Page 13 of He's the One

More to the point, Col was out of bounds. Theo’s mother would do the job the stone had failed to do if he even mentioned the wordgayto her again, let alone if he was seen making eyes at one of the stonemasons.

Oh shit. Dick Dastardly had!He wouldn’t do anything, would he? Of course he would.He’d seize any opportunity to make trouble for Theo.

Sometimes my life sucks. And not in a fun way.

Chapter Three

As Col worked, he kept thinking about the Asquith employee he’d pushed to safety. Theo was cute and skinny with floppy dark hair, a pale face and big, soft grey eyes, and nicely, if a bit weirdly, spoken. He looked little more than a teenager. Not Col’s type, but then maybe he shouldn’t think in terms of having a type because Robert wasn’t the only arsehole he’d gone out with. Col tended to go for alpha males, partly because he thought he liked being told what to do, that having someone else make decisions was a good thing, but now he didn’t know what he wanted.No one like Robert.

He’d liked Theo. Cute and cheeky though he had an arsehole of a boss in that sharp suit who talked as if he was in a period drama.Was he the owner of Asquith?If he was Theo’s boss, then he probably was. It had been obvious what had happened and the guy hadn’t cared at all. Why had he accepted Theo’s excuse that he’d tripped when the broken stone lay in front of him? Why had Theo even said that he’d tripped?

Why haven’t I seen either of them before?Well, he knew the answer to that. For the entire time he’d been working at Asquith, he’d been stuck indoors rebuilding a staircase. At least it was done now. Col moved down a step and began to correct a small chisel mark, not made by him.

He loved what he did for a living. It had taken him a while to figure out he wanted to be a stonemason. He’d moved from job to job after he’d left school, starting off as a labourer on a building site. He’d learned how to do a bit of bricklaying, plumbing and carpentry, along with a fair amount of gardening. He knew his parents were disappointed he’d not wanted to go to university. So was Dominic. Col had said it was because he couldn’t face more studying, but it had more to do with the debt he’d incur and his wish to save money for his brother. Nothing could interfere with Col’s plan to help Dominic once he was released.

All aspects of stonemasonry were fascinating, though Col had hoped to specialise in carving once he’d completed his apprenticeship. But the company who’d taken him on as a twenty-year-old had gone out of business, which had put paid to that dream. Jobs as carvers were rare. Next best thing was to work as a banker mason, but he’d ended up as a fixer for Frank Nyman, fitting and laying stone prepared by banker masons. Col hoped Frank would eventually give him the chance to prove his worth.

He’d been working for Frank for ten months. His first job had been in central London and he’d met Robert in a pub close to where they were both working. The attraction had been instant.Hmm.Maybe Col needed to be careful of instant attraction. It blinded him to stuff that was more important than looks.

For the last three months, Col had been working inside Asquith Hall, restoring this servants’ staircase with Frank’s son, Andy. Now the staircase was done, all bar this last check that Col was having to do himself. Andy had pulled up next to him in the car park that morning, and told Col he could clean the staircase on his own before he joined the rest of the team on the roof. Andy had lingered a moment as if he’d expected Col to argue. Col hadn’t. He’d locked his battered Volvo and tried not to be jealous of Andy’s Porsche. Unless Andy was being paid a shitload more than him, he hadn’t bought that car himself.

Andy wasn’t as good at the job as Col, even though he had three more years’ experience. As the boss’s son, Andy thought he was entitled to order Col around and because Col didn’t want to cause a fuss, he’d let it happen. Maybe he shouldn’t have. Maybe he should have stuck up for himself more, but he didn’t see the point in fighting battles he couldn’t win. Maybe that had to change too.

It was a shame this staircase had needed rebuilding. All those years of aching feet tramping up and down to wait on those upstairs would have left their mark on the building’s history, wearing the stone and polishing the surface. But the evidence of their toiling feet had gone, taken away to be ground into aggregate. The fire damage to the wing had been extensive, the intense heat causing so much of the brickwork to lose strength and crumble, that architects said it was better to demolish some parts and rebuild.

Col had almost finished and was looking forward to being up on the roof from where he might get a chance to spot Theo, when he noticed a chisel gouge beneath the lip of the lowest step. Andy’s work.

Frank came up just as he’d sorted it.

“Finished?”

“Yes.”

Frank walked all the way to the top of the stairs, then came down slowly, inspecting each step until he reached Col.

“The pair of you have done a good job.”

“Thank you.”

“How badly did Andy cock up?”

Col widened his eyes at the question and Frank laughed.

“Don’t worry. That lad of mine has no patience. He could learn a thing or two from you. The stairs look great. You can join the others on the roof after lunch.”

Col ate in the portacabin with the rest of the team. His mum had made his lunch and put it in a kid’s lunchbox.

Bez took the seat next to him and laughed. “Bob the Builder?”

“It was that or Spiderman. My mum’s work.”

“Lucky you.”

“I’m joining you this afternoon.”

“You’ll be more use than that wanker,” Bez whispered, glancing at Andy. “It was his fault that stone fell.”

“No accident report?”

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