Ethanfinished pouring his coffee and carried it over to the desk cluttered withpapers and parts. Lowering himself into his chair, he lifted his ball cap andscratched his head before dropping it back in place. “I’m gonna work. What thehell did you think I was going to do?”
“Youknow what I mean. You can lay off being a dick. I’m not here to give you a hardtime.”
“Whythe hellareyou here then?” It wasn’t like any of his brothers stoppedby just to shoot the shit. Granted, Ethan saw them several times a week, butthat was usually at his parents’ house or at Moonshiners.
“Oh,yeah, that.” Zane smirked. “Zoey’s in labor.”
“Whatthe hell!” Ethan bolted up out of his chair, knocking over his coffee cup inthe process. “Son of a fucking bitch.”
“Chill,bro. You need to calm the fuck down, you know that?”
Ethanwas too busy grabbing napkins and throwing them at the spill to respond.Probably a good thing for Zane too because Ethan wasn’t in the mood to put upwith his cocky ass attitude. It was only eight thirty in the morning and he’dbeen working for three hours already. He was tired and yes, he was in a foulfucking mood.
Oncehe mopped up the mess, he grabbed his keys and his wallet from the desk drawer,took his Stetson off the hat rack on the wall and tossed his ball cap on thedesk. “What the hell are you waiting for? Are they at the hospital?”
“Yup,”Zane grinned as he got to his feet slowly, obviously testing Ethan’s patience.
“Youcoming?” Ethan asked, not bothering to look back at his younger brother. If heweren’t so damn tired, he’d put Zane in a headlock and take him to the groundlike he’d done more times than he could count when they were kids. They werepretty well matched in height and weight now, but Ethan was confident he coulddo it. The idea put a smile on his face for the first time that day.
“Meetyou there,” Zane hollered over his shoulder as he raced to his Jeep. “Don’tworry, we’ll be there when your slow ass gets there.”
Ethanwould’ve responded with a “fuck off” but Zane was jumping in his Jeep andpeeling out of the gravel lot before he had the chance.
Assoon as he was behind the wheel, Ethan grabbed his cell phone and hit Zane’snumber. When his brother picked up, he said, “What hospital are they at,jackass?”
Hewas answered by a rumbling chuckle. “St. David’s in Round Rock. Need me to waitfor you?”
“I’llsee you there,” he snarled and hung up the phone. And yes, Ethan had to giveZane credit, he did have another smile on his face. Brief, but visible.
Twentyminutes later, Ethan’s mood had darkened once again. That’s what happened whenhe was left with too much time to think.
Witha forced smile on his face, he strolled into the Labor and Delivery waitingroom, searching for a family member. Any family member. He spotted Travis, Gageand Kylie first. They were sitting on a couch on the far side of the roomagainst a wall of windows, looking like the loving, attentive threesome thatEthan knew them to be. Odd how they appeared to be cast with halo’s from thesun shining in behind them.
You’relosing it, Walker.
Tryingto ignore the irritating voice in his head, Ethan headed in their direction. Ashe made his way over, he caught a glimpse of Zane standing in a corner besideV, who was sitting in a chair talking to Beau Bennett.
Aftera quick head nod as acknowledgement, he made a point not to look their wayagain. With the smirk on Zane’s face, Ethan knew his little brother was stilltrying to piss him off. That’s what Zane did. It irritated the shit out of him.Still, every time Ethan thought about the pain in the ass he knew his brotheraimed to be, Ethan was still glad to have Zane back to his old ornery self.After the attack that Zane endured a year ago, Ethan had promised himself – andGod – that he would be as tolerant as possible as long as Zane would pullthrough.
“Hey,”Ethan greeted Travis quietly as he approached. “How is she?”
“Allis good,” Kylie assured him with a grin. “A nurse came out a few minutes ago.She said it shouldn’t be long.”
“Where’sMom and Dad?” Ethan asked Kylie since she seemed to be the only one in a chattymood.
Thistime Travis was the one to answer with a swift tilt of his chin toward theother side of the room. Looking back over his shoulder, Ethan saw his parentssitting side by side in an alcove, his father’s arm around his mother’s slendershoulders. They were huddled close together laughing as they flipped throughwhat appeared to be a photo album. Probably Kaleb’s if he had to guess.
Ethanscanned the room looking for the twins and Sawyer, but he didn’t see any ofthem. As he was turning back to face Travis, he couldn’t resist the urge tolook at Beau. They made eye contact, and there was that damned rush ofadrenaline that lit Ethan up from the inside.
Hetried not to notice how imposing Beau looked, just sitting innocently in achair talking to V, muscles relaxed. Or how good he looked with that blackStetson tipped low on his head, blond hair peeking out from behind his ears,angular jaw and slightly crooked nose making his face as beautiful as it wasrugged.
Promptlyturning away, he ordered his brain to focus on the reason he was here. It damnsure wasn’t to ogle Beau. Ever since New Year’s Eve at the resort, he hadmanaged to successfully put distance between them, seeing Beau only whenabsolutely unavoidable. And after all that hard work to stay away, he woulddefinitely not be going there again.
Hewas there for more important things. Like the new baby that Zoey and Kaleb wereabout to have.
Holyfuck, he was going to be an uncle.
Oddly,the idea of becoming an uncle was the equivalent of being told he’d just beenelected president. He felt bigger all of a sudden, like he could take on theworld, and he had no idea why.
