Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
C haz’s conversation with April had been enlightening. She'd shared more information about what she'd told Ezra as well as the true story about the Bigfoot, which was that he did exist on the West Coast, and the guy they were chasing was a dumbass in a costume. People were stupid and believed what their eyes said, not what their brain was yelling. April also informed him Ezra wasn’t quite SPAM-ready. He was still in the interviewing process for managing a small team in the office. April had been trying to dissuade him from joining, but Ezra was persistent. In the end, she perpetuated the myth, built him up with false hopes, and sent him office supplies while giving him a proper salary.
Chaz didn’t understand her reticence. Ezra had shown heaps of potential from what Chaz could see, and they’d only be together for a few short hours. He'd discovered Chaz easily, more than one stranger had approached him for directions, and he'd received two wrong numbers about the one topic. If that wasn’t a sign, Chaz would willingly use Chauncey as his name.
Ezra still sputtered about his shoes and clothes as Chaz pulled up to the driveway to the trailhead. They’d be close to the Bruce Trail—one of the longest hiking trails in Canada—but not on it. Chaz shuddered as he remembered traversing sections. The hike was brutal, but he'd managed to claim the honour of finally completing it.
“Calm down, Ezra. Your shoes will be fine. I’ve got another pair in the back here.” Chaz interrupted the increasingly squeaky complaints. “This is just a surveillance thing. We won’t have to go deep into the woods at all.”
“You don’t understand! These have no traction! I’m not wearing breathable pants! We don’t have water for hydration. This is not how you start a stakeout or a hike. You need proper equipment, and we don’t have anything! This is worse than spur-of-the-moment!” Ezra tugged on the curly strands. His emotions were so tangled up the poor man didn’t know how to react.
“I do understand. We do have some supplies. I was planning on an overnight nearby. I have some food, a lot of water, and extra clothes. You might be able to fit into my hiking boots.” Chaz soothed. He hoped he wouldn’t regret this, but all signs pointed toward yes. April shared with Chaz that Ezra was an office grunt, not a field agent.
Ezra took a deep breath and then another. He lowered his locked hands to his lap as he centred himself. It was cute. “I would like to have my displeasure noted in the briefing.”
“So noted.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“That’s okay. Neither do I.”
Ezra cut a glance his way, and Chaz was pleased to see some of the panic had receded. A snobbish look had taken its place. “Why not? She spoke to you and gave you the details.”
“I didn’t listen. Anyway, she sent you the file. Talking to April for long periods of time is annoying. I don’t like it. She’s a bit long-winded.” And terrible at sharing with Chaz the necessary information so the mission could be successful. The habit had been born from tapped phones and leaks in the system.
“Oh.”
“You alright? You’re not as hyped as you were before. Weren’t you going to prove yourself a hero or whatever?” Chaz asked. He scowled at the pothole-filled driveway. This one lane road hadn’t ever been maintained.
“I am! It’s just…I’m a little out of my depths now. I thought I’d have the chance to gear up properly. It feels fast.” Ezra winced as Chaz hit a deep hole. His head bounced off the roof of the truck with a loud thunk.
“Sorry. I’m trying to avoid the worst of them.”
“S’okay. I’m used to it.” The resignation in Ezra’s voice woke up the tiny sympathetic part of Chaz’s core. Poor guy probably accepted a lot of discomfort, and Chaz had the urge to make Ezra’s life easier. So he aimed for the smoother part of the road and the majority of the ruts. Annoyed at being found, Chaz realized this mission had to happen, and he was going to make it Ezra’s best debut. Ezra’s enthusiasm at the beginning had faded so quickly. Chaz hated seeing the light in Ezra’s eyes dim.
“Ezra, you gotta roll with the punches. This will get better, I promise. Everything you’ve done today was perfect, but now we have hiccups. And all missions have them, right? How ‘bout we go in, have a snoop, see if we can find these con artists, and go from there?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t try. This is so dumb. I’m supposed to be in the office, not the damn field.”
Chaz rolled his eyes at Ezra’s downer talk. If they didn’t find anything within the hour, he’d return Ezra to his car and allow him to grab his gear, and they’d try again in the morning, fresh as daisies.
“You’re being a bit dramatic. You have the skills and talents to be a SPAM agent. I just whisked you away before you could mentally prepare yourself. You’re fine.” Chaz hopped out of his truck and stretched. The air was fresh and perfect for a hike. The smell of trees and decomposition filled the air, exciting him. Hiking had always been his passion. “Come on.”
“I am not being dramatic! April obviously doesn’t trust—” Ezra’s phone rang mid-rant. The awkward sound suggested it was their mysterious caller. The thrill of the chase hummed in Chaz’s veins as he listened to Ezra barking.
“I’m at the trailhead you told me to go to.”
“In a black truck.”
Chaz wished he could hear what the man was saying on the other end of the line, but the way Ezra had the phone smashed against his ear suggested their connection was fuzzy.
“What do you mean I’m at the wrong spot? I went to the coordinates you gave me.” Ezra did have the makings of a good agent. April was failing in her duties to spot talent.
“That’s up at the National Park! There’s no way I can get there today! I’ll have to meet you tomorrow.” Ezra’s voice squeaked at the end. Chaz straightened up, ready to take charge of the situation if Ezra needed it. “Yes, first thing tomorrow.”
“You know, it’s only an hour away,” Chaz reminded him. His glare singed every hair off Chaz’s head. “What?”
“I gave us time. Isn’t that what we wanted?” Ezra snapped. His bad mood had reasserted itself despite Chaz’s efforts to jolly him out. Why Ezra’s peace of mind was important to Chaz refused to make sense. All he desired to do was to see Ezra succeed and smile. God, Chaz was a sucker for a genuine grin.
“I had assumed you were still aiming to get home before dark,” Chaz said. Ezra cut him a look and puffed out his cheeks. Chaz didn’t scare easily and prompted him once more. “Weren’t you?”
“Yeah, of course I am. But I didn’t want to give that guy any more ammunition. He was a bit of a dick,” Ezra said. “I apologize if I overstepped my bounds. I realize this wasn’t in your plans either.”
“Kid, I’m having fun, so it’s all good.” It was the truth. Chaz honestly hadn’t expected to have fun on this coerced mission or enjoy Ezra’s company. However, Ezra intrigued him with his quirkiness and adorable eagerness.
“I’m not a kid, Chauncey. I’m your colleague.” Even the nose wrinkle turned Chaz on a little bit.
“Please don’t use that. It’s awful. I don’t know what my parents were thinking.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t like anything you’ve called me, so we’re square.” Ezra leaned against Chaz’s truck, his arms crossed and his face set in a determined expression. “Now that I messed up both our evenings, what do we do?”
“We can return to Tim’s, get your car, and you can follow me to my place.” Chaz’s mouth dried up as he spoke. Having a person in his space, his sanctuary, was unheard of. To invite Ezra over terrified him. When his feelings had changed from irritation to attraction, Chaz knew he was fucked.
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. I can go home and meet you back in Wiarton,” Ezra demurred. Even he had grown a little pale at Chaz’s suggestion.
“It’s a waste of gas. Just stay at my house. I have an extra bed. It’s fine.” Chaz accepted that Ezra and this new SPAM mission had fucked up his plans for the week. What he wouldn’t admit was he’d become a tiny bit bored of fishing and puttering around. Though being at a loss for chores was infinitely better than being at April’s beck and call. He made his own plans on his schedule without worrying about text messages and demands to go places. He didn’t have to be mindful about partners cringing when they worked with him. Once Ezra recovered from the large amount of change in a short period of time, he’d be back to the enthusiastic guy Chaz had first met. This easy reconnaissance job seemed like fun and having Ezra by his side, even better.
“I don’t want to put you out.” Ezra tugged on his hair—a nervous tic. The guy’s head had to be sore by now.
“Get in the truck, Ezra. We’re doing this, and that’s that.” Chaz slid into the driver’s seat and waited until Ezra was beside him. “All set?”
“I feel bad for making you go out of your way!” Ezra dropped his head back and sighed. He had to be one of the most dramatic people Chaz had ever met. So unlike anyone else Chaz had ever been drawn to.
“You’re not. I offered.” Chaz headed down the quiet road toward Wiarton and his small cottage on Georgian Bay. “Do you have any pets or anyone, a boyfriend or girlfriend, to worry about? Is that why you wanted to get home?”
“What? No, none of that. I just didn’t want to cause problems for you. You’ve already gone so far out of your way for this. I approached you, and now you’re forced to come back to this world you left. I’m sorry.”
“Ezra.”
“What?”
“Relax. It’s all good.” Changing the subject might help Ezra’s nerves, but Chaz was at a loss as to what to talk about. “Tell me about your involvement with SPAM? How did that come about?”
“Oh! That’s a neat story. After I did as much research as possible, I found myself at a dead end. I thought it was the end of it. It was all conspiracies and whatnot. No one knew what SPAM was, other than food. However, I was cleaning out my junk folder in my emails, and this email seemed unlike the others! So I took a chance and opened it.”
“What did you find?” The dangling threads that connected Ezra to SPAM pulled together. Someone or something wanted Ezra in SPAM.
“An actual honest to goodness application to join SPAM. I filled in the survey as requested. It asked me if I thought I was special or had special powers. Then I mailed it. Though I had to pay for postage. Which is ridiculous. An organization as big as SPAM should have return postage.”
Chaz’s brain imploded as Ezra continued to dance around the topic of him joining SPAM. The story fascinated him at the same time it confused him. “So, first you found out about SPAM by looking at recipes?”
“Yep.”
“And then you discovered them again by a piece of spam mail?” Chaz continued, even as he knew the answer. Holy hell, if ever there was a person destined to be a part of SPAM, Ezra Smith—no relation to the director—would be it.
“Yeah.” Ezra stretched out the word. Chaz counted silently in his head as all the balls fell into place, and Ezra connected the dots. “What a weird coincidence.”
Chaz groaned. He wasn’t getting it. Ezra was as clueless as any brand-new agent. And sadly, now he was an interim one. “It really is.”
The ride was silent as he reached the town limits. He drove them to the Tim Hortons and parked beside the black Corolla Ezra pointed out. “Follow me. I mean it, Ezra. As much as I complained earlier, I’m sort of curious about how Bigfoot and your house party mission are connected, so let’s sit down and get to the meat.”
“If you’re sure…”
“Oh my God, stop asking. I offered. You accepted, so it’s done. Get in your damned car and follow me,” Chaz growled. A pink flush swept up Ezra’s cheeks, and the hint of colour hit Chaz right in the solar plexus. That was different, right? Nope. This wasn’t the time to explore why he was so fucking attracted to Ezra. He was annoying as fuck and was only in Wiarton because of fucking SPAM.
“Fine. I want it on record that?—”
“Yeah, yeah. You're against this plan. We can have burgers for dinner.” Chaz waited until Ezra had started his car before putting his truck in gear.
One thing about Ezra’s story that bothered Chaz the most was April’s insistence that Ezra wasn’t SPAM material and that she’d been leading him on for years. As far as Chaz could see, Ezra was the epitome of agent material, content to be an office manager. What was the real story, and why wasn’t anyone sharing it?
The drive home was on automatic as he thought about Ezra, so seeing his little cottage on an inlet on Georgian Bay stunned Chaz. The road had been rough, which Chaz hoped was okay for Ezra’s car. Chaz liked the lack of maintenance, as it meant fewer people came down for a look at the bay. His house wasn’t as grandiose as some of the cottages nearby, but it made him happy. With two bedrooms, a large living room, and a kitchen overlooking the water, Chaz was pleased with how comfortable his home became after renovating it to suit his purposes. And it was winterized, so he could stay out all year.
What would Ezra think of his cottage? Would it be too remote or out of the way for him? Was it too rustic? What did it matter though? Chaz groaned. He didn’t need Ezra’s opinion about his home. Ezra wasn’t part of his life. Ezra was too citified and sweet for someone like Chaz. And God, it’d only been a couple hours since he met Ezra.
Leaning against his truck, Chaz smiled as Ezra pulled in beside him. Ezra took a few deep breaths and adjusted his posture before smiling weakly. It was nice to know they were both feeling a bit out of sorts. The tightness in Chaz’s shoulders disappeared at the sight of Ezra’s nerves. They could do this. It was fine.
“You good?”
“Yeah. I think so.” Ezra grabbed a dark blue backpack from the backseat and followed Chaz to a side door.
Chaz gazed out at the water. Nothing was going to happen between them, and absolutely nothing could go wrong now.