A Worthy Man

by Jaime Reese

  Vann stepped out when the elevator doors slid open. He walked down the hallway and through the set of glass doors. The moment he entered the large room, he felt the weight of three intense stares on him.

  The room was tall and had an open feel, almost like a warehouse or airplane hangar but on a smaller scale. A lean guy sat on a tall stool in front of a drawing board on the left side of the room. A fair-haired woman sat in a space that looked like a miniature art studio with this huge machine setup leading toward the center of the room. The area was clean, but had gone through some artistic use. The dark-haired woman, the one who looked the most business-like of them all, sat on the right side in a space that could double as mission control with the number of monitors, tablets, and printers surrounding her.

  Vann tugged at his sleeves and walked farther into the room when he spotted Sean sitting in a glass office toward the back, isolated from the others, talking on the phone with his office door shut. Vann moved ahead, subtly nodding and giving a small smile as he passed each department member.

  He felt like a fucking bug in a lab getting inspected and dissected. Maybe they were messaging each other, taking bets and setting up an office pool to see how long he’d last. He steeled himself as he continued on his path. He’d made the decision to do this, and he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. Regardless of how impossible it seemed.

  He reached Sean’s door and knocked.

  Sean quickly finished his call and hung up the phone. “Come in,” he yelled out without standing from his chair.

  Vann snuck a glance at the wall clock to ensure he hadn’t been late. Five minutes before the scheduled start time. That should earn him a point.

  “What took you so long?”

  Or maybe not.

  “You said to be here at eight thirty in the morning.”

  Sean waved him off. “If you expect to make a good impression, you need to be early.”

  I am, asshole.

  “How early would you prefer I arrive when you state a time?”

  “I don’t know. Earlier.” Sean grabbed a stack of folders and papers sitting on the corner of his desk and handed them to Vann. “File these.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said, ‘file these’ and bring me a cup of coffee.”

  “I don’t mean any disrespect—”

  “Then don’t.” Sean hit him with a sharp stare, challenging him to utter another word. “This is my department and there’s a lot to learn and do. And I will decide where you fit and what you’re capable of doing. Go find a chair out there and sit and sort those files. Match up the name on the page with the folder. Stuff it inside then organize the folders in alphabetical order. I’m guessing you’re capable of that?”

  Vann bit back anything else he was going to say. Mr. Diva was obviously trying to flex his supervisor muscle with a power play. Fuck him. Vann had done far more for much less for crappier people. He could handle this shit.

  Game on.

  Vann closed the folder and sorted it with the others. He rubbed his eyes, feeling the wear of the last few hours. Before stuffing each page into its corresponding folder, he read each sheet, absorbing as much information as possible. His brain was going to explode. He read spec sheets, test results, project dimension requirements, vendor reports, correspondence from trade show companies, production companies for model reveals, resumes HR had forwarded for department expansion…the list went on and on.

  He turned his head side to side to stretch his neck. He leaned back in the chair and raised his arms over his head, bumping the wall behind him. He’d taken a chair and set it in the corner with a small table. As long as he had a little space to stack the files, he’d make it work. He refused to ask for a desk or workspace and run the risk of Sean telling him to take a seat in his office to watch Vann more closely. And he was too pissed off to interact with the others in the department. At this point, he wasn’t sure if Sean would blow out of his glass cave and reprimand him for socializing if he spotted him talking to one of the team members.

  The little shit was a growing pain in his ass. His Majesty had dumped more files on Vann’s small space and demanded more coffee be brought to him, even though the fucker passed the coffee machine each way.

  Fucking Dray owed him a major blow job after this.

  He glanced down at the stack of files, busying himself as the team huddled together and quietly chatted, occasionally sneaking a glance in his direction. Great. Now they were talking about him.

  Make that two monster blow jobs.

  The young guy of the group hunched his shoulders as the two women smiled. He turned and walked toward Vann.

  Great. He was the shoulder hunching worthy prize of whatever they had discussed.

  Make that three.

  The young man stood by Vann’s makeshift desk and rubbed the back of his neck. He was lean and tall, although he looked shorter because of the way he held himself. “Um…hi.”

  Vann’s gaze slowly swept up the man, quickly cataloging his demeanor. His blue eyes switched focus between him and Sean’s office, then back again.

  “Hi. I’m Shaw,” he said, extending his hand in greeting.

  The young man shook his hand and smiled. “I know. We’ve heard it yelled a few times this morning.”

  Vann inwardly cringed. He didn’t want to come across as a pushover with the other team members, but he needed to lower his guard if he was going to make any headway with figuring things out.

  Make that four.

  “I’m Milo. I’m the junior designer.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Vann said. He crossed his arms on the stack of folders and half smiled. “I guess you drew the short straw to come talk to the new guy.”

  A rush of heat colored Milo’s cheeks. “Something like that.” He glanced over his shoulder to look at the two other team members still huddled together. They waved their hands in a go-on motion moments before Milo turned to face him again. “Want to join us for lunch?”

  Vann’s heartbeat sped. Were these people actually welcoming him?

  “We’re just going down to the cafeteria here, doesn’t sound fancy but the unicorn has one hell of a setup down there.”

  “Unicorn?”

  “That’s what we call the boss man. None of us have ever seen him and rumor has it he doesn’t really exist.” He shrugged off some thought then continued. “We can be quick if…you need to get back fast.” Milo glanced toward Sean’s office again. “I’m not sure if he’s going to let you leave for lunch.”

  Vann took a peek at his watch and stood. He grabbed his wallet and phone, shoving both in his pockets. “Let’s go.”

  Milo led him toward the other two team members. “This is Li and Zoe,” he said, gesturing to each of them.

  “I’m the modeler,” Zoe said with enough perkiness to make her blond ponytail bounce. “Once we have the prototype ready, I’m going to build it.” A huge grin spread across her face.

  “She works with clay,” Milo clarified.

  Zoe slapped the back of her hand against his chest. “I was digging the surprised look on his face. Way to go, sporto. You could have given me a few more seconds to enjoy it.”

  Vann held back a chuckle. There was a casualness between them that was comforting. “So you must be Li?” he asked, extending his hand.

  “Yes. That’s Li with an i,” she said with a smooth voice. She oozed confidence and sophistication while still managing to give a welcoming smile. She was almost a complete opposite to Zoe.

  Zoe was an all-American girl next door with the blond blue-eyed look and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose that gave her a youthful appearance. Li, on the other hand, was an exotic beauty with dark, almond-shaped eyes and long, straight raven black hair. Zoe dressed casually in a corporate polo and khaki pants while Li wore dark slacks and a sharply pressed button-down, long-sleeved shirt.

  “I’m the one who renders the prototype and design elements. Well…” She looked toward Sean’s
office with a sideways glare. “If we ever get a prototype from the dragon. We’d probably have better luck drawing blood from a stone,” she added with a shrug.

  “Li’s our department tech nerd.” That earned Milo another slap to his lean chest. He rubbed the spot and frowned. “Damn, Li. Have you been working out?”

  Li slowly raised a single, perfectly tweezed brow.

  “The dragon?” Vann asked, hoping to spare Milo of the wrath these two women could obviously unleash on the guy. He wondered how long it would take for him to earn a nickname.

  “Shaw, get in here. I have work for you to do. Now!” Sean yelled from his office.

  Vann clenched his jaw and fisted his hands at his side.

  “That’s why we call him the dragon,” Zoe mumbled. “We can do lunch another time. It’s fine.”

  “No. Give me one minute.” There was no way in hell he was going to miss out on getting to know these people outside of the department constraints. He walked over to Sean’s office and leaned against the doorway.

  “I need you to file these papers right now.”

  “I was going to grab a quick lunch.”

  Sean stood straight and tilted his chin upward. “I don’t care.”

  Duly noted, Dragon. And Drayton owes me another fucking blow job.

  At this rate, Drayton was going to owe him a dozen blow jobs before the day finished. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  Vann scratched his head, feigning confusion. “Natalie in HR said interns had strict work schedules, and I needed to stick to my lunch hour and leave at five. But once I was permanently brought on to join the team, you could slave drive me all you wanted.” It was a good thing he was wearing his boots, because his bullshit had reached Mount Everest levels. He was taking his lunch and winning this fucking battle, regardless of how small a victory it would be.

  Sean straightened. “I’m not hiring you full time.”

  Vann cocked his head, waiting for Sean to finally put two and two together and release his claws.

  “Fine. But I expect you back in exactly fifty-eight minutes.”

  He nodded in acknowledgment and pushed off the doorframe, returning to join the other team members. They stopped at the elevator, waiting for the doors to slide open and grant them their temporary reprieve from the dungeon.

  “We knew the moment you walked in,” Li casually said, breaking the silence as they waited.

  “Knew what?” he asked, cocking his head.

  “That things would change.”

  Vann scoffed. “I figured you guys had an office pool going. So how much time are you guys betting I’d last?”

  “That wasn’t the pool,” Milo said.

  “We bet on how long it would take until you’d become the knight in shining armor and kick Sean’s ass,” Zoe clarified just as the elevator dinged.

  He couldn’t help snorting a chuckle. These people had a nickname or fantasy label for everyone. Knights were badasses, so he definitely wasn’t complaining.

  Vann sucked in his bottom lip, holding back a chuckle, unable to resist the thought that had crossed his mind with all this fantasy talk.

  This knight in shining armor can’t wait to ride his unicorn again.

  He definitely couldn’t let his mind go there and risk sprouting a boner.

  “So how much time did you guys bet I’d last before I lost my shit?”

  “I bet you’d survive until Friday but Zoe here figures you’d snap by the end of the day,” Milo said, stepping into the elevator.

  Vann ducked his head and huffed out a laugh. He definitely had learned the art of patience while in prison. He’d sure as hell last more than a few days. “What about you, Li? How long did you figure I’d last?”

  A hint of a smile played over Li’s features. She casually glanced at the elevator buttons as they lit and dimmed with each floor.

  “She didn’t,” Milo said.

  Vann lowered his brow. Seriously? She didn’t think he’d make it through one fucking day? Talk about a kick to the balls. “You didn’t think I’d last at all?”

  Li stood stoic with a hint of a smile, refusing to say a single word.

  “She thinks the unicorn sent you in to slay the dragon. She bet it would take three weeks. Tops,” Milo said.

  Well damn. Aside from Dray, no one had ever had that much faith in him. He’d definitely stash this warm and fuzzy feeling in his memory bank. He looked to his side to steal a glance at Li. She stared ahead at the closed elevator doors, with her hands clasped behind her back and a smirk on her face.

  He rolled his lip into his mouth, trying his best to hide his smile.

  Dragon slayer. He definitely liked the sound of that.

  After spending the week with the design team and having Sean run roughshod over him each day, Vann was anxious for another weekend with Drayton. But there he stood, Friday evening, in the kitchen alongside Matt, listening to the conversation with Julian, but not able to follow along. His mind was all over the place, going through everything that had happened in the last few weeks and everything that would follow. He had mentally prepared for the day when he would leave Halfway House next month.

  But nothing could have prepared him for the letter that had arrived to the house earlier that day. His case was one of over two dozen that had been tried by Judge Renfor and deemed mishandled during the investigation after the judge’s arrest several months before. As a result, Vann had received a full pardon from the governor.

  And his term at Halfway House was over.

  Effective immediately.

  He tasted the sauce and added a little more seasoning, absently stirring as he sprinkled in more ingredients.

  “Shaw, you’re really quiet,” Matt said, bumping his shoulder. “This is great news. Everything’s going to be okay. Your term’s over here, but you can always stop by or call if you want.”

  He nodded. He still couldn’t wrap his brain around the fact that he was working with Matt on preparing his last meal at Halfway House. He already had his duffle bag packed and was ready to leave with Drayton after dinner. Everything was in place, but it hadn’t sunk in yet.

  He had struggled growing up and had fought to survive for ten years in prison, often hating the shit life fate had dealt him. Thinking back, he realized his strength and resilience were so firmly entrenched in his character because of everything he had battled in life. And the way he appreciated every smile, positive word, and gesture of kindness stemmed from knowing the dark side of people.

  He was grateful. For so many things.

  Something had shifted inside him during the weeks since his release. He was a different man and sensed the change in every fiber of his being—how his internal arguments seemed less negative, his outlook started to become more positive, and the ease with which he let his guard down around others.

  An odd sense of peace settled in his heart.

  He was incredibly grateful for Drayton and his endless love, support, and patience. And grateful for these men and their house. He wouldn’t have adjusted as quickly without them.

  Vann had already spoken with Drayton’s financial people about setting up some grant or funding—or whatever the hell rich people called it—to ensure Matt and Julian had what they needed to always be able to help other guys like him. Whether it was building on the existing house, opening new locations, or just making sure this house remained a home. Now that he had the means, he needed to do something to help other people, like him, in any way he could, to restore the thread of hope during a dark time. And he couldn’t imagine anyone more helpful than the men bookending him at the moment.

  One prepared the dinner rolls while the other casually tried to steal a chocolate chip cookie.

  “I can see you, J,” Matt said as he set the rolls in a basket.

  Vann lowered his head and smiled. These guys were like an old married couple.

  “It’s just one. It won’t spoil dinner.”

  Vann gave him a sideways glan
ce, spotting Julian take another before resealing the bag. He chuckled. Julian’s food budget alone would cost a fortune.

  “Hey, Drayton,” Julian said, swallowing a mouthful of sweets.

  Vann looked over his shoulder, his heart swelling at the peacefulness in Drayton’s expression. Some of the perpetual tension had eased in his stance since Vann had joined the design team earlier in the week. He hadn’t yet accomplished a single thing within the department other than to watch and learn as much as he could while staying under the radar, but it seemed just knowing Vann was there, helping him, slowed the flood of stress that tensed Drayton’s body, wearing him down.

  But this level of peacefulness in his expression was different. It was as if Drayton was slamming his fist on a virtual table and screaming the loudest “I told you so” from the highest mountaintop. Taylor and Mia had confirmed that Drayton had endlessly pushed the legal team behind the scenes in an effort to clear Vann’s name. Knowing Dray, today’s letter would fuel him to steamroll ahead even more in some quest for full vindication.

  He loved this man more than any words could possibly summarize.

  “I can guess why you’re early today,” Matt teased.

  Drayton shoved his hands in his pockets, never breaking his stare with Vann. “I couldn’t wait.” A smile split his face, brightening his entire expression.

  That flutter in Vann’s stomach made an appearance, as it usually did whenever Drayton was near. He wanted to always be worthy of that smile and of the love that vibrated between them. He was doing everything in his power to try to play his part and figure out the design process and department dynamics, hoping to help Dray in any way he could. He wanted to take that chance and prove, to others and himself, that he could do this. That he could create something beautiful, elegant, and with all the class and style Drayton exuded with ease.

  He wanted to create something people wouldn’t sneer at. Something people pointed at in awe rather than to mock. He wanted to be a part of something bigger. At Drayton’s side. As his partner.