“Stay out of it, Ben. I’m serious. No more digging. I don’t give a shit what they do.”

The second part was a lie, but he also didn’t want Ben tied up in their problems.

“No skin off my nose. But you need to do the same. You have your boys out there. You got what you want. You don’t need to worry about life here.” Ben cleared his throat. “I’ve got a meeting. I need to go. Thanks for calling, Tris.”

Ben hung up before Tristan could reply. He set the cell on his lap, reached over and grabbed another from the glove box. One, two, three, four, five... He counted, though not his pulse. He still needed the numbers, though.

It took four rings for the slow, deep voice to answer the phone. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t tell me about the murders.”

“You didn’t call. You said not to call you.”

Tristan sighed. “Nothing’s changed?” he asked.

“Nope. Are we ready to move forward? Do you want me to take care of it?”

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE.

“No, not yet. Keep an ear out for anything else. I’ll call soon.”

Tristan hung up the phone and slid it back into his glove box. He wouldn’t be afraid to do what needed to be done this time. He would be the man who followed through. Who protected what was his. And maybe then he’d be okay with who he was.

CHAPTER NINE

Mateo

Mateo swung the sledgehammer, slamming it into the counter. Splinters of wood flew up as a larger chunk fell to the floor. Lifting the hammer, he hefted it over his shoulder and let it collide with the top again. Over and over he beat the fuckin’ thing until it finally collapsed.

“You enjoyed that way too much,” Josiah’s voice came from the left of him. “You were smiling the whole time.”

Mateo gave him a smile this time. “It’s fun. I don’t usually get to bust shit apart for a good reason.” It almost made him forget the tiredness that hung on his body, like the damn thing was glued there. “You wanna try it?” He held the sledgehammer out to Josiah with one hand as he pulled the goggles off his face with the other.

“Nope.” Josiah grinned at him and crossed his arms.

“You’re no fun.” Mateo pulled back from trying to hand the tool to Josiah, shaking his head. Really, though, he loved these times between them, between the three of them, when Tristan was around. It felt good just to relax and be.

Josiah let his arms fall to his sides and then walked toward Mateo. He stopped in front of him, his face the light shade of red he still got sometimes. You’d think after all this time he would have lost that. Mateo was glad as hell he hadn’t.

“I was thinking we could go home together.” Josiah shrugged. “I want you to fuck me.”

Ah, so that’s what it was that made him blush. The blood rushed to Mateo’s dick. Yeah, he always wanted to fuck Josiah, but, “Don’t get me wrong here, Jay. You know I’m always hard for you. But we got shit to do here.” Between getting things settled in their two apartments and working in the stupid fucking kitchen, he didn’t have as much time as he wanted to work on the coffeehouse. “I’ll have you when I get home tonight, though.”

Mateo leaned forward, couldn’t feel Josiah because of the gloves on his hands, but that didn’t stop his mouth from having Jay now. Their tongues tangled, slipped in and out of each other’s mouths, making him really wish he hadn’t just demolished the counter so he could bend Josiah over it.

“I can’t believe you’re turning down sex,” Josiah said when their lips separated. “You haven’t done that since we were teenagers. I practically had to beg you.”

Chuckling, Mateo shook his head. “First of all, I’m not turnin’ down sex. I’ll fuck you all night long, mi precioso. You know that. And you didn’t have to beg.” Though Mateo could admit he kind of had. He just hadn’t ever wanted to hurt Josiah, never wanted to take advantage of him. He wanted him to know he could always change his mind about Mateo, and Teo had known sex would have changed that.

Leaning the sledgehammer against the wall, Mateo bent to pick up a load of wood. “Tristan said to put this shit in the back to have hauled off, right?”

“Teo.” The frustrated sound in Josiah’s voice told him what this was really about.

He looked over his shoulder. “Did you really play me for sex so you’d get me to stop workin’? I mean, I’m not complaining.” Then he filled his arms with the bigger pieces of wood and added, “We need a wheelbarrow or some shit. Make it to easier move stuff.”