“Differenceof opinion,” Ethan muttered, and Beau could’ve sworn he heard something alongthe lines of “bastard” following the statement.
Thatwas promising.
Thesimple answer didn’t fool him either. Beau figured their differences didn’thave a damn thing to do with how they fixed cars. He wasn’t going to mentionthat to Ethan though. He knew, based on the look in Ethan’s eyes that his inputwasn’t warranted.
Atthe risk of repeating himself, Beau asked, “You working to get someone else inthere to help out?”
Beauknew that since Zane’s departure from Walker Demo, Ethan had been workingovertime just to take care of the work that piled up. With Blake, at leastEthan had the potential for a little bit of a life outside of work. Not thatEthan would’ve taken time off anyway. As far as Beau knew, Ethan enjoyed workinghimself into the ground. That was another thing they had in common. Seemed thatkeeping busy was one of the surest ways to force the demons that haunted youaway.
“Notlooking for any help,” Ethan said tersely, but didn’t walk away which was agood sign.
Beaufound Ethan to be one of the most difficult of the brothers to start aconversation with, but he knew it only took a few minutes before Ethan wouldsettle down. He was always wary, so Beau had come to expect it from him.
“Workslow?” he asked.
“No.”The answer was straightforward, yet it still didn’t tell Beau anything.
Figuringhe wasn’t going to get far with Ethan, he shrugged his shoulders as he turnedaway. “Well, if you ever need help, just give me a shout. I’ve got some freetime these days if you need me to pitch in.”
Beauliked the way Ethan stared back at him in disbelief. Like he had no idea whatBeau was talking about. Since Beau was a mechanic, he could’ve easily made theoffer more specific, but for some reason, he liked the idea of leaving Ethanoff kilter. The man needed something to shake him up, and he knew that chasingafter Ethan wasn’t going to be in his best interest.
Pursuinghim, letting him know he was interested… that was one thing. Chasing him… well,that just wreaked of desperation and, well, Beau certainly wanted Ethan, but hedamn sure wasn’t desperate.
Whenan opening formed between the bodies in the hall, Beau moved forward, notlooking back at Ethan. As tempting as it was to stand there and talk for aslong as he could wrangle a response out of Ethan, Beau refused to be that guy.
Hewanted Ethan, sure. But he wasn’t going to make it easy on him. They’d alreadypaved the road, it would just take some time to get down it. Based on what hehad witnessed, and the way Ethan was trying to punish him, Beau knew it wasjust a matter of time.
Easingup to the window, Beau glanced at the tiny little form wrapped in a little blueblanket. The only thing visible on the precious little boy was his miniaturenose, and his small lips pursed together as he slept.
Beaugrinned. Zoey and Kaleb certainly had created a miracle.
Glancingdown at his watch, he realized the morning was rapidly passing him by, and hetruly needed to get to work. Not that his boss would particularly mind. Rightnow, obviously opposite of Walker Demolition, business was a little slow atDillinger Automotive, and since he worked for a small, family-owned shop, hewas just extra help although he was the most tenured mechanic they had. Hell,half the time he was theonlymechanic they had.
However,one of the problems with working for family businesses, if you weren’t part ofthe family, you were low man on the totem pole. Not that Beau honestly cared.He went in for a paycheck, the rest didn’t interest him in the least.
Witha quick glance behind him, Beau noticed Ethan watching him. Offering the man asmall smile, he gave himself a mental pat on the back as he walked away. If hecould figure out a way to keep playing it cool, he might just win this game.
Chapter Three
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Two weeks later…
“Youwanted to see me?” Ethan mumbled when he stepped inside the main office ofWalker Demolition at eight thirty in the morning. Not that the cramped metalbuilding was much of an office, but for years his brothers had managed to makeit work.
Nowthat Sawyer, Travis, and Kaleb had moved over to the fancy new resort offices,the only things that remained in the small area were three desks, two of whichwere empty. The other was occupied by Jared, Ethan’s cousin, who hadpractically dropped out of the sky on New Year’s Day and landed smack dab inthe middle of Walker Demolition.
Jaredhadn’t wasted a minute, settling right into the role that Travis laid out forhim. And now, Jared had the entire office to himself. Not that he had enoughpersonal effects to even stake his claim on the desk he had commandeered as hisown much less the office.
Theonly thing on the chipped wooden surface was a laptop computer, opened, twoplastic trays that had papers neatly stacked in them, a notebook filled with chickenscratch on the visible page and a cup full of pens.
Simple.Basic.
Sortof like the guy.
Ethanadmitted, he didn’t know Jared all that well. Although the Walker family wasclose, and they spent a lot of time with extended family, he hadn’t seen Jaredin years. Whether that was his own fault or Jared’s, Ethan wasn’t sure. But heknew now was not going to be the time to have a heart to heart because… well,because Ethan wasn’t interested in opening up to anyone. Now, or ever.
“So…”Ethan was already uncomfortable and he hadn’t been inside for more than aminute. For some reason, the way Jared was staring at him made him feelextremely uneasy. The guy was leaning back in his chair, the eraser end of hispencil tapping against his cleanly shaven chin, those blue-gray eyes thatapparently every Walker male had were staring intensely over the computerscreen at him.
