Bubba came with Deke the next day and he was friendly, but he was cool, calling me only Jus.
I left so they could blow insulation. I hung with Sunny and Shambles and their Wi-Fi, dealing with business and interior design suggestions and doing online browsing, logging a bunch of favorites for the time when I had bathrooms, walls and a kitchen and could therefore indulge in some serious shopping, all the while gabbling with my new friends.
Late afternoon, Deke texted, Done.
It was monosyllabic but thoughtful and I didn’t need further proof Deke could be thoughtful.
I still gave him the whole day, driving to and dinking around the mall to do it.
I returned and he was gone.
Thursday, Friday and more overtime Saturday, Deke and I had minimal banter, I often acted like an idiot, I brought him sandwiches and he made progress on my house.
Sunday he kept sacred, clearly, as his day off. So he told me he wasn’t going to show.
He didn’t.
I wanted to feel relief.
I missed him.
*
Deke
Late Sunday night, in the dark, in his bed, Deke lay on his back, one hand wrapped around his dick and pumping, the other hand over his head, fisted in the pillow.
His eyes were closed, his mind filled with visions of Jus riding his face, her head thrown back, all that long hair falling down, gliding against his chest.
It did not take long for him to blow a huge load on his stomach.
Still stroking, he opened his eyes and didn’t see *.
But, fuck him, he could taste her in his mouth.
Flowers.
She’d worn perfume the day before. Not the first time but she didn’t always wear it.
And she smelled like flowers.
He bent his knees and kept stroking his cock, his thoughts turning from Jus riding his face to memories of Jus reacting to the blue concrete glaze with silver and pearl whirls she had picked, he’d just done. She’d lost her mind, clapping and smiling and laughing, telling him he was a genius.
His thoughts went from that to her hugging the wall in the hallway after he’d finished the taping, her arms both outstretched, her cheek pressed to the sheetrock, her mouth crying out, “I love walls!”
He didn’t even allow himself to think of how she’d reacted after he’d finished the counters and cabinetry, installed the sink, put in the light fixtures, mounted the drying racks and finally fitted the washer and dryer.
Fuck, the look on her face when he found her and showed her he got her utility room done, he thought she would kiss him.
And he’d wanted that, right to the gut, straight to his dick.
“Fuck,” he whispered, rolling out of bed, going to the bathroom, cleaning up and hitting the sack again.
He lay on his back thinking he should tell Max he wanted him to switch out the man for Jus’s job, sending someone else in, taking him out.
Not only did his mind violently reject that idea the minute he had it, Deke had no reason to give Max why he wanted that.
And Max would likely wonder about why he’d ask, doing that for about a second before he’d figure it out. Wood would just know. If Tate heard, he’d wonder half the time Max would before he called it.
Then people would talk.
Deke didn’t need that shit.
He turned to his side, closed his eyes and tried to find sleep.
All he could think was how Jus would fit in the curve of his body after he’d turned into her to get some shuteye when he was done fucking her, how it would feel to bury his face in all that hair.
Not able to get those thoughts out of his head, his dick started getting hard.
So he had to jack off again just so he could get some sleep.
Chapter Six
And Left It at That
Justice
“This part, I don’t know, just wondering since the plans say double doors here, if it could be something else. Something that opens totally. Not double doors like on the plan. This whole space so I can close it off but also open it completely. Do you get me?”
It was the next Wednesday.
I was standing in the main space talking to Deke while dudes were unloading a delivery of more drywall. The two stacks Deke had for use were gone. Now there were two new stacks that were twice as high as the old one in the garage, and they were erecting their second much taller stack in that space.
Deke was not paying attention to the delivery guys.
He was looking at the framing behind me.
Since he returned to work on Monday, we’d carried on as normal, banter, sandwiches, me being an idiot, Deke leaving at six o’clock and doing it not looking back longingly at me.
However, in that time, I’d had one glorious moment.
This was when he’d finished drywalling the hall and the powder room yesterday, ceilings, tape and all.
He’d then asked me if I wanted him to completely finish that space before he moved on to the main part of the house.
I told him I wanted a kitchen.
His reply included a softening of his eyes I’d never seen but liked a great deal which I’d find was a precursor to him sharing something he didn’t want to share, this being that he didn’t think it wise to give me what I wanted.