8 - Breakfast with the Boss

Adam groaned, feeling sluggish and heavy in the head. A meat stench stirred up an ache in his sinus.

"Ugh." He let out a foul morning breath—slammed a palm to his forehead with hopes it would quell the ache but it only made his forehead hurt.

So, he groggily stumbled out of bed for a shower, with the hope that the warm water would both wake him up and ease his pain.

After a few minutes of being doused with the invigorating warm water, he heard tinkering sounds from somewhere else in the house and sighed when he remembered some burly ape had barged his way into his place and made himself at home. Then again, Joel wasn't ape-looking, but having carried his body up two flights of steep stairs and not breaking a sweat, that guy had some beefcake strength to him.

"I'm not a lightweight!" He huffed to the shower head and gagged at the water that streamed into his mouth: spat it out and felt he had enough of the cleansing.

As he was drying and brushing his teeth, he saw Joel leaning against the edge of the opened door frame with a far too clever and cocky expression about him.

"Beautiful morning." Joel leered at the half-naked view of Adam.

"Touch me and you die, pervert boss. I'll sue you for managerial harassment." Adam growled as he grabbed another towel to cover his upper body.

"Like I haven't seen everything before. Now you want to play the maiden?" Joel wasn't letting up: his grin stretched wide.

"A man needs his decency. Back off." Adam pushed past his boss to get dressed for the day.

"It looks like you've regained your health. Have breakfast when you're done being decent." Joel nonchalantly commented and returned to the kitchen to finish off what he was doing.

Seeing Adam's passionate reaction was a perk to his day. He didn't know why, but he enjoyed the man's energy with their interactions, even if it was an attempt to drive him away.

"Doesn't he realize the more he reacts to me, the more I want to poke?" His smile warmed to one genuine as he returned his focus on breakfast preparation.

By the time Adam had entered the main living area, breakfast was served on the table: a simple arrangement of scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. Ingredients he didn't have in his fridge originally.

"What time did you wake?" Adam eyed Joel with his concern. If the man had been up for some time, how much did he snoop around his home?

"Relax, kitten. I've only been up enough to see your fridge and no food, so I went out to buy some groceries." Joel gestured to a chair and a steaming spread on the table.

Adam sat down and stared at the food with a frown. It certainly looked tasty but he was still struggling to eat so much in the morning. His usual breakfast staple was a cup of coffee on the run.

Joel sighed as he eased into his chair before his plate. He stabbed a forkful of the scrambled egg and held it before Adam. "You know, you put it in your mouth, chew and swallow."

"Hmph, is that your way of sweet-talking men to bed." Adam leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest with a defiant attitude.

"If I was sweet-talking, I'd suggest you savor the flavor slowly until we're both feeling good." Joel sweetly responded with a clever smile that irked Adam.

Men like Joel were all the same to him: only out to manipulate, take advantage, and control for their selfish gains. The only men who had been different in his life were Bradley James and his baby brother. Likely because both were from common backgrounds.

In his heart, he felt heavy with sorrow as images of Bradley's demure face teased his thoughts to stir bitter-sweet memories in his mind.

Joel frowned when he saw Adam slipping into his thoughts and looking despondent.

"Hey!" He abruptly clapped his hands to snap Adam out of his moment of despair. "We need to be at the office in an hour. Make sure you're ready by then."

The chair made a harsh screech on the floor as he rose and stormed off into the bedroom to gather his things for the day.

Adam stayed seated with his eyes on the plate. The untouched morsels were getting cold. Regardless of who cooked the breakfast, it would be rude to waste fresh food. So, with a deep sigh, he began to eat and slowly digest as much of the food as he could. But he couldn't stop gagging and felt sluggish again. Maybe he hadn't recovered much from the previous night's experience.

"Don't force yourself." Joel's voice carried into his ears from the bedroom.

Adam nodded and rose to clean his plate.

An hour later, they both were dressed in their business suits and entered a parked Mercedes, where Angela was behind the wheel to greet them.

"Good. You both have a lot of work scheduled for today..." She continued to drill down the busy schedule for both men and their work expectations like a robot as she drove them into the city for the office.