"I own a head-hunting and temporary employment placement company."
All three of them look a little startled.
"You own it?" Mark asked.
"Yeah. What do you guys do?" Turnabout was fair play he figured, and if he was going to be spending time with Angel he was apparently going to be spending time with her housemates.
"Apple store, doing the repairs and stuff," said Sam.
"I've got the dream job, video game testing for Maxland Games," Mark said grinning.
"I write proposals for a contracting company," Q said. Adam raised his eyebrows, he'd been expecting another tech job quite honestly. To his surprise, he earned his first real smile from Q. "We can't all live the dream."
Just then the doorbell rang and the three men frowned at each other.
"Were we expecting someone else?"
"I didn't think so."
"Angel? Did you invite someone else over?"
She popped her head out of the kitchen. "No. Find out who it is, dinner will be ready in one minute." Flashing a brilliant smile at Adam, she disappeared again. Very faintly he could hear the sound of something sizzling.
With a slightly exasperated groan, Mark got up from his seat and went to the door. When it opened, Adam was a little less than pleased to see Michael standing there. The amount of testosterone in this house was becoming overwhelming.
Unfortunately, all three housemates greeted him as if he had a standing invitation to be there and they were glad to see him. Q gave Adam a sidelong look, as if gauging his reaction to the other man, but Adam just stood and smiled, giving Michael his hand. He'd lined up a job for the other man and had already received good feedback from the employer.
And he told himself that he was not jealous about the welcome that Michael could obviously always expect at Angel's house.
His girl came bounding out of the kitchen, pleased as punch to see her friend. Adam told himself that didn't bother him either.
"Pretty boy!"
"Pest."
They hugged. Adam shifted on his feet and tried not to think about how satisfying it would feel to pound Michael into the ground. He had no reason to feel jealous or possessive. Michael had even encouraged Adam when it came to Angel. He wondered if Michael did martial arts... maybe he should invite him to Liam's for sparring one of these days...
"Come on in, you're just in time for dinner."
"Thanks, I was hoping you might take pity on me. I've been eating my own cooking all week." Everyone chuckled. Adam wasn't sure if he felt reassured that Angel obviously hadn't invited Michael; the fact that the man felt he could just show up and beg a meal made him feel even more possessive. But at the same time, he knew very well that any of his friends might show up in the same way. It was just that all of his friends were also his own gender, except for Olivia.
Maybe if he could make himself believe that this was the same as Olivia, except that he knew very well that Angel and Michael had once been attracted to each other even if they never acted on it. Although, just as Leigh had said, he couldn't see any hint of that attraction now. Which soothed him somewhat.
******
Dinner started off a little awkward, but it got better as everyone relaxed. Angel noticed that Adam was a lot tenser and a lot more touchy-feely in a possessive way than he had been around her friends. She tried not to let it bother her. On one level, she kind of liked the possessiveness that she felt from him, it made her feel all warm and wanted inside, but on another level she knew from experience that possessiveness could eventually lead to fights and break-ups. A lot of guys couldn't handle that most of her best friends were other guys.
And, granted, she could understand why her friendship with Michael was occasionally hard for other guys to take. They were particularly close and at one point in her life she'd lusted after him. Hell, when she was single she still fantasized about him a bit, even though she knew it would never happen. The few times they'd gotten close to doing something post-Monica, her ex-best friend would always pop into her head and she had pulled away.
Besides, having been to Stronghold and playing with Adam now, she knew that she was so not on Michael's level. She did like a little bit of pain with her pleasure, but Adam was much more to her speed.
So she did what she could to show Adam that she wanted to be with him. While she wasn't going to change how she acted around her friends, she was perfectly happy to lean into Adam's shoulder, to keep their knees touching while they were eating, and to hold his hand whenever she wasn't eating. Since he was on her right that meant that she kind of couldn't eat when they were holding hands, but that was okay. Being a pretty tactile person, she rather liked the constant touching... there was just something different about the way he'd been doing it when he was with his friends.
After dinner Q offered to do the dishes while Adam's pie heated up in the oven.
"How bout a Halo match?" Sam asked, looking around the table. He grinned at Angel. "Adam told us about how you impressed his friends."
"Annihilated you mean," she retorted, grinning back at him. Adam's hand squeezed hers and she turned to see his eyes laughing. "Did he tell you about the game he played with me?"
"Ah no, I was trying to save myself the embarrassment," he said dryly.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about," Michael said, giving both Mark and Sam a look. They returned it smugly. "She's been trained by the best. You could lose hours of your life trying to get to either of these guys' level. Or Q's."
"Says the voice of experience." Adam chuckled.
"You didn't do too badly last time," Mark said reassuringly to Michael. "We could have a rematch... see if you've improved."
Michael groaned. "Adam? Angel? One of you want to be on the losing team with me?"
"I'm actually going to step into the kitchen and see if I can help Q out with the dishes," Adam said, surprising Angel. "He might need someone to help dry."
"You don't have to do that," she said quickly, feeling a little awkward about having him do household chores. Even though she wouldn't mind playing Sam and Mark in Halo. It had been awhile since she and Michael teamed up and they always had fun even if they lost miserably.
"But I want to. Go play, I'll be there to watch in a bit," Adam said, dropping a kiss on her lips before standing.
"I'd almost rather that you didn't," she grumbled, getting to her feet along with the rest of the group. "You don't need to learn their secrets."
******
When Adam came into the kitchen, Q gave him a wary look. The arms of his shirt were rolled back to show off pretty muscular forearms and he'd just finished loading the dishwasher and had started in on the pots and pants that Angel had used. From the looks of it, she didn't follow the "clean as you go" adage.
Then again, he'd gotten the impression that she did most of the cooking in the house and so the guys did the dishes in recompense. And the yard work. She had them well trained.
"Thought I'd help you dry," Adam said, picking up a towel. "They're going to play some Halo."
Q snorted. "You might want to watch that, it's pretty amusing."
Although his tone was bland, Adam still felt like maybe there was a little bit of a bite underneath. Q wouldn't be rude, but more and more over dinner, watching the interactions, he'd decided that Q had a thing for Angel. Well hidden, granted, under the guise of brotherly vigilance, but there nonetheless.
"So they said, but I think I'll have plenty of opportunity to see that kind of thing," he said mildly, hinting to Q that he was planning on being around quite a bit in the future.
"Maybe, but Michael won't always be here and he and Angel are always entertaining as a team."
Even though Q didn't look at him, Adam was aware of the other man's regard. He was deliberately prodding Adam about Michael and Angel's relationship. Adam wondered how often Q had done that to some of Angel's exes. He bet it was a pretty effective tactic.
"I'm sure they are, they've been good friends for a while."
This
time when Q glanced at him, it was with a glimmer of respect in his dark eyes. Adam began drying the pot that Q handed him.
"So you don't mind that most of Angel's friends are men?" This was said with a hint of challenge, as if daring Adam to try and make her choose between himself and her friends. Not a mistake Adam would make even if he hadn’t like her friends – and fortunately for him he did. Feeling possessive was one thing, letting it ruin what he'd started with Angel was another.
"I wouldn't say that I'm thrilled about it, but I can live with it. I like her," he stated baldly. "A lot." Q handed him another pan. It was good to keep their hands busy while they had this conversation, allowing them to talk without having to look at each other. The running water and the chatter of the others in the next room meant that their words would go unheard except by each other. A safe place.
He'd noticed that Sam and Mark tended to defer to Q, and even though they liked Adam they still looked to Q for a lead. Angel obviously cared a great deal for all of her housemates. While Adam wasn't used to being as open as he was with Q when it came to his relationship, he did want to get off on the right foot with all of her housemates. And being honest about how he felt for her was definitely part of that.
"She's special," Q said finally. "A lot of guys like her. A lot. She's the kind of girl that guys feel comfortable with, comfortable talking to and comfortable just hanging out. And she's beautiful. It's not the easiest combination to find, especially for guys who are a little bit more nerd than jock." A quick look confirmed to Adam that Q considered him to be in the latter category. Maybe he should tell Q about his sci-fi/fantasy book collection. "She deserves someone who can appreciate her."
"That's quite a recommendation." Adam paused and then just decided to go for it. He picked up the next pot and watched Q closely. "I'm surprised you don't want her for herself."
For the briefest moment, Q froze. And then his hand went back to scrubbing again. He didn't look at Adam. "It doesn't matter what I, or any other guy would want. It matters what Angel wants."
Not wanting to embarrass Q any further, Adam changed the subject and asked the poor guy about what kind of proposals he wrote for his job. He'd been right. Q did have feelings for Angel that went far beyond brotherly or friendly, but he would never act on them. Because he knew what Angel's answer would be.
And Q and any other guy could crush as hard on Angel as they wanted, if she didn't want them back then it didn't really matter what their feelings were. Surprisingly, just thinking over Q's words helped ease a lot of the jealousy and possessiveness that Adam had been feeling. Angel had had plenty of time to get together with Michael or any number of other men in her life. But she was just friends with them and she'd chosen Adam to explore kink with, told Adam that she liked him, and agreed to be exclusive with Adam.
So it didn't really matter what anyone else wanted, did it?
When he and Q rejoined the others, he could look at them with new eyes. Michael and Angel were seated side by side on the couch with almost no room between them and plenty of room on either side of them. It made him hesitate, for just a moment, but then Angel glanced over at him and her eyes lit up. She tilted her head towards the space on her other side.
Did her eyes light up for others? Yes. Because she was a vibrant, expressive person. And he liked her that way. He knew that he had some trouble with being open emotionally, he'd been closed off ever since he was a kid. Even before Brian had died, Adam had been pretty controlled in expressing himself, especially with his parents always fighting over their kids’ love and attention. After Brian overdosed he'd become even more so, because he'd seen how an excess of emotions had led Brian down the path to self-medication and eventually destruction. But he knew that he'd been overcompensating for years. Being around Angel made him feel like he was more open again, because he couldn't help but reciprocate the incredible warmth that she gave off.
And the moment he sat down, she snuggled closer to him. Grinning, he leaned back and watched the show.
The trash talking was epic. All of it coming from Michael and Angel, although Sam and Mark occasionally returned fire.
"Mother fucker... Goddamn it, how the fuck did you do that?"
"I have a straw here if you want to suck it up."
"Angel, you're too loud."
"Your mom's loud."
"Your mom was loud last night."
"I would fuck your mom, but she's a disease-ridden whore."
"Woah... woah guys, getting personal here."
"FUCK!"
“Your mom’s a wet bandit.”
“I’m the bandit that left your mom wet.”
“Left her wet? What, you couldn’t finish the job?!”
"Haha, take that! I just raped you so hard your ancestors felt it!
"Yeah well right now you're a kindergartner and I'm Michael Jackson, that's how hard I'm going to rape you!"
"You guys are idiots."
"Be quiet Q, people with hair are talking."
"Fuck you, man."
Eventually Adam just stopped trying to hold in the laughter. On the other side of Michael, Q was chuckling despite the insults that occasionally got thrown his way. Wisely, Adam decided to stay out of it. Although apparently Angel didn't entirely approve of his plan.
"What's the matter, scared to open your mouth?" she taunted him, her eyes bright and teasing.
Adam gave her his best quelling look. "If I want to hear your lip I'll scrape it off my zipper."
Dead. Silence.
And then an explosion as the guys started cheering and whooping for him. Angel's jaw had dropped and she wasn't paying attention to the screen in front of her at all as Adam's stern look broke and he burst out laughing at her too. He’d never seen her look so thrown.
Then Sam started talking, his voice almost an intonation. "And shepherds we shall be..."
Angel's entire body jerked around to stare at the screen. "What? No!"
"For thee my Lord for thee," Mark joined in with Sam in a chant-like rhythm as both Angel and Michael cursed and started pushing buttons frantically. "Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands."
Adam recognized the quotation of the prayer from Boondock Saints, but he didn't understand Michael and Angel's reaction, since neither of them were dead yet or even under fire.
"Mother fucker... "
"So we shall flow a river forth to Thee..."
"Mike, Mike, just run! FUCK, I hate you guys!"
"And teaming with souls shall it ever be...."
"No, no, no, No, NO NO!"
"In Nomeni Partri, et Fili, et Spiritus Sancti."
Both of Angel and Michael's screens went down and dark. Angel threw her hands up in the air. "Fuck you guys! I was distracted! That wasn't fair!"
Sam and Mark were laughing and sending each other long distance high fives from their armchairs.
"We haven't gotten to do that in ages!"
"Fuck yeah man!"
"Thanks Adam!"
Adam blinked. "What just happened?"
Angel groaned and Michael chuckled, shaking his head. "If you're ever playing any game against these guys and they start chanting the Saint's prayer, just know that you're about to die."
******
After having the pie that Adam had brought over, Mike left, then Sam, Mark and Q had all suddenly decided that they were going to go to their respective rooms to do... whatever. Not very discreetly, but Angel was still touched by the gesture.
She grinned at Adam. "I had a really good time tonight. I'm glad you could come over."
"Me too." The smile that he gave back in return was different than it had been earlier. More relaxed. Maybe it was because all the other guys were gone, but she'd noticed a very subtle change in him ever since he'd come back from helping Q out with the dishes. Normally whenever guys she'd dated had talked to Q they'd come back more tense than relaxed, which made her wonder what he and Q had talked about. She figured Q was the
one to usually deliver the "hurt Angel and we'll hurt you" speech, but she couldn't imagine why that would make Adam so relaxed and cheerful. "Although I don't think I'll be playing Halo with any of your housemates any time soon."
"Worried you can't keep up?" she teased.
"Worried I'd be buried by the trash talk."
Angel laughed. She'd been so shocked when he'd lobbed the zipper comment back at her, it had been so utterly unlike Adam, but she'd been delighted too. Maybe that made her weird, to be so impressed by the insult, but it was true. Especially because it had been so unexpected.
"You held your own."
"That I did."
They grinned at each other for a moment and his hand reached out to stroke the side of her cheek. Angel snuggled into the caress. She liked how tactile Adam was, and the fact that it seemed to be more than possessiveness or initiating sexual contact.
His hand dropped down to the collar of her sweater.
"I like this color on you."
"Thanks, me too." She glanced down at the sweater. "I like bright colors."
"So I've noticed. I'm more of an earth-tones guy, myself."
"Really? All I ever see you wearing is white collared shirts."
Now it was Adam's turn to laugh. "I do wear other things on occasion. But white collared shirts are easy and they work for any occasion."
"Guys have it so much easier than girls," she complained snuggling closer. She was really trying to work up the courage to ask him to go up to her room with her, but it wasn't easy prepping herself to make the first move. "We don't have any articles of clothing that really do that."
"What about a little black dress?" Adam traced his finger down her nose to her lips as she tilted her head back at him. Being tucked under his arm was nice. Now if only she could get him to kiss her and then she could suggest they could go up to her room.
"That's still only appropriate for certain occasions. Besides, I don't think I own one."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." He brushed a soft kiss across her lips, not at all the kind she was looking for and then sighed as he glanced over at the clock. "I should head out."
"Oh..." She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice but she knew she wasn't entirely successful. So much for being a good actress. "I was hoping that maybe..."
Stronghold (Stronghold 1) Page 36
