Beauhad to wonder why so far away. He was sure there were plenty of acceptabletattoo artists in Austin. Not that he was going to question Ethan because thatwould likely put a damper on the tension free moment they were sharing.
“Youwant to get a tattoo?”
“Yeah.”
“Whatare you waiting for?”
“Nothin’.Just need to know the place to go to get it.”
“Houston’sfar for you to go.”
“Notreally. Not if you’re up for a road trip.” Beau had absolutely no idea wherethat proposition came from, but when Ethan’s appeared to be thinking it over,he decided to run with it. “What do you say we sneak out of here for a coupleof days?” Before Ethan could argue, Beau held up his hand to stave off thecomment. “I know, I know. We’ve got work to do here, but you have to admit,getting away for a couple of days does sound like a good idea.”
Heknew he was pushing just a little, but Ethan appeared to be warming to theidea. Maybe getting away from this place would help him to let go of some ofthe tension that had been eating at him lately. Likely the reason for thenightmare, although Beau fully intended to find out more about that. Just notnow.
“Youwant to go to Houston?” Ethan asked, sounding as though he needed Beau toconfirm the idea was his.
Hecould certainly do that.
“Yeah.”
“Allright then.” Ethan glanced around the room. “But I have to be back bySaturday.”
“That’sright, you’ve got a babysitting gig,” Beau joked.
“You’redamn right I do,” Ethan replied. “And I sure as hell won’t be missing it.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
??
Ethanwas ready to close up shop within fifteen minutes. He’d never done that before,never stopped working in the middle of the week, but he needed this. Beau’splan to get away from it all, even briefly, was the only option at this point.Either that, or he was going to take out his misery on Beau, and even if theyweren’t permanent or long term, he didn’t want to hurt him. Admittedly, he wasdeveloping feelings for Beau – strong ones – and the idea of hurting him didn’tsit well.
Andworst case, at least he’d have these memories to fall back on later.
“I’mgonna head home and get some stuff. I’ll pick you up at your house in an hour.That work?” Beau asked as they stepped out of the shop before Ethan locked thedoor behind them.
“Allright.”
Withthat, Ethan watched Beau walk away. That’s when it dawned on him that he wasstarting to treat this like a relationship. The problem was… he couldn’t figureout if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
OnEthan’s way home, he had to pass by the main office and he noticed Jared’struck out front.Shit.He truly needed to stop in and give him a headsup as to where he’d be. Not that he cared to explain his whereabouts withanyone, but he knew Jared would fly off the handle if he wasn’t made aware.Hell, he’d probably be in an uproar anyway, but that was out of Ethan’s controlat the moment.
Theleast he could do was warn the guy.
Parkingnext to the Walker Demo truck that Kaleb had passed on to Jared, Ethan took histime getting out of the truck. The wind had died down somewhat, but the dayhadn’t warmed up much at all. Which was a little surprising consideringFebruary in Texas was hit or miss, but it wasn’t usually this cold.
Hestepped into the Walker Demo office only to hear Jared arguing with someone.Not wanting to walk right in the line of fire, he peeked in the door andnoticed Jared on the phone. At least he hadn’t walked into the middle ofsomething.
“Sable,I don’t have time for this shit,” Jared snapped, leaning back in his chair.
Sable.Ex-wife.
Ethanknew from the stories he had heard that the two of them didn’t get along. Basedon the inflection in Jared’s voice, the rumor seemed to be true. Figuring Jaredwould see him sooner or later, Ethan made his appearance known and nodded whenJared glanced up at him.
“I’vegot to go.” Clearly not waiting for a response, Jared slammed his finger on thephone screen and then tossed his cell on his desk. “What do you want?”
“Well,good fucking afternoon to you too.”
