Chapter 2 #2
Daniel wasn’t sure. On the one hand, he wasn’t scheduled to work, and he required a full day before the weekend started to sit around the house he rented with his roommates, eat what he wanted, maybe crack open a beer.
He was also looking forward to a relaxing bath that night and going to bed much earlier than most people his age would.
But, and this was a baseball-player’s-sized butt, he also needed the money.
The end of the month was approaching faster than he could roll a condom on, and with it came all his bills.
And he only got paid for one measly blow job yesterday.
There was a chance he could convince Jensen to spend a few hours with him and pad his pockets.
More than a chance, since Lucinda had said he was so eager to see Daniel again.
And there was a part of Daniel that wanted to check in on the man, make sure he was okay.
There was only so much he could do for Jensen yesterday, and he felt a little bad leaving him while he was still a bit shaky.
Plus, he had little doubt that Jensen would be an easy client.
Daniel had dealt with shy men just like him many times, and they usually came fast and without much work.
If he went, it would be cheap cash, and he would get to check on Jensen.
Daniel groaned and stood from the couch. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen and Jezebels, I have to go prep myself.”
Daniel rapped his knuckles on the cool, hard wood of Jensen’s door not two hours after Lucinda’s call.
The shift from regular Daniel to sex worker Daniel wasn’t a particularly magical one.
All it took were a few products to make his bleached hair look soft and voluminous instead of limp and dry.
And a moisturizer he bought in bulk so he’d never run out.
Daniel had forgone any makeup, since he was only meeting with Jensen, and his lingering headache made him blanch at the thought of focusing on anything that hard.
The comfortable clothing had to go as well, unfortunately, but pretty packaging always made his job easier.
It wasn’t a transformation that a drag queen would be jealous of, but it was enough to get him in the right headspace.
Moments after he knocked, the door opened.
Jensen stood on the other side, looking a bit confused and a lot rumpled.
His glasses were slipping down his nose, and his hair stood in disarray on the left side.
He wore another sweater and button-up combo with dark jeans that was so adorably nerdy that Daniel still wasn’t convinced the man didn’t teach at a university somewhere.
With wide eyes, Jensen stepped back to allow Daniel to enter. “Oh, hi. Hello. The woman at the front desk said you weren’t around today. I didn’t expect you.”
He stepped around Jensen and into the room before responding. “She passed along your message. You wanted to see me?”
“Oh yes. I did.” He moved to the desk, and Daniel looked around the space.
Papers scattered the desktop, a couple threatening to fall off the side with every feeble breeze provided by the air-conditioning. The bed wasn’t in much better shape. Clothes tangled with unmade sheets, and a notebook sat atop a flattened pillow.
“I wanted to apologize,” Jensen said, drawing Daniel’s attention from the unmatched shoes that were thrown around the floor. “And give you this.”
Daniel stared at the small bouquet held out in his hand. Made up of white roses, green leaves, and some small blue flowers, the bundle was simple and cute enough to affect the integrity of his knees. Unsure of what to say, he looked up into Jensen’s pained eyes.
“After you left, I realized I probably wasted a lot of your time. I hate when my time is wasted, so I figured you probably wouldn’t like it much either.
Not sure anyone does, really.” He took a deep breath and focused on the flowers.
“They’re forget-me-nots. The blue ones, that is.
My parents always give them to each other when they mess up.
It’s to say that I’m sorry for what I did and I won’t forget my mistake or make it again.
The white ones are roses, but I’m sure you knew that. ”
A smile lifted the corner of Daniel’s lips. “I’m familiar.” He took the flowers, mostly to keep Jensen from feeling more awkward than he obviously already was. “So, you wanted me to come by so you could apologize?”
Jensen wiped his palms on his jeans. “Yes.” He shook his head and barked out a single laugh. “You must think I’m an idiot. Now that I know about this hotel, it’s so obvious. I mean, why else would the room service menu let you decide which employee brings the order up?”
He put a hand in his back pocket and bit his bottom lip.
Hearing Jensen chastise himself didn’t sit right with Daniel.
He was a nice man, maybe a bit oblivious, but nice.
No one else had ever gotten Daniel flowers to apologize for a misunderstanding before.
Most people he’d met were afraid to own up to their mistakes and do what was needed to make amends for it.
Daniel himself wasn’t sure if he would do something like this for a stranger.
And fuck, he gave Daniel flowers. If he wasn’t gripping the stems, he wouldn’t have believed it. Fucking flowers. Did people even give each other flowers these days? Besides when they cheated and were trying to make up for it, of course.
“Apology accepted.” He rocked back on his heels and looked Jensen up and down.
This wasn’t at all what he’d expected when he got his boss’s phone call.
But he wasn’t especially upset about it.
Mostly, he was hungry, and the prospect of returning home with no cash and a lubed asshole to eat leftovers didn’t appeal to him.
From the state of the room, it seemed like Jensen hadn’t ventured out much, and it was nearing dinnertime.
Well, dinnertime for octogenarians and those looking for early bird specials.
Mind already made, Daniel took a deep breath and squared his shoulders.
“What are you up to the rest of the day?”
“I’m trying to find room to add an extra office in an already fleshed-out floor plan.
Originally, they wanted no offices, just breakout rooms, but then a handful of managers threw a fit that they wouldn’t have walls separating them from their teams, and now I’ve had to rework the entire floor.
I’m trying to find a way to not sacrifice one of the gender-neutral bathrooms or space in the workroom.
But the floor plates are only six thousand square feet, which is not as big as you’d think it is.
” Jensen rubbed his eyes, fingers displacing his glasses.
“It’s not even my account. I took it on as a favor for a coworker, and I sincerely regret it. ”
Daniel couldn’t help but smile at the information dump. He wondered if Jensen overshared with everyone or if he just made the man particularly chatty.
“Working. I’m working,” he said with a small smile and a slight blush to his cheeks.
“Not anymore. You’re taking me to do dinner.”
“Oh. I am?” Jensen asked with raised eyebrows, seemingly shocked at the idea. When he saw that Daniel wasn’t kidding, he pushed his glasses up his nose and cleared his throat. “Okay, yeah, I’m taking you to dinner. Just give me a minute to find my shoes.”
“Cool, I’m going to use your bathroom real quick,” Daniel said and set the flowers on the tall dresser next to him. He was looking forward to cleaning the lube off his cheeks, maybe more than the prospect of getting food in his stomach.