“I…don’t know what to do with that,” I admitted to Jake as Cait walked off.
“C’mon,” he said, leading me further down the hallway. “She just means that Xander is uh…well, he’s kind of an asshole. Okay, he is an asshole. But you know, he runs the place, and he keeps it running, and he runs it…uh, efficiently.”
“So, hard ass, no sense of humor, responsible, and doesn’t take anyone’s shit,” I cited as he reached the end of the hallway.
“Bingo,” he said, booting the door open with a heavy thunk of his boots. “I knew drill instructors with a better sense of humor than him.”
“Mmm, the ones I knew with a sense of humor were usually pretty evil about it,” I noted as we stepped into the room.
It was bare bones, like most of the place, but it wasn’t like I’d expected a five-star hotel. There were two beds, and the space was clearly delineated. One bed had only a blanket and a pillow, and the desk and bedside table were completely bare. The other had what had to be one of the most comfortable blankets I had ever seen draped haphazardly over it, a laptop on the desk, a few cans, a couple of small frames on the bedside table, and a Switch dropped in the middle of the bed.
“Reno’s your room buddy,” Jake said with a shrug as he dropped my bags on the floor. “Why don’t you grab whatever you’re going to change into? Meet me in the hallway.”
“Sure,” I said. Everything personal was in the other bag.
I hesitated before leaving the room and drifted over to the bed to look at the frames. In one picture, Reno was with a group of people, making a face at the camera. The other took me by surprise when I picked it up. It looked like two Renos side by side, one of them with the wild hair I had seen earlier, albeit a little more tamed; the other had his hair cut short, probably so it didn’t look like his brother's. There was no doubt in my mind that I was staring at twins, one grinning and throwing up a mocking peace sign, the other looking like he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
“Interesting,” I said, ignoring the slight interest in the twins before setting the picture back onto the table and grabbing the Switch. Ah, correction, Switch 2, apparently someone had upgraded and a look through his library told me he was a fan of Pokemon and…farming simulators, interesting. I would have to exchange friend codes with him later when I dragged my system out of the other bag.
Jake was waiting in the hall. “Feeling alright about sharing a room?”
“I’ve shared less with more,” I said with a snort.
“Oh, right,” he said. “How many tours did ya do?”
“Just a couple. Decided to get out while the getting was good.”
“Good idea, settle back into being a normal person, alright?”
“It was a little weird the first few months, but I adjusted.”
“Right, well, hope you got some old habits because, uh?—”
He trailed off as he led me down to the last door on the right and pushed it open to reveal a small locker room. There were only a few lockers and a bench in the center of the room. I peered through the doorway and saw that my suspicions were correct; the showers were just showerheads, no stalls or even a half-assed attempt at dividers.
“Ahh, communal showers, how I haven’t missed thee,” I said with a laugh as I peeled off my boots and let them drop to the floor while I worked on my socks. “Been a while.”
Jake laughed as he yanked off his shirt before plopping down to pull off his own boots and socks. I would have challenged anyone at that moment to keep their eyes at a respectful level. He was a good-looking man; I was into good-looking men, and he was undressing in front of me. Of course, I’d had practice in taking note of someone attractive without being obvious.
A few flicks of my eyes were all I needed to know he was in great shape, and despite freezing cold underwear, he had enough to look at; I wasn’t, however, going to do that. I was still human and was going to look, but these were the guys I was going to work alongside. I didn’t want to make things awkward or…worse. It was enough to shove the thoughts aside as I stripped and joined him in the shower.
“Oh, thankGod,” I groaned when the water was warm enough and I slipped under it. “I mean, I know the rain wasn’t helping, but goddamn it’s cold in this building.”
“Blame Xander,” Jake said with a laugh, shaking his head under the water like a dog. “He’s the one who says we can live without being babied. One of those things is apparently making sure there’s decent heating.”
I let my eyes glide over his body for a moment because I was still just as human as before, except he was wet and, uh…not reacting to the cold. “I don’t mind that much. Being uncomfortable is just…normal for me.”
“God, you almost sound happy about that,” he said with a laugh as he lathered up.
“More like resigned to my fate,” I said with a snort as I did the same. I wasn’t worried about being dirty, but being under the hot spray after the storm was making me feel a lot better. “I don’t really see the point in being pissed about it. I reserve theright to bitch and moan when I have to deal with it head-on later, though.”
Jake laughed as he tilted his head back, still rubbing his body with soap. “You’ll be in good company if that’s the case.”
“Good to know,” I said, carefully keeping my eyes anywhere safe despite his soaping up his crotch and ass. The last couple of weeks had been busy, so I hadn’t been able to take the edge off my sex drive, and I was getting a fresh reminder of why it was a good idea to get that taken care of before it became a problem. I’d been told once that my sex drive would peter off as I got close to my thirties, and at thirty-one I was still waiting.
Jake gave his head another dog-like shake before flipping off his shower. “Don’t take too long. It’d be just your luck that Xander will figure out you’ve been in here too long. Last thing you want is for him to hate you off the rip.”
I snorted. “Noted. I’m almost done.”