“Lucas,” Bennett said in warning.
“What?” Lucas turned toward the window, looking out at the parking lot.
Bennett closed his eyes and sighed. “Please, eat.”
Lucas turned and glared, before drawing his plate to him once again. He ate without a word.
Bennett sighed.
Ramsey chuckled. “Looks like you have your hands full, Brother.”
Lucas met Ramsey’s gaze and that was all it took to make the two friends. Ramsey winked and suddenly Bennett was the bad guy in the whole stupid thing. Lucas’ smile died when he turned to Bennett.
“You will apologize to Sage later today,” Ramsey clearly wanted to make sure his instructions were followed.
“I’ll do it before I leave here.”
“You also have two weeks to either move in with Bennett or our mother.” Ramsey held up two fingers. “The choice is yours, but you will not live by yourself for longer than that. It won’t take the vampires long to figure out you’re here and once they do, you’ll be easy to catch without Bennett nearby.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Lucas said.
Chapter Eleven
Bennett was pleased with Lucas’ work. His little mate had taken the initiative and after less than a week, he had rearranged the office in such a way that made it more efficient and accessible to customers. Customers bringing their boats in for repairs had to enter the office first.
He had found a beat-up bar-type counter in a shed out back. Lucas had dragged it into the office and used it as a counter-slash-divider so that was the first thing the customers saw upon entering. He’d even cleaned the counter up, staining it and fixing all the little scars. Then he’d put a couple of signs on the garage doors, directing customers to the side entrance which led them into the office.
Already Bennett was interrupted less by customers, either in person or on the phone. Lucas made sure he didn’t, and it made a big difference in Bennett’s daily production. By the end of the week, Lucas instinctively knew what was important and what was not in Bennett’s world.
Bennett was impressed that Lucas even knew how to do all of that. He knew better than to say as much, though. Most likely Lucas would take offense.
He longed for the small bits of interaction Lucas gave him, even if he did keep it all business. Every time Lucas looked at him, it was with a steely resolve.
There were moments when Lucas didn’t think Bennett was paying attention that the longing would appear, but that wasn’t often enough.
Four days, and every second drove Bennett crazy, which put him in a bad mood. He almost snapped at Lucas yesterday, but restrained himself at the last minute.
They moved around each other with a tense silence, which seemed to eat away at the small connection between them by slow degrees. Bennett’s dragon roared in frustration, just a little bit louder with each passing day. He wasn’t even sure if Lucas was really all that mad anymore or if he’d grown comfortable with the avoidance tactics.
Bennett was bound and determined to rectify the situation, even if it meant apologizing. Again. For the seventh time. Yes, seven times.
And all Lucas would say was, “we’ll fight all the time. I can already tell.” He’d roll his eyes and walk away.
If saying the same words over and over again weren’t working, he had to come up with something else. Problem was, words weren’t really his forte, but he had a feeling Lucas liked them a lot when they were pretty and truthful at the same time. Bennett had had his work cut out for him, until about a half-hour ago, when he’d finally figured out what he was going to say to Lucas that might help their situation.
That morning Bennett had noticed Lucas looking at him with heat in his eyes as if the separation was getting to be too much. Bennett had even caught him fanning himself a couple of times as if the lust hefelt was making his body heat up. So it seemed like the right time to implement his plan.
Bennett wiped his hands on a rag and walked out of his garage into his house, knowing Lucas was in there somewhere since he wasn’t in the garage with him. Lucas had a habit of cleaning up after Bennett when there was nothing else to do, as if it was part of his job description, which it wasn’t.
He found Lucas in the kitchen, making sandwiches for them both. Again, something else he didn’t have to do.
“Lucas,” Bennett said quietly as he sat down.
“What?” Lucas never even turned. Lucas’ brow shone with sweat.
“Can we talk? This is getting ridiculous.”
Lucas shrugged.
