Cold sweat broke over my flesh.
I choked on my own breath.
My heart pounded hard enough to all but break my ribs.
I found you, Lindsey, you bitch. I’m out now, and I’m gonna kill you.
Chapter Two
Brody
“Use your knees when you pick up a heavy load,” I yelled. “Worker’s comp doesn’t pay for stupidity.”
“Actually, it does,” Sammy said. “It wouldn’t be necessary if people weren’t stupid.”
“Accidents still happen,” I grumbled, gesturing for him to follow me into the office trailer. “But my ass gets chewed when they do. I sure don’t need my ass chewed because dimwit strained his back.”
“Safety first.”
“Right.”
At the table where the construction blueprints were laid out and pinned, I traced my finger over the framed house where most of my crew were working. Pushing my hard hat back, I said, “Keep your eye on where Georgie and his guys are pouring the cement for the foundation at this house over here.”
“You don’t think Georgie is doing a good job?”
I made a yea-nay gesture. “I do, sure. But the OSHA inspector is riding the higher ups. That means they’re riding me. Without kissing me first.”
Sammy, my assistant as well as my eyes and ears on a housing project that contained crews of over sixty men, nodded. “You got it, boss. Georgie does tend to take risks he shouldn’t.”
“Not with OSHA watching, anyway,” I replied. “He’s got a gift for getting the most out of his guys, but he takes short cuts. While I doubt the rumor is true, I heard OSHA has a dude undercover here.”
Sammy’s expression morphed from open and mild to disgusted. “Those bozos think the sun shines out their asses. Georgie’s short cuts get the job done and within budget.”
I grinned. “I’m not arguing. Just remind Georgie we’re being watched. Don’t spread it any further, okay? We don’t need all the crews pissy right now.”
“I won’t.”
Sammy offered me a quick salute, then left the trailer. I sat down to further examine the blueprints, yet my mind kept shifting from work problems to Lindsey.That’s one helluva woman there, buckwheat. As flighty as a deer, too.I recalled the shadow I’d seen in her sky-blue eyes, the hint of a past pain that dogs her even now. A pain that might never go away.
Time didn’t heal wounds. It only covered them with scar tissue.
I sure knew all about pain and scars.
As I studied the blueprints, forcing thoughts of Lindsey from my mind, I scribbled notes to myself as a way of a reminder – order cement, call the head honcho, get the architect back on site. I scratched my sweaty head under my hat, frowning over the lists of supplies the workers needed and worried about the budget.
I barely registered the door’s squeak as it opened, half-thinking Sammy returned.
“Hiya, bro.”
Frowning, I glanced up, at first not recognizing the voice.
A man I hadn’t seen for a few years stood at the door. My age, he’d gone to high school with me, we’d played football on the same team. After school, however, our paths diverged.The last I’d heard of him was that he’d been arrested for selling drugs.
“Austin?” I stood, held out my hand. “Been a while, man.”
He hesitated before he took it. Unlike me, he’d let himself go soft. His cheeks had altered to near jowls, his belly bulged under his shirt. His jaw was still squared, covered in dark bristles. He’d loosened his tie at his throat, and sweat stained his white shirt at his armpits.
I didn’t fail to notice the cold gleam in his brown eyes.
