Chapter Seven
1287 Words
That next afternoon, Mike called me. I debated on whether or not to answer it and I decided I should since I had to work with him the next day. He apologized again and said he'd make it up to me. I told him that I accepted his apology, but that I couldn't see him anymore. I told him that I deserved better than being someone's second choice. He said he wanted things to go back to the way they were and he'd give me some time to think about it.
That week at work was pretty uncomfortable. In the Monday morning staff meeting, someone actually asked me what happened to my face. I simply said that "I was careless and stupid and this is what I got in return". I avoided Mike when I could but still did my work.
Thursday in the break room, he said he wanted to come over, but I told him no and that I thought it would be best if we were just co-workers. I could tell he was frustrated and angry and wanted to talk more, but there were people in the break room.
Friday afternoon, Andrea called me into her office and shut the door. She told me that Mike said that I had been ignoring some of his phone calls and requests and that I had made a mistake and had to re-do it, which cost a day. I was stunned. She said she was disappointed that I was slacking off already. I promised her that I'd try harder.
When I got to the gym after work, Toby was already there. I waved to him and went into the locker room to get changed. Max walked in and took the empty locker nearest me.
"Hey, Pete."
"Hi, Max."
I got undressed and quickly pulled on my jockstrap as Max started removing his paramedics uniform.
"Looking good, Pete," Max said quietly.
I blushed and smiled and hurriedly pulled on my shorts and t-shirt. As I walked out of the locker room, I glanced back and stole a peek at Max's naked body. He caught me looking and winked. I blushed and hurried out to start my workout with Toby. Max worked out with us and then continued on weight training with Toby while I did my cardio on the treadmill.
After working out, the three of us walked into the locker room. As we got undressed and walked to the shower, I told them what happened at work today. Both Max and Toby were pissed.
I'm not sure what it was, but I wasn't feeling very shy today. When I turned and caught Toby looking at my ass, I smiled at him and blushed bright red and he actually looked embarrassed and turned away. Later he caught me looking at his huge uncut d**k and I blushed again and he chuckled.
After we got dressed, we all drove to Chili's and had dinner together. Max wanted to go out, so he took off, and Toby and I returned home.
Toby looked at his watch. "It's still early. You got any beer?"
I invited Toby in, and we sat on the couch and watched TV and sipped our beer. Toby was leaned back on the couch with both of his arms on the back of the couch. I was on his left, sitting cross-legged facing him. We were talking and laughing and flirting with each other. I ran my finger over the tattoo on his left arm, tracing the points with my index finger.
"You like my ink?" he asked with a chuckling grin and pulled his t-shirt sleeve up so I could see and touch more of it.
"Yeah, it's really cool. And the cross on your other arm is really beautiful."
One second we were smiling at each other and suddenly his smile was gone. He looked away for a second and then said he needed to get going. He had to be at work early in the morning. I walked him to the door and I touched his hand and squeezed it. "Goodnight, Toby."
"Night, Petey."
He gave me a half-hearted smile and I closed the door behind him.
Monday morning when I got to work, I got in a little bit early and really got into my work. I wasn't slacking, but I wanted there to be no doubt that I was doing my best and doing good work.
When my desk phone rang and I saw it was M SHEPPARD in the caller ID, I picked it up right away. He wanted to see me in his office, so I went in and he shut the door behind me. I backed away from him.
"Peter, please don't be afraid of me," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I really do care about you, and I know you know that. I'm sorry for what I said to Andrea. I was pissed at you and when she and I were talking... it just came out wrong."
"Okay..."
"We need to work together. I want us to be friends, okay?"
I nodded.
"So, we're good?"
"We're good."
"You'll call him off then?"
"What?"
"You know, Peter. Your neighbor across the hall."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Mike seemed to be agitated and upset. "Peter, he came to the house. He told me to leave you alone or I'd be sorry. He said if people found out about us, all you had to lose was a job, but I'd lose a whole lot more. My wife can't find out, Peter."
My mouth fell open. I was speechless and I was angry. Toby didn't have any right to do that.
"It's okay, Mike. I won't tell anyone and I'll tell Tank to leave you alone."
Mike gave me a friendly hug and I hugged him back.
When I got to the gym, I was still mad at Toby. When he came into the locker room as I was getting dressed, I confronted him about it.
"Why did you go to Mike's house, Tank? Why would you do that?"
"I was trying to help you, Petey."
"I didn't ask for your help. I can take care of myself!"
I slammed my locker shut and walked past him and got on the treadmill and ignored him when he came out. By the time I had been on the treadmill for 30 minutes, I had calmed down some. I could see his reflection in the mirrors. He was really hitting the weights hard. His brow was furrowed and he was scowling. I sighed and got off the treadmill and grabbed a towel. I wiped my head and walked over to him.
"Toby?" I said quietly.
He stopped doing his hammer curls and looked up at me.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I know you were trying to help and I overreacted."
Toby racked his weights and sighed. "I shouldn't have stuck my nose in where it doesn't belong. I just don't like to see my friends get hurt."
I smiled. "Do you want to go grab dinner? My treat?"
Toby grinned. "Sure."
Toby and I returned to the locker room and showered next to each other. I shyly smiled as I checked him out and he just smirked and let me look. I could tell he kept looking at my ass. After getting dressed, we drove to Longhorn and had a couple of steaks for dinner. We had a nice quiet conversation. I found out a lot more about him. He and his older sister Kristy were always very close. He was 27 and she was 29. He met Max in college and they've been best friends since.
- Writer
