A Better Man (The Men of Halfway House) (11 page)

"Don't fight me on this, Sam. I know you're worried—"

"I like her."

Matt removed his seat belt and turned toward Sam. "Me, too." He smiled then looked through the front windshield to the lighted second floor of the house. Sam followed his gaze.

"It's late. He's still working?"

"He usually works really late. I try to get him to quit early sometimes but he's adamant about the deadlines," he said, still looking through the window, hoping the absence of construction noise meant Julian had finally stopped working for the night.

"You know, your brother seems like he's got things sorted in his life."

"Yeah, he does," Matt said, leaning back in the seat.

"Maybe you should too?" Sam said with a raised eyebrow.

"I am. The halfway house is on schedule—"

"I'm referring to this thing between you guys," Sam said with a chin up gesture to the house.

Matt ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what this
thing
is." He knew there was something brewing between them, but he also knew Julian was private and reserved most of the time. He held onto the promise of another kiss each time they worked closely.

"Matt, you need to do something for yourself for once in your life."

Matt turned again in his seat and paused when Sam held up a quieting hand.

"I'm not talking about the house. That's something you're doing for yourself, yes, and it's a wonderful thing that's going to help a lot of people. But it's also something you want to do for your aunt and Liam. I want you to do something for
you
. I want you to live your life for yourself, not as atonement to others. There's nothing selfish about that." Sam pointed to the house. "And if he makes you happy, then stop overthinking."

Matt turned away but his gaze absently wandered to the second floor again. "I don't want to push whatever this thing is between us. I'm taking things slow and following his cues."

"Maybe he's doing the same thing."

Matt shrugged. He didn't want to risk extinguishing the fire he felt sparking between them.

"You okay?"

Matt nodded. "Thanks for coming with me."

Sam laughed. "I'm always available for a free dinner. Give me a call next week, I think I might have your first resident."

"Yeah?"

"He still has some time in his term, but I'm trying to pull some strings to see if I can get him out a little earlier. I want to have a talk about his placement once I have more information on whether I can get the request for early release. I'm running into a few hurdles, so I figure the timing will work out with your grand opening."

"Okay, just let me know," Matt said before opening his door. "Thanks again."

Sam drove away with a wave goodbye. Matt turned to face the house and shoved his hands in his pockets then looked up. The breath left his lungs when he saw Julian outlined by the light, staring out the window and down at him. They stood, gazes locked on each other for a few moments until finally Julian squared his shoulders and stepped away from the window.

Matt yawned and walked to the house. Had Julian waited up for him? Why had he been watching him?

He thought of Alex and how happy he had been with Lindy over dinner. He looked up again to the second floor and saw the light switch off. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the thought that maybe Julian
had
waited up for him to get back home.

* * * *

"Dammit," Julian mumbled as a lump of plaster fell on him. He wiped off his forehead and continued to apply the plaster to the seam of the new ceiling drywall.

"Morning," Matt said with a yawn as he entered the room.

"Long night," he said, scooping more plaster as he continued his work, trying to ignore the new desire to rip apart this Sam guy.

"Can I help?"

"No," he said, slapping the spatula against the drywall a little harder than needed.

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad."

"You sound mad."

"I know mad. This is not it," he said, slapping the spatula against the seam while he fought off the images of Sam putting his hands on Matt.

"Just let me help," Matt said, picking up the other spatula.

"I've got this," Julian said, spreading more plaster, trying to catch the clump that was about to fall. He watched Matt grab the second ladder and set up his spot to start working. Matt climbed the steps and a rush of panic slapped Julian when he saw Matt wobble slightly. "Get down."

"I'm helping you," Matt said, applying plaster to another section of drywall.

Julian quickly climbed down and grabbed the base of Matt's ladder. "Get down, you're not stable."

Matt looked over his shoulder and grabbed the top rung when it shifted again.

"Get down," Julian said, trying to maintain a level tone while his heartbeat pounded in his ears. "Please."

Matt looked at him steady, then finally gave in and stepped down. "Why won't you let me help you?"

Julian wasn't sure what the hell was going on with himself. He wanted Matt close, always did, but he couldn't stop the visuals of Matt with Sam that continued to taunt him.

"Julian?" Matt said after a few moments of silence.

Julian shrugged as a clump of plaster fell on his head, down his face then hit the floor with a thump.

Matt tightened his lips, trying to hold in the laughter but couldn't hide the glint of humor in his eyes.

"Shit," Julian said, wiping away the plaster that had fallen on him.

Matt walked over to the corner of the room, grabbed a towel and bottled water. He sprinkled some water on the towel and walked back over to Julian.

"You missed a spot," he said, grabbing Julian's face and turning it to wipe his cheek.

Julian remained quiet while Matt wiped his head and face, enjoying the feel of Matt's hands on him.

"There, all done."

"How was your date last night?"

Matt cocked his head, questioning. "I wouldn't call it a date. I had dinner with my brother and his new fiancée."

Julian nodded and pursed his lips. He had no right to ask and doing so clearly crossed the line of keeping things business. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"I noticed you waited up," Matt said, observing him.

Julian looked away. He wasn't sure what had driven him to wait up last night. He had just needed to make sure Matt came home and was fine.

"Julian?"

His vision snapped back to Matt. "Yeah, I…uh…wanted to make sure you got back fine. I noticed you were tense when you left."

Matt silently observed him for a few moments. "Okay."

Julian nodded and looked away again.

"Can I help you here or would you prefer I work in the other room today?" Matt asked in a low, careful tone.

Julian wanted Matt near, but the visions of him with Sam were overwhelming. He was mixing the plaster wrong and would probably open a hole in the drywall if he continued slapping it so hard with the spatula.

Julian rubbed his shaved head. "Can you paint the primer in the other room?" he said then lowered his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't want to look at Matt with all these indecipherable emotions brewing within. He didn't want Matt to see him as anything other than solid, stable, and reliable.

"Okay. Those are the white buckets in the corner, right?"

Julian nodded.

"Okay, I'll get that done," he said, walking away.

"Make sure the ladder is stable before you climb on it," Julian said, stopping Matt before he walked out.

Matt smiled. "Okay."

Julian nodded and lowered his brows, hating that he was pushing away Matt right now and didn't even know why. He turned and snatched one of the bags of plaster to mix the compound again.

"Hey, Julian?"

Julian looked up, midway through pouring the contents into the bucket, and saw Matt standing in the doorway.

"My brother was the guy texting me yesterday while we were working," he said, shuffling his feet. "I hadn't seen him in years, so I was a little nervous about seeing him after so long. I asked Sam to come with me for support. It's complicated but it wasn't a date."

He finished with a pointed look at Julian before walking out.

Julian exhaled heavily. Somehow, Matt's words seemed to calm him.

He finished the new mix of plaster, grabbed his spatula again, and resumed his work.

It wasn't a date
.

He half smiled as he smoothed the plaster on the drywall easily without a spill.

Chapter 10

September

"I need to use your computer," Julian said.

Matt hesitated. Julian wasn't normally this commanding with him. "What's wrong?" he asked as he saved the spreadsheets he was editing.

"I just heard there was a storm coming so I need to see a radar."

Matt didn't hesitate further; he handed Julian the laptop and cleared a portion of his desk. "What did they say? Is it serious?"

"Doesn't sound like it. It's a tropical storm but I need to see how much time I have to secure the place just in case it's a wet one," he explained as he opened the browser to the weather site. "She's not as strong as I'd like her to be yet so even a tropical storm can cause some problems."

Matt loved that Julian called the house 'she'.

After a few clicks and keystrokes, Julian rested his chin in his hand as he viewed the screen. Matt came around to look over his shoulder. The animated radar indicated the yellow and orange coloring approaching their area.

"Shit," Julian barked as he switched to zoom in closer and load details.

"What is it?"

"There isn't much time to prep. We've got too many windows and I don't have time to board them all up. It's coming in from the east so we'll secure that side first starting with the second floor before the winds kick in. If we've got time we'll do the other side," he said hurriedly before standing and heading for the main living area.

"What do I need to do?" Matt asked anxiously.

"Get your ass over here and help me. We don't have shutters yet so we've got to go with wood. I don't have the time to size, cut, and board everything up by myself," he said as he strapped on his tool belt and grabbed a box of screws and the drill from the corner of the room. "Fuck. We're getting a fucking TV in here first thing tomorrow so we can watch the damn weather at least once a day," he grunted as he tossed Matt his work gloves.

Matt grabbed the gloves in midair and headed out back to follow Julian, who was already measuring panels of uncut wood in the yard.

Matt sat in one of the folding chairs and stretched his arms upward. Julian was right. They pushed as much as they could, but three hours didn't grant them enough time to cover all the windows. They managed to size, cut, and board enough plywood for the east side of the house and the other rooms where the interior construction had progressed. At least this way, any damage would be minimal. Hopefully.

"So now what?" Matt felt the strain of his muscles from carrying so much wood. Muscles he didn't realize he had, screamed for relief. He thought a hot shower would help, but he still wasn't used to this level of manual labor, especially not so much in such a short time. He grabbed some aspirin from his desk and took a couple with some water.

"We chill out until the storm passes. Good thing you ordered the pizza a while ago," Julian said as he put two place settings on the small table.

"You said the winds were going to pick up so I figured cold pizza would be better than no pizza."

Julian brought out a few candles from one of the boxes in the corner.

Matt smiled inwardly. "What are the candles for?" he tried in his best come-hither teasing tone. The delivery of the flirty line was completely ruined by the explosive sound coming from a distance, followed by total darkness. "What the fuck was that?" Matt yelled, trying to feel for a familiar wall, chair, or anything around him.

"Don't move," Julian calmly said as he opened his cell phone to cast a light on the table to find the lighter. He lit the candle and the slow building of illumination in the room gave Matt a feeling of déjà vu of their first few nights in the house. "Sounds like a transformer blew somewhere close by. It'll be a while until we get power." Julian placed the candle between their place settings and lit another and put it on the floor to light the rest of the open area and hallway. Julian left the room and returned with a battery lantern and flashlight.

Matt watched as Julian calmly maneuvered his way around the semidarkness completely unfazed by the sounds of the wind picking up outside. "You've been through something like this before," he said, more as a statement than a question.

Julian looked up at him. "Yeah, I was here when Andrew hit years ago. After that, you learn to be a bit more prepared for these things," he said, settling down in the chair and grabbing a slice of pizza.

"Is that why you got pissed off?" Matt asked, biting into his slice.

Julian nodded, unable to answer with his mouth full. "I should have made sure the house was prepared," he finally answered.