggot”
Jared heard the muttered insult and stopped. He refused to backtrack, he was too angry to risk getting close to the man. “I’m the fucking faggot that delivers what he says he will, when he says he will. I’m the fucking faggot that can get you fired from this site and choose never to give work to your Company again. I’m the fucking faggot that can explain to your employer the exact reason why you’ve been fired.” He didn’t look back or wait for reply before walking on.
The Building Supervisor waited until the architect was out of sight before taking the opportunity to moan at Steve about the tall man’s attitude. Steve shrugged and refused to be drawn in.
“Hey. Independent here! Will you get the files for me?” He settled himself comfortably by the side of the desk and added “I’ve worked a lot of sites with him. You know, when someone is described as a cut-throat businessman, you might consider ways to avoid it being your throat he cuts next.”
Jared packed up to leave site at lunchtime, loading his SUV and removing his hard hat, shaking his brown hair free. The presence of Steve opening his passenger- door was unexpected.
“Need a lift down the street?”
“Nope. Need to treat you to lunch. Just drive. I fancy Mexican.”
“Client needs an architect?” Jared glanced over as he was driving.
“No Jay. More like, architect needs to talk because his friend is dead worried about him.”
“Oh.”
The tacos were quite tasty, but Jared would have to remember not to breathe on anybody in his afternoon meeting.
“So what’s going on Jay and don’t say nothing because everyone gets three strikes before they’re out and strike one has always been the puppy eyes. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve it. He’s an asshole and I’m pretty sure he’s been put on this so he does screw up and they have the ammunition to fire him.”
“Fair warning, Steve, thanks.”
“It doesn’t get you out of the original question though. You’re miserable, you’ve been asking me bizarre questions and then there’s this” he pushed a document envelope at him. “I’ve never known you to make a mistake in the documents you send out.”
Jared tugged the documents out revealing a bid and risk assessment he had put together a few weeks earlier.
“The client asked me to comment on the risk assessments, or I’d never have seen it.” Steve spoke as he separated the documents out.
Jared saw the piece of paper straight away. Hand drawn, neat but not scaled, it was a floor plan. It looked like the basement and crawl space of a hospital but Jared had never seen it before.
“This isn’t mine, the client must have muddled it in.”
“It was a sealed bid, I was there when it was opened Jay. How can it not be yours?”
He looked closer, frowning in confusion but the building layout was alien to him, there was just something about it…Caitlin’s writing! It was her clear precise lettering in blue ink from her fountain pen. He stared for a while longer. There was something else bothering him in the drawing but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He put it down and apologized. “Sorry, looks like I’m not infallible. If it helps, I don’t think it’s top secret, just a doodle.”
The architect had been wracking his brain to remember when the bid had been posted, eventually recalling the day he had spent in bed with the flu. Caitlin had manned the phones and looked after him. He had moaned that the bid was important and she had announced that it was better if she printed it out and sent it, as was, than it not get submitted at all. With a soaring temperature and muddled mind he had reluctantly agreed. “It’s Caitlin.”
“You’ve got Crazy Girl working for you? Jay, that is SO not good for business.”
“She just helped out that day. I was ill.”
“When did she get her memory back?”
“That’s the thing Steve” and Jared stared at the paperwork in front of him “she hasn’t. She’s back in Glenview and I don’t think she has any idea that she’s done this.”
“Is her being in Glenview anything to do with the epic bad mood you were in earlier?”
“Ugh. I suppose some of it. Come on though Steve, you were furious about the scaffold so I followed your lead on that.”
“Yeah well I was in a bad temper because the wife banned me from the house tonight. It’s Monday night football and she decided she needs a girl’s night in. No notice or anything. Just, I need a break. Stay out!”
Jared started to laugh and couldn’t stop, feeling tension releasing in his shoulders.
“Steve, you, me, mates, football and beer, at my place tonight. I only ask one favor, do not, in any circumstances, let me get drunk and jump the new neighbor’s bones. I do not need that complication right now.”
“Is there any danger of it?”
He groaned. “Hell yeah, and it would be an incredibly bad idea leading to an even more extreme bad mood.”
“OK then. Note to self. Keep you away from pretty new neighbor.”
“I really have to get going. Thanks for the heads-up Steve. I promise I will be sweet, kind and give away free fluffy kittens to everyone.”
***
Jensen scowled at the computer as he checked the final page. He hated DIY. Whoever thought it a good idea to have him edit “The Single Person’s Guide to DIY” was out of their mind. It had taken all his willpower to stop himself from inserting an additional reference that linked to an internet site on the pleasures of masturbation. He sighed as he finished and mailed it back.
Opening a fresh tab, Jensen googled the words amnesia and post traumatic stress. He opened a fresh notebook and started to list references. Glancing at the sidewalk he was surprised to see a red faced Jo Harvelle, being pulled along by Jared’s mongrel hounds. He heard the thud of the main door closing and grinned at the thought of a frustrated Jo having to settle them back down in Jared’s apartment. He wondered how Jared got Jo to agree to looking after the dogs, she seemed like a single minded young lady.
A few minutes after, there was a tap at his door. Jensen smirked and went to answer it without taking his gun.
“Hi!” Jo bounced on her heels and flashed a wide grin at him.
Jensen grinned back without speaking. He would let her squirm a little.
“So shady JD gets invited in and I don’t?” Jo gave an exaggerated pout but her eyes sparkled.
“Are you going to insult me or throw me out of my own apartment?” deadpanned Jensen.
“Mum wondered if I would like to apologize to you, Jared rang and wondered if you’d like to join the gang for the football tonight. He thought I might like to apologize and he made me walk his stinky mutts for insulting you. So do I get to nose around your place or not?”
He waved her in. “Of course, but I may have to shoot you.”
“Huh, I trust you, Jared explained it all, in detail, God, no wonder he charges his cell expenses to business.”
Jensen choked a little. “How much detail?” He pictured Jared rambling and remembered the note about his date. He certainly remembered kissing. It had been sweet, hot and wonderful and he had spent the day considering the best way to dispose of Jay’s date, barring murder.
“Wow. You aren’t? You didn’t?”
“No. We didn’t!” Jensen stated indignantly.
“Oh my god, you are, aren’t you? Why are all the best ones gay. You are so unfair.”
“So is Jared gay?”
Jo laughed “Do you even have to ask? Jay’s sex life is hardly a secret. Officially he’ll say he’s bi but according to Misha’s wife, their ménage a trios was very satisfying for Misha but she was like a third wheel. I don’t remember when he last had a girlfriend.”
“Oh, my word. Too-much-information Jo.” He was going to ask if she was joking, but he remembered Detective Collins’ insistence on the matter and decided the topic was best left alone.
Jensen let Jo apologize. He showed her around the apartment, which must have been a disappointment because he hadn’t really changed anything except the furniture, gave a brief overview of the publishing industry and let her return to Harvelle’s to tell Ellen he would be happy to accept free coffee forever.
***
Five crowded into Jared’s living room that evening. Jared introduced Steve to Jensen then sat on one of the couches with Steve and JD. Jensen wondered if Steve was actually Jared’s boyfriend and watched him closely from the other couch, making Steve so paranoid he kept checking to see if he had spilled something on himself. Jensen then began to wonder if Steve had a nervous tic.
Jensen became a little more hopeful and a little less creepy when it became obvious that there was no intimate contact between Steve and Jared.
There was popcorn, beer, soda and candy. Harley and Sadie wagged tails and jumped over everybody in excitement. When JD accidentally changed channels Jo tried to wrestle the remote from the boys so that Glee stayed on. In the ensuing melee bodies piled on top of each other. Jared reached and grabbed the remote, holding it tightly and Jensen laughed and launched himself at it. They found themselves in a tangle on the floor, Jensen astride Jared’s body holding his arms above his head. They both stilled, eyes darkening, feeling a heat between them and they flushed. Jared stared at Jensen’s lips, licking his own, whilst Jensen lost himself in the beautiful cat-like eyes, biting his lower lip, unable to look away.
Jensen gradually became conscious of his cock hardening in his pants and he was damn sure he felt more than a little interest from Jared’s. He finally remembered they had an audience and looked around noticing Steve urgently offering him a hand up. His cane was just out of reach so he winked at Jared and took Steve’s hand, subtly adjusting his pants with the other as he stood. “I have to get, uh some water.” He grabbed his stick and walked, as nonchalantly as possible, into the kitchen.
Jared acknowledged Steve and pushed himself back up. “Gonna find s’more beers” he said as he brushed Steve off and followed Jensen into the kitchen. Steve followed Jared, hissing in his ear “What the hell dude, have you seen you two? You do not want to be alone with him.”
“I’m all grown-up Steve.”
“A grown-up who told me not to let you do this Jay.”
“We’re not going to fuck in the kitchen right now, OK.”
“Your call Jay.” Steve gave up and returned to the sofa, cheering as the Cowboys scored a touchdown.
Jared leaned his hip against the counter and flipped the lid off a beer, offering it to the older man before repeating the action and lifting a bottle to his own lips. Jensen swallowed as he watched him. He didn’t think he would ever be able to see Jared do that without getting a hard-on.
“How’s Caitlin?”
“Not good. Doc doesn’t think she’ll be home this week. I’ll find out more tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry.”
“S’not your fault man, honestly. She was out-of-it before you barged in.”
“So how was your date?” Jensen decided to tackle the subject head on.
“It was , uh, good, fine.”
“Gory details? “
Jared gave a short sarcastic laugh, “I don’t think you really want to know Jen.”
“C’mon Jay, was it romantic, were there flowers and are you going back out together?”
Jensen wondered how he had become so direct about these things. Jared had him in a whirl and tact had flown out of the window.
Jared saw the plea in Jensen’s eyes as he inquired about the date. He fiddled with the label on his beer until he decided a course of action and looked down into those remarkable green eyes. He almost faltered, then found his strength. “No, not romantic, no flowers and I don’t do second dates or the morning after.” His voice was ice-cold and detached. “S’funny, I was actually thinking that Caitlin did us a favor that first day.” His chuckle was heartless, “Imagine if we'd fucked in the alley. Talk about that awkward moment when we discover we’re neighbors.”
“I’m not like that.”
“Sugar, with me, everyone’s like that.” He took another swig and eyed Jensen, trying not to wince at the confusion and hurt he saw in his face.
“Not me,” Jensen protested.
Jared swooped down, softly cupping Jensen’s face in his hands. He looked at those long lashes as Jensen closed his eyes. He placed a gentle, chaste kiss on the plump pink lips. He nuzzled Jensen’s neck and whispered as he felt him shudder, “and that is why we can’t ever do this.”
He pushed himself away from Jensen and stalked back into the living room and if anyone noticed a tear in his eye, it was surely because he felt the urge to yawn.
Jensen grabbed at some kitchen towel and dabbed at his eyes, breathing deeply to compose himself. Steve wandered to the fridge and removed a soda. He stopped by Jensen and murmured sympathetically as he cracked it open. “It’s not you. It’s his problem to fix.” Then, out loud he joked, “The Cowboys are winning, we need to get out there and celebrate.” He slapped Jensen manfully on the back and threw some popcorn at Jo and JD.
Jensen excused himself as soon as the game was over. Jared showed him to the door, maintaining a distance so that there could be no accidental touches.
“Let me know what the doc says about Caitlin tomorrow won’t you Jay? You should give me everything you’ve got so I can get started. If it’s possible I’d like to talk to Dr Carver, I don’t want to compromise Caitlin’s progress.”
“You still want to help?” Jared looked shocked.
“Why wouldn’t I Jay?”
“I don’t want a relationship, we’re not having sex Jensen.” Jared was perplexed.
“I do get that. It’s called friendship, Jared. I’ll hook up with you tomorrow, OK?"
“Why?”
“Because I choose to.”
Jensen didn’t want to think about his emotions or about the lack of understanding on Jared’s face when he had offered his friendship. Then there was the guilt, because Jensen had said he wasn’t like that, had implied that he didn’t have casual sex but he’d lied. Jensen had sex with a hooker just three nights earlier. Jensen was every bit as messed up as Jared appeared to be, but only Jared had courage enough to admit it.
He swallowed down sleeping tablets with a glass of Jack.
Continued in part 14 here: anniespinkhouse.livejournal.com/5002.html