11. Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
Ozzy
Where did that even come from? As Ozzy walked his happy ass out of that scenario, he heard Ev saying something behind him, but the words didn’t penetrate. He was too tight and anxious.
He said his head was buzzy, then almost transitioned it into a joke about head. With Evander. A line they weren’t going to cross again. Ozzy was happy in his life without Evander, and Ev was happy without him. Their last big blow-out fight had ended things for good reason.
They’d been out with everyone at a restaurant in Seattle. They’d rented one of the back rooms so they could all have some privacy and were getting absolutely hammered. Jake was hanging on Robinson, Bunny and Mason were dancing to some random electronic music on his phone, and even Aras had a wide grin on his face.
“Don’t drink too much,” said Evander, running his fingertips along Ozzy’s neck. “I want your dick to actually work tonight.”
It stung. Everyone dealt with liquor dick at some point. Except, apparently, Evander, who was always raring to go, even when he was three sheets to the wind. That didn’t mean Ozzy wanted it advertised to all his closest friends.
The others heckled him over that comment before slipping back into their individual conversations or dancing or whatever. Ozzy leaned his head into Evander’s chest. “You know I’m going to have to spank you for talking like that in front of my friends.”
“Ooh, I’m so scared.” He patted Ozzy’s cheek. “You really want to punish me, threaten to take me home to your parents again. I think I’d rather jump out of a moving train.”
Ozzy laughed, but it stung again. He didn’t have the best relationship with his parents, obviously, but there were still some things that belonged in the privacy of a relationship. He didn’t want his personal business spread all over to every single one of their friends.
Evander sighed. “Or better yet, why not regale me with more stories about how terrible they were while you pack up for one of your visits. That’s really the awful part.”
Ozzy stiffened and raised his head up. “That’s enough, Ev.”
Evander kissed him on the forehead. “I’m just saying, you need to stop pretending they were so bad. If they were, you’d cut them out of your life and piss on their doorstep. Hell, I’d help you. Your family sucks.”
Ozzy shook himself free from the memory before he let it consume him. That wasn’t the beginning of their collapse, and it wasn’t the final straw, but it stuck in his mind. It was the threshold for him. Once it got crossed, he was in a different place. They were in a different place.
Which meant no talking about sex with him, even in a snide joke. How the hell was just proximity making Ozzy into this? It wasn’t like they got along out of nowhere.
He couldn’t worry about it at the moment. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that Evander had already headed back inside. There was at least one wall between them. He could refocus on what mattered: the job.
He stood next to Jack and looked at the framed-out hole in the ground. “Last chance to change where we put the shed. Although I’ll kill you if you make us move it now.”
He shook his head. “This is perfect. Annoying there’s no door in the back of the garage. Would make it a lot easier. But this should get the job done.” He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “You work this hard on every job?”
“Harder. Don’t always have the extra assistance.” He clapped Jack on the back a couple times. “We’ll let them set the foundation. You and me can go look at the sheds on offer. You look like you’re about to keel over if I don’t get you some air conditioning.”
He laughed and waved the concern off. “I’m tougher than I look.”
“Right.” Ozzy gestured toward the fence. “If that’s the case, let’s get to tilling up some of this ground for planting. Should only take a couple more hours to prep the ground for the shrubs I want to put in.”
“Point taken. All right.” Jack gestured instead to the back door of the house. “Let’s go look at sheds.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Ozzy let the shower pound into his muscles, as much as it could. This wasn’t a high-end hotel, so it wasn’t like he had a massaging shower head or a rainfall or anything like that at his disposal. But for a small town hotel with a noticeably cheap-looking shower head, it did a fine enough job with his sore shoulders and back. It really hadn’t been that rough a day, but every time he saw Evander come too close, he tensed up like he was about to get punched.
He leaned his head against the wall and turned the cold water all the way down. Within about ten or fifteen seconds, the water heated up, searing away at him. Ozzy sighed and repositioned so it washed over his hair, his scalp, down his neck. He twisted a bit to keep it from stinging his junk, but other than that, he let the heat burn at him for a good five minutes before finally turning the shower off and stepping out onto the tiny hand towel he had in place of a mat.
He dried off just enough so he didn’t leave a trail across the tile and carpet, then headed over to his bed and flopped down. His mind spun around and around different ideas for the yard. In spite of all his work on the layout, the details were still a blur. What colors of gravel and pavers should he use? What about the stain for the concrete, since both patios had seen better days and needed some sprucing? The filler flowers, the bushes, the logistics for the privacy wall and the lighting setup for the outbuilding patio.
He also kept tripping over those damn rose bushes. Melanie was tied down to this idea of surprising her parents and she was the client they were working for. Well, technically. As far as Ozzy was concerned, they were working for Homescapes TV. It just so happened that Homescapes was ceding all control to Melanie.
It all amounted to Ozzy not seeing any realistic way to get those rose bushes transplanted. Best case, he would have to leave a spot for them and then hurry to uproot them and get them planted after the reveal. Worst case, he’d leave information on who to call to get them moved and hope like hell everyone involved decided it was worth the money and effort.
Ozzy cringed at the thought of those big, beautiful bushes being left behind. Some of the loveliest rose bushes he’d seen in the years he’d worked in landscaping. Before that probably, too, but he had much more exposure to well-maintained plants after he started work.
Knock knock knock.
It was quiet, but definitely a knock at his door. Ozzy groaned and waited. Maybe they’ll go away . He really didn’t want company. Or to move.
Knock knock knock .
A little louder, more forceful. Ozzy groaned louder, then rolled off his bed. He pulled the sheet with him, yanking it free from the edges of the bed. Once he had it out, he wrapped it around his waist, leaving it to trail behind him. He only tripped on it a little.
Knock knock knock . “Oswald?”
He froze. The fuck is he doing here? One more time, Ozzy almost didn’t bother answering the door. He couldn’t think of anything worse to do than talk to Evander. With only a sheet around his waist.
But Evander wouldn’t just go away on his own, so Ozzy opened the door in spite of knowing better and raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”