Page 32 of Bond Strength

“Thanks, man.”

He fired up his truck and drove off with Gary. James’s words lingered, though. The truth was, I’d been tired of working for Brandon for a while now. He relied too heavily on the fact that I picked up his slack, and hearing the other day that he’d called me in so he could go to a concert had rubbed me the wrong way.

I glanced at my phone. He’d left a few more voicemails instead of responding to my text. Ugh. I was going to have to deal with this discussion. Better do it now before I went back inside to deliver the news to Declan that his driveway was clear.

I leaned against the wall of the house and stared up at the blue sky, all vibrant and filled with cotton balls. So different from yesterday’s scorched storm clouds. The transformation was stark and complete,and I couldn’t help but feel a kinship to it. How the storm had changed…everything.

My heart thudded hard.

Right, the call. I pressed Dial, and the phone began to ring.

“Hey, man—” I said.

“Where the hell are you, Langston?” Brandon bellowed.

“Didn’t you get my text?” The aggression had me standing upright, my shoulders squared.

“Couldn’t you get a ride? There are jobs you should’ve been completing this morning.”

I bristled. I never called out. Always took on other people’s slack. And when I had an actual situation where I genuinely couldn’t show up for work, he treated me like this? “Sure, I could get a ride, but I wouldn’t be able to transport all my shit in my sister’s car. My work truck was blocked in my client’s driveway.”

Technically, my…boyfriend’s?

The thought made my heart pick up even faster when it already raced from Brandon freaking out.

“Did you at least finish the job?” he asked, an anger in his tone that had me on edge.

“No, because the walls are too wet for me to pour.” Why the fuck did I need to explain that to him? He’d been working in masonry for years and knew as well as I did that the weather mattered.

“Right, so now you’re behind there too,” he growled.

I set my jaw. Brandon and I had been friends for a long time, but over the years, he’d started to take advantage of my inability to say no. And his reaction now painted the truth in stark light. I ran myself ragged for someone who didn’t care. Someone who didn’t ask if I was okay after getting stuck at a client’s house all night. Who just barked at me because I wasn’t working at optimal efficiency.

“The driveway got cleared out, so I’ll head to the next job,” I responded woodenly, even if everything in me wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. But it wasn’t like I had work lined up to jump to. Maybe it was about time I started looking. My chest squeezed tight at the thought.

“Do that. You’ll need to pull overtime this week to catch up.”

With that, he hung up. For a moment, I stared at the phone. When had he become such an asshole? When we’d started and he’d taken over his dad’s business, he hadn’t acted like this. But over the last few years, he’d changed in a significant way, and he’d been relying on the fact that I picked up his slack a little too much.

If I was going to get to my next job, I needed to let Declan know I was leaving.

The idea of going sawed at me. So much had shifted since last night, had brought realizations to light I’d only ever dreamed of. And I didn’t want to leave. If I could stay here for eternity, I would. Because I was terrified we wouldn’t last. That when we faced the outside world, this burgeoning flame we’d found would be extinguished.

I ran a hand through my sweaty strands and stepped inside the house. Tapping came from the other side of the house, and I followed the rhythmic click-clacking to Declan’s office.

Declan sat behind his work laptop, the sheen of the screen glinting against his glasses. His brow furrowed and his lips pursed in concentration.

Warmth squeezed my chest tight. When he was focused on something, he barely broke away. I leaned against the door and watched him for a few minutes. Maybe I should be rushing out the door, but the way Brandon had freaked out made me want to drag my heels even more. Declan continued typing at his laptop, a few strands of hair drifting over his forehead. He hadn’t realized I was in the room yet,and if anything, that made him even more endearing. He hadn’t been lying when he said he was self-sufficient, that he didn’t need me to hold his hand or entertain him every second of the day.

And his directness. God, it made me swoon. The ease I felt around him, knowing he’d tell me what he needed and how he set his boundaries, was the goddamn sexiest thing. The safety and comfort I experienced around him was unparalleled.

Declan coughed and glanced away from the screen.

“Hey,” I said.

“Oh shit.” He almost jumped in his seat. “When did you get there?”

“Been here a bit.” I grinned, amusement fluttering through me. “Your driveway is clear, and I’ve got to get to my next job.”

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