So that’s what we did.
And if I missed him after he was gone, who had to know but me?
COLIN
I sat outsideas the truck came roaring up the drive and sighed as I heard Jake’s laughter coming from inside. I still wasn’t sure why Xander kept sending Jake to pick people up. At least with me it had made sense because the weather had been awful and he was the best driver. But the sun was out, and the weather was supposed to be great all week. Maybe it was because Xander was irritated that our newest addition had delayed his arrival by a week, or maybe it was some old man grumpiness about getting ‘help’ with social media and optics.
Or maybe he was just a dick.
I chuckled at the thought. Yeah, he was kind of a dick.
Before I could think about what it had been like to experience his actual dick for a couple of weeks, I stood up as the driver’s door swung open. Jake hopped out, all grins. “Well, hey there, Momma.”
“I’ve told you I’ll sedate and neuter you on your next clinic visit if that nickname catches on,” I told him lightly, squawking when he wrapped me in a hug and gave me a squeeze. “Jake, please, decorum!”
“Dunno what that is!” he said, and I growled when he shook me like an enthusiastic puppy shakes a toy.
“It means put me the fuck down,” I told him, smacking the back of his head. He dropped me with that same dopey grin on his face, and I sighed. “I can’t tell if you were saying you don’t know what the word means or if you’ve never had decorum.”
“Mmm, first one, but probably the second one too,” he said, getting out his phone and tapping, reading, and nodding. “Yeah, the second one.”
“Of course,” I said with a sigh. “Reno was looking for you earlier. I think he needs your muscle.”
“Hell, yeah,” he said, flexing.
“Go!” I said with a shake of my head as he walked away, laughing as if he had made the greatest joke on the planet. “And?”
Jake stopped at the side door and bobbed his head lightly back and forth before giving a thumbs-up and going into the building. Alright, so his instincts told me the man coming around the truck might be okay. That would remain to be seen. Jake was pretty good with people, but he was still Jake after all.
The guy had dark hair and eyes, not quite black but close. He was smaller than everyone but Cait, but his shoulders were wide and as he adjusted the strap of his bag, I could see he was no stranger to the gym. He spotted me, pausing slightly and adjusting his hair before walking up to me with a wide smile.
Jesus, did we just get another one? He hadn’t quite looked at me like a prime cut of beef, but it certainly gave me the same feeling I’d said to the couple of guys here. He wouldn’t turn me out of his bed if he found me there. Of course, I was getting all the dick I could hope for so I was taken care of, but hell, I was human; I liked feeling attractive.
“You must be Aidan,” I said, taking his hand and shaking it.
“That’s me,” he said brightly, looking at the building. “Does everyone get the adrenaline express to get here, or am I just special?”
“You might not believe it, but Jake’s actually our best driver,” I said with a snort. “I showed up in the middle of a bad storm and he got my heart rate going, but he’s good at what he does.”
“That he is,” Aidan said, and then blinked. “Uh, with his driving.”
I winked. “Don’t worry, you’re in good company. The number of people working here who like dick has now officially hit three…maybe four, I’m not sure if Cait is into men. I wouldn’t blame her if she wasn’t after working here for so long.”
“Was I that obvious?” Aidan asked, scratching his jaw.
“A little,” I said, waving him on. “But it’s fine. There’s a few of the guys here that you’ll get the chance to meet. We’ll get you a beer too; you’ll need it after that drive.”
“I dunno, it was kinda fun. Like a roller coaster with a higher risk of death and dismemberment,” Aidan said with a laugh.
Ah, well, that explained why Jake was giving Aidan a thumbs-up. Anyone who could get a thrill out of his driving was bound to get the thumbs-up treatment from the lunk.
I led Aidan inside. “Sorry if I don’t give the greatest tours, I’ve only been here a month.”
“New guy duty, huh?” he asked as we stepped inside and into the kitchen so I could retrieve the beers.
“Well, our illustrious leader should probably do it, but everyone, including him, admits he’s not the person you’d want as first contact with our new crew,” I said, handing him the beer.
That, and Xander had been in a mood, so even I was treading warily around him. It happened occasionally, but I was sure the only person who knew what I suspected was Cait. And that suspicion was based on the fact that Xander’s moods plumbed the depths of hell at times when he checked his emails or texts. Considering what little I knew of his private circumstances, I could only guess that those mood drops coincided with messagesfrom his wife…or soon-to-be-ex-wife, as he liked to correct, when he bothered to speak about the Mona woman.