Rather than going into the empty building and waiting for someone to arrive, he ventured farther down the dirt road until he came to the mechanic’s shop where Ethan and Beau spent the majority of their days. He hopped out of his truck, then slammed the door extra hard, purposely intending to alert them to his arrival. He damn sure didn’t want to walk in on Ethan and Beau doing something that would likely blind Brendon for a lifetime. It was one thing to know the two men loved one another, something else entirely for him to have to see just how much.
But, he’d thought the same about all of his brothers. Ever since that one damn time a few months earlier when he’d ventured to Travis’s house only to find Gage and Kylie on the couch naked and … Yeah, well, he still wanted to bleach his eyeballs after that snafu. Seeing any member of his family going at it was not what Brendon considered a good time.
“What’s up, bro?” Ethan called when Brendon walked through the open bay door.
A quick glance around told him that they were busy. There were two trucks inside, one in each of the smaller bays, as well as one of Walker Demo’s excavators in the oversized bay used to work on the larger equipment. The sound of metal on metal echoed in the cavernous space, which meant Beau was hard at work somewhere, because clearly Ethan wasn’t.
“Not a damn thing. I see the same’s goin’ with you,” Brendon joked as he moved toward his brother, who was holding a cup of coffee in his hands and watching him intently.
Ethan’s eyes widened dramatically and he stared back at Brendon with a look of utter disbelief.
“Oh, shit. Beau!” Ethan hollered. “Get the hell over here. Somethin’s wrong with Brendon. He got his smart-ass mouth back.”
“Shut the hell up,” Brendon grumbled, smiling to himself.
Ethan laughed. “Want some coffee? Just made it.”
“You mean Beau just made it?” Brendon knew Beau was the one who generally had fresh coffee on as long as they were in the shop.
“Same difference,” Ethan muttered.
Brendon would never turn down coffee, so he nodded his head and turned toward the small room the two men used as an office.
“Holy shit!” Brendon yelled to Ethan, who was still standing in the shop, just outside the office. “When the hell did y’all let Mom in here to decorate?”
Brendon went on to pour a cup of coffee while he waited for a retort.
“That’s Beau’s doin’,” Ethan explained loudly, clearly ensuring his voice carried. “He’s all about makin’ shit pretty round here.”
It was harder than hell for Brendon to imagine Big Beau Bennett and the term pretty being used in the same damn sentence. It just wasn’t natural.
“Well, I’d say it looks nice, but I’d be lyin’. It’s like a craft store blew up in there and the only thing left was the ugly shit,” Brendon offered, intentionally picking on Beau as he joined Ethan once again.
Brendon sipped his coffee and met his brother’s amused gaze before glancing over at Beau to see a pleased smirk on the big man’s face.
“At the risk of pissin’ you off,” Ethan said, “I have to tell ya that I’m glad you’re back.”
“I didn’t go anywhere,” Brendon countered, knowing exactly what Ethan was referring to.
“Yeah, you kinda did.” Ethan’s gruff laugh followed.
“You ain’t got any room to talk,” Brendon declared, laughing. Before Beau got his hands on Ethan a year and a half earlier, the man hadn’t spent much time smiling either, so Brendon took Ethan’s statement for what it was worth.
“What brings you by?” Beau asked when he passed by Brendon, slapping him on the back and damn near sending his coffee mug down his throat. That gigantic bastard had some serious power in those giant-ass arms.
“I was just gonna check in with Jared, but his truck’s gone,” Brendon imparted, nodding in the direction of the Walker Demo construction office.
“He had to go pick Derrick up at the day care. He’s runnin’ a fever or somethin’,” Beau informed him.
“Jaxson gonna fill in while he’s out?” Brendon asked, referring to their cousin.
Jaxson’s mother, Mary, was their father’s sister. The entire Briggs clan lived in Coyote Ridge, along with several more of their cousins. Since the opening of Alluring Indulgence Resort, Jaxson had begun showing considerable interest in helping out at Walker Demo, so they’d hired him on when Kaleb and Sawyer transferred over to AI.
“Supposed to. Haven’t seen him around though,” Beau confirmed.