Love Hurts (boyxboy)

Chapter 27: The unraveling

"Who's messaging you, Josh?"

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Days pass with no news from the job. Maybe it was a blessing.  Peter, being extra attentive, was a welcome distraction from everything. Showing Josh how special he was to him, how Josh was his everything… But unbeknown to Josh, Peter still felt insecure being Josh's fiancè, and even though he thought putting a ring on it would ease the constant fear of losing Josh to someone else, it only made things worse. He knew Josh was handsome and had a lot of admirers. He tried to keep his jealousy at bay, but it wasn't easy. He wasn't blind. He had seen how Josh looked at others.  He saw it with Neil, all those years ago. The wrong type of love, Peter had thought to himself. He had saved Josh from him once, and he would do it again if he had to. He vowed to himself that he would do whatever it took to keep Josh by his side. 

So why did Josh have to receive that email…

"I got the job!" Josh blurts out as soon as Peter gets home from work at the nearly early hours of the morning. 

Peter looks back at Josh with tired eyes. He can sense Josh is ecstatic. "Congratulations." He forces a smile.

Josh gets up from the sofa to meet Peter halfway. He takes his hand in his. "This is just temporary, yeah, until I get some more money to put into my own business." He squeezes Peter's hand a little tighter, sensing the apprehension. 

"I know." Peter says, again forcing a smile as he leans forward to kiss Josh on the cheek before finishing off with a hug. But no matter how hard he tried to push the feeling away, Peter knew his insecurities were once again rearing their ugly head.

***

"Hey, hey Pete." He leans over and nudges a sleepy Peter, who opens his eyes just a fraction. "I'm going. My first day." He whispers, kissing him on the forehead.

"Can I meet you for lunch?" Peter mumbles back, his eyes instantly closing as he burrows into the duvet. Josh smiles at how peaceful Peter looks. He gets up to leave, letting him rest.

"Sure…"

***

"Hello, Joshua Barrett…." The sense of history repeating was killing him as the receptionist looked up to see Josh once again in the large building. She leads Josh to a side room with other new starters. There were six in total, including him. He introduces himself to each member, finally casting his eyes on a familiar face... Stewart Berry. 

"So I guess we will be work colleagues from now on." Stewart smiles as Josh takes a seat. 

Josh smiles an awkward smile. "Yes, it looks that way."

"It will be good to get to know the rest of the team tonight at the team dinner." Stewart adds.

"Team dinner?" Josh looks at Stewart, "I didn't know we had to… I'm not a fan of team dinners." 

Stewart puts a hand on Josh's knee, causing him to tense up a little. "You know me, right?" He then removes his hand and gets out his phone.

"What's your number? I'll send you the details." Josh momentarily wonders whether he should, but he would be working with the guy. He'd probably get his number eventually. He grabs his phone from his coat pocket. 

Stewart glances at the screen, seeing a picture of Josh with Peter. He stifles a small smile under his breath. Josh reels off his number to Stewart, who adds it to his contacts. 

A moment later, Josh gets a beep on his phone and saves the number. "If I don't see you after this, I'll message you later about the dinner, ok?" Stewart smiles as he gets up to leave the room, leaving Josh feeling like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Eventually, all the new recruits seem to disperse. Josh makes his way to the coffee shop to meet Peter for lunch. 

***

"So...tell me how it went?" Peter looks at Josh with interest. 

"Well, I've signed the contract, and I've met the team. We talked about the new coding practises, and the new chip we need to create." Josh replies, taking a flat white to his lips.

"Sounds interesting." Peter says, though he didn't really have a clue what it would actually entail, but felt like he knew enough. "We should go celebrate tonight," he suggests. 

"I can't. They've arranged a team dinner for us to get to know each other better. " 

"Oh, ok." Peter says, trying to sound not too disappointed. He knew this is how it would probably be when Josh is working, so he just smiles. "Maybe we could celebrate before you leave." He reaches out to take Josh's hand, but he pulls it back, on hearing he has a message.

He looks down and smiles. Peter looks on, curious. He sees how Josh appears happy to get this message. He's seen that face before. That's how Josh used to look at his high school crush. Suddenly, everything Peter was trying to keep at bay rushed up to the surface. His insecurities begin to get the better of him. "Who's messaging you, Josh?" 

Josh suddenly looks up. For a brief moment,  forgetting Peter is still there. He puts his phone face down on the table. "Oh no one, it's just about tonight's dinner." Peter reaches out and grabs Josh's phone before he can react. "Hey, what are you doing?" He tries to grab the phone from Peter's hand, but he holds it clear and stands up to see the message."

"Can't wait to get to know you better." Peter looks at the recipient and sees 'Stewart' written across the top. A million questions enter his head. "Stewart? Is this the guy who gave you the hanky? Why do you have his number? Why can't he wait to get to know you better?"

"Give me my phone." Josh keeps on reaching for his phone as Peter holds it out of the way. 

"You're not having it back until you can tell me why another guy wants to get to know you better.'' 

Josh stops reaching for his phone."Because I'm gonna be working with him. He's part of the new team." 

Peter can feel himself getting tense with this newfound knowledge. "Fuck Josh!  It's bad enough you have to work with the guy but you have to socialise with him too?" 

"What do you have against him Pete? You don't know him."

"I know he wants you Josh I can tell". Peter says through clenched teeth, trying his best not to raise his voice.

"Pete, I can't help it if people like me. Don't you trust me?"

"I don't trust him Josh. And I don't trust you when you drink. You have said yourself you can't remember what you do half the time." Peter looks Josh straight in the eyes. "You're not going to this dinner." 

Josh had never been a fan of being told what to do. He looks at Peter up close. "I am." He says under his breath. 

Peter looks back at Josh with rage building up inside. He tosses Josh's phone on the table and storms out of the coffee shop. Josh stays in the position he is in for a few seconds before again, becoming aware of his surroundings and the onlookers. He sits back on his chair. He then sees Stewart had left a second message."

"I'll meet you at 8 outside the restaurant."