Page 131 of Deacon

Rory snorted from the hall. “Bold claim from a man who’s been here less than a day.”

Garrett looked past me toward her. “You think I can’t do both?”

Rory crossed her arms. “I think if you try it with the wrong person in this building, you’ll lose a hand.”

Ronan’s dry voice floated up the stairs. “If you’re lucky.”

Garrett laughed without a trace of embarrassment. Ink watched him for a beat longer than necessary before looking away. That caught my attention more than Garrett’s flirting did.

I let enough silence settle to pull the focus back where it belonged. “Flirt all you want out there. In here, you work. That clear?”

Garrett’s eyes came back to me. “Clear.”

“Good.”

He glanced at his duffel, then around the room. “So what’s the real rule?”

I waited.

“The one nobody puts in the speech,” he said. “Every shop’s got one.”

Vise had come to the bottom of the stairs. He answered before I could. “Don’t make trouble for the people under this roof,” he said.

Garrett looked down toward him.

Vise took another drink of water. “You need the rest explained, you’re probably not smart enough to work here.”

That caught Garrett enough that his laugh sounded less polished. “Noted.”

Vise wasn’t wrong. Respect the people under the roof and most of the rest handled itself.

Garrett sat on the edge of the bed. “Alright then. Work hard. No bullshit. Don’t start trouble I can’t finish.”

Rory crossed her arms. “You say that like startin’ trouble you can finish is still on the table.”

Garrett tipped his head toward her. “Depends how boring the week gets.”

Rory gave him a cold, assessing look. Garrett could figure that one out on his own.

I pushed away from the frame. “Settle in. Tomorrow we run you through the rest.”

He looked up. “Appreciate it.”

I nodded and headed downstairs with Ink beside me. We made it halfway down before I said, “You don’t like him.”

Ink’s mouth tightened. “Didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

He shot me a look. “You always this invested in my face?”

“When your face gets that flat, yeah.”

Back on the shop floor, Rory had returned to the counter and Ronan to his bay. Vise stood near the supply cabinet like he’d never moved. Ink looked toward the stairs once. “I don’t know him.”

“That usually doesn’t bother you.”

“No,” he said after a beat. “It doesn’t.”