“Oh, hell no, I’ll take my brother’s angry ex,” Reno said, and winced. “Shit, I’m so sorry.”
“No,” Aidan said with a snort. “I’m his ex, and I am pissed. But you’re safe, I promise. You don’t look like him.”
“We’re literally identical,” Reno pointed out as I pointed Jake back toward the garage, who huffed and did as I told him.
“In looks, but you don’t make the same stupid expressions he does,” Aidan said, then faced me. “I promise I can be professional; this won’t be a problem.”
“You’re getting a free pass because it’s obvious no one was expecting this,” I said, thinking there had to be one hell of a loaded history. “But make sure this doesn’t bleed into the work, alright? Be awkward and weird about it for a bit, but don’t spread any shit.”
“Promise,” he said with a nod. “And you can throw me in the back of the truck and make sure Jake hits every bump on the way back if I don’t.”
“Can I?” Jake asked brightly.
“No!” I called back and sighed. “But I get your point. I’ll catch up with you guys later, alright?”
“Better you than me,” Reno muttered, reaching out before stopping. “Probably shouldn’t touch you…shit, this is weird for me. I dunno how you’re dealing with it.”
“Hmm, you single?” Aidan asked, and I sighed at the deviousness I could sense coming from him.
“And straight,” Reno said. “Even if I wasn’t, I’m not helping you get revenge on my brother…not that kind of revenge, anyway. But if you tell me what he did, I might give you a list of approved revenge I’m willing to help with.”
“What in the Days of Our Lives is going on out here?” Cait asked, her door snapping open and her sharp eyes meeting mine.
“More like Dante’s Cove,” I muttered, rubbing my brow and pushing Trevor away when I heard him chuckle. “Go eat your lunch, asshole.”
“I don’t know what that is,” Cait said, smirking at me. “Good job.”
“Don’t,” I groaned. “I can’t even be mad at myself. How thefuckwas I supposed to know that was going to happen?”
“You didn’t, which is why I said good job, you handled it well,” she said with a shake of her head. “Always nice to see someone other than me deals with these little shits better than Xander.”
“He does alright when he’s not ready to rip someone’s head off,” I said with a sigh. “Speaking of?—”
“You’re brave, trying to talk to him when he’s like this.”
“Well, he’s going to need to show his face to Aidan, so I might as well see if it’s possible today or if we have to wait until next week.”
She chuckled. “Depends on what’s got his panties in a twist, but if it’s what I think it is?—”
I thought about the few,veryfew comments he’d made about his divorce and sighed. “If we’re thinking the same thing, it’s going to be next week.”
She stared at me, her voice dropping. “He told you?”
“Very little,” I emphasized, because I didn’t need her to get the wrong idea. I mean, it was closer to the right idea because there was a lot more going on between him and me than just coworkers, but…well, it was best if no one even brushed against the possibility of the idea. “Was kind of an accident.”
“Huh,” she said as if she didn’t know what to do with that information.
And since I didn’t know what to do with her reaction, I nodded at her. “On that note, I’m going to go hunt him down.”
“Shouldn’t be hard, just follow the sounds of yelling,” she said with a roll of her eyes and closed her office door.
A wave of affection for her passed over me, and I went outside, looking around for any potential damage to the property. What I found instead was a faint smell that shouldn’t have been in the woods, and I’d only smelled it a couple of times before, on Xander.
Cigar smoke.
It took me a few minutes to find him standing further along the path and just off to the side, sitting on a fallen tree and puffing away at the cigar. I was amused to see there was a flask in his hand as well, and when he stared at me, I winked and approached.
“Not in the mood,” he grumbled.