Page 91 of Taming Tesla

“Wednesday nights usually are for me.” I know what he’s fishing for, but I’m not biting. Instead, I concentrate on filling out the computerized forms on the screen in front of me.

“See Legs yet?” Even without looking, I can hear the grin in his voice. He knows I’ve seen her, but if Con can’t square-up with his brother, then he’ll settle for his second favorite pastime—fucking with me.

“I took her to lunch yesterday.” And then I made her dinner, and almost tongue fucked her on my couch.

“I bet you did,” he says around a laugh. “How many times did you take her to lunch?”

I look up from my computer screen to find him grinning at me. Because I’ve finally embraced my inner asshole, I smile back, glancing down at the new ink peeking out from under the cuff of his jacket. “How’s Henley?”

Con stops grinning.

Draining the bottle of Trillium, he stands. Without a word, he turns and fast pitches it across the room. Like a missile, it hits the screen of Declan’s desktop computer. Screen and bottle explode in a shower of glass, the faint smell of fried circuits drifting in the air.

I know what he wants. He wants a reaction. He wants a fight. I know, because eleven months ago, I was exactly where he is, wanting the exact same thing. “Feel better?”

He looks at me, jaw twitching, mouth flat and grim. Beneath the rage, I can see the hurt. “Not really.”

“You can’t hide from her forever you know,” I say, pressing the subject that caused his outburst in the first place.

His eyes narrow slightly. “Who’s hiding?”

“She’s one of us, Con,” I say, telling him what he already knows. “Henley deserves more than your usual fuck and run routine.”

“You tell my brother I’m looking for him,” Con says, reaching into the sleeves of his jacket through the cuffs to pull down the sleeves of his thermal shirt. “And just so we’re clear—” He looks up at me, mouth twisted into the kind of smile that tells you just how much of a bastard he can be. “you don’t know a goddamn thing about what Henley does or doesn’t deserve.”

Before I can argue to the contrary, Con is gone, pounding down the stairs and out into the cold.

Sighing, I pick up my phone and text Logan, asking him to cover Declan’s shift tonight. As soon as I get a text back, confirming the switch, I text Declan.

Me: Con was here looking

for you.

Declan: Not surprised.

Me: you’re going to have to

buy a new computer.

Declan: He tell you what

happened?

Me: Yup.

Declan: I fucked up.

Me: Yeah, you did. WTF

were you thinking?

Declan: I wasn’t.

As much as I want to be angry at him, I can’t be. Because I’ve been there. I mean, let’s get real—nearly a year into this… whatever this is with Cari, and I’m barely to the point where I can function around her. Or without her.

Me: I get it. Butyou’re off

the scheduleuntil you and

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