Page 4 of Lifeline

“Let’s find out,” he said with a snort.

I grabbed one of my bags while Jake hopped out and grabbed the other. I’d been told not to pack my life, that the rest of it should be stored at my parents', but I had brought what I thought I needed, and a little extra I could get away with.

“You sound way too excited about me finding out,” I told him and sighed when he laughed like a loon and made his way toward the heavy metal door that led inside.

I didn’t think I would have long to linger outside, but I needed those last few seconds to take a deep breath and brace myself. I checked myself in one of the truck’s side mirrors, sighing at the obvious signs of exhaustion. My dark eyes were already deep set, even the slightest sleep deprivation made me look as though I hadn’t slept in three years, and my attempts to shift into a ‘normal’ sleep schedule had been rough, so I looked like I hadn’t slept in ten years rather than just a rough week.

There wasn’t much I could do about it though, so I fixed my brown, almost black hair so the lazy, soft ‘spikes’ at the front lay a little more neatly. Not that I’m sure these guys gave one single fuck about what I looked like, let alone if my hair looked decent, but the fight with my hair to cooperate had been a lifelong battle and that adjustment made me feel more in control. I adjusted my clothes so they didn’t look like I had just been bounced around the truck for twenty minutes and made my way inside.

“And?” I heard a new voice ask. If there was an answer, it was given silently, but I heard heavy footsteps and Jake’s laughter further inside the building.

I entered the hallway at the top of the stairs and was met by another good-looking guy. He wasn’t as attention-grabbing as Jake, but there was no way in hell I would have turned him away if he showed me attention. There was a wry expression on his face, and his head tilted when he saw me looking. It was customary to take in someone’s appearance at a first meeting, but I had to admit my eyes lingered longer than they should have.

And while I didn’t like to make assumptions, I was sure the amused look on his face was because he’d realized my look hadn’t been assessment, but appreciation. He held out his hand. “You must be Aidan.”

“That’s me,” I said with a snort, glancing toward where I thought I’d last heard Jake. “Does everyone get the adrenaline express to get here, or am I just special?”

“You might not believe it, but Jake’s actually our best driver. I showed up in the middle of a bad storm and he gets the heart rate going, but he’s good at what he does.”

“That he does,” I said, thinking it had been lucky I’d missed the storm last night, at least. Only to realize that the guy, who had just clocked me checking him out, heard me say something almost suggestive about his teammate. “Uh, with his driving.”

He winked, and my nerves died down at the friendly gesture. “Don’t worry, you’re in good company. The number of people working here who like dick has now officially hit three…maybe four, I’m not sure if Cait is into men. I wouldn’t blame her if she wasn’t after working here for so long.”

“Was I that obvious?” I wondered, scratching my jaw.

“A little. But it’s fine. There’s a few of the guys here that you’ll get the chance to meet. We’ll get you a beer too; you’ll need it after that drive.”

“I dunno, it was kinda fun. Like a roller coaster with a higher risk of death and dismemberment,” I said with a grin.

An odd, amused expression crossed his face before he decided to give me the tour, so I left my bag behind. The tour started in the room closest to us, which led into a kitchen area with a surprising amount of space. There was a schedule on the fridge, as well as an inventory list, telling me who was making meals and what the planned meal was that day. Hell, I hadn’t considered that I might be responsible for feeding people…at least I was a pretty good cook.

My next introduction was to a deeply tanned man who went by Mav, and another man named Trevor who looked a lot friendlier than Mav’s cross features betrayed, but neither of them talked much. I glanced at them and shot Colin a curious look because, again, they weren’t going to grace any magazine covers, but they were noticeably attractive. And it wasn’t just because they were bigger guys. In fact, all the guys were big, which made sense considering the job, but still⁠—

“Jake!” a strangely familiar voice called out. “Quit! I said get rid of the junk!”

“You’ve got junk,” Jake called out from somewhere in the building, “in da trunk!”

God, that was…a straight man thing to say, and I couldn’t help but meet Colin’s gaze with a smirk. “He’s painfully straight.”

“Agonizingly,” he agreed, and I thought perhaps I wasn’t the only recent new guy who was attracted to the big dork. “I don’t hold it against him, though.”

Jake appeared with someone flung over his shoulder, flailing all over the place. It was…cute; I had to admit. It was also in line with what I had seen from Jake already, but it was nice to see he wasn’t the only goofball. Mav and Trevor were too quiet to read, and Colin was being the definition of professionalism, so it was hard to get a read on their personalities. A peek into the names and personalities I was going to be dealing with had been offered, but I’d told them I preferred to go in without expectations or biases when dealing with strangers and while it made first introductions more stressful, it meant I got to witness organic moments of brotherhood like that.

Then the man in Jake’s arms was dropped to his feet, his face flushed, and I realized right then and there why sometimes it was a good idea to know what you were walking into. My gut dropped to my feet.

“What the fuck?” I demanded, forgetting there were witnesses as I stared into the face of the one who got away.

The three of them looked at me, and the stranger, once the love of my life, frowned in confusion. “Uh…hi”

Uh, hi? That was what he was going with, seriously?

“You must be the new guy, sorry about…that,” he continued, looking at everyone in bewilderment.

“Seriously?” I asked in disbelief, my mind trying to process that I was looking into the face of someone I never thought I’d see again, and he was acting like we were total fucking strangers?

Then again, his expression seemed…wrong. Like, it was his face; I’d know his face anywhere, but the expressions just…felt odd, like it was a stranger wearing his face.

“What the fuck did you do?” Jake asked with wide eyes.