that.” Zach was the artist. Evan’s work was purely functional.
He checked the oxygen valve in his cooling blowtorch before setting it down and pulling off his goggles. If Zach was hovering around, it was time to take a break.
Sure enough, the other man was leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded over his chest. Waiting.
“Don’t kill yourself over it,” Evan continued. “If you finish, you finish. If you don’t, leave it to me.”
“I leave everything to you,” Zach murmured. Trying to hide the hint of bitterness in his voice. Evan knew that the bitterness wasn’t for him.
“You can’t do everything. You know, I…” This was the part where Evan explained his own past, where Zach finally understood why Evan cared so fucking much about this. But the words seemed too big and sharp to push out of his throat. They hurt on the way up.
In the end, it didn’t matter. He was saved from confession by an unlikely source.
Daniel Burne shoved his broad shoulders past Zach, jarring the other man without hesitation. He stormed over to Evan as if they were meeting on the battlefield, his pretty face twisted.
“Miller,” he spat, jabbing a finger in the air. Evan eyed that finger with annoyance. He had a sudden and strong desire to snap it in two.
Instead he shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “What?”
Daniel blinked—as if a response of any kind was so unexpected that it had thrown off his rant. “I... You...” After a moment’s floundering, he refocused. “You don’t listen too good, do you?”
“Actually,” Evan said, “I listen very well. I am an excellent soldier.” But you are not my superior.
“You’re not any kind of soldier here,” Daniel sneered. “You’re a subject. And I’m the fucking king.”
Evan’s brows rose at the sheer teenage immaturity of that statement. Daniel didn’t seem even slightly embarrassed by the words that had just come out of his mouth. Fascinating.
“I thought I told you about that girl,” Daniel snapped.
Ah. So this was about Ruth. Evan pulled his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. He dug his short nails into his own flesh, out of sight. Call it a pre-emptive measure. Because he was 100% sure that he was about to lose his fucking temper.
“You did,” Evan said. “I ignored you.”
He still remembered Daniel’s words, the day they’d bumped into Ruth. “You’re really pissed? Over a girl like her?”
Daniel came forward, green eyes blazing as he invaded Evan’s space. All his insistent charm was gone now, as if it had never existed. “I’m warning you,” he spat. “Stay away. You don’t mess with a girl like her, not while you work for Burne & Co. She’s bad fucking news and my father agrees.”
Evan felt like he’d been treading water easily, only for an undercurrent to catch him without warning. My father agrees. What the hell did that mean? Was Daniel threatening his job? Was Mr. Burne threatening his job?
“What the fuck is your problem?” Evan demanded, his patience slipping. In the doorway, he saw Zach, eyes wide and head shaking frantically. The message was clear. Whatever you’re about to do, don’t.
Evan was too pissed off to listen. His rational mind screamed that this job was a dream come true, and positions in his specialism were hard to find, and he couldn’t just move somewhere else and start over. He ignored his rational mind the same way he ignored Zach.
“Are you jealous?” he asked Daniel. “Is that what this is?” Because suddenly, that was exactly how it seemed.
Daniel sneered. “Why the fuck would I be jealous of that? Half the town’s had her.”
“You sent the flowers, didn’t you?”
That wiped the smirk off Daniel’s face. He stuttered—actually stuttered—“I don’t… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you fucking do.” Evan stepped closer, crowding Daniel right the fuck back, fury flooding him. Everything was coming together, now. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before. “You want her,” he said. “You had her, and now you don’t, and you want her.”
Which meant that Daniel… Daniel was Ruth’s ex. The guy she was kind of with. The guy who hurt her.
“You’re delusional,” Daniel choked out. “I wouldn’t touch that bitch if you paid me.”
Evan barely heard him. He was remembering, with dawning horror, everything Daniel had ever said about Ruth—said to Ruth—and the way she hesitated before touching anyone, and the look on her face when she’d seen those fucking flowers.
“I’m just looking out for you, mate,” Daniel said. His tone