Every Shade by Nora Phoenix
2
One more try, Las promised himself. He’d give this motherfucking piece of shit IKEA crap one more shot at cooperating before he threw money at that crazy guy who’d answered his ad. Why anyone would volunteer to build this was beyond him, but there were all kinds of crazy people. This AJ definitely belonged in that category, though his Star Wars reference had been cute.
Las flipped through the manual—and there was a charitable description for something that didn’t even include words, for fuck’s sake—back to the first page. The picture clearly showed he had to put what would become the bottom of the dresser with the two little holes to the front, right? Then why wouldn’t it fit when he tried to screw the thingamajiggies in?
Oh, wait, maybe he needed to flip it upside down. Did he have it the wrong way up? He tried again, his muscles cramping as he held the two slabs of wood at a ninety-degree angle with one hand, while twisting the screws—those were the right screws, weren’t they? Just when he thought he had it, the doorbell rang, startling him enough to let go, which made the whole thing collapse yet again.
“Motherfucking son of a gun!”
Oops.His windows were open. Again. He shook his head as he pushed himself to his feet, almost tripping over the IKEA box on his way to the front door.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, you piece of shit!”
Oops.He cringed as he opened the door, expecting another eighty-something neighbor with freshly baked cookies. His neighborhood might have been overwhelmingly comprised of senior citizens, but holy hell, these women could bake.
“I’m sorry for the cussing…” he started as he opened the door, but instead of a gray-haired lady, there was a slim guy with messy dark curls and a pair of brown eyes that sparkled. “Oh….hi,” Las said lamely.
“Hi.” The guy didn’t even bother to hide his amusement. “I’m your neighbor. I take it things are not going well today?”
Las dragged a hand through his hair, which had to be sticking up in every direction by now. It was a hundred degrees out, and the AC guy wasn’t coming in till tomorrow to fix the AC that had worked fine when he’d bought the house. He was sweaty, hot, and not at all looking his best, which sucked because he’d hoped to make a better impression on what seemed to be his very gay, very cute neighbor.
“I’m having a difference of opinion with my newly bought IKEA furniture.” He extended his hand after quickly wiping it on his cargo shorts. “But it’s nice to meet you. I’m Las.”
“The struggle with IKEA seems to be going around. I’m AJ.”
Las frowned. “AJ?” Why did that name sound so familiar? Then it hit. “You wouldn’t happen to be the AJ who texted me about being available to build IKEA stuff, would you?”
It seemed unlikely, if only because AJ didn’t seem like the type. He looked like a ballet dancer with his slim, graceful body. Then again, a lot of men looked slim and graceful next to Las.
AJ’s eyes grew big for a second. “I am. So that’s you? That’s a funny coincidence, but it does explain the stream of colorful curses I heard through your open windows.”
Las cringed. “Yeah, sorry about that. I’m not used to having the windows open…or anybody able to hear me.”
“No worries. It’s nothing I haven’t heard or said before. Wanna show me what you’re building?”
Relief bubbled up inside Las. “For real? I don’t even have AC, man. It’s a fucking oven in here.”
AJ frowned. “Your AC broke down?”
“It never worked. I mean, it did when I bought the damn house, but when I actually moved in and wanted to turn it on, it never kicked in.”
“It turns on and doesn’t cool, or it doesn’t even turn on?”
“It’s completely dead.”
“Mind if I take a look? I’m good with stuff like that.” AJ probably added the latter because Las hadn’t been able to hide his surprise at that offer.
“Dude, if you can fix my AC and build my IKEA stuff, I will marry you and have your babies,” he said, and he wasn’t even sure he was joking.
AJ’s face lost the slightly sour expression he’d gotten when Las had shown surprise at his skills. “I’ll keep that in mind. Let me look at the outside unit first to see if anything looks weird.”
Las followed him as he confidently walked around his house, then crouched down in front of the AC fan. “Hmm, nothing strange here. Let me look at your breaker panel. Maybe it tripped a breaker. Or the Harrisons turned it off because they did that every time they went on a trip. Mr. Harrison was terrified of things turning on by themselves and running up a huge electric or water bill, so he always shut everything off when they left for vacation.”
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Las realized he’d never even considered that. Hell, he wasn’t even sure where his breaker panel was, but AJ seemed to know, since he marched straight for the garage where he pushed Las’s bike aside and opened the gray metal door to the panel.
“Yup, they switched it off. I guess you hadn’t tried to do laundry yet because the washer and dryer are switched off as well.” He flipped the three switches on. A hum sounded, and then the AC kicked in, the unit making a rattling sound before settling into a faint rhythm.
“Oh god,” Las said. “You should really consider my marriage proposal.”
AJ chuckled as they walked back into the house, where a cool breeze danced over Las’s overheated skin.
“Now show me your stuff.”
Las couldn’t help lifting an eyebrow at that remark because hello, double entendre much?
AJ smirked. “Not that stuff, neighbor. Let’s start with an IKEA date before we move on to the naughty bits, hmm?”
