I'll Sleep When I'm Dead Read online

  To Steve, being idle was akin to the closest thing he considered a mortal sin. Rest was for the weak and lazy. Not having a clear focus was driving him crazy and making him snappy and bitchy, something his friends had started commenting on more frequently the last couple of months. Another reason Ken had been happy to pick up the pace of their secret relationship, because it was a little of a stress reliever for them both.

  I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

  After running the paperwork upstairs and changing clothes, they headed down again and grabbed a comfy corner booth in the back. It turned out tonight was karaoke night.

  Hal elbowed Steve. “You should get up and sing.”

  “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”

  “Nope. Never seen you so drunk in your life.” He grinned. “And the video lives on for eternity.”

  Steve grabbed a menu from the stack propped against the napkin holder in the middle of the table. “Dick,” he muttered. But his mood immediately lifted over the cute waitress who arrived, dropping coasters onto the table with what looked like an exhausted smile.

  “Welcome, gentlemen. What can I get you to drink tonight?”

  Helloooo, sweetie.

  Chapter Three

  Oh, great. Karaoke night.

  Now Arden remembered why she wasn’t fond of working the Wednesday night shift.

  At least the tips are better.

  Drunk people singing horribly might be someone else’s idea of entertainment, but it wasn’t hers. To her, it was like dragging nails on a chalkboard.

  Fortunately, the horrible singing wouldn’t really get cranking until nearly ten o’clock, so most of her shift wouldn’t be torture. And she’d been making halfway decent tips today, so that was a plus.

  Add to that she now had a table of four hunky guys to serve.

  I really need to get out to Venture.

  It’d been too long since she’d taken time off for herself. If she wasn’t working at the restaurant—or working at her currently non-existent internship—she was studying.

  Worth it, though, if it meant making a life for herself and being able to give her family a metaphorical screw you in the process. She knew Granny would be proud of her.

  That was always well worth it.

  When she had thirty seconds to herself, she scrolled through her phone out behind the kitchen, where the staff took smoke breaks, and found she had the reference letter from Ben Massington in her e-mail.

  Well, that’s one thing handled, I suppose. A minor victory in the face of what was starting to feel like a mountain of losses.

  “You all right?”

  Arden turned to see Allie, her friend and fellow waitress, step outside, her e-cig in her hand.

  “It’s been a heck of a twenty-four hours.” She told Allie about it.

  “Wow,” Allie said after Arden had run through her slew of bad luck. “Well, you can sleep in our RV, if you want.”

  “What?”

  “No kidding. My in-laws stay in it when they come visit.” She grinned. “If you’re living in it, they can’t. Seriously, two hundred a month, including utilities, cable, Wi-Fi—everything. We have it parked behind the house and hooked into a septic thing my husband rigged. I’ll even do a lease, if you want.”

  Arden quickly ran numbers through her mind. With that kind of savings every month, she could easily save up for a car, or at least cut back her hours at the restaurant to give her some breathing room on her studies. “Where do you live?”

  “Only fifteen minutes from here, unless it’s rush hour.”

  “I don’t know how long it’ll be until I can get into my apartment again.”

  “Heck, if you’re living there, it means I don’t have to make excuses why I don’t want them coming down from Pennsylvania. Whether you want to stay a week or a year, I’m good with that.”

  “Oh, my gosh! I think I love you!” She hugged Allie. “Thank you!”

  “I don’t have to be here tomorrow until noon. Come by and look at it tomorrow morning, if you want.”

  “Yeah, I do!”

  “Do you need help moving your stuff into storage from your apartment?”

  “I will.”

  “Just let me know when. My husband has a truck.”

  “Will do!” Arden headed back inside, rejuvenated. Maybe my luck is turning around.

  She could only hope.

  * * * *

  The four hunks in the corner booth seemed nice and friendly. Something about their manner spoke money, even though they weren’t dressed super-fancy or anything. Two white guys, one guy with black hair and dark tan skin who looked like he might be of Indian or Middle Eastern descent, and a handsome bald, black guy who looked vaguely familiar, like maybe an actor she’d seen on TV or something.

  Yum!

  The four of them were the friendly kind of flirty, not obnoxious, and she finally had to ask when she brought their appetizers.

  “You all here on vacation, or what?”

  “Nah,” the black guy said, giving her a warm, wide smile. “Relocating here. We just closed on a house this afternoon. Starting our new business here. We were partners in our previous business before we sold it. Did a couple of years of consulting for the new owners, and now that the non-competes have expired, we’re ready to stretch our wings again.”

  “That sounds mysterious. What do you do?”

  “Ever hear of Collidezkope?”

  “Yeah. I have friends who keep trying to get me to join, but I’m not as crazy into bands and music as they are.”

  He pointed at the blue-eyed blond cutie. “Trace, there, came up with the name. Didn’t hurt he was a little drunk and couldn’t spell worth a shit. Steve”—he pointed at the guy who looked Indian, with handsome brown eyes and straight black hair—“he’s the one who hit on the basic site architecture and structure we started with. Hal and I shouldered building most of the initial framework. We were in college when we started it.”

  Hal, who was the other white guy and had hazel eyes and brown hair, flashed her a smirk. “Ken here is a little too modest. It started out as a class project for a grade and kind of blew out of control. Before we knew it, we had a dot.com company.”

  “Holy cow! That’s awesome. If you’re looking for unpaid interns, I’m looking for a new position since I just lost my old one. The company owners…eh, died.”

  * * * *

  I have a position I’d like to put you in.

  And Trace knew it would involve zero clothes, cuffs, a collar, some implements, and a whole lot of lube.

  “What happened?” Trace asked. From the frown she’d flashed, it didn’t sound good.

  “Guess the owner of the company was cheating on his wife and brought home something antibiotics couldn’t get rid of. She killed him, and herself. Just the other day.”

  “Oh, shit.”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Killed my internship, too. Which sucks, because when my classes are over at the end of the semester and I graduate, I was supposed to move to working full-time for them.”

  “What are you studying…”

  And that led them into a discussion of her skillsets and studies and had Trace re-evaluating his earlier dirty thoughts. Especially when she gave him her portfolio web URL and he took a look at the test sites she’d built for her classes.

  When Arden left to take care of another table, Trace leaned in. “Guys, you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “That I’d like to ride her like a pony?” Hal joked. “Fuck, yeah.”

  Trace reached over and slapped his shoulder. “Asshole. We talked about the next step being we’d need an AA. She’s almost done with school, she’s got some skills already—she’d be perfect.”

  Ken frowned. “You’re serious? We don’t know anything about her.”

  “That’s why we ask her for a resume,” Trace said. “You’re in charge of personnel until we get big enough for an HR department, that was the deal. She can be our first hire.” He he
ld up his phone. “She’s not just blowing smoke out of her ass.”

  Ken pulled out his wallet, rummaged through it, and found a business card. The phone number listed went to a VOIP number he could check from anywhere. “I want to give her my cell number. Any of you assholes got a pen?”

  They didn’t.

  She returned with their entrees and Ken went to work. “Can I borrow your pen for a second?”

  “Sure.” She handed it to him, and he quickly jotted his cell number on the back of the business card. “My e-mail’s on the front. Send me your resume tomorrow and text me so I have your number. We’d like to set up an interview with you.”

  “Interview?”

  Trace watched Ken turn on the charm. Hell, it made his cock twitch, and while he wouldn’t weird his friend out by admitting he’d maybe thought about what it’d be like to take a spin through the sack with Ken at least once, like hell would he ever tell him.

  “We have a plan,” Ken told her. “House came first. Next step is setting up an office, and hiring people. Very first hire has to be an administrative assistant. Won’t be much coding for you to do in that job. Not at first. It’ll be sort of a catch-all position. But as we grow, we’re going to need to add on staff, and that’s where you’d have more responsibilities. Having someone who knows the technical side of things will be a huge help.”

  She stared at the card. “Are…are you serious?”

  “Absolutely. We’ll work around your class schedule, of course.”

  “Wow. Thank you!”

  “We’re staying here, for now. We have two suites up on the top floor. It’ll take us a few days to move our stuff from storage and get set up in our new place. We’ll be working out of there, at first. Long story we can chat about at the official interview.”

  He held out a hand to her and they shook. “Ken Rossi. That’s Trace Huffe, Steve Chaudhary, and Hal non sequitur Larsson.”

  “Dick,” Hal muttered, but he offered her a smile. “Hi.”

  “Arden Hasegawa.” She tucked the card into her back pocket. “I really appreciate this. Would it possibly lead to a paying position after I graduate?”

  Ken’s smile widened. “I’m sorry, I think you misunderstood me. Depending on how the interview goes, and after we tell you more about us and the job, and we hear about your skillsets, if we extend an offer to you we’d want to hire you as our paid AA, starting immediately.”

  Her eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Really.” He pointed toward where she’d slipped his card into her pocket. “So don’t forget to send your resume to me ASAP.”

  “Thank you!”

  Trace watched her walk away and leaned in. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “I’m thinking you’ll get us our first sexual harassment lawsuit if you don’t stop thinking with your little brain,” Ken snarked.

  “No, asshole. I mean, I just had one of those flashes.”

  The other men went quiet. “Seriously?” Steve asked.

  “Yeah. Like she’s perfect, and she’s the first step to us building something bigger and better than we had before.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Steve said as he tucked into his burger. “Because I wouldn’t mind replicating that, and you’ve never been wrong, you spooky fuck.”

  Trace focused on his chicken sandwich as the others started eating. His friends were believers because every time he’d had one of his flashes of intuition, it’d always been dead-on accurate.

  And the only time they’d ever ignored him, Hal had ended up with a crazy stalker.

  * * * *

  Steve hoped they weren’t about to make a mistake. He could already see Hal was attracted to Arden. He’d known the man for the better part of twenty years and spotted the signs already. Trace definitely liked her.

  Sure, they’d shared that one waitress, but that had been a celebration and wasn’t exactly a winning business plan on which to build the foundation of their next multi-million-dollar tech company.

  When they finished, he picked up the tab, since it was his turn. He paid the bill on a card, but instead of adding the tip, he slipped her five twenties. “Don’t forget to send Ken your resume,” he said.

  Her eyes widened as she realized how much he’d given her. Sure, she’d probably have to share it with whoever was on staff, but even more reason to tip her well.

  She’d be less likely to forget them.

  “Th-thank you so much!”

  They headed out of the restaurant and over to the elevators.

  “Mmm mmm mmmmmm,” Ken said.

  “What?”

  He arched an eyebrow at him. “Bitch, please.” The doors slid open, and they all stepped inside. “You all are hoping for a repeat of that waitress. This is work, and we all agreed work and play do not meet. You never cross the streams.”

  They parted ways at their room doors. Once Steve and Ken were safely behind theirs, he confronted Ken. “You’re not against hiring her, are you?”

  Ken started stripping. “I’m not for or against hiring her. Don’t even know her. Need to see her full resume and talk to her. She might decide we aren’t her cuppa.” He tossed his shirt onto his bed and stood there, staring at him. “I’m not good enough for you now?”

  But the way the corner of his mouth twitched a little told Steve he was trying to hold back his smile.

  Man wanted to get laid.

  Steve was good with that, because he was feeling pretty horny himself.

  Steve pulled his shirt off and started working on his shorts. “Hey, I caught last time.”

  Ken finished undressing, and seconds later, Steve was on top of him on Ken’s bed.

  “Know what I thought when I saw the lanai at the house?” Ken asked as he grabbed Steve’s ass and ground against him.

  “What?”

  “How I’d love to bend your ass over in that hot tub and long-stroke you until my dick fell off.”

  “So romantic.” Steve slanted his lips over Ken’s in a crushing kiss. “Where’s the lube and condoms?”

  “Now who’s the romantic?” Ken pointed at the table between the two beds.

  Steve stretched and grabbed the lube and a condom and it didn’t take him but a few seconds before he was balls-deep inside Ken’s ass and they were both moaning.

  * * * *

  “That’s what I needed.” Ken hooked his feet around the backs of Steve’s legs and rocked his hips in time with the man’s thrusts. He curled his hand around his cock, squeezing, stroking, building himself up. A lot of what he and Steve did was quick and dirty and scratching their mutual itches, even if they did end up sleeping in the same bed all night.

  Steve’s cock perfectly hit him in all the right places, nerves firing and building Ken’s need until he had to slow his own strokes or bust his nut before Steve found joy.

  He reached up with one hand and played with Steve’s right nipple. “Quit holding out on me. You know you want it.”

  It was just what the other man needed. “Fuck, yeah!” Steve gasped, now pounding his cock into Ken’s ass.

  Ken stroked himself, his eyes falling shut when his balls tightened, spilling cum into his hand and all over him and Steve both.

  Steve didn’t move, his arms braced on the bed on either side of Ken’s head. Ken playfully smacked his cock against the other man’s abs. “You were thinking about that waitress, weren’t you?”

  “Which one?”

  “The one we nailed. Which one you think I meant?”

  He sat back. “Never mind.”

  “Hey, hold on.” Ken grabbed his arm so Steve couldn’t pull away. “If we’re hiring her, she’s off-limits. And you know as well as I do, if she’s qualified, wouldn’t be fair to not hire her just so the four of us can have kinky fun with her.”

  “I know. I just…” His deep brown gaze bored into Ken’s. “Sucks your family isn’t open.”

  “We having us a moment now?”

  “Kinda, yeah.”


  Ken released his arm and reached up to cup his chin. “You never saw me get jealous over you dating before.”

  “That was before we were…this.”

  “This gonna be a problem?”

  “No. I think we need to quit hiding it from the other guys, though. That’s what’s weird, is we’re not being open with them.”

  “Is that really bothering you?”

  “Yeah. Like I’m your dirty secret or something.”

  “Nah, that ain’t it.” He pulled Steve down onto him and kissed him. “We have a house now. We’re gonna be working again—finally. I didn’t want to say anything before now because I didn’t want to tip what we had the wrong direction. Meaning the four of us. Didn’t want Trace and Hal thinking we ganged up on them and formed our own team or something.”

  Steve propped himself up on one arm and stared down at him. “Still say we should try to find a woman like that waitress.”

  “You still thinking about that night, huh?”

  Steve grinned. “Yeah. Man, that was fucking hot. She wore us out.” His smile faded. “We’re at our best when we’re all together, the four of us. Any time we had significant others, it sort of borked the perfection, you know? Maybe what we need is one we can all share.”

  “A unicorn.”

  “Yeah. Look at that guy you were dating last year. You couldn’t so much as work late without him blowing up your phone wanting to know where the hell you were. And he hated me.”

  “He hated you because I was honest with him that we’d blown each other before. Imagine how much he would have hated you if we’d graduated to fucking by then?”

  “I don’t want to think about how shitty that would have become. But I mean, look at what happened. That psycho chasing after Hal. How tense we all were then. And that last bitch Trace dumped because she thought he was a walking ATM.”