“Where’sBlake?”
Whydid Ethan get the impression Jared already knew the answer to that question?
“Hellif I know.”
“Whyhasn’t he turned in a time card for the last two weeks?”
Damn.Had it already been two weeks since Blake quit?
Well,at least he knew what had tipped Jared off. Ethan was a salaried employee, butBlake had been hourly during his short stint with the company. Considering theguy had barely put in thirty hours a week, that was a blessing in itself.
“Didyou ask him?” Ethan challenged snidely, propping himself on the edge of Kaleb’sold desk and staring back at Jared with the same determination he feltbroadcasting from his cousin.
Thisconversation was not going to end well. He could feel it.
“How’sthe backlog coming?” Jared asked, that pencil tapping double time now, asthough all of the energy Jared was masking had to come out somewhere and hishand had been the chosen extremity.
“I’mgetting there,” Ethan stated sternly, his arms crossed over his chestdefensively.
Andhe really was getting there. He’d been working eighteen hours a day for thelast week, but he was finally catching up. He felt like shit, but he was atleast taking care of his responsibilities.
“Youneed to hire some help.” Jared had that same authoritative demeanor that Travishad. The one that made Ethan instantly want to argue.
Hehad to remember this was business, not personal. And Jared was his new boss, whichmeant Ethan didn’t have to see him but once a week, usually. If he could justget through this conversation, he’d get back to the shop, and he could forgetit ever happened.
“Don’tneed help.”
“Bullshit,Ethan,” Jared snapped, flying forward in his chair, his elbows slamming down onthe desk in front of him hard enough to rattle all those damn pens in the cup.
Ethandidn’t fight the urge to roll his eyes. Did this guy not realize he had spentthe last ten years putting up with Travis’ mood swings and his constant need tobark out orders?
“Hiresomeone or I’m going to do it for you.”
“That’snot your fucking job,” Ethan ground out, his face heating with his anger.
“Careful,”Jared warned, his eyes narrowing as he glared back at him. “Hire someone or I’mputting an ad in the paper, and I’ll get someone in there in a matter ofhours.”
Ok,so Ethan could tolerate a lot of shit. He could put up with someone elserunning the business and offering him their input. What he couldn’t toleratewas someone telling him what the fuck he needed to do.
Pushingto his full height, Ethan half expected Jared to stand, but he didn’t. He knewJared wasn’t intimidated by him like most men were, but it irked the shit outof him that his cousin was going to sit there like a fucking pussy.
“Yourun this side of things, leave the shop to me,” Ethan instructed him, venomdripping from every word.
“Irun the whole fucking thing, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Ethantook two steps forward and leaned over Jared’s desk. “You run this side ofthings,” he reiterated more slowly. “Leave. The. Fucking. Shop. To. Me.”
Withthat, Ethan turned and walked away, sucking air in through his nose and outthrough his mouth in an effort to keep from hitting something.
Stormingout of the office, he slammed the door behind him before making his way over tothe Walker Demo truck he had used to come over to the office. He did not wantto hire someone else to fucking work with him. He liked being alone, and hedidn’t need the help.
Shit.
Blakehad been ideal until the jackass had to go and get all possessive on him. Whythe hell did people have to make things so damned complicated?
Ethanjumped in the truck and peeled out of the parking lot, sending gravel flying,pinging off the side of the metal building. It didn’t make him feel any better,and the one minute drive back to the shop didn’t do much to cool his tempereither.
Oncehe parked, Ethan took a deep breath before dropping his head on the steeringwheel. He knew he needed to do something to release some of the pressure thatwas building up inside of him, but he had no idea what might possibly help.
