“The hell you’re not,” Ethan alleged, breaking the eye contact and looking down at the floor.
“Just making conversation,” he argued without vehemence. “Why’d he quit?”
“Difference of opinion,” Ethan muttered, and Beau could’ve sworn he heard something along the lines of “bastard” following the statement.
That was promising.
The simple answer didn’t fool him either. Beau figured their differences didn’t have a damn thing to do with how they fixed cars. He wasn’t going to mention that to Ethan though. He knew, based on the look in Ethan’s eyes that his input wasn’t warranted.
At the risk of repeating himself, Beau asked, “You working to get someone else in there to help out?”
Beau knew that since Zane’s departure from Walker Demo, Ethan had been working overtime just to take care of the work that piled up. With Blake, at least Ethan had the potential for a little bit of a life outside of work. Not that Ethan would’ve taken time off anyway. As far as Beau knew, Ethan enjoyed working himself into the ground. That was another thing they had in common. Seemed that keeping busy was one of the surest ways to force the demons that haunted you away.
“Not looking for any help,” Ethan said tersely, but didn’t walk away which was a good sign.
Beau found Ethan to be one of the most difficult of the brothers to start a conversation with, but he knew it only took a few minutes before Ethan would settle down. He was always wary, so Beau had come to expect it from him.
“Work slow?” he asked.
“No.” The answer was straightforward, yet it still didn’t tell Beau anything.
Figuring he wasn’t going to get far with Ethan, he shrugged his shoulders as he turned away. “Well, if you ever need help, just give me a shout. I’ve got some free time these days if you need me to pitch in.”
Beau liked the way Ethan stared back at him in disbelief. Like he had no idea what Beau was talking about. Since Beau was a mechanic, he could’ve easily made the offer more specific, but for some reason, he liked the idea of leaving Ethan off kilter. The man needed something to shake him up, and he knew that chasing after Ethan wasn’t going to be in his best interest.
Pursuing him, letting him know he was interested… that was one thing. Chasing him… well, that just wreaked of desperation and, well, Beau certainly wanted Ethan, but he damn sure wasn’t desperate.
When an opening formed between the bodies in the hall, Beau moved forward, not looking back at Ethan. As tempting as it was to stand there and talk for as long as he could wrangle a response out of Ethan, Beau refused to be that guy.
He wanted Ethan, sure. But he wasn’t going to make it easy on him. They’d already paved the road, it would just take some time to get down it. Based on what he had witnessed, and the way Ethan was trying to punish him, Beau knew it was just a matter of time.
Easing up to the window, Beau glanced at the tiny little form wrapped in a little blue blanket. The only thing visible on the precious little boy was his miniature nose, and his small lips pursed together as he slept.
Beau grinned. Zoey and Kaleb certainly had created a miracle.
Glancing down at his watch, he realized the morning was rapidly passing him by, and he truly needed to get to work. Not that his boss would particularly mind. Right now, obviously opposite of Walker Demolition, business was a little slow at Dillinger Automotive, and since he worked for a small, family-owned shop, he was just extra help although he was the most tenured mechanic they had. Hell, half the time he was the only mechanic they had.
However, one of the problems with working for family businesses, if you weren’t part of the family, you were low man on the totem pole. Not that Beau honestly cared. He went in for a paycheck, the rest didn’t interest him in the least.
With a quick glance behind him, Beau noticed Ethan watching him. Offering the man a small smile, he gave himself a mental pat on the back as he walked away. If he could figure out a way to keep playing it cool, he might just win this game.
Chapter Three
♂♂
Two weeks later…
“You wanted to see me?” Ethan mumbled when he stepped inside the main office of Walker Demolition at eight thirty in the morning. Not that the cramped metal building was much of an office, but for years his brothers had managed to make it work.
Now that Sawyer, Travis, and Kaleb had moved over to the fancy new resort offices, the only things that remained in the small area were three desks, two of which were empty. The other was occupied by Jared, Ethan’s cousin, who had practically dropped out of the sky on New Year’s Day and landed smack dab in the middle of Walker Demolition.
Jared hadn’t wasted a minute, settling right into the role that Travis laid out for him. And now, Jared had the entire office to himself. Not that he had enough personal effects to even stake his claim on the desk he had commandeered as his own much less the office.
The only thing on the chipped wooden surface was a laptop computer, opened, two plastic trays that had papers neatly stacked in them, a notebook filled with chicken scratch on the visible page and a cup full of pens.
Simple. Basic.
Sort of like the guy.
Ethan admitted, he didn’t know Jared all that well. Although the Walker family was close, and they spent a lot of time with extended family, he hadn’t seen Jared in years. Whether that was his own fault or Jared’s, Ethan wasn’t sure. But he knew now was not going to be the time to have a heart to heart because… well, because Ethan wasn’t interested in opening up to anyone. Now, or ever.
“So…” Ethan was already uncomfortable and he hadn’t been inside for more than a minute. For some reason, the way Jared was staring at him made him feel extremely uneasy. The guy was leaning back in his chair, the eraser end of his pencil tapping against his cleanly shaven chin, those blue-gray eyes that apparently every Walker male had were staring intensely over the computer screen at him.
“Where’s Blake?”
Why did Ethan get the impression Jared already knew the answer to that question?
“Hell if I know.”
“Why hasn’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, but Blake had been hourly during his short stint with the company. Considering the guy had barely put in thirty hours a week, that was a blessing in itself.
“Did you ask him?” Ethan challenged snidely, propping himself on the edge of Kaleb’s old desk and staring back at Jared with the same determination he felt broadcasting from his cousin.
This conversation was not going to end well. He could feel it.
“How’s the backlog coming?” Jared asked, that pencil tapping double time now, as though all of the energy Jared was masking had to come out somewhere and his hand had been the chosen extremity.
“I’m getting there,” Ethan stated sternly, his arms crossed over his chest defensively.
And he really was getting there. He’d been working eighteen hours a day for the last week, but he was finally catching up. He felt like shit, but he was at least taking care of his responsibilities.
“You need to hire some help.” Jared had that same authoritative demeanor that Travis had. The one that made Ethan instantly want to argue.
He had to remember this was business, not personal. And Jared was his new boss, which meant Ethan didn’t have to see him but once a week, usually. If he could just get through this conversation, he’d get back to the shop, and he could forget it ever happened.
“Don’t need help.”
“Bullshit, Ethan,” Jared snapped, flying forward in his chair, his elbows slamming down on the desk in front of him hard enough to rattle all those damn pens in the cup.
Ethan didn’t fight the urge to roll his eyes. Did this guy not realize he had spent the last ten years putting up with Travis’ mood swings and his
constant need to bark out orders?
“Hire someone or I’m going to do it for you.”
“That’s not 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’m putting an ad in the paper, and I’ll get someone in there in a matter of hours.”
Ok, so Ethan could tolerate a lot of shit. He could put up with someone else running the business and offering him their input. What he couldn’t tolerate was someone telling him what the fuck he needed to do.
Pushing to his full height, Ethan half expected Jared to stand, but he didn’t. He knew Jared wasn’t intimidated by him like most men were, but it irked the shit out of him that his cousin was going to sit there like a fucking pussy.
“You run this side of things, leave the shop to me,” Ethan instructed him, venom dripping from every word.
“I run the whole fucking thing, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Ethan took two steps forward and leaned over Jared’s desk. “You run this side of things,” he reiterated more slowly. “Leave. The. Fucking. Shop. To. Me.”
With that, Ethan turned and walked away, sucking air in through his nose and out through his mouth in an effort to keep from hitting something.
Storming out of the office, he slammed the door behind him before making his way over to the Walker Demo truck he had used to come over to the office. He did not want to hire someone else to fucking work with him. He liked being alone, and he didn’t need the help.
Shit.
Blake had been ideal until the jackass had to go and get all possessive on him. Why the hell did people have to make things so damned complicated?
Ethan jumped 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 temper either.
Once he parked, Ethan took a deep breath before dropping his head on the steering wheel. He knew he needed to do something to release some of the pressure that was building up inside of him, but he had no idea what might possibly help.
Liar.
It would be nice if his subconscious would fucking butt out of his business too.
♂♂
“Hey, Bennett!” Ralph Dillinger called from across the shop.
Beau glanced up from under the hood to see Ralph sitting at his desk. Figured. The guy didn’t even bother to get up when he needed to chat.
Grabbing one of the shop towels, Beau wiped the grease off of his hands as best he could and tossed the rag on the partially disassembled engine before he made his way through the messy garage.
He hated how much of a slob Ricky was. Hated it. But it wasn’t like Beau could say anything about the pigsty he had to work near. Ricky was Ralph’s younger brother, who happened to be Dillinger Automotive’s other mechanic. If he could actually be considered a mechanic. The guy mainly stuck to oil changes when he bothered to come in to work at all.
Skirting around the tools that were strewn across the concrete floor, Beau made his way to Ralph’s office.
“Yeah?” He didn’t bother going inside the little room. Most of the time, Ralph got a kick out of calling Beau over for no reason other than to give him a hard time. Being that it was first thing Monday morning, he had hoped to be spared for at least a few hours.
“We need to talk.”
That didn’t sound good. Usually Ralph greeted him with some sort of barb, or a bad joke. This sounded serious.
“What’s up?”
“Take a seat,” Ralph said, blindly signaling toward one of the chairs on the opposite side of his desk. Apparently, Ralph didn’t notice that both chairs were piled high with either boxes or papers or both. Figuring he wouldn’t need to sit down anyway, Beau gave him enough respect to move into the room, standing opposite him.
“Son,” Ralph began.
Son? Ralph wasn’t much older than Beau, but he seemed to be under the impression he was some sort of father figure. Beau had no idea where the guy came up with half of what he said, or why he acted the way he did, but being the non-confrontational sort, Beau had never let on that Ralph’s condescending attitude bothered him. And being referred to as son, made him want to both laugh and punch the guy in the face.
“I’m sure you’ve noticed how slow things are around here.”
Yeah, Beau had noticed. He also noticed that Ricky wasn’t even bothering to come into work these days, so Beau was picking up all the slack. Made for at least a full day’s work, but not much past that. If Ricky went through the trouble of coming in, one of them would likely be sitting on their ass. Beau didn’t figure it would be him because, of the two of them, Ricky wasn’t all that interested in doing much more than downing a six pack.
Beau nodded his head, waiting for whatever Ralph had to say so he could get back to work.
When Ralph made the effort to look up from his computer screen, Beau knew he wasn’t going to like what his boss was about to tell him.
“It’s not a secret that things are slowing down,” Ralph explained, repeating his point, his expression seemingly glum.
Beau wanted to remind Ralph that he also noticed that Ricky wasn’t bothering to even come into work these days. Instead, he kept his mouth shut.
“I just don’t have enough work to warrant two mechanics right now.”
Beau would agree. And he knew where this was going. But because he could see Ralph’s discomfort level was the equivalent to walking on hot coals barefoot, he decided to let the other man spell it out for him.
“Look, Beau,” Ralph finally said after a minute of painful silence. “I’m gonna have to let you go. When things pick back up, I’ll give you a shout. Until then, I think Ricky can handle what little work we do have.”
Beau glanced out into the shop, pretending to be looking for Ricky, and then back to Ralph. Yeah, he’d like to see how well that was going to work out for them.
“I know what you’re thinkin’,” Ralph went on to say.
Doubtful. “Is that right?” Beau asked, the words breaking free before he could stop them. Damn it.
Ralph’s eyes widened and he leaned back in his chair, propping his hands on his protruding belly, obviously gearing up for a confrontation. When Ralph cleared his throat, Beau took a deep breath.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know this day would come. When business was slow, there wasn’t much anyone could do. And even if Beau had enough work to put in forty or more hours a week, that didn’t mean a thing when it came down to family loyalty.
“I need Ricky to come in to work. He’s not coming in because he says there isn’t enough for him to do. He mentioned that you take all the work, and he doesn’t want to cause a scene.”
Beau grinned to himself. That was such fucking bullshit, but it didn’t surprise him that Ralph believed it. Or was pretending to at least. Ricky didn’t come in to work because he spent his nights at Moonshiners getting drunk. Hell, half the time when he did come into work the next day, he’d still be drunk.
“Sorry, Beau,” Ralph finally said with a sigh.
Beau wanted to believe that Ralph really was sorry, but something felt off about this whole thing. He had been working for Dillinger Automotive since he graduated from high school. Granted, Dillinger’s was a family owned business, and their loyalties were clearly to family. He understood that. But, they’d been slow for a while now. And business always seemed to pick back up. So why were they doing this now?
That was a question that would go unspoken because Beau didn’t really care to hear the answer. A sound in the shop had Beau glancing through the small window behind Ralph’s head. There was Ricky. When the guy went straight for Beau’s toolbox, he knew there was going to be a problem.
“When will you have my last paycheck ready?” Beau asked as he eased his way toward the door, keeping an eye on Ricky.
; “Friday,” Ralph said, turning to see what had caught Beau’s attention.
“I’ll be by Friday morning. Make sure it’s ready for me.”
With that, Beau walked out of the mess Ralph considered an office and directly to his work bay.
“I think that’s mine,” Beau said simply, snatching his diagnostic scanner right out of Ricky’s hand. Grabbing the case that housed the tool when he wasn’t using it, Beau slid it inside before latching it closed.
“Ricky!” Ralph called, his voice echoing through the shop. “Get your ass in here.”
“Yeah, get your ass in there,” Beau muttered petulantly. He damn sure wasn’t about to allow Ricky to steal his tools. He’d spent his own hard earned money on those tools, and even if he had to wait for Zane’s help, he wouldn’t be leaving without them.
“That ain’t yours,” Ricky babbled in that high pitched whine that grated on Beau’s nerves, reaching for the case that Beau had just closed.
“The hell it’s not.”
Stashing the scanner case on the top of his toolbox, Beau stood between Ricky and his own tools as he grabbed his cell phone from his hip. He couldn’t move the tools himself. The toolbox probably weighed close to four thousand pounds at this point, loaded full, and it, along with its contents, cost more than Ricky’s fucking truck. No way was he leaving it behind because sure enough, when he came back to get it, Ricky would’ve pilfered every damn thing he had.
“Zane,” Beau said into the phone when his friend answered. “Could you do me a favor?”
“What’s up?” Zane greeted, sounding half asleep. It was only nine o’clock, but usually Zane was up and around by now.
“Ralph just let me go. I need a way to move these tools. Think you could come by with the flatbed wrecker?”
“Will do,” Zane answered easily. “Give me twenty minutes.”
“Thanks, man.” Beau disconnected the call and began collecting the stray tools he’d been using that morning.
Wasn’t quite the way he envisioned his Monday morning going, but at this point, there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was a firm believer that things happened for a reason, but right at that moment, Beau wished like hell he knew what that reason was.
Ethan (Alluring Indulgence) Page 4