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After three attempts to get his attention with the buzzer, he still hadn’t responded. If he was in there sleeping when I’d busted my ass to get over there…
I texted him, waited another moment, and called again. At that point, I was torn between anger and worry. There was no sign he was home other than his car, but if he’d decided to go to work on his own, he would’ve driven himself, wouldn’t he?
Maybe he’d called one of the Theriots’ security guards to drive him so I could bring him home.
I called the shop and Sam answered. “Is Corbin already there?”
“No. I was about to call you and ask where you were.”
“I got delayed. It was a long night. I’ll tell you more about it when I get in.”
“All right. I’ll get everything started.”
I glanced back at Remington’s house, which still seemed lifeless. “So no sign of Corbin?”
“No. Should there be?”
“I don’t know. I was supposed to pick him up, but he’s not here. I thought maybe he headed into work without me.”
“I let you know if he shows.”
“Thanks.” Now I was truly worried. I called Corbin again. Still no answer.
The right thing to do was just head into work. He’d show or he wouldn’t. I’d deal with the consequences, or I’d end our agreement altogether. If he was going to be this fucking stubborn, then I wasn’t sure things could work between us.
But what if he wasn’t ignoring me? What if something had happened to him? What if Guidry or whoever he was working for had gotten to him? I decided to make one more call.
Twenty-Three
Corbin
“Corbin! Corbin!” At first, I thought the voice was in my head. There was certainly plenty of pounding there. Maybe I was just interpreting it as words. I realized it was Lance when he started shaking me as well as yelling my name.
“What? Jesus, did you have to wake me like that?”
“Answer your fucking phone. It’s rung like five times.”
I glanced outside and saw how light it was. My stomach, which already felt terrible, threatened to revolt as I realized Beau was supposed to pick me up for work. It was way past seven when I was meant to show up, and even if I was ready now, it was still a twenty-minute drive from Lance’s place in the warehouse district.
Lance picked up my phone and looked at the screen. “It’s Beau.”
I took the phone from him, but by the time I tried to answer the call, Beau had given up on me.
I ran a hand through my hair as I stared at my phone. “Shit, what do I do? He was supposed to pick me up at Remy’s at seven.”
“Call him back and tell him you’re here and you overslept.”
“You don’t understand. He… He’ll think… I don’t know if I can.”
“Corbin, I know you’ve got to have a hell of a hangover, but you keep telling me you want to be treated like a real grown-up. That means you have to face shit when you mess up.”
“Or distract people with a monkey and make them like you anyway?”
Lance rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome to develop whatever methods work for you. Right now, you need to call your man back.”
“He’s not my man. He’s…”
“Corbin!”
Lance was right. Continuing to ignore Beau was not the way to show him I deserved as much respect as Lance and Remy. It sure as hell wasn’t the way to show him that I… that I wanted to be the kind of man he’d want to be with, like really be with, like…
What the hell was I doing fantasizing like this? I needed to call him. He’d tell me off, crush my romantic dreams, and then I could move on. Because thinking that was all going to work out for me… That was stupid.
Beau answered almost immediately. “Corbin. Where the fuck are you?”
“I’m at Lance’s house.”
Beau blew out a long breath. “I take it you’re safe and sound then.”
“You were worried about me?”
“After what happened yesterday? Fuck yes, I was. I showed up and your car was there, but you weren’t, and you weren’t at the shop either. What was I supposed to think?”
“I figured you’d think I’d fucked off somewhere.”
“At first, I thought you’d overslept, but when you didn’t answer the door or my calls, I started to worry.”
“I’m fine. Lance called after you left last night, and we went out. He brought me back to his place and put me to bed. He had no idea I was supposed to be there, and I…”
“You didn’t take the responsibility to make sure you woke up and got ready on time.”
Beau sounded so disappointed. Instead of it making me angry the way it had before, it hurt. I pressed my hand against my eyes. I wasn’t going to cry. I wanted to tell him I was confused and frustrated and mixed up, but I didn’t know how to say that. I didn’t want to talk about it in front of Lance.
