Evenfall (85 page)

Jess laughed and sat back in her chair. "Don't be sorry. It's sexy." She winked again and looked him over, eyes focusing on his arms and mouth. "You'll definitely draw in some girls though, I can tell you that. Hot bouncers are hard to come by."

Sin blinked at her. "I see." But he didn't really see why anyone would be drawn in by him when people typically just seemed to want to run in the opposite direction.

She burst out laughing and waved her hand dismissively. "Never mind. This all looks good but like I said, I'm going to check references and do a background check before I call you in for a real interview. I hate hiring someone only to find out that they were a rapist or a drug dealer back in the States. It's happened to me more times that I can count—one time I even almost got my license revoked over it." She shook her head and saved the document to her hard drive, pulling out the disc. "That should take me probably until tomorrow evening depending on whether or not I can actually contact the people you worked for and then I will contact you soon if everything checks out. After that we'll hold an interview and if that goes well, we'll do the drug test."

Sin nodded and took the disc back, slipping it into his pocket again. "Okay." He wondered if she'd prefer a trained assassin to a drug dealer.

Jess giggled and led him back the way they came, seeming endlessly amused by his quiet behavior. As they walked, she gave him a brief history lesson on the club and how she'd come to run it. She was only in her early 30s, a couple of years older than him, and had grown up during the wars although she'd managed to escape it relatively unscathed. She and people in her family, which was apparently full of activists of different sorts, had all dedicated themselves to trying to make Monterrey a place where people wanted to live again. Various relatives of hers ran employment agencies, shelters, soup kitchens and orphanages but she'd decided after awhile to rekindle her previous passion for event planning and business by buying, at the time, a relatively cheap dive bar and transforming it into a club. In a few short years and with the help of her family she'd turned it into one of the biggest hot spots in the city and one that she hoped brought some joy to people jaded by the war.

He remained relatively silent during her speech, only nodding when she looked over at him and when they finally got to the main room again she laughed out loud, seeming amused by his serious demeanor. "I hope you don't turn out to be a weirdo—it'd be fun trying to get you to relax."

"I never relax," Sin replied flatly.

"If you end up working here you will," She promised, blue eyes twinkling mischievously as they approached the door.

He gave her a doubtful look and shrugged. "If you say so."

Jess smirked and poked him in the side, not seeming to notice when he tensed and stared at her stonily, or at least not seeming to care. "I'll call you by tomorrow. Now go get a drink or something—loosen up."

Sin ignored her comment and muttered a goodbye before leaving the club, briefly taking note of the name before he started down the street. He noticed that as he left, she ripped the sign down and disappeared back into the door.

He had no doubts that Jason's background would check out and he knew that the references would be good as well. Despite that he didn't feel satisfied or accomplished at all; he'd hoped to at least find a job where he would be relatively left alone without having to interact much—working at Lunar would most likely be a hassle and he'd constantly be surrounded by people. It irritated him but he had very little choice in the matter since it was his best bet so far.

He wandered around for a couple more hours in the hope that he would find something else but much to his annoyance, he didn't. By the time five o'clock came around, most businesses were closing down for the night and he decided to head back to the studio.

Boyd wasn't there but that was not uncommon; every time Sin had returned that week there was something new from Boyd's daily shopping trip. The kitchen was now filled with pots, pans, silverware and dishes and there were a few cookbooks crowded in the corner but they had yet to be used. The fridge had food in it, and a magnetic notepad with a pen hung from the freezer with Boyd's neat handwriting listing more items they needed. A large and very soft deep red rug had appeared yesterday much to Sin's pleasure; he already found himself going out of his way to walk across it barefoot. They also each had a light, colorful blanket on their beds, though they were folded nicely at the bottom because in the Monterrey spring heat even a sheet felt like too much.

Sin decided to take a shower to get rid of the grimy sweat from walking around all day. Grabbing a towel, he disappeared into the bathroom.

===

Although Boyd's arms ached from carrying around too much stuff, he was in a good mood. As much as he teased Sin about getting to sit around doing nothing all day, in fact he was gone almost as often as Sin. The main difference was that Sin was trying to find a way to make money while Boyd was running around spending it.

It was a little ironic that he was so obsessed with getting the best price for the dishes earlier in the week -- something they would be using a lot and they truly did need good quality for -- and yet here he was spending that money they saved on some of what could be argued as extraneous items. But having a week of not needing to worry about anything except getting to know the city was strangely relaxing, and Boyd was able to study the layout of Monterrey by wandering through the shops and markets for good buys.

He'd never had his own place, even though Lou at one point really wanted them to get one. At the time, Boyd was too practical; why try to scrape together money for a place when he already had one paid for? Boyd's family home was very Spartan, though, with clean lines on all the furniture and nothing out of place; there were hardly any decorations and certainly nothing frivolous.

Boyd had never bought anything for the house except things like dish towels or the occasional mug if he dropped one and had never cared to, so he'd never really bothered paying attention to interior design or the sort of things normal people purchased for their homes. But now that they had this empty studio and he knew they'd be there for most of a year... It was strange; he should have felt like they should be leaving no traces, that there was no point in making a temporary shelter look any different than it had been when they'd arrived. Yet they also had to keep up appearances by making the place look lived-in or else it would look too clean and militaristic if anyone stopped in unannounced. Not to mention that there was no harm in making the place more livable. Besides, he would be lying if he denied feeling strangely gratified by the fact that he could control what his environment looked like.

Maybe that was why Lou had been so insistent; he'd wanted something of his own, something he could mold and shape where he could see reflections of himself, something tangible that was his and Boyd's, that they could retreat to. Even his newfound interest in buying household items did not, of course, mean Boyd had any style or even necessarily had good taste. He just bought whatever he thought would be good for practicality or just would be interesting to have and for some reason found himself often buying things that were brightly or boldly colored. It was probably a need to distance himself from his typically dark, subdued home life in the States. Whatever the case, nothing particularly matched in the studio but it led to a much homier feel.

The door jammed again but Boyd just threw his back at it until it screeched open. With his awkward load he almost fell over from the abrupt give but he caught himself and shuffled into the room. Kicking the door shut violently, he made a note to himself to definitely buy tools the next day and attempt to fix the door. He'd not yet found a place that seemed to have what they needed at a reasonable enough price and he'd also been a little distracted by other merchants and stores.

He could hear the water running in the bathroom and he smirked to himself. Boyd enjoyed putting something new in the studio before Sin got back every day, just to see if he commented on it. So far he had not, but he'd bought something that was impossible to ignore this time. If Sin didn't notice this then his powers of perception would have become ridiculously poor.

Dropping the bags on the ground, Boyd wrestled his largest purchase over by the beds and balanced it against the floor and his body as he started to unfold it. At one of the markets Boyd had managed to find a cherry rosewood Japanese screen room divider. It was seventy-one inches tall and partially transparent, with a simple tree design spread across it. It would have been heavy and awkward enough for one set but Boyd had to buy two to be sure it would properly wall off the bed area. After the balancing act with the screens as well as the few bags he'd hung on his wrists, and the fact he'd walked several blocks, his arms now burned with stressed muscles. He didn't pay much attention to the feeling, though.

Boyd was just finishing arranging the panels when he heard the door from the bathroom open behind him. He started to turn automatically. "Hey, how—" Boyd stopped and stared as he realized Sin was walking around naked except for a towel he was currently using to dry his lower body off. He glanced casually at Boyd, who tried very hard not to watch Sin's hands.

Turning back to the screen immediately, Boyd silently cursed Sin for his lack of modesty. For months, Boyd hadn't been around him when he'd showered so he'd almost managed to forget that he tended to walk around naked afterward. It was bad enough before, but now that they were alone it was just exacerbated. Not to mention the constant heat which was draining his energy and making him feel a little stupid. He'd been struggling with what he thought of Sin for awhile, and regardless of anything they'd said to each other it was true that he'd found him attractive for months. Over time that had developed into Sin's image somehow inevitably infiltrating his mind when he didn't expect it and from there he often found himself thinking of Sin even when he jerked off. This Monterrey mission was going to be full of a lot of awkward moments if Sin didn't at least cover himself up after he showered.

Boyd was just thankful that he had on looser pants and an over-sized shirt today. Concentrating on the tree pattern on the screen, Boyd said distractedly, "Ah. I bought us more things. Are you done with the shower? You should put some clothes on."

Sin wandered closer to him, still idly drying himself off as his eyes focused on the Japanese screens. "Why? It's hot. Where'd you find those?"

Tilting his head toward the floor, Boyd rearranged the panel in front of him just to have something to do with his hands. He was entirely too aware of Sin's presence, making it rather difficult to do anything that would not just make the entire situation more awkward. "A market," he managed to say calmly. He took a moment to breathe slowly. "It's just... better... to wear something. More modest."

Sin made a face at him and walked over to where his duffel bag still sat at the side of his bed. He grabbed another pair of equally ragged, faded jeans and stepped into them. They were too large for him and they sagged dangerously low, dipping far below his hipbones. "Happy?"

Well, that was hardly better at all, but Boyd would take what he could get. Dragging his eyes away, Boyd looked toward the bathroom in distraction. "I'm going to take a shower... I've been out in the heat all day."

Sin seemed taken with the screens and stood next to one, running his fingers along the rosewood frame idly. "I think I got a job today."

The news surprised Boyd enough that he looked over at him. "Really? What will you do?"

Sin finally moved away from the screen and sat down on his bed, stretching out lazily and gazing up at Boyd with a frown on his lips. "It's stupid."

"Why, what is it?" Boyd asked, his eyebrows drawing down.

Sin lifted a shoulder and his mouth turned more into a pout than an actual frown. He sighed, looked away and then refocused pale green eyes on Boyd again. "Security at a nightclub..."

Boyd was a little distracted to notice that he had apparently taken his contacts out when he showered; Boyd far preferred the natural pale green to the dull brown he had to wear for Jason. But it also meant that when Sin had the contacts out, somehow the green seemed more striking after Boyd continually saw him with brown. It took him a moment to realize what Sin said and when he did he blinked in surprise. "Secu—at a
nightclub?
" He stared at Sin blankly. "Well. The security detail certainly fits Jason's profile and at least if you fall silent or do not feel like talking to people then any natural intimidation you may have will work in your favor. It's just the nightclub part that seems strange. Have you ever been to one?"

"Yes, I've been in one," Sin replied, voice petulant. "But I will have to interact with people a lot more than I would want to. And the woman who will eventually hire me is disturbing. I would prefer to get employment at a more professional place."

"This nightclub you've been in," Boyd said with faint amusement, "was it the one you just applied at? And why is she disturbing?"

Sin turned up his nose at Boyd and didn't answer the first question. "I believe she only wants me to work there because she finds me to be attractive for some ridiculous reason."

Boyd paused at that and looked away. While he could certainly see why someone would find Sin attractive, he wasn't entirely pleased with the idea. If Sin spent his nights around people out to drink and have a good time, how many would he meet that would get taken in by his intense eyes and personality? He would probably have people hanging all over him and who was to say Sin wouldn't welcome the treatment eventually?