Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 62

"Solomon!" Jessy hollered from outside. "Open the door!"

"Why can't you just use your emergency key?!" he yelled right back. It wasn't like he was trying to be rude at the moment. She just decided to come right when he was in the middle of cooking. And if he stepped away from the stove for even a second, his food could burn. The recipe he was making was quite a tricky one.

Okay. Maybe he was still a little bit annoyed at the emergency key incident.

"My hands are full, you ass!"

"So are mine!" the fact that they could even hear each other through the walls of his condo was surprising. But, then again, condo walls were always thin, no matter where you went. They were just bigger apartments.

"You can't stop cooking for one second?"

"No!"

"Ugh!" Jessy whined. He heard some movement away from the sizzling of the pan he was using. Then, he heard more knocking.

"Solomon, Gary's coming!" Jessy said through her banging. "Let me in before he gets here!"

"I invited him too, Jess!" Solomon shook his head. "Maybe he'll give you an extra hand instead."

He had actually sent a text in the group chat that they all had. As much as he really didn't want to tell them what had just happened, he had to keep his promise. It was Sunday, and Maya had her last practice before her next recital, just like last week. Only this time she would have to stay there for five hours to rehearse. It was absolutely insane that they demanded so much from her when she already took the lessons at school as well. But she never complained to Solomon about it, and she always looked like she enjoyed what she was doing. So, Solomon let it be and continued to support her dreams.

Niko would have hung out with him He had actually spent the night at his place that night. They only slept together. There was no way that Solomon would even think about taking things further when Maya was asleep there. The last thing he wanted was for her to wake up to that. But Niko had promised his son, Jay, that he would hang out with him that day. Solomon didn't mind. He thought it was adorable that he was actually trying to be a good dad for his son now.

Besides, a little bit of space was good in a relationship.

Even though Solomon wanted those arms around him 24/7. After Friday night and yesterday, he never wanted him to let him go. It didn't have to turn into anything. He just liked the feeling of being in the man's arms. Niko seemed to like it too, because he was always the first to pull him close. They didn't do any kissing or anything around Maya, but he knew that she could tell something had happened.

And there was no way in hell that he was telling his own sister that. No. For all she knew, they just cuddled. Yes, she might be sixteen. But she would always be his baby sister, and there was no way he was ever going to talk to her about stuff like that, no matter how much she pushed.

Why she would even want to know, he had no clue. Maybe she was just a hormonal teen or something.

That or Jessy was a bad influence on her.

The sound of the door opening snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Were you really going to try and lock me out again?" Gary's voice wafted through the house.

"I still don't know why you want to know so bad," Jessy said. "You sure you aren't gay or something?"

"I'm dating Olivia!" Gary argued. "How can I be gay!"

"Then why do you want to know, Mr. Straight?"

"Because Solomon's my friend," Gary sounded a bit upset by her words. Solomon just chuckled at it, though. All of this was absolutely ridiculous. "Besides, I helped my brother through all of his break ups. I can handle listening to this."