28. Chapter 28
Chapter twenty-eight
Jake
The walk-through on the house was much like they used to do on the channel, but pared down since a lot of the house wasn’t actually done. The structural stuff, sure, but very minimal furniture, and they still had some appliances that had to be installed. But they got to show Quinn the bare bones house that he’d be staying in.
Jake slapped on the happiest face he could after Corinne insisted he get a touch-up in her chair before going on camera. Concealer for his bags, some blush since he “looked dead,” and enough lip balm to choke an infant, so his lips still felt unnaturally slick as he worried them between his teeth.
They walked him through the entry way, now much brighter and homier. Green walls in the living room, hallway, and kitchen made it feel more connected to the nature outside the windows, according to Evander. They showed off the lighting work that Aras had designed, and the frankly very nice bathrooms that Robinson had plumbed in, both downstairs and upstairs. Upstairs, they’d even managed to fit a soaking tub in, with some extra support in the joists to make sure it could bear the weight. They hadn’t been in danger of falling, most likely, but Jake had insisted with such an old property, just to be safe.
The office was a pale slate color, with an accent wall of blue and gold chevrons. A few of the built-ins had already been installed here, so it was a little more complete than most of the rest of the house.
Jake didn’t get to see Quinn’s reaction to any of it, since he was very firmly not looking that way. His feelings were a big, messy ball of yarn in his stomach, and if he pulled at any part of it, the entire thing could unravel or knot up or somehow catch on fire. I told him I wasn’t good at metaphors.
When they finished upstairs, it was Jake’s turn to take the lead. They wanted him to deliver on the gaming room. On paper, it made total sense. The gaming room had been his baby for most of the project. He’d even gotten Evander to swap some of the colors around since they all believed he knew best when it came to this particular space, this particular hobby.
He’d have happily handed the entire thing off to Mason or Bunny or Robinson or even Linda if it meant he could go back outside and work with some lumber until Quinn came to talk to him, but he knew that would never fly. So as he opened the door, he finally had to look at Quinn. “It’s obviously not a complete project yet, but there’s enough custom pieces in here, it made the most sense to start installing some of them.”
The corner desk, suspended from the wall. Floor to ceiling bookshelves on either side of the far window. He had plans for a little bench. Not quite a seat in a bay window, but the closest he could manage after they pinned down that a reading nook would be nice. He still needed to put in good storage, especially now that he knew what sort of setup and peripherals Quinn had—
Don’t think about it. Don’t remember it. Don’t go there. Jake pushed that gaming closet out of his mind and just watched as Quinn slowly turned in the middle of the room. The deep teal walls kept it feeling tight and cozy, and Evander had shown him the copper accents he had in mind to keep it from getting too cold. “It’s obviously not the full picture, but a little taste of what’s to come.”
Quinn smiled. It probably looked genuine to everyone else. Jake had seen him fully exposed, fully relaxed, fully engrossed over the course of the last couple weeks. It was a good fake smile, but it was definitely a fake smile. Not that he expected to see his eyes rolling back in orgasmic joy like the other night…it just didn’t land with Quinn. Jake could tell. Maybe Jake didn’t have the book smarts, and he wasn’t good at metaphors or similes or whatever, but he knew.
Quinn looked at him and nodded. “I love the color. And the desk already looks super cool.” He clasped his hands down at his waist and raised his eyebrows. “Is that it?”
“Outside.” Ozzy leaned against the doorway, grinning. “Have to show you what we’ve done in the backyard here.”
The camera crew pressed against the walls to allow everyone to head out. The door leading out to the deck was right next to the gaming room, so it was short, but Jake’s everything was tense and tight. Ozzy was in the lead here. Ozzy had everyone’s attention. And Ozzy had recently developed a bad habit of running his mouth and trying to needle Quinn.
They headed out and Ozzy gave a pretty full rundown of the work in the back. They’d kept the giant old maple tree, although they’d trimmed off the dead limbs to make it a little cleaner, safer, and hopefully healthier. Some more flowering bushes like the ones out front. A garden bed ready to be filled with flowers. He even pointed out the little benches Jake had built to make the deck a little bit more of a usable space. The back yard had probably the most work still to be done of any area on the property, but most of the pieces were there, available to be seen even if they weren’t yet fully assembled.
Ozzy sat down on one of the benches and sighed, stretching his arms wide. “It’s a little hard to see it now, but this is going to be a nice place. Maybe take a lucky gentleman out here.” His gaze darted rapidly between Quinn and Jake. Only for a second, but enough to get his point across. Jake turned his attention to Quinn and saw his shoulders tighten, his already slim frame pull in tighter.
Ozzy sighed, put his hands on his knees, and popped to his feet. “Or enjoy it alone. Your call. But you should have options out here. Once we get some nice lighting out in this space, I think it’s going to be killer.”
Jake wouldn’t call Ozzy well-behaved in that interaction, but he didn’t outright embarrass Quinn, didn’t shove private information out in front of the cameras. Just needling. Needling. Needling.
“All right,” Eliza’s voice rang from the fence. “I need everyone to stay ready. Including you, Quinn. Last time we’re going to be able to have you on the site, and we want to be able to get pickup footage while the house is mostly in the same state if we need it. I’ll give the all-clear once we’ve gone through the footage and seen where we need to fill in.” She clapped her hands. “Other than that, back to work for everyone. Quinn, you’re welcome to help out today, or we can set you up in the trailer with us while we watch the footage. If you don’t mind being bored to death.”
“That sounds good.” Quinn nodded, then pointed to Jake. “But I wanted to discuss something with Jake real quick. Is it going to bug you if I have to walk in there a little late?”
“Nope. Do what you need. This is kind of your last chance to weigh in on everything before you’re banished.” She walked off and the camera crew repositioned to catch the actual renovation work going on. One of them stayed focused on Quinn as he approached Jake. Not ideal, but Jake couldn’t delay it. Quinn was finally going to talk to him.
Once he got close, Jake pointed toward the Toyota. “You need some help, right?” He ran his hand over the lav mic on his chest, hopefully getting the point across.
Quinn nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”