Ethan (Alluring Indulgence #5)(38)
Author: Nicole Edwards

“Where’re you two off to?” Zane asked, glancing down at his watch.

“Nowhere,” Beau said hurriedly.

Well, there was his answer. Beau obviously didn’t want Zane to know what was going on here. Ethan should’ve been relieved because he damn sure didn’t want his brothers – or anyone for that matter – in his business. The reminder that Beau was just now experimenting with the part of himself that he recently discovered was a slap to the face as well.

And an enormous reminder that Ethan was getting into something he would likely regret in the future.

Without giving it another thought, Ethan turned around and unlocked the office door. Returning to work was his only option at this point. He didn’t want to see Beau. Didn’t want to think about what had just happened between them or what he wanted to happen between them. And it wasn’t like Ethan wanted his brother to know that he lusted after Beau anyway.

What the fuck was wrong with him?

For half a second, he’d actually embraced who he was, not caring whether he hid himself from view or not.

Fuck.

Beau was getting to him. In ways Ethan wasn’t ready to embrace. And Ethan knew he should just be grateful that Zane’s horrible timing might’ve just saved him from a world of heartache that he wasn’t at all ready to experience.

Beau watched Ethan disappear inside the shop, but he didn’t make a move to go after him. Not with Zane standing just a couple of feet away.

“What’s going on?” Zane asked, clearly picking up on the tension.

“Nothing,” Beau said, obviously too abruptly because Zane’s dark eyebrows launched up toward his hairline as he looked back at him skeptically.

The heavy duty bay door opened, revealing the wrecker and his toolbox still strapped down. “You keeping that here?”

“For now. I didn’t have anywhere else to store it.” Beau wasn’t sure whether Ethan was still going to let him work for him, so he tried to sound as nonchalant as he could.

“You could’ve called me,” Zane told him.

“I tried.”

As though he didn’t believe him, Zane grabbed his phone, thumbing through the screens. “Sorry, at that point, I was probably trying to dislodge Travis’ boot from my ass. It wasn’t pretty, and the rest of the day sucked ass,” Zane answered with a frown. Glancing over at the truck and then back to him, Zane asked, “Need help getting that down?”

No. “Yeah.”

Beau fell into step with Zane, trying to pretend that nothing had happened between him and Ethan. It wasn’t like he had to try hard since Ethan had managed to disappear entirely. Looking around as he moved to the control panel on the wrecker, Beau finally spotted Ethan when he walked around the side of the truck. Ethan’s muscled legs were sticking out from beneath one of the Walker Demo trucks parked inside.

“What happened at Dillinger’s?” Zane asked as he climbed up onto the truck to work on getting the tie straps unhooked from the bed.

“Work slowed down. They let me go.”

Beau certainly didn’t want to let Zane know that he’d nearly ripped Ricky’s head off because the guy was a spineless dickhead.

“What the hell are they gonna do now?” Zane asked, the exasperation evident in his statement. “It ain’t like Ricky’s gonna pick up the slack.”

“Who knows,” he answered easily. “Ralph said Ricky wasn’t working because he didn’t have anything to do.”

“Riiiiggghhht. And I hear right now there’re subzero temps in hell.”

Beau laughed. That’s what he loved about Zane. They’d been friends for so long, and the conversations were easy between them. Even if Beau wasn’t big on talking to most people, he found he could talk to Zane. Hell, he’d even managed to confront Zane after they had…

Shit. Beau didn’t want to think about that. Not right now. Not with Ethan just a few feet away.

Making his way around to the rear of the wrecker, Beau gently nudged Ethan’s foot as he passed him by, wanting desperately to regain that connection they’d shared just a little while ago. He knew Ethan didn’t want his brothers knowing his business, but Beau was at a point in his life, he was tired of pretending to be someone he wasn’t.

If there was even the remote possibility that he would find what others around him had been finding lately, Beau didn’t give a shit what other people thought of him. And he knew that Zane would support him. At least he’d like to think he would. The only issue he could imagine Zane having would be if Beau went and fell in love with his brother. And it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that Beau fell in love with a man.