Liam

by Candice Blake

  “What’s the holdup? You boys jerking off in the break room?” Brad shouted.

  Everyone on the crew burst out in laughter, staring at Carter and me. I pulled my helmet over my eyes.

  “Yes, sir, but we couldn’t find a photo of your wife to finish,” Carter shouted back.

  The crew laughed even harder, including me, and Brad was the one who looked uncomfortable now.

  “Good one,” I whispered as I nudged Carter’s arm.

  “Settle down, everyone,” Brad said. “We are getting down to crunch time. If we aren’t going to finish on time, know that none of your contracts are getting renewed.”

  I hated how he always used threats as a way to scare us. Most days, Brad was hanging out with his other team leader buddies while we were doing all the work. It pissed me off that there was nothing I could do about it. We were unionized, and I knew that getting laid off wasn’t as cut and dry as Brad made it out to be. But other guys on the team, some with families and children, took him more seriously.

  Brad went through the goals for the day, and he delegated responsibilities to us.

  “Carter and Harry, since you joined us late today, I am putting you two on the loading dock.”

  Both Carter and I grunted at the thought of doing the hardest part on this site.

  “You got to be kidding me,” I whispered to Carter.

  “You have something to say about it?” Brad asked.

  Brad had a handlebar mustache that screamed douchebag. He puffed out his chest when he spoke like he was a tough guy when, really, he was the shortest person on the team.

  “No,” I said, lowering my head.

  I didn’t want any more confrontation, and I guess the silver lining was getting to work with Carter, who I didn’t mind.

  “Good. Now get to it,” Brad said.

  We dispersed, and Carter and I made it over to the shipping container that we had to unload. There was an insane amount of dust when I opened the doors. The shipping container was filled with concrete blocks, and each one had to be moved manually.

  “Another day, another paycheck,” Carter said.

  “I guess so,” I said.

  It was depressing to have to do this mundane and repetitive task, but I guess it could have been a lot worse.

  “Hold your head up, Harry,” Carter said, smiling. “The day isn’t going to be any easier if you’re upset about it.”

  “You have a point,” I said. “But I still don’t know what you have to tell me that’s putting you in such a good mood.”

  “You’ll see,” he said. “Just know that I got you.”

  It was reassuring to know that I had one person who at least appeared to be my friend on the jobsite. Carter stood on the bed of the shipping container while I remained on the ground. One by one, he passed the concrete blocks down to me, and I stacked them on a wooden skid. The sun was beating down hard. It wasn’t even noon yet when it would be the hottest time of the day during the hottest day of the year. Sweat glistened on my freckled skin. I tried to distract myself from my aching arms by thinking about what Carter had to tell me. I imagined different scenarios. Maybe he was getting married. Maybe he’d won the lottery, and he was going to retire. Either way, I tried whatever I could to escape the moment.

  I glanced over at Brad, who was standing under the shade of one of the trailers. His irritating laugh could be heard from a mile away. He was looking over at Carter and me, and I could only assume that he was making a stupid daywalker joke to his buddies.

  2

  Carter

  There were two things getting me through the day, and one of those things was getting to work with Harry. Out of all the guys on-site, I seemed to click with him the most, and maybe it was because I sensed that he was an outcast like me. He was a good guy, and he worked hard, but he was awful with people.

  We were assigned the hardest task on-site, and the task was only made harder by the harsh sun. The concrete dust that was covering my body shielded against the rays. Sweat trickled down my forehead onto my back.

  “What’s the time?” I asked.

  Harry grunted as he fished into his pocket to pull out his phone.

  “Twenty minutes until lunch,” he said.

  I smiled, already feeling the rumble in my stomach. Time on-site was only relative to lunchtime or until the end of the day. So naturally, people told the time based on when those things were approaching. Brad never seemed to like me, and I had no idea why. I stood one foot taller than him, so I figured maybe it had to do with his Napoleon complex. Since getting assigned to his team, work hadn’t been enjoyable.

  I watched as he approached us. His beer gut jutted out, and even the way he walked annoyed me.

  “How many skids to go?” Brad asked.

  I looked into the nearly empty shipping container to try and estimate.

  “Looks like we have just a few more,” I said.

  “A few more?” Brad repeated. “Well, better get them finished before you leave for lunch.”

  “What? Can’t we do them after?” Harry asked, wiping the sweat and dust off his forehead.

  “Nope, gotta finish first. We have to clear this empty container out as soon as possible.”

  Harry and I glanced at each other. We were aware of Brad’s bullshit, but we were powerless over his decision. His mind was most likely already made up when I gave him lip that morning. I should’ve known better than to be a smartass about it, but sometimes I found it hard to keep my mouth shut. Especially if things seemed unfair.

  We watched as our entire crew went into the trailers for lunch. Every one of them taking off their helmets to go into the air-conditioned space.

  “Goddammit, Carter. If this isn’t hell on earth, I certainly have no interest in finding out what hell is like.”

  I smiled, opening my bottle of water, which I kept next to a rock to keep it shaded and cooled.

  “Relax, Harry. Just look at it as a challenge. You’ll only grow stronger from it,” I said.

  “I wish I could see things with your rose-colored glasses. I don’t know what you’re going on about, but I certainly am ready to eat my slice of pizza, which I put in the fridge.”

  The thought of pizza made me hungrier. I flicked the bottle of water gently towards Harry, and it soaked the front of his white T-shirt and a bit on his face.

  “Cut it out,” he said.

  But I did it again. This time it splashed against his neck.

  “I mean it, Carter. I’m already soaked from sweat,” he said with his red brows furrowed.

  “Okay, okay, chill out, man. I’m just trying to lighten things up. Besides, Brad isn’t out here hovering over our shoulders,” I said.

  “He’d have to be on stilts for him to be tall enough to do that,” he said.

  I laughed so hard that I snorted some of the water.

  “There we go,” I said, smiling at Harry’s joke. “I didn’t think you were such a funny guy.”

  I climbed back onto the bed of the truck to grab another tray of bricks.

  “I’m not even that funny, but how can you not crack jokes at our shitty supervisor.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “And I hope something changes soon.”

  When we finally finished, people were already returning from lunch.

  We went towards the trailer, and Brad was holding the door open to let people out.

  “You boys have fifteen minutes,” Brad said. “We’ll need you out here as soon as you’re done eating.”

  Harry looked at Brad with his bright green eyes, and I swear he looked so angry that he was going to punch Brad out. I saw his fists clench, and I put a hand on Harry’s shoulder to try and snap him out of it.

  We headed into the cooled break room.

  “It’s not too bad that we had to wait,” I said. “Now we don’t have to listen to the other guys’ pervy jokes.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Harry said, heading right for the fridge.

  I watched
him stick his head in the fridge to cool down, but when he started swearing, I knew something was wrong.

  “Some fucker took my lunch,” he said.

  “Goddammit, are you serious?” I looked inside to see if mine was still there. I’d known to put it in the vegetable crisper drawer where I knew people wouldn’t find it easily.

  “Rookie mistake, Harry,” I said. “Everyone knows that pizza always gets stolen.”

  As if he wasn’t already pissed, he was looking even angrier now.

  “I bet Brad ate it,” he said.

  “You’re probably right,” I said.

  I opened up my lunch bag and took out one of my two sandwiches and tossed one over to Harry.

  “Consider yourself lucky today,” I said.

  Harry grabbed the sandwich that was in a Ziploc bag. “You sure?”

  “I’m sure,” I said. “The last thing I want to do is work the rest of the shift with you if you’re hungry. We both know that neither of us will get much done.”

  I was a big guy, and I knew that I needed both sandwiches to get me through that shift. But we were a team, and Harry needed it more than me.

  We took a seat at the table where the supervisors and team leads usually sat. It was under the air-conditioning vent, which was why it was the best table.

  I watched as Harry took a bite of the sandwich and closed his eyes to savor the bite.

  “Good?” I asked, opening my sandwich up as well.

  “Amazing. What’s in it?” he asked.

  “Cucumber and cream cheese, my all-time favorite combo,” I said.

  “Did your wife make it?” he asked.

  “Wife?” I repeated. “What makes you think I’m married.”

  “I don’t know. Guys here usually are, so I just kind of assumed,” Harry said.

  “I’m happily single,” I said, kicking my boots off under the table to really sink back in the plastic chair. “What about you?”

  I was bi, and I hated sharing my sexuality at work.

  “I’m single. Don’t know if I’m that happy about it though,” Harry said.

  “You’re a good-looking guy. Don’t you have luck with the ladies?” I asked.

  “Not at all. I’m more like a chick repellant,” Harry said.

  I chuckled, taking another huge bite of my sandwich. I was already halfway finished.

  “That’s surprising to me. Maybe I can teach you some lessons on how to up your game,” I said.

  Harry laughed. “And what makes you the expert?”

  “Good point. It’s been a while since I’ve had the energy to go out and chase someone like I used to back in my college days.”

  I didn’t mention that they were usually guys that I was chasing.

  “College?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I was an honor-roll student.”

  “Damn, why the hell are you in a dead-end construction job?” he asked.

  “Well, I graduated from architecture, and it was during a recession. I looked everywhere for some work related to my field, but I had no luck. Construction happened to be the first job that I found.”

  “Why’d you stop looking?” he asked.

  Harry had finished the sandwich, and he walked over to the coffee machine that was on the counter next to the sink.

  “I just got too comfortable, I guess. Construction, though it sucks sometimes, paid the bills. I was a bit worried that if I ever left it, I’d end up screwing myself over.”

  Harry brought over two cups of coffee and gave one to me.

  “You’re smarter than all the guys here. I bet that if you really wanted to, you could find something that wasn’t so shitty.”

  “You have a point, Harry,” I said, taking a sip of coffee. “It might be too late now, though. It’s been years since I’ve done any architectural work. Nowadays, firms are probably using computer programs that I’d never even heard of.”

  I looked over at Harry, who was pushing his Styrofoam cup on the table from one hand to the other.

  “What’s on your mind?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” he said, but I remained silent for him to continue. “It’s just that I wished I went to college like my brothers. Then maybe I’d be able to...be someone.”

  “What did you do after high school?” I asked.

  “I did a victory lap to continue to play baseball, hoping I’d get scouted to join a college team.”

  “And what happened?” I asked.

  “I tore my hamstring early in the season, and everything was ruined after that. I was banking on that plan. Now here I am. I wish that my younger self would’ve thought long and hard about trying to be a pro baseball player.” Harry sighed. “Like I even had a chance to begin with.”

  I felt sorry for the guy. Seeing his shoulders rounded forward and the pain in his voice made me want to get up and give him a hug. But there was no man-to-man contact on the jobsite, or else we’d never hear the end of it.

  “Look, I wanted to wait until the end of the day to tell you, but I guess I can let you know now,” I said.

  “What is it?” Harry asked, looking up at me.

  “I know a friend who told me about this opportunity if you’re up for it.”

  “Go on,” Harry said leaning forward.

  “You can’t tell anyone though, because it’s not for certain yet. But if I get it, I’m pretty certain that I’m leaving this shithole.”

  Harry’s eyes widened, looking as if he was dying to know what I was about to tell him.

  “My friend told me about an opportunity up north. They’re hiring nickel miners. It’s a four-month task, but in those four months, we’ll be making double of what we would make in a year here,” I said.

  “Nickel mining, isn’t that dangerous?” he asked.

  “It is, but my friend said it’s worth it. It’s not like this job is all that safe anyway.”

  “Where is the job?” Harry asked, his green eyes glowing in the midafternoon sun.

  “Thunder Bay,” I said.

  “Thunder Bay...that’s far from here,” Harry said, putting his hand on his chin and stroking it.

  “If you’re interested, I can tell my friend, and we can head up together. That way it will be easier than going alone. I think it’s a really great opportunity. If you ever want to get back into construction, you can get a similar job when you get back.”

  “So, it’s four months, and that’s it?” he asked.

  I nodded. “What do you say, Harry? Want to take the risk with me? I think it will be fun. We know that we both hate it here, so we really have nothing to lose.”

  Just as I said that, the front door of the trailer swung open.

  “I hate to interrupt the little date that you have going on here,” Brad said. “But I said fifteen minutes!”

  “Okay,” I said. “We’ll be out in a second.”

  I glanced back over at Harry, who looked like he was seriously considering my offer.

  “Let me think about it,” Harry said.

  Harry’s Baby

  (The Everett Bros Book 2)

  Amazon Link:

  Harry’s Baby (The Everett Bros Book 2)

  Also by Candice Blake

  Single Dads Club

  DAMON (Book 1)

  LIAM (Book 2)

  Beckford Brothers Quartet

  LEO (Book 1)

  KINGSTON (Book 2)

  CHRISTIAN (Book 3)

  SAINT (Book 4)

  The Everett Bros Trilogy

  Blue’s Boss (Book 1)

  Harry’s Baby (Book 2)

  Gray’s Playroom (Book 3)

  Billionaires of Forest Hill (Mpreg)

  The Omega’s Bodyguard (Book 1)

  The Omega’s Protector (Book 2)

  The Omega’s Savior (Book 3)

  The Omega’s Doctor (Book 4)

  Standalones

  A Road Trip with Conrad

  Kings of Hearts

  Encore

  Chase

  Lost in
Nomad’s Land

  Men of the Atlantic

  Jay to December (Book 1)

  Remy by the Sea (Book 2)

  About the Author

  Candice Blake is an author of gay romance.

  For more information, visit

  candiceblake.com

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  Thanks for reading <3