Chapter 28

"Papi?" I opened my eyes to Juan's worried face. "What did you do to Sweetcakes? He can't even walk!"

"You'd have to see it to believe it, baby." I grinned and pulled his face closer for a kiss. "What time is it?" I asked.

"Almost seven. Dinner is ready when you want it."

"Good." I yawned and stretched. I was almost ready for another round, but if Ivan couldn't walk, I figured I should restrain myself. I sat up and realized I was alone in bed. "Where is Sweetcakes?"

"Bathroom." Juan rolled his eyes. "He insists that he wants to try Zane's cooking before you hire him."

"Ess my job." Ivan said from the bathroom door. "I'm the cook. He's an assistant at best." He moved oddly toward the bed - as if it hurt to bend anywhere.

"I think I may have overdone it, Ivan." I said as he eased himself down.

"I'm ok." He sighed. He chuckled. "Boss, believe me, I know I look bad, but I feel awesome!" He sighed contentedly although he did wince as he bent over to pick up his pants. "Boss, do you mind if I go shower before I come down and see what this kid did in my kitchen?"

I laughed. "Do whatever you need, sweetcakes. I should probably wash my hand."

Ivan nearly hurt himself laughing as he left the room.

"Come on, baby." I got out of bed. "You can bring me up to date while I shower."

By the time I got down to the dining room, everyone else was fully dressed and waiting for me.

I went straight into the kitchen and found Ivan scowling into a pot.

"Problems?" I asked. "We can always order pizza." Ivan and Zane both glared at me. "Ivan, critique it after. I'm hungry; feed me." I left the room before he could respond and sat at the table. "Alright, boys. What did you wreck around here today?"

"We had an idea for the pool." Yann started.

"Is it cheap?"

"Not if we do it right."

I sighed. "How much?"

"Well, we haven't gotten that far yet." Yann shrugged. "We wanted to see if you liked it before we got that far."

"It costs money." I snorted. "I don't like it."

Ivan and Zane showed up finally with something that smelled pretty good to me. Zane started to tell us what it was but Ivan stopped him.

"If they like it, it's good. If they don't, they don't."

"Yeah, but what if someone doesn't like..."

Ivan chuckled. "These guys eat what I feed them or they don't eat."

"I'm sure as hell not cooking." Juan snickered. "You just need to learn to make paella."

"I don't do fish." Ivan countered. Yann and Sean snickered.

"I can make paella." Zane offered as he and Ivan sat. Ivan ate; Zane did not.

"You're hired." Juan said.

"Stop teasing the kid, baby." Yann tossed a green bean at Juan. "That's not funny when you need a job bad."

"Who's teasing?" Juan looked at me. "I vote yes."

"Yeah?" I gave him a stern frown and he stuck his tongue out at me. "Well your vote doesn't count."

"Whose does?" Zane asked.

"Mine." I said.

It took Zane a couple seconds to realize that no one else spoke up. "Oh. So you're Mr. Jons? I'm sorry; I didn't realize -"

"I didn't want you to. And drop that 'Mr Jons' crap. I'm just John."

"Or Boss." Sean added.

"Or Papi." Juan giggled.

"Behave, Baby." Ivan admonished. "If he hires you, you will call him Boss."

"Ok." Zane looked a bit leery for the first time in all this. "So, uh, all of you work and live here?"

"Yeah. It's quite nice, actually." Sean said. "It's not like a normal job. You're on call all the time. And we do everything. I mean, I'm a programmer, but last month, I had to help Greedy with the yard work."