Plaid versus Paisley

by KC Burn

  What wasn’t clear was why Dallas had felt the need to leave his fast track to CIO of Savron Dynamics to follow him to Orlando. How was making Will’s life miserable better than getting a coveted corner office and stock options and a company car and all that jazz? What the flying fuck had Will done to Dallas?

  For the moment, though, Will was going to have to capitulate, while waiting to be squeezed out.

  “I have my own computer I can use, if that makes things easier.” Dallas clutched his messenger bag close to his chest.

  This time, Will didn’t bother holding in the disdainful scoff. “Let some possibly virus-laden hunk of junk on my network? Not fucking likely.”

  Dallas looked hurt, instead of like a cocky son of a bitch, as Will had expected, and it sent a stab of shame through him. This time it was Will who was out of line. “Sorry. You probably know enough to keep your system clean, but you must understand it’s prudent to get you a laptop properly hooked up to the I.F. network, with all the proper security restrictions.”

  Dallas’s eyes narrowed. Will didn’t know if was the unsubtle implication that Dallas didn’t know how to do his job or the inference that Will didn’t really know or remember him. Pretending to not remember Dallas was the only petty revenge open to him at the moment. After his head stopped spinning, he’d figure out a way out of this mess. Hopefully one that involved Dallas hotfooting it out of here, preferably across the country.

  Will pressed his lips together before he let loose a torrent of words that would show he remembered and thought more about Dallas in the intervening years than he ever wanted to admit to anyone, even himself. A couple of deep breaths later and he was more or less in control of his emotions.

  “Dallas, this is Kyle. Kyle, this is Dallas, our newest team member.” Kyle also rolled his eyes, but damn it, if Will was still leader of this shitbag little team, then he was going to act like it. He’d been a good manager back at Savron Dynamics, and he was going to at least appear to manage this team, even if he wanted to fire Dallas on the fucking spot.

  “Kyle, grab another chair from the break room. Dallas, you can sit with Kyle, watch him for a bit while I go scope out what needs to be done in the storage room.”

  “Hi.” Dallas flicked a little wave and smile at Kyle, whose tongue was practically hanging out. Fucking hell. Now Will wanted to fire them both. “Maybe I can just use your chair, since you won’t be using it. That way Kyle doesn’t have to go to any effort.”

  Will clenched his hands. Despite his hatred of Dallas, Will couldn’t deny that he was fucking gorgeous, and Will didn’t want to think about those rounded asscheeks sitting in his chair. “No one sits in my goddamned chair, got it? It’s fucking perfect the way it is, and I don’t want anyone adjusting it or breaking it or spilling coffee on it.” Great. Territorial as a dog over his chair. Granted, it was a beaut, but that didn’t make him sound any less insane. Nevertheless, his less-than-even tone sent Kyle scuttling from the room and left Dallas looking like a lost waif.

  The ensuing silence grew more and more awkward, mostly because Will knew that under other circumstances he’d owe Dallas and Kyle an apology but he couldn’t bring himself to do that, or make small talk, or even ask Dallas what he’d been up to in the past two years—mostly because he pictured him making hash of people’s careers all over the Northeast, laughing like a villain while he did so. Since that did not in any way match the demeanor of the man who stood in front of him, he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t.

  It might be only ten in the morning, but Will had never needed a fucking drink so bad in his life. But he’d settle for a strategic retreat. “I’ll be in the storage room. Kyle knows where it is if you need anything.”

  There. That sounded almost conciliatory. Almost. Dallas would have to take what he could get because Will couldn’t do any better. Not until he’d had a chance to assimilate this violent upheaval in his super busy yet comfortable cocoon. Will turned on his heel and escaped as valiantly as he could. A few minutes or even a few hours, if he could put off Stefan’s “helpers,” to let him lick his wounds and regroup would do him a world of good.

  AS SOON as Will left the room, Dallas let out a shaky breath and grabbed the back of Will’s “goddamned” chair to keep upright on knees that had turned to pudding when being faced with the one person Dallas had both feared and hoped desperately to see.

  Will had been so angry. Angry like Dallas had never seen. True, they hadn’t worked together very long, and Dallas never reported directly to Will, which meant they’d had very few interactions. But Dallas’s cube on the sixth floor of the Savron building had been situated fairly close to Will’s office. He’d had the opportunity on many occasions to observe how Will dealt with his direct reports, stress, and setbacks. Frustration was common, but he’d always been so considerate. Moderate. Careful to praise while giving constructive feedback. Above all, even-tempered. All that in addition to being someone Dallas had both admired and lusted after.

  The first sight of Will had made his heart race. The blond hair was a little longer, a little shaggier. Will’s form was a bit thinner with deeper shadows under his eyes, but for the most part Will looked exactly as he remembered. Maybe even more attractive, since Dallas had spent an inordinate time dreaming about him since Will had been laid off, and his memory had started to fade in the intervening years. He’d even opened his mouth to say something, reference their past, however brief it might have been.

  Dallas wasn’t always the best at interpreting body language and facial cues. The wealthy kids he ran with in high school never said what they meant and never meant what they said. His parents rarely allowed their emotions to show on their faces for fear of generating more wrinkles, and were hardly demonstrative at the best of times. At college, he’d been too busy to make new friends, even if his high school ones, for the most part, had moved on without him, having little patience with his determination to break free from his parental expectations and social circle.

  There had been no mistaking Will’s anger, split equally between Dallas and his brother. Anger fierce enough to make Dallas’s breath catch in his throat, in a different and more terrifying way. And if he wasn’t mistaken, there hadn’t been a flicker of recognition in Will’s eyes. Facing such obvious antagonism, how could he possibly mention their overlapping employment at Savron Dynamics? Stefan had to know, although he’d only alluded to it while introducing Dallas.

  Despite wanting to make a good impression on his first day and wishing that Will had remembered him, instead of hating him, Dallas had the almost overwhelming temptation to completely fuck up shit on Will’s chair. Change every damned setting, maybe even figure out how to make one or more wheels work in opposition to each other. Maybe another day. Another day when he didn’t feel so fragile, or like he might burst into tears—again—if subjected to a torrent of harsh words. The last person in the world he wanted to witness his vulnerability was Will.

  Instead, he set his bag containing his perfectly secured, malware- and virus-free computer down on Kyle’s desk and wandered slowly around the room, inspecting the equipment as best he could without touching it. No sense in unduly antagonizing his new boss on his first day. There’d be plenty of time for that after he’d gotten his feet back under him, if Will didn’t change his attitude.

  It only took a few minutes before he realized the staggering scope of what Will and Stefan were trying to do. Stefan had mentioned wanting to bring as much of the day-to-day operations in-house, partly for control, and partly to do what they could to mitigate the effects of arbitrary terms of service. Porn was one of those oddball industries. Made a shit ton of money, but was often vilified. Changes in terms or management at any one of the companies providing pieces of the tech puzzle required to put a successful website together could make Idyll Fling go dark. The more operations brought in-house, the less likely Stefan would have to worry about that, but a solo operation meant more precautions had to be put in place since there was no �
��strength in numbers” to rely on.

  Stefan had invested in a fair amount of equipment, but only a portion of it had been put into use, which wasn’t exactly surprising since doing everything in-house would definitely require a bigger team than just Will and Kyle. Bigger than the three of them together, even.

  So why was Will so adamantly against Dallas? Just territorial, like he was over his chair? Maybe Will was just pissed that Stefan had brought on a new employee without consulting him.

  He shivered a bit, the necessary chill of the server room a little more intense than he’d anticipated.

  The door slammed behind Dallas, startling him. He whirled around, only to find Kyle had returned with the promised chair.

  “Hey, man, didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Dallas shrugged. Between life grinding his hopes and dreams to dust and his recent ill health, he was sort of predisposed to expect the worst, and it made him jumpy as hell. With any luck, he’d be over this shit soon, because he didn’t like this needy version of himself.

  “It’s fine.” Or it would be soon. It had to be.

  Kyle positioned the new chair at his desk, and Dallas collapsed gratefully in it. “So, is, uh, he always like that?”

  Kyle’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he tapped out a lengthy password to unlock the machine. “Sort of. He’s a grouchy ass, but today it seems like maybe more than one person pissed in his cereal.”

  Since Kyle’s tone was filled with nothing more terrifying than exasperation, maybe Dallas didn’t have anything to worry about, although Dallas remembered Will had rarely been grouchy. Then again, it seemed unlikely that Stefan was paying anywhere near what Will had been making at Savron Dynamics. Maybe money was tight, although Will certainly had the skill set to find work elsewhere, if he wasn’t happy here.

  “Well, never mind that. Show me the ropes.”

  They spent the next couple of hours going over very little, which surprised Dallas even more than the impressive equipment gathering dust in the corner. Will had tied Kyle’s access down to almost nothing. Blog maintenance, monitoring the Help e-mails, and password resets through a site admin tool. At first he thought it was because Kyle’s education wasn’t as advanced as Dallas’s was when he’d first gotten himself hired at Savron Dynamics. But after some pointed questions about his schooling and experience, it soon became apparent Kyle had a lot of skills, was almost finished with his software engineering degree, and was being underutilized to an almost criminal degree.

  Most people in Will’s position wouldn’t take seriously the word of someone like Dallas, who himself was only three years in the work force, but the past two years had been a trial by fire that had given him a hell of a lot of insight into resource management, and Will wasn’t using his resources at all.

  Perhaps there was a reason for it. Dallas had a lot of recovery to do still; plenty of time to observe, maybe make recommendations if or when the time seemed right. Give him time to get past Will’s prickly exterior.

  “Does it bother you? The fact Will doesn’t let you do any real work?”

  Kyle shrugged. “Not my problem. I mean, I wouldn’t want to work here for real in this situation, but as my final internship? It’s the fucking bomb. Will gives me glowing recs, and if things are slow, Stefan lets me watch the filming. It’s also been like a smorgasbord of sex.”

  “You have sex while on the clock?” Dallas could only be more horrified if Kyle had admitted to ritual killings or puppy kicking. What the hell had happened to Will and more importantly, did Stefan realize what was going on?”

  “No, man. No sex while I’m working. But there’s not a lot to keep me occupied, so I’ve watched a lot of the filming. And I’ve gone out partying with some of the models. Sex aplenty at those parties. How many people can say they’ve slept with porn stars? Pretty fucking cool.”

  Another shiver raced down Dallas’s spine. There was something slightly unsavory about Kyle’s attitude, but maybe that was nothing more than Dallas’s much-maligned propriety.

  Kyle leaned in close, an odd expression on his face. “Just don’t let Will catch you watching the porn. He gets all squirrelly about it. I think he might be straight.”

  The breath left Dallas’s chest in a flash. Somehow he got out some sort of strangled response that Kyle must have taken for agreement, because Kyle went back to the Help e-mails.

  There was no way that Will was straight, which might mean he had a boyfriend he didn’t want to cheat on. It was something Dallas had had to consider, when he’d first let himself hope, somewhere around Virginia, that maybe Will was still working at Idyll Fling. When Will had lost his job, Dallas had sent his brother Will’s contact information, recommending Will as a good candidate for the opening Stefan had. After Stefan had offered Will the job, Dallas had manfully refrained from asking about Will or how he was doing, beyond ensuring his brother wouldn’t mention to Will how exactly he’d come by Will’s information.

  Sometimes he liked to imagine that all he had to do was pick up the phone and ask Stefan about Will, but in his darker moments, he couldn’t imagine Will sticking around where he could find him again. Perhaps Will had found another prestigious job, maybe in another state. Perhaps he just didn’t enjoy porn, which would make his continued employment at Idyll Fling inexplicable, but he supposed one didn’t have enjoy the product to make sure the website hosting it ran smoothly.

  God. This was one shitty first day.

  The next few hours passed with minimal conversation, Dallas just too overwhelmed to attempt to be social. Every passing minute made him realize how much his surgery had taken out of him. His doctor had warned him his recovery might be slow because he’d worked himself into such a state of ill health before his body had finally revolted and forced him into the hospital. His headlong flight to Florida had only set him back further.

  Almost as soon as his eyes started drooping, Paul poked his head into the server room.

  “Ready to go?”

  Dallas straightened in his chair. He was also starving, which was an unusual occurrence. He’d have to decide if napping or lunch was more important when he got back to Stefan’s.

  “Yeah.” Dallas stood and grabbed his bag. “Thanks for the intro, Kyle. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  Kyle blinked at him. “You’re leaving already?”

  “I’m working half days, remember?” For now. Will needed more help with this project than he could provide, even if he was at full capacity and working full-time, but for now, he didn’t have a choice.

  “Oh. Right. See ya tomorrow.”

  Will hadn’t made so much as a single visit back to the server room to check on them or give him guidance or anything. And as soon as Dallas stopped being so exhausted, he was going to be angry about that.

  He followed Paul out the door. Will’s attitude notwithstanding, the day had given him hope about the future. He wasn’t alone in the world, he was on the mend, he wasn’t homeless, and he had better job security than he’d probably have in any other company. Things could only get better.

  Chapter FOUR

  AFTER A few wrong turns, Dallas found his way to the server room. Still nervous after the previous day’s chilly reception from his new manager, he was pleased his brother saw him as enough of a grown-up that he hadn’t escorted him to his workspace again. If Will wasn’t thrilled with his new employee, despite the obvious need, neither was he happy with Stefan for making it happen without his consent. Dallas also hadn’t missed the tiny sneer that had lifted Will’s lip when Stefan had mentioned Dallas only working part-time.

  Having an escort a second day in a row wouldn’t endear him to Will, and Dallas had enough challenges to face at the moment without going out of his way to piss off his boss. Not that Dallas had seen one blond hair of Will’s shaggy head after the disastrous “introductions.”

  With a sigh, he straightened his tie and smoothed down his suit jacket, both far dressier than what either Kyle or Will had worn the day b
efore. If he had literally anything else to wear, he would, but after two years of almost nonstop work for a company that required suits, he had few pieces of casual clothes, and those were barely fit for vagrants. Besides, he rather liked his suits.

  Dallas opened the server room door with the code Stefan had given him. Good thing, too, because the server room was deserted and he half suspected Will would deliberately not “remember” to give him the code just to make life difficult.

  Dallas itched to get into the mounds of boxed equipment, start making order out of the chaos, but Will wouldn’t appreciate his initiative. Not yet, at any rate. It would be a challenge to win him over, that was for sure. But Dallas was determined, even if his perseverance arose from a place that wasn’t solely work-related.

  Without Kyle here yet and no computer of his own, there was nothing Dallas could do. Dallas dropped his messenger bag by his chair, still situated by Kyle’s desk, and wandered over to Will’s sanctum. When they’d worked together, Dallas’s cubicle had a direct sight line into Will’s office. Well… maybe not a direct sight line. If Dallas pushed his chair away from his desk and craned his head around Jerry’s file cabinet, and if Will’s door was open, Dallas could see the side of his face. Between that and the frequency with which Will came out of his office to speak to his direct reports, Dallas had plenty of opportunity to nurse his crush. Not that he’d been trying to pick Will up or anything; at the time, he’d been in a relationship with someone else. They both had.

  But it had been nice to imagine having Will as a boyfriend and not having to be secretive about it. For now, though, he’d settle for a drama-free working relationship.