Chapter 1

Jackson Harris, office worker, gay.

That was pretty much me in a nutshell. Well, not completely. I was 23, with short black hair, blue eyes, and single…very single. I didn't know why, but I just didn't want anybody. All I knew was that I needed someone who I could immediately fall for…a nice guy, a guy who wanted a serious relationship.

Maybe it was too much like a fairy tale, but that was just the way I wanted it. Growing up, that was how I thought I would meet my soul mate...even if I didn't know at the time I wanted that person to be a guy. A nice chubby, tall, strong, handsome guy, with a killer ass, and a smile that could...I needed to focus on work.

"You can't fire me! I Quit!" It was the chick I shared my office with and half my workload, Jenny. I didn't think that statement could sound anymore clichéd. Wait. What? Did she just quit? She slammed the door to our office.

"Um, are you leaving?" It didn't matter to me if she was leaving or not. To be honest, I could swear she was stealing office supplies.

"Yeah," she sounded serious. "I can't stand this mother fucking place for one more day. Can you believe they think I'm stealing office supplies?" Uh, yeah, I could.

"Well I guess this is goodbye." She was slamming in lots of company property into the cardboard box with the rest of her personal belongings. She definitely wasn’t a thief.

"Yeah, I guess so kid." Did she just call me kid? I was like only ten years younger than her.

"See you around, Jen" I said, although not entirely sympathetic to her situation. I mean, she was stealing office supplies and she could lie to herself all she wanted to. It didn’t change the fact that she was, in fact, a crook.

"Bye," she said. As she left our office, closing the door behind her, I realized we had a project due in two days. Shit.

I had to talk to my boss, Mrs. Carey. I needed an extension on that due date. It was no way I could finish it in time. Maybe I could, but only if I worked myself to death.

I walked up to her office and knocked on the door. "Sorry to bother you Mrs. Carey, but I really need to talk to you."

"Yes, of course!" She seemed awfully cheerful for someone who just lost an employee.

"Well, Jen is well, gone now. And I was wondering if I could have an extension on that project since I'm doing it alone now."

"Yes you may have a one week extension, but you won't be working on it alone." She sighed. "I knew for quite some time Ms. Bradley was stealing from us. I have been interviewing replacements for two weeks now." She smiled. "Your new co-worker will be in tomorrow. So you just tell him what it is you need him to do." She picked up a piece of paper. "His name is Adam Lobel, and he has recently graduated from college." She set it down. "I feel he is much more qualified for this job than Ms. Bradley."

"Oh, thank you." So it was a guy. I hoped he would be nice.

Before Jen began working here there was a guy I worked with. He wasn't gay, but he treated me like crap. He got fired for misconduct and harassment. He actually picked on me! I know what you're thinking, but he was pretty big and I couldn't fight at all. He'd knock my stuff over or spill coffee on my papers. He was trying to make me look bad.

Mrs. Carey really understood my dilemma when I asked for a new partner. She was such a sweet woman. That was when Jen started. He got moved from being my partner to some other guy, Isaiah Carey. She actually saw his coffee trick and fired him on the spot.

Like I said before, I hoped the new guy was nice. I really needed a cool partner. I couldn't take anymore cleptos or jerks.