Chapter 34
34
ETHAN
Kyle whistled when I walked through the door to the conference room. “You look like hell, man.”
Choosing to ignore his comment even though he was right, I glanced around the room, but so far, I only saw Kyle. “Where is everyone?”
He shrugged. “No idea.”
I slid into my seat just as Nick walked in. Behind him, I noticed Striker in the open doorway talking to Beth, but only for a moment, and then he leaned down, kissed her, and said something. I looked away before he saw me and stared at the table. I was glad Mila wasn’t here yet. We hadn’t seen each other over the past week, and I had no idea how I would react when I laid eyes on her again.
“Happy to be home?”
My head snapped up when I heard Nick’s voice. Assuming he was talking to me, I looked his way. “Yeah.”
“You look wiped, brother.”
“I’ve been spending a lot of my free time with my sister and niece.”
He jerked up his chin, but I was distracted, considering Mila walked into the room. I wondered where she’d sit and then realized how ridiculous that thought was, almost as if we were back in middle school.
She slid into her seat beside me and turned her head to face me and Nick. “Mornin’, boys.”
Nick chuckled. “You seem happy to be home.”
“I am.” She rolled her shoulders. “Nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.”
“I can think of a few things.” Kyle wiggled his eyebrows at her.
She sighed. “Is there a switch somewhere on you that we can turn on and off?”
I snorted out a laugh, but when her eyes met mine, the laughter was gone. Just like every other time, it felt like someone punched me in the gut except now it was different. Since she started, I wondered what it would be like to get close to her, and now that I knew, I couldn’t ignore it.
“If there’s a switch, no one’s ever found it.”
She slid her eyes from mine to focus on Kyle again. “Too bad.”
“Looks like everyone is here,” Jax announced, and I once again turned my head to watch them walk in.
“We’re missing a few,” Striker pointed out.
Jax and Brody took their seats. “Chris is out this week. He and Lucy are on vacation. Pike and Landon are at Crush.”
“I thought security was better at that bar now. The last time we talked, they were finally putting in all the safeguards Pike and Landon recommended. They stop playing ball or what?” Nick asked.
Jax folded his arms on the table. “The owner decided to sell, and the new owner isn’t sure our services are needed. They’re having a meeting with him and the manager to talk about all the shit that went down in that bar before we were hired, but I told them not to waste too much time. We have other cases to keep us occupied if they don’t think they need us.”
“Plus, that place is a pain in the ass,” Brody added. “More trouble than it’s worth for us to stay involved if they aren’t going to follow our suggestions.”
“So we’re down three for the time being.” Jax continued. “Got a couple of new cases. Brody and I met this morning to review them and move some shit around.”
“Anything exciting?” Mila asked.
Jax grinned. “Not as exciting as what you just finished, but better than what we gave you last week.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Ethan,” Brody called out, and I shifted my attention to him. “We need to meet and discuss whether you want to stay on installs or want to be in the field.”
“Don’t need to meet,” I replied. “I think I’m better on installs.”
“I wouldn’t agree with that.” Jax cut in. “You’re good at installs, but you did a hell of a job on this case too, so if you want to split your time, we’re fine with it.”
“Need a partner if you’re working in the field,” Kyle teased.
I ignored him, knowing he was trying to stir up trouble. “You guys are all trained for fieldwork. I’m not, and to be honest, with my sister and niece in town, I’d like to do jobs that keep me local for the most part.”
“That’s fair,” Brody replied. “But if you change your mind...”
“Don’t see that happening,” I admitted. “But I appreciate it.”
“Any updates on Samson?” Striker cut in, and when I shifted my attention to him, I saw his eyes locked on me, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear he looked sympathetic.
“Heard from the director,” Jax replied. “He said they got even more than they’d hoped from Samson’s partners and clients. According to him, what they have on Samson will stick, so they’re happy. They’re also extremely appreciative that we helped. Because of that, we’re expecting more government contracts coming our way.”
“Who’s getting those?”
“We’ll divide them up. Those jobs tend to be longer, more detailed. I don’t want to wear out anyone by utilizing them too much.”
Kyle snorted. “We got one already, didn’t we?”
“Just this morning,” Jax conceded. “Luckily, it’s local and shouldn’t take too much time. Anyone want it?”
“I’ll take this one.” Nick volunteered.
“You volunteered pretty fast,” Mila pointed out. “What are you trying to avoid?” She snapped her fingers. “Oh wait, you’ve been helping with wedding stuff, haven’t you?”
He laughed. “Yeah, and I need a fucking break.”
Everyone laughed, including me, but I was surprised to hear Nick say that. He couldn’t seem to spend enough time with Maddie.
“Not getting cold feet, are you?” Kyle asked.
“Nope.” He shifted his attention toward Kyle. “Just can’t talk about cake flavors and flowers for one more minute.”
Mila shook her head. “Typical.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Nick asked, but he was grinning.
“You think all you have to do is ask her to marry you, and then she’s responsible for everything else.”
“Just wanna marry her,” he confessed. “Don’t care where that is or when, although the sooner the better. The rest of it doesn’t matter.”
“It does to her,” Mila pointed out.
“That’s exactly why I agreed to it,” he replied. “But if we don’t take a break from each other and wedding talk, we’re gonna end up in the car on the way to Vegas, even if I have to handcuff her to me.”
“Yeah, you need a break if you’re threatening to handcuff her to the car.” Jax chimed in, which I thought was odd. He usually didn’t tolerate personal talk for long and rarely participated in it. He was all business, all the time. When I looked toward him and noticed his eyes were on me, it made more sense. “Sometimes a break allows you time to figure out what’s important.”
“It’s just fucking cake,” Nick announced, and everyone chuckled, including Jax, who finally looked toward Nick. “I don’t care if it’s vanilla or carrot.”
Sliding my gaze toward Nick, I saw that he was talking but he was watching me and Mila. He was trying to distract everyone from the uncomfortable silence between us and I appreciated that, but it wasn’t working. It was obvious to everyone in the room that something had changed between us, and it was something we weren’t handling well.
“I’m not coming if you serve carrot cake,” Kyle spoke up. “A vegetable should never fuck up cake like that.”
“Were you even invited?” Jax asked sarcastically.
“I’m always invited,” Kyle replied.
I grinned this time but noticed Mila dropped her head to stare at the table.
“I’m with you, brother,” Striker chimed in. “No carrot cake.”
Nick chuckled. “Okay, two for vanilla. I’ll let Maddie know.”
“Back to business,” Jax began. “Any questions?”
“I have one,” Jax motioned for me to continue when I spoke, but I was directing my question to Striker. “You saw Daniel Sullivan’s will, right?”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Did it say that he willed all his belongings to Beth too? I mean, we know she got the house because she sold it, but did he will her everything else?”
“He did.” Striker nodded. “Doesn’t make any fucking sense to me, and I can tell by your face that it doesn’t to you either.”
“I think that’s one puzzle we’ll never solve, considering the only person who knows the answer is Sullivan, and he’s dead,” Jax commented dryly, but it was obvious it bothered him too.
“Maybe he just didn’t have anyone else to leave it to,” Mila suggested. “Did you ever think of that? Maybe the only person in the world he trusted was Beth.” When everyone seemed thoughtful, she continued. “It’s kind of sad when you think about it. I’ll bet everyone in this room can think of multiple people they could leave everything to in their will, but it seems like he only had Beth.”
“It just proves what we’re building here is more than just a successful business,” Jax added. It was quiet for another moment, and I expected Kyle to say something to lighten the heaviness, but when I glanced at him, he was staring down at his folded hands on the table. My eyes slid back to Jax when he began talking again. “As far as assignments, Nick, you and Mila are on the case we got this morning. It will keep you local, but you may have some long days.”
“Got it.” Nick replied.
“Ethan, I need you on installs. You’ll be working those alone again this week. Eventually Brody will be able to wade in and take some off your hands but for now, he’s helping manage everything from the Samson case.”
“Like what?” Mila asked.
“He’s been working with the director to make sure he has everything he needs from us, including everything we had when we worked the Daniel Sullivan case. We don’t want to miss anything that will cause a delay in this case for them.”
“I thought we were out.”
“We are,” Jax paused and grinned. “Officially. Unofficially we’re helping to finalize a few things.”
“Got it.”
Jax grinned again before moving on. “Striker and Kyle have an ongoing case, which will hopefully be finished this week.” Jax stood. “That’s it for today. Find us if you need anything.” He pointed at Nick. “Need to see you and Mila in my office to go over the new case.”
They both stood and followed Jax from the room. Closing my eyes, I waited a minute before I stood to follow, but Striker's voice stopped me before I could leave.
“Want some advice?”
I turned to face him, surprised he was offering advice, but I wasn’t sure I wanted any. “Not really.”
His lips tipped in a grin. “Gonna give it anyway. Ignoring shit won’t make it go away. Did that for four years. Those years are gone and I can’t get them back.” He stood and started around the table toward the door. “Keep this up and you’re gonna lose more than time.”
Brody watched us closely, but when Striker left the room, he jerked up his chin. “You need anything, let me know.”
With my hands on the back of the chair, I dropped my head and closed my eyes.
Striker was wrong.
I wasn’t going to lose her.
You can’t lose something you never really had.