Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

he had tossed on his coffee table after getting home from work. And even while at work, while booking orders and organizing the next meeting with his staff, his mind had wandered on things that had nothing to do with the recent developments in the IT-industry which was what he should've been focused on since that was his job.
    Ty was sure he could memorize the numbers and just make the call some other time, but his fingers typed in the numbers and before he even realized he was already listening to the monotonic dial tone. The brochure forgotten, and Ty's every nerve seemed to sharpen when he heard Chase pick up the phone and mutter some inconsistent rumble as a greeting. Sounding very dozed, very sleepy. Ty glanced at the clock he had on his wall and frowned. "Did I interrupt your beauty sleep at five in the afternoon?"
    Okay…perhaps introducing himself would've been better, but now that he was at his own home, on his couch with his own stuff scattered around him Ty felt so much less like a loose cannon. But he did counteract his slightly rude opening line by stating his identity which probably said nothing, since they had never officially introduced themselves. But Chase grunted, shuffling somewhere in the background. "I know who you are…"
    Ty grinned at the sound of that gruff voice. Gruff and annoyed. "Yeah, well… Sorry to wake you but you did tell me to call."
    "True…" Chase muttered and then he went quiet for a while, before Ty could hear him move around. Rustling, more shuffling. Silent coughing and cursing that wasn't all that quiet. Ty leaned against the backrest of his couch, a little puzzled because he still wasn't sure if making the call was a good idea since that meant he had made his decision. And he wasn't at all certain with that decision.
    "So what's it gonna be?" Chase asked after the silence had lasted for several minutes, during which Ty had been unable to continue the phone call and now he felt a bit foolish for hanging on the line for this long. "What would assisting entail?"
    "Well…lemme see…" Chase was clearly getting dressed. Ty could hear zippers getting closed and fabric moving close to the phone. And for a short moment he imagined the whole nakedness that would entice him if he even got a peek of the man. "You'd be putting up the set with me at the exhibition. Other than that you don't need to do much more than sit still and let me work on you. I won't pay you for it but you'll get the work done for free."
    Ty sank a little lower on his couch, weighing the words. Sit still and let Chase work on him. Ty was pretty sure they had demonstrated how close to impossible it was for him to do that. He heard a fast series of clicking sounds and then a low bang, like a door was closed. And the next thing he heard was silent sipping, and he could almost taste the coffee he imagined Chase having.
    "So are you interested or not?"
    "Yes."
    "So you're coming?" Another sip and creaking of a door. Ty opened his mouth to say 'yes' but nothing came out. Not even a denial and that would've been the better option.
    "Hello?"
    "Yeah, I'm still here. I just don't…" Know what the hell I'm doing. "Yeah, I'll do it."
    "Great. Great. That's good. I need you to come by, today if possible 'cos I need to show you the sketch."
    "Oh." Ty hadn't planned on seeing the guy until…never. Now faced with the possibility of closing himself in to the shop again was like a curtain of terror over his mind. The man at the other end of the line questioned his quietness, asking if there was a problem.
    As if he didn't know what the problem was.
    "And what happened last week…that really isn't required. Though it might increase the number of customers if I had someone bouncing like a pony on my table."
    "Yeah…I won't be doing that again," Ty muttered. He heard Chase chuckle, and a chuckle coming from a guy that didn't even smile was just…wrong. "And I didn't bounce like a pony."
    "Yeah you did. I can reconstruct the scene if you want."
    Ty's hormones jumped all over the place. The guy wasn't even trying to be seductive and still he was. Reconstructing the scene was probably the easiest thing to do because that wouldn't require any excess preparations. Ty was slipping again, and he knew he was and still he didn't end the call or tell the guy to fuck off with his plans on reconstructing and working on Ty. Instead he sank even lower against the cushions, now almost lying on the couch. "I don't think that's an idea worth