I’ll be leaving early again,” Zach said. “But I’m hoping to finish the wall piece. I don’t want you doing that.”

“You mean I’m not capable of doing that.” Zach was the artist. Evan’s work was purely functional.

He checked the oxygen valve in his cooling blowtorch before setting it down and pulling off his goggles. If Zach was hovering around, it was time to take a break.

Sure enough, the other man was leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded over his chest. Waiting.

“Don’t kill yourself over it,” Evan continued. “If you finish, you finish. If you don’t, leave it to me.”

“I leave everything to you,” Zach murmured. Trying to hide the hint of bitterness in his voice. Evan knew that the bitterness wasn’t for him.

“You can’t do everything. You know, I…” This was the part where Evan explained his own past, where Zach finally understood why Evan cared so fucking much about this. But the words seemed too big and sharp to push out of his throat. They hurt on the way up.

In the end, it didn’t matter. He was saved from confession by an unlikely source.

Daniel Burne shoved his broad shoulders past Zach, jarring the other man without hesitation. He stormed over to Evan as if they were meeting on the battlefield, his pretty face twisted.

“Miller,” he spat, jabbing a finger in the air. Evan eyed that finger with annoyance. He had a sudden and strong desire to snap it in two.

Instead he shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “What?”

Daniel blinked—as if a response of any kind was so unexpected that it had thrown off his rant. “I... You...” After a moment’s floundering, he refocused. “You don’t listen too good, do you?”

“Actually,” Evan said, “I listen very well. I am an excellent soldier.” But you are not my superior.

“You’re not any kind of soldier here,” Daniel sneered. “You’re a subject. And I’m the fucking king.”

Evan’s brows rose at the sheer teenage immaturity of that statement. Daniel didn’t seem even slightly embarrassed by the words that had just come out of his mouth. Fascinating.

“I thought I told you about that girl,” Daniel snapped.

Ah. So this was about Ruth. Evan pulled his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. He dug his short nails into his own flesh, out of sight. Call it a pre-emptive measure. Because he was 100% sure that he was about to lose his fucking temper.

“You did,” Evan said. “I ignored you.”

He still remembered Daniel’s words, the day they’d bumped into Ruth. You’re really pissed? Over a girl like her?

Daniel came forward, green eyes blazing as he invaded Evan’s space. All his insistent charm was gone now, as if it had never existed. “I’m warning you,” he spat. “Stay away. You don’t mess with a girl like her, not while you work for Burne & Co. She’s bad fucking news and my father agrees.”

Evan felt like he’d been treading water easily, only for an undercurrent to catch him without warning. My father agrees. What the hell did that mean? Was Daniel threatening his job? Was Mr. Burne threatening his job?

“What the fuck is your problem?” Evan demanded, his patience slipping. In the doorway, he saw Zach, eyes wide and head shaking frantically. The message was clear. Whatever you’re about to do, don’t.

Evan was too pissed off to listen. His rational mind screamed that this job was a dream come true, and positions in his specialism were hard to find, and he couldn’t just move somewhere else and start over. He ignored his rational mind the same way he ignored Zach.

“Are you jealous?” He asked Daniel. “Is that what this is?” Because suddenly, that was exactly how it seemed.

Daniel sneered. “Why the fuck would I be jealous of that? Half the town’s had her.”

“You sent the flowers, didn’t you?”

That wiped the smirk off Daniel’s face. He stuttered—actually stuttered—“I don’t… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you fucking do.” Evan stepped closer, crowding Daniel right the fuck back, fury flooding him. Everything was coming together, now. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before. “You want her,” he said. “You had her, and now you don’t, and you want her.”

Which meant that Daniel… Daniel was Ruth’s ex. The guy she was kind of with. The guy who hurt her.

“You’re delusional,” Daniel choked out. “I wouldn’t touch that bitch if you paid me.”

Evan barely heard him. He was remembering, with dawning horror, everything Daniel had ever said about Ruth—said to Ruth—and the way she hesitated before touching anyone, and the look on her face when she’d seen those fucking flowers.

“I’m just looking out for you, mate,” Daniel said. His tone was reasonable now, soothing. He stepped back. “You know you’ll catch something, laying down with that.”

It was Zach who caught Evan’s flying fist, stopping its trajectory towards Daniel’s smug face. It was Zach who filled Evan’s blurring world, forcing himself between the two warring men.

“You have to calm down,” he gritted out, his eyes burning into Evan’s. He wrapped a hand around the back of Evan’s neck and squeezed, hard. “Listen to me. Listen to me. Calm. Down.”

Evan become gradually aware of the speed of his laboured breathing, the frantic pound of his heart. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to count to ten. Then he counted back from ten to one.

By the time he’d regained control, Daniel was gone.

Thank God.

Zach stepped back, eyeing Evan wearily. “You good?”

“I’m fine.” He ran a hand over his face as if that would hide the lie. “Jesus. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to do that.”

The other man shook his dark head. “Come with me.”

* * *

Zach led him into the break room and shoved him into a chair, his hand hard on Evan’s shoulder. Hard enough to chase away the last dizzying dregs of rage.

“Take a breath,” Zach ordered. His voice, the familiar cadence of a command, soothed Evan. “I don’t know what that was about,” Zach said, “but I do know that beating the shit out of the boss’s son is not a good idea. For many, many reasons.”

Evan bore those words in mind, tightening his grip on his composure. “I know. I... thank you. For stopping me.”

“Stop thanking me. We both know I owe you more than that.”

Their gazes met for a moment. Just long enough for Evan to see more gratitude in the other man’s eyes than he’d ever expected.

It made Evan uncomfortable, when people thought they ‘owed’ him. He didn’t do the right thing for credit. He did it because he had to.

“You want a cuppa?” Zach asked suddenly.

“Yeah.” Evan’s shoulders relaxed. “Please.”

Zach turned towards the little kitchenette, filling up the kettle. Now that his back was to Evan, that desperate gratitude was invisible. Thank God. Its weight was suffocating.

“So you’ve got a girl,” Zach said. “And Daniel doesn’t like it.”

Evan let out a sigh. “I don’t know what his problem is. He’s married, isn’t he?”

“Daniel Burne has never let a little thing like marriage stop him from getting what he wants.” Zach fiddled with tea bags and grabbed milk from the fridge. “Who’s the girl?”

“Her name’s Ruth.”

Zach paused, every muscle in his broad back frozen. “Ruth Kabbah?” He asked, voice slightly incredulous.

Evan wished he could see the other man’s face.

Relaxing back in his seat, he crossed his arms to hide his clenching fists. “You gonna warn me off too?”

“No,” Zach said immediately. Like a robot rebooted, he began to move again. “I don’t judge,” he continued, voice mild. “That family’s never done me a wrong. Anyway, my brother’s got a criminal record, too, and—” He finally turned around, just in time to see the shock on Evan’s face. “Shit,” Zach said. “You didn’t know. I—“

Evan held up a hand. “Just… Don’t say anything else.”

“I’m sorry, man—“

“Don’t. It’s fine.” His mind was flying in a thousand different directions, but none of those directions were Zach’s business.

Well; except one.

“You have a brother?” Evan asked, his voice stirring the cauldron of awkward air.

Zach nodded, looking relieved at the change of subject. “Yeah. You’ll meet him soon. He’s moving home again, because of...” Zach’s voice trailed off, his face darkening. But then he cleared his throat and continued. “It’s taking him some time. He’s down in London. Got two kids and a business to pack up.”

Evan smiled, and managed to mean it. “You’re an uncle?”

“Yeah,” Zach grinned. “Got a niece and a nephew.” He pulled out his phone and produced pictures with a pride that seemed almost parental.

Some of the images contained one child, some both. They shared Zach’s jet-black hair and blue eyes. Their father was in a few of the pictures; a man who looked like Zach with longer hair, more tattoos, and a hell of a scowl.

The children didn’t seem to mind the scowl, though; in the pictures of all three of them, they clung to their dad like happy little monkeys. There were no other adults in any of the images.

“Is your brother a single parent?”

“Why? You interested?” Zach wiggled his brows.

Evan rolled his eyes.

“Oh, of course you aren’t,” Zach grinned. “You’ve got a Kabbah girl.”

“I haven't got anyone.” Evan gulped down his tea. “And we’re wasting a break gossiping like old men. Let’s go.”

Across the coffee table, the other man straightened his spine and gave a mock salute. “Aye aye, Captain.”

“I’m not a captain,” Evan muttered.

“Ah, whatever.”