Chapter Twenty-One

Shutting off the water, Brick left the shower and grabbed a towel.

Leaving his massive bathroom, he entered his walk-in closet and pulled out a pair of sweats and a matching t-shirt.

It wasn’t until he entered his bedroom that he heard the buzzing of his cell phone on the bedside table.

Launching across his king-sized bed in a panic, he snatched up the phone but Fighter had hung up.

“Damn it!”

He dialed and rolled to his back, placing the towel across his dick, he waited for Fighter to answer. The sweats and shirt were somewhere between here and the closet.

“There you are.” The man’s sexy voice filled the line and Brick couldn’t stop his smile from stretching wide.

“Here I am. I was in the shower.”

“Be still my heart.”

Brick snorted and grinned like a looney tune up at the ceiling fan.

“I got two jobs.” Fighter sounded so happy.

Brick wanted to punch something. Jobs…in Arizona? His own fucking actions had sent Fighter out of the fucking state to find work. He rubbed a hand over his mouth to keep quiet. This was so fucked up on so many levels and all he wanted was to take back every fucking thing he’d ever done to Fighter.

Minus the kiss, he wasn’t taking that back.

“Did you hear me?”

“I did.” His voice came out like a croaking frog. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Fighter breathed and Brick heard the smile in the man’s voice.

“Can you FaceTime me?”

“Yep.” Fighter hung up and called him back.

Brick answered the phone and realized he was naked.

“Hold on!” He placed the phone face down on the bed and raced to pull the sweatpants. Bouncing back on the bed, he snatched up the phone.

“Naked?”

Brick chuckled sheepishly and Fighter grinned.

“So…” Brick cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about what I said and how I acted at the fundraiser that night.”

“It’s okay.”

“No. It’s not. I was an ass. I let things from my past affect me and there’s no excuse. Please forgive me.”

“You’re forgiven.” Fighter smiled and Brick felt like he’d just been given the world.

“Okay then.” Brick cleared his throat. “Are you going to stay out there for long?” His mind raced with thoughts of having Syn come back with the chopper and pick him up.

“No. I have the kids. I’m going to send Mark and Bishop out here to supervise.”

“Where are the kids?”

“I left them with Bishop. He’s at my place. He’ll drop them off with Carla during the day and he’ll stay at my place to watch them during the night.”

Interesting that Fighter didn’t leave them with Mark. Maybe Fighter was closer to Bishop? He shook off thoughts of other men in Fighter’s life.

“Let’s do something when you get back.”

“Okay.”

“When are you coming home?” Brick asked.

Fighter shifted, sitting up on the bed, and leaned against the headboard. “I’m flying home tomorrow. The job doesn’t start until next Monday.”

“So, you have a week until then.”

“Yep.”

Brick gazed at the shit brown wallpaper behind Fighter’s head. “Where are you?”

Fighter smiled. “Motel Six.”

“Where?”

Fighter laughed outright. “Okay, rich boy. You’ve heard of Motel Six. Right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Brick laughed with Fighter. He’d only done that to hear Fighter laugh.

“So, tell me about these jobs.”

“One is a local congressman who is attending three events out here this month. The other is bigger so I’ll have some of my team come over and help. It’s a gun expo.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, we should go sometime.” Fighter smiled and Brick was in heaven.

“It’s a date,” Brick promised.

“Hopefully, not our second date.”

“Oh, hell no. Our second date is when you get back.”

“Pushy, pushy,” Fighter said with a low laugh.

“Sorry. Not,” Brick teased and then grew serious. He hadn’t opened himself up to another person like he was doing with Fighter. Sure, it made him nervous, but he also trusted Fighter and that was saying something. Had it happened fast? Maybe. Or maybe he’d just got out of his own fucking way and let what was supposed to happen naturally between them.

“Whatcha thinking?” Fighter murmured.

“I miss you.”

A flicker of surprise washed over Fighter’s face and his throat moved in a hard swallow. Instead of saying anything, Fighter nodded.

Jaxon’s name flashed on his phone and Brick impatiently sent it to voicemail. A text from Jaxon came through immediately.

“Did you forget about the Berry stakeout?”

“Crap,” Brick muttered.

“What?” Fighter blinked.

“Jaxon’s texting me. I forgot about a stakeout I’m supposed to do with two of the new trainees tonight.”

“Ah…okay.” Fighter smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Text me your flight info. I’ll pick you up.”

“You don’t need to do that.” Fighter’s eyes widened.

“Just text it to me and look for my jeep.”

“Your bad Betty?”

Brick barked out a laugh. “Yeah, my bad Betty.”

“Love the look of your jeep.”

“I’ll take you for a ride,” Brick promised silkily and Fighter coughed and then smiled.

“Be careful out there.”

“I will.”

Brick stared at the screen and then Fighter hit the end-call button. His own face reflected back and he shook off the regret that his fucked-up actions from the past had sent Fighter out of state to look for work. He was going to correct that shit as soon as possible.

He fired off a text to Jaxon letting him know he was on it.

After that, he punched in a number to his own office as he began to get dressed.

“Brick? What’s up?”

“Hey Jenkins. I need to know how we can move some of the Cobalt job inquiries to Suwan Guardians.”

“I can reply to emails and send them Suwan’s way,” Jenkins said immediately. Brick liked that about his right-hand man.

While Cobalt was not involved with Brick Industries, Jenkins never batted an eye when Brick asked him to do something outside of his job scope.

“I want it kept quiet. So, you need to do it silently at first and anonymously so as not to raise suspicion.”

“I can do that,” Jenkins said, but his voice was hesitant.

“What is it?” Brick trusted Jenkins’ insight.

“If Fighter Suwan finds out, he is not going to be pleased.”

He knew that. Without a doubt, Fighter would be pissed and consider it charity.

“Damn it. Okay, do this. See if there are any jobs we have turned away or put on hold because Cobalt couldn’t handle the volume.”

“Now that I can do. Then I’ll call them and suggest they check out Suwan since Cobalt isn’t taking new clients. That might go over better with Fighter. However, I think you should discuss it with him beforehand.”

“I will.”

Brick flopped back on the bed after they ended the call.

Now all he had to do was convince Fighter to take some of the volume that Cobalt couldn’t handle.

Would Fighter think of it as charity?

Probably.

Shit.