Page 84 of Ice King

“Fuck,” the guy hissed, his voice trembling from shock.

Shouts occurred all around us and Beck was already directing the crane operator to stop what he was doing.

I was on my feet, dragging the jerk to his in two seconds flat, uncaring that the new recruit was dazed and confused. “What in the hell do you think you were doing?”

His eyes flew open wide as reality hit him. He’d ensured everyone he’d done this before and evidently, human resources hadn’t checked his resume. “I’m sorry, man. I thought…” His chest rose and fell from labored breathing.

Before I realized what I was doing, my arm was back, my hand fisted.

“Jesus, Ford.” Beck appeared in my line of sight, his head cocked and an incredulous look on his face as he glared at me.

Until that moment, I hadn’t realized I had a handful of the employee’s shirt and I’d lifted him off the ground by several inches. After taking a couple of deep breaths, I eased him down, instantly backing away only so another urge to beat the crap out of him didn’t hit me like ton of bricks.

Beck was just as livid, only I sensed his fury had my name all over it.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” The jerk ripped the earbuds from his ears, shoving them into his jeans’ pocket. “I thought I knew what I was doing.”

“Well, you thought wrong!” Sucking in my breath, I stared at the log. “If that log had fallen on you, even I couldn’t have lifted it to save your sorry ass. Do you understand that? You need to pay attention.”

“Yes, sir. I swear to God, it won’t happen again.”

“It’s okay, Sam,” Beck told him. “Why don’t you take a break and we’ll go over the safety routine again.”

“Yeah. Okay. Sure.” Sam tried to catch my eye again and finally nodded when he couldn’t. With his shoulders slumped at first, he headed toward the building we called the clubhouse then suddenly broke stride, racing toward the edge of the woods.

Even I grimaced seeing him tossing his lunch.

Beck took a step closer. “What is going on? We lost an employee at the beginning of the week because of you. Now, we stand to lose another. Good help is hard to find.”

“What do you mean we lost an employee?”

“You heard what I said. Zane quit cold turkey. I asked him why and he said because he’d rather work for a real wolf than you. Quote unquote. I get you’re hurting, brother, but taking out your frustrations based on your decision to quit playing hockey and in losing your woman isn’t good for business.”

He’d started to walk away before I realized all of what he’d said. “She’s not my woman.”

“Bullshit!” he tossed back with a wave of his hand.

I lifted my head, rubbing my jaw as I did. My woman. What a crock of shit.

Another noise and the scent of strawberries grabbed my attention. “Not you too.” I slowly lowered my head so I could look Samantha in the eyes.

She had her hands on her hips, her face a clear indication I was in for a lecture. She was almost as bad as our mother. “Yeah, me too.”

“I have work to do.” I tried to sidestep her and she was having none of it, jumping in front of me.

“You’re not hiding from me any longer. You’re going to listen to me.”

I could tell by her eat-shit-and-die expression she’d hang around for as long as it took. “Fine. What?”

“First of all, that. Which is what the entire family and every employee is talking about. You’re a walking, talking bull in a china shop. Even if running the sawmill was your chosen profession, which it is not, we wouldn’t have any employees bythe end of summer. You need to chill out. But that’s not why I’m here.”

“You’re beginning to sound exactly like our mom.”

“Good. Now, shut up before I become really angry.” She blew a strand of hair from her face and all I could think about was that our baby sister was all grown up.

“I’m listening.”

“You need to stop wallowing in self-pity. It’s getting ridiculous. No one can stand to be around you even if you weren’t cowering like some doe confronted by one of us.”