“Who the fuck are you calling kid? You’re maybe two years older than me.”
“Then why do I feel like your daddy? Because you act like a teenager. Quit with the moods and get to fucking work. It’s a job, not recess, dickwad.”
Ouch. Smitty could be the king of put-downs, and he insulted in a calm, low voice that could be all the more annoying because he didn’t seem to care whether you got mad or not.
“Fuck you.”
“Oh, that hurts.” Smitty snorted. “Look, you’re not half bad at the job. You know what you’re doing, mostly. So what the hell is the problem? Mateo comes, does the job, goes home. Same with me. Same with Heller.”
“Please.” Rylan gave an angry laugh.
Axel tensed.
“The boss is one snarl away from going rabid. The guy is either quiet or pissed off with no in-between.”
Smitty said sharply, “And he’s your boss, you dumb shit. How many guys do you know who’d offer an ex-con a job with the way you’ve been acting?”
“No, that’s not it. You don’t hate me because I was in jail. Tell the truth.”
Smitty’s loud sigh echoed in the otherwise quiet bay. “I don’t hate you at all, Rylan.”
“You fucking do.” Rylan swore. “Fuck, Iknowyou do. You saw me. Outside that bar with that guy.”
What?Axel stood and crossed the room to peer through the slats in the blinds.
Rylan and Smitty were so focused on each other they didn’t spare a glance back at the office.
Smitty scrubbed his hair. “Look, Rylan, I don’t care who you fuck or where. I mean, not here. It’s the shop. But what does that—”
“I knew it! So I was getting some action. I’m not a fag. I was just hard up, that’s all.” Rylan sounded panicked. “I’m not gay.”
Smitty’s fists clenched. “Okay, that’s it.” He stalked Rylan, but instead of pounding the guy, he shoved him up against the wall with little effort.
Axel watched, impressed. Smitty in a mad was nothing to play with. The guy had muscle and knew how to use it. And he’d done his share of time behind bars long ago. Rylan didn’t corner the market on mistakes.
“Let’s get this straight,” Smitty enunciated very clearly. “You think I’m anti-gay and that I hate, and I quote, ‘fags.’”
Rylan blinked a lot. “Y-yeah.” A big guy himself, he seemed awfully weak in the face of Smitty’s anger.
Smitty just held him there, Rylan up on his tiptoes. “You’re a prick, you know that?Fagis not a nice word. You say it again in this shop or anywhere around me, I’ll fucking knock your head off.”
“But—”
“Second,I’m gay,you asshole. You want to get a blowjob against the wall of a scummy bar? That’s up to you. But I could give you a ton of other, cleaner places to go to get some action.” Then he leaned forward and planted a kiss on Rylan’s mouth that left Axel speechless.
That he hadn’t been expecting at all.
“And third, you’re cute. A dumbass, but you’d rock a leather harness. You figure out what you want to use that dick for instead of stepping all over it, you let me know.” He moved back, and Rylan sagged against the wall. “Bitch, quit acting like the world revolves around you and your sexual proclivities and get to work. We’re all about professional, and the clock starts now.”
Smitty turned on the radio and went about his day as if he hadn’t just kissed his coworker against the wall.
Axel turned and went back to his seat, laughing to himself. That had been one huge can of worms he hadn’t had to deal with, at least.Well, now, do I leave the office and pretend nothing happened, or do I say something?
Awkward.
“Hello. We are looking for Axel Heller?” That voice he recognized. Maksim.
“My son,” came another voice.
