Forgiving Jason

Excerpt From: Forgiving Jason

Riverside, Texas

Saturday August 16, 2008

Shit, there were a lot of cars on display at his brother’s dealership. Steve Jacobi walked around in a daze. The sun beat down on the asphalt under his feet in the relentless way it had during summer. He was already thirstier than he wanted to think about, but this was an important day for him and he wasn’t going to interrupt his information-gathering because it was almost too hot to breathe.

He’d wanted his own car for so long, and now that his savings finally covered something less than a decade old, he was spoilt for choice. Carefully working his way along the lot’s perimeter, he made detailed notes.

He needed a practical, reliable sedan or hatchback that would get him to and from work, and maybe the occasional weekend fishing trip to Moon Lake, an hour or so south of Riverside. What he really wanted was one of the flashier, slightly newer sports cars that would probably break down at the first opportunity and saddle him with a lot of maintenance and repair costs to boot. But, oh, it would be such fun driving it along the highway.

He snorted at the thought. His co-workers would probably laugh their asses off, asking whom he was trying to impress. Since there was no fiancée, not even a girlfriend, he’d be wondering the same thing. Not that he was going to change his secret preferences just because he had a new car or anything.

“May I help you, sir?” The smooth male voice came from straight behind him

“Um…” Steve turned around, startled by the interruption.

The salesman who stood before him, wearing a friendly smile and a charcoal grey suit that made him look like a model fresh off the runway, was a good six inches shorter than Steve’s own six feet. He was slim, but had a strong upper body that filled the suit jacket well. His face was delicate, almost elfin in its beauty, topped off by short, blond hair with a nice wave. But the best part was his grey-green eyes. They peered at him with an intensity that made his cock stir in his suddenly tight pants.

The man looked awfully familiar. His head tilted as his gorgeous eyes crinkled at the corners and the smile gained in depth, now reflecting real emotion.

“Steve?” The salesman’s grin grew wider. “Is that really you?”

“Jason?” He had a hard time keeping his mouth from falling open. “Jason Fortin?”

God, the kid who’d been two years behind him in high school had sure grown up. Jason had always been good-looking, very popular and had gone out with every single cheerleader during Steve’s senior year. But he’d filled out some since then, and the interest now reflected in his gaze was more than disconcerting. What was up with that? Jason had always been straight. Surely it was too much to hope for him to have changed that much.

“Man, it’s good to see you.” Jason stuck out a hand. “What have you been up to?”

“Not much.” Steve shrugged as they shook hands, not wanting to go into his lack of professional success.

It was a sore point at the best of times, and he had no intention of sharing his lack of accomplishments with Jason, who had obviously done very well for himself. Shit, the man was a salesman at one of the largest car dealers in Riverside just over two years out of high school. Steve’s older brother, Tim, had taken over the car dealership from their parents last year when they’d retired to Arizona, and had made it a huge success by reaching out to younger customers. What was his job as a mere window washer compared to that?

“I don’t believe that.” Jason let go of his hand much more slowly than expected. “Right now’s not the time to get into that, but I’d love to find out what you’ve been up to. Maybe we can go for a drink or something later tonight?”

“Sure.” Was Jason asking him out? Shit, he had to get his libido under control. He was too much of a coward to do anything about the attraction he felt, and nothing about Jason indicated that he was even remotely interested in him other than as a potential buddy.

“Okay, we can agree the details later.” Jason looked around the lot, waving his hand in a circular motion. “See anything you like?”

“It’s more about finding what I need.” He hated admitting it, but it was the sad truth.

Jason frowned for a second, but his smile quickly returned.

“I’m sure I can help you with that as well.” Jason pointed at a group of vehicles in the eastern corner of the lot. “We’ve got several of what you might call the more practical makes over there. A lot of people are looking for more reliable, lower cost and fuel models these days, so we’ve created an area for the cars fulfilling that demand. Would they be closer to what you’re looking for?”

“Yes, they would be.” He followed Jason to the indicated corner, carefully wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead as they walked. He was relieved to see that the price tags matched his budget much better that those of the cars he’d been looking at so far. “That’s pretty clever.”

“Well, yes, my boss has this knack of finding out what his customers want then making it happen. Many of the older salesmen attacked him for ruining a system that’s always worked, but you can’t really argue with success, can you? We sell a lot more cars now than we used to, even if a lot of them are the cheaper models.” Jason grinned. “Apparently a lot has changed since Tim took over, but, since I started working here about the same time that his parents left, I never noticed the difference.”

“Yeah, my brother is pretty clever like that.” And I’m not.

They looked at the different models for a while, Jason being pretty helpful about the details and any questions Steve came up with. When he narrowed it down to about three choices, another salesman suddenly approached them. He was about Steve’s height, probably mid-thirties and with the air of the much maligned used-car salesman from comedy shows and commercials. He wore the same charcoal suit that Jason did, but it didn’t look half as good on him as it did on Jason’s trim physique. His dark hair was combed back and held in place with some sort of gel, and his brown eyes sparkled with artificial helpfulness.