Ethan (Alluring Indulgence) by Nicole Edwards

to Ethan, and now this? He wasn’t sure he even knew what to say.
    “I’ve
gotta go. I’ll have Jared help me get it down when I get there.” Ethan took off
toward the wrecker without a backward glance.
    “Give
me just a few minutes and I’ll meet you there. No sense in bothering Jared.
It’s my stuff. I’ll get it down,” Beau yelled at Ethan’s retreating back.
    Ethan
waved him off, but Beau wasn’t going to leave it at that. As Ethan drove off,
he grabbed what was in the bed of his truck and lugged it up to his apartment.
He didn’t want to carry all of his tools around because they were too expensive
to have to replace. Especially now that he was without a job.
    Once
inside his tiny apartment, Beau was wishing he’d taken off after Ethan
immediately. Why was he wasting time? He should be jumping at the opportunity
to go to the shop, spend just a few minutes with Ethan. After all, he knew Ethan
wasn’t in a good mood. How could he be?
    Finding
out that the guy you’d been inadvertently dating for the last few months was
fucking around on you couldn’t be easy. Didn’t matter whether they were serious
or not. It was the principle of it. Even Beau knew that much.
    A
minor twinge of guilt tugged at Beau’s insides as he remembered that kiss. It
didn’t matter that Ethan hadn’t initiated the smoldering encounter, Beau still
felt a degree of remorse for his actions.
    Grabbing
the towel he had hung over the back of the chair in the kitchen, Beau opted to shower.
Then he’d head over to Walker Demolition. Maybe he could get there before Ethan
had to bother Jared. And if he didn’t, that was all right too. At this point,
it wasn’t like his day could get much worse. He’d been laid off, nearly beat
the boss’s brother’s head in for his stupid remark, and on top of that, he had
to ride out the scene between Blake and Ethan.
    Without
waiting for the water to heat, Beau hurried through his shower, toweling off as
fast as he could before making his way back to his bedroom.
    What
a joke. Beau hadn’t given much thought to his living quarters. He was just
happy to have a place of his own. Until today, or rather, until Ethan.
    Now,
for some reason, his humble surroundings seemed lacking. His bedroom consisted
of a mattress and box spring sitting on the floor. Hell, he didn’t even have a
headboard. No fancy comforter. And the dresser was second hand, but it worked
for him.
    He
thought about Zane’s house. How nice the place was, and he couldn’t help but
wonder whether Ethan’s was the same. He knew the structure itself was
impressive. Different from his brothers because of its modern design, versus
the rustic preference the other brothers seemed to have. He could only imagine
that the interior was similar.
    But
Beau tried to remind himself that he came from a different world than Zane and
his brothers. He knew the Walkers didn’t hurt for money, but he also knew that
Lorrie and Curtis didn’t spoil their kids just because they could. From the
time each of them was old enough, they’d had to work for their extra money.
    For
Beau, he had to work for any money. There hadn’t been money for college
because his father said he had wasted every penny he had on Beau’s high school
football and the dream that he would one day make it to the NFL. Any time the
opportunity presented itself, his father had ensured Beau understood that he
had failed them.
    Pulling
his t-shirt on over his head, Beau tried to ignore his own meager possessions.
If it ever came down to it, could he actually bring Ethan there? Would he want
him to see his meek surroundings? Would Ethan think he was pathetic?
    Beau
forced the thoughts away. It wasn’t like it mattered right at the moment. Maybe
if he could get a few minutes with Ethan, some time to talk, then he’d worry
about what the next steps might be.
     
    ♂♂
     
    By
the time five o’clock rolled around, Ethan decided to call it a day. He’d kept
himself away from the