Page 26 of Jackrabbit

Thank you, Mr. Moore.

Can I go now, Mr. Moore?

“Colt,” Beau called. Colt paused what he was doing and turned his ear toward Beau’s office, and Beau stretched his fingers. “Come here.”

Colt set the cloth down next to the spray bottle and stood up, wiped his hands on the front of his coveralls and came over. He didn’t look Beau in the eye, of course. “Yes, Mr. Moore?”

Jaw ticking, Beau ground his teeth and took a breath. “You wanna come work the sim tonight? Cat would probably appreciate the company. Or the table scraps.”

“We don’t have training tonight.”

No stupid name for Beau’s cat like Trash Goblin or Princess Fluffer the Third. No smile at the mention of using the sim again. Nothing.

“I know,” Beau growled before swallowing down his frustration. “I know that. But I thought—”

“I’m busy tonight,” Colt snapped.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” The words were out of Beau’s mouth before he could think better of them, sharp and angry.

And Colt didn’t look blank anymore. His eyes burned as he looked up at Beau. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, boy.” Beau stepped forward. “What’s wrong with you? You’re bein’ so goddamn distant and pissy. I’m gonna lose my mind.”

Colt threw up his hands, his neck flushing red with anger. “Jesus Christ. Is anything fucking good enough for you?”

“Good enough?” Beau clenched his fist at his side and shook his head. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You know what the hell that’s supposed to mean,” Colt hissed. He dug his hands into his hair and tugged it straight up before dropping them again. “Ibacked off! You made it real fucking clear what my place is, and I finally stepped into it, and now you’re still mad at me? Are you serious right now?”

What the flying fuck?

“What place? What the hell are you talking about?” Beau was near shouting now, unable to tone it down, angry in a way he hadn’t been in literal years.

Power tools cut off one after another in the shop. His guys listening to him lose his shit. Christ.

“Every time I try to take a step closer to you, you shove me back!” Colt paced out of the office and then right back in, came up to Beau and pointed at his chest. “I get it, alright? I’m just a fucking kid to you, a nuisance, a goddamn pest that showed up on your doorstep and wouldn’t go away. I can’t use your first name! I can’t even use yourmiddle namelike everyone else. I can’t — ”

He cut himself off with an angry snarl and stepped back again. “You know what? Forget it. I can’t—I need to go. I can’t do this right now.”

Then he turned on his heel and walked right toward the door, coveralls and all.

“Get your ass back here,” Beau all but hollered after him, stepping out of the office himself.

His heart was raging against his chest, his palms sweating, his eyes burning. How had this spiraled so goddamn spectacularly?

Colt stopped with his hand on the door but didn’t turn around. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Moore.”

Then he walked out. The door shut quietly behind him. Through the front window, Beau watched him shove a hand into his pocket and pull out a pack of cigarettes—cigarettes Beau didn't know he still had. The light from the flame flared against the tattoos on Colt’s knuckles as he lit the smoke and kept walking.

The shop was dead silent. Colt stormed off in a cloud of cigarette smoke, and Beau stood in the wreckage of what he’d just caused for a long moment before he slammed his office door and left, too. Camila would handle it, and he’d makeit up to her later. But if he had to spend one more second in that fucking office with Colt’s shouts ringing in his ears, he might damn well lose it for real.

***

His cat was purring on his chest while he sat on the back porch watching the sunset when his phone started to trill at him from his pocket. He ignored it until it went to voicemail, but it started up right after. Sighing, he dug it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. Camila. The shop had been closed for an hour already, but maybe something had happened.

“Merc,” he answered, stroking down the cat’s back.

“Thank fuck,” Camila breathed, and Beau sat up straight.