Page 19 of Fixer
“Hardly.A craftsman, maybe.”He dumped the water down the drain and refilled the bucket, then picked up the sponge and eyed his fingers as if expecting to see something else there.“I know I’m lucky.Not many people make a living doing what they love.”
“You could probably do your work around here,” I said, probing.“Carving’s portable.”
“The markets aren’t, though.I put in a lot of miles driving to craft fairs and delivering to gift shops.This is the middle of nowhere.No one’s buying.”
“So you wouldn’t want to move here to the farm?”
“I wouldn’t want to freeload on my brother.”
“They hire extra help at harvest season, and could probably use some all year round.”
Wade frowned.“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
I didn’t know I had you.I hid a smile at the way he’d said that.“No.Especially since it would mean getting you Canadian ID, and that was a bitch and a half for Shawn.Even though he was a minor, which is easier.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to do that for me.”
“Sure, you would.It’s literally my job.Fixer.”
“Not anymore,” he pointed out.
For some reason, that truth caught me off balance, as if in my head, one pack run had settled me back in that role.“Right.You’re right.”
He set down his sponge.“I never thanked you.”
“For what?”
“Saving Shawn’s life.”
“I busted his leg and two ribs and gave him blood loss and internal injuries that almost killed him.”
“You saved him.You know that’s true.If Alpha had found out what you did, you’d have been dead yourself.I’m more grateful than I can say.”
“I didn’t do it for you.I’d have tried my best for any queer wolf.”Although a tiny piece of added urgency, the willingness to take any risk at all to save Shawn, had been because he was Wade’s brother.Wade didn’t need to know that, though.
He turned to me, his blue eyes intent.“You’re a good man.I wish I’d trusted you.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Huh?”
I raised an eyebrow.The sun glancing in the dusty window lightened his hair and carved the angle of his jaw in shadows.He was even better looking than the twenty-two-year-old I’d very secretly watched, but a lot less open.“You weren’t great at keeping secrets back then.If you’d trusted me with Shawn, Alpha wouldn’t have.”
He acted hurt.“I kept Shawn’s secret.”
“True.”Shawn being spotted with a boy from his school had nothing to do with Wade.“Did Alpha ever ask you if you’d already known?”
“No.”The muscles in Wade’s jaw clenched.He knew that lying to Alpha would’ve been nearly impossible.
I suggested, “Probably he didn’t want the answer.”Wade wouldn’t have been the first or last wolf shielding a family member from consequences.Alphas had to weigh when to come down hard and when to turn a blind eye.Once Shawn was gone, there was no point in going after Wade, as long as he obeyed pack law.
“What about you?Didn’t he ask you if the job was done, Alpha to Sixth?”
“Yes.In just about those terms.I told him, yes, ‘the job was done’, and Shawn Peters would never be seen again.Both things the truth, which I could put conviction behind.The job of extracting Shawnwasdone.Whatever ID I’d end up getting him later, I knew it wouldn’t be Peters.”
Wade snorted.“You got that technicality past Alpha?”
“My father taught me to be averygood liar.One powerful way to lie is to tell the truth, and let their interpretation be the lie.”
