Eugene and the Box of Nails by Jaime Samms

Author:Jaime Samms [Samms, Jaime]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64080-316-9
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2017-12-31T05:00:00+00:00

TURNED OUT Cullen was a very good cook. The homemade pizza they made from crust Cullen had previously frozen, with sauce he had canned from his own planter-garden tomatoes, was delicious. Creating the meal together was a ton of fun, and Eugene found himself relaxing as people’s Christmas lights flicked on along the street below.

Cullen’s apartment was a basic white box, decently decorated, but it only very mildly hinted at the man’s personality. He certainly didn’t strike Eugene as the high-rise sort of guy, so the place—on the tenth floor of one of the few buildings in town that even had that many floors—was a surprise.

“At least it’s festive,” Eugene noted, spinning one of the many glittered-up plastic snowflakes hanging in the main window. White lights circled the window and set the sparkles on the ornaments shimmering brightly.

“I have to admit, I’m not as enterprising as you,” Cullen confessed. “I’ve been saving up for a real place, but I’ve not found anything I like well enough to shell out. It seems pointless to put a lot into this place if I’m not staying. Which, five years ago, made sense. Now? I’m starting to rethink that.”

“You could build.”

“I’ve got the skills,” Cullen admitted, no hint of self-deprecation. “But I’m like that seamstress who can sew anything with a pattern but can’t manage to sew her way out of a paper bag without it. Give me a set of plans, and I’m your man. Ask me to make it up as I go along?” He shook his head. “You amaze me, what you’re building with basically no guide whatsoever.”

“I just….” Eugene grimaced. “I need a place to live, right? I mean, other than the trailer. Paul needs his barn, and I need my space, and Steve took—” He gulped. Well. He’d already confessed everything about Steve, hadn’t he? How stupid he’d been to trust that blood was thicker than judgement.

“Hey.” Cullen moved from the end of the couch where they had retired after the meal. He scooted until he was right next to Eugene, one knee pushing into Eugene’s thigh. “It wasn’t wrong of you to think you could count on him. What happened is about him, not you.”

“Well, except that he ruined my life while he was being all about him.”

“Did he?” Cullen fixed him with a steady look.

“I lost everything.”

“Working with a man who has no respect for you?”

“Well.” Much as Cullen had no idea what he was talking about, he wasn’t wrong. Steve hadn’t respected Eugene’s opinions. Paul had always told Eugene to find something else, but Eugene believed Steve would come around once he saw Eugene could hold his own as a partner and not just a labourer.

Only Steve hadn’t ever really come around. He’d never put Eugene in charge of his own team, never trusted him to accept a job without corroboration, never really given him any kind of autonomy even after Eugene had injected his life savings into Steve’s failing business. Then he’d up and left and taken Eugene’s life and money with him.

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