“Hey,E. I need a favor.”
Ethanrecognized Zane’s voice right off. “What’s that?”
“Beauneeds a flatbed to come get his toolbox at Dillinger’s. They let him go, and heneeds to get it out of there. I’ve got a meeting with Travis, which I’m latefor, by the way. You think you could take the wrecker over there?”
Justthe mention of Beau’s name made Ethan’s heart slam against his ribs. Turningslowly, he took a deep breath. Wanting to avoid an argument, Ethan decided tomake this easy on Zane. And himself. The lesser of two evils and all that.“Yeah. Let him know I’m on my way.”
Ethanhung up the phone, grabbed a coffee mug and filled it before walking out to theshop to retrieve the wrecker keys from the locked box on the wall. He tried tohurry, not wanting to give himself too much time to think this through. Whatwas the saying?No good deed goes unpunished?Yeah, that was it. Ethangot the feeling he was about to learn exactly what that meant.
Oncehe was outside, the icy February wind sent a chill right through thelightweight shirt Ethan had on. Damn, he’d forgotten his jacket again too.Looking forward to the heater in the truck, he made quick work of locking themain door and then went around the side of the building to the wrecker.
Managingto block the brunt of the wind by closing himself inside the wrecker, Ethantwisted the key over and flipped the heater on full blast. After scrubbing hishands together to warm them, he twisted to glance behind him as he backed thegiant flatbed truck down the short gravel driveway.
Itwasn’t until Ethan hit the main road, about ten minutes from his destination,that he noticed a familiar truck in his rearview mirror.Fucking hell.What the hell was Blake doing following him? Ethan didn’t even ponder theanswer to that question. Shit, half the time he didn’t know why Blake didanything he did. But, considering how possessive Blake had been lately, Ethanshouldn’t have been surprised.
Ashe drove, Ethan recalled the last conversation he’d had with Blake two weeksago, the morning Blake had quit:
“You’relate,” Ethan muttered when Blake walked through the open bay door at seven. Justthe day before, they had agreed on six being the starting time so they couldcut out early in the afternoon. Apparently, Blake didn’t intend to work a fullday. Not that he ever did.
“Yup,”Blake offered enthusiastically. “Don’t deny it, you just missed me.”
Ethanheld his tongue, not wanting to let the nasty response slip out of his mouth.He wasn’t in the mood to argue. There was too much to do, not enough time, andthe last thing he intended to do was spend the morning fighting with Blake.
“Whatdo you want me to work on this morning, boss man?” Blake called out as heheaded into the office, probably looking for coffee. Too bad Ethan hadn’t madeany yet that morning. The guy deserved it, considering Blake knew just how muchEthan hated being called that.
Waitfor it… wait for it…
“Where’sthe coffee, E?”
Thereit was.
Ethandidn’t respond. Wiping his hands on one of the shop towels he kept close by, hereturned to what he was doing and went in search of the file for the truck thathe was working on. The one Blake had taken on a little over a week ago andshould’ve been long gone by now.
“Why’reyou working on that one? Thought you wanted me to do it?” Blake asked, movingin to stand close. Too close.
“You’vegotta show up to work for that to happen,” he mumbled, angry with himself forsaying anything at all.
“Cutme some slack, E,” Blake retorted, snatching the file out of Ethan’s hand.
Ethanrounded on the man, coming face to face as Ethan looked down at Blake. “I’vecut you enough slack. I’ve covered for you when you don’t show up, I’ve handledyour responsibilities when you disappear for days. You don’t give a shit, doyou? You’re just taking advantage of me because you know I can’t sit back andlet it go,” Ethan disputed.
“Me?Taking advantage of you? That’s rich, Ethan. If I recall correctly, you’re theone who keeps saying this thing between us isn’t a real relationship.”
“Fuck,what the hell does that even have to do with it?” Ethan bit out, taking a stepback. “This is work, Blake, not a fucking reunion. I don’t show up here tospend time with you in case you haven’t noticed.” Ethan turned away, took adeep breath. He wasn’t interested in having this conversation and he knewexactly where it was headed.
“Howabout this?” Blake began, his laid-back tone laced with anger. “You admit whatwe’ve got here, and I’ll work when I come in.”
“Sonice of you to offer,” Ethan said, his temperature spiking from the angererupting inside of him. “You fucking get paid toworkhere, Blake. You don’t own the goddamn place, so you’re expected to show up ontime and do what you’re being paid to do.”
“Oh,but you own this place, huh? Yet you’re the fucking saint who shows up everyday and works. Never taking time for yourself. Oh, unless you’re fucking me, isthat it? Perfect little angel, lets his brothers control it all and walk allover you.”
“That’snot the way it works, and you fucking know it,” Ethan yelled.
“You’reright, it’s not. Not anymore.” Blake turned and stalked off, but before Ethancould breathe a sigh of relief, he was back.
“Iwant to take this to the next level,” Blake said firmly.
Beforethis was over, Ethan was going to have whiplash. Was he talking about workagain? Probably not.
