Painted On My Heart

“What else did you do?”

Arik stayed silent, confirming his suspicions.

“You can’t just take over my life and not tell me what you’re doing because you think I’m hard to deal with,” he mumbled, guiding the van into an empty space along the street in front of his house before shoving the gearshift into park.

“Sure, I can. It’s monumentally easier than fighting with you over every little thing,” Arik said in the confident, assured way he had as he opened the van door and hopped out.

Frustrated, Kellus removed the key from the ignition. He took a deep breath before leaving the vehicle. Those had been Arik’s answers all day long when Kellus had called him at the office after someone had unexpectedly shown up at his house to do something he had no knowledge of—first the security system, then the car delivery, followed by housekeepers dressed in what closely resembled the hazmat suits Arik kept suggesting last night. He tucked his keys in his front pocket, deciding he wasn’t entirely sure he liked being circumvented, no matter how smoothly today had run.

“Get your ass over here.” He heard Arik calling out as the van’s side door slid open.

“You’re late.”

Kellus recognized Gage’s voice before he ever rounded the back of the van. Unreasonable panic stopped him in his tracks. He couldn’t remember if he’d told Arik not to say anything about him to Gage or not. The bigger, almost impossible to ignore problem that landed straight on his shoulders came from the fact that Gage was his most important client. He was also Arik’s cousin. Of course, he knew that, but for whatever reason, he hadn’t really cemented those pieces together until right that second.

He heard the footsteps on the pavement and looked up in time to see Gage coming around the back of the van, a giant grin on his face. If the man had noticed his distress, it didn’t show. Two big arms spread to give him a tight hug really throwing Kellus for a loop. They’d never hugged before. Thank God it was dark. There would have been no hiding the shock on his face at that moment.

“A little help!” Arik called out.

“A’s been crazy lately. Good job on making him hold out.” Gage’s eyes gleamed as he lifted a fist for a quick knuckle touch. Kellus automatically responded and bumped the other man’s fist, even though he wasn’t entirely sure what they were talking about.

“Hey, Kellus,” Trent said as he came around to the back of the van and handed a large box to Gage.

“Umm…hey.” He returned the greeting as he played catch up, trying to figure out what he’d missed. Arik hadn’t mentioned anything about Gage and Trent stopping by. He and Gage trailed after Trent, closer to the side where Arik stood, gathering the fixtures he’d purchased tonight.

“Hope you’re ready to work. Arik has a list…” Trent’s voice trailed off as he disappeared behind the van again.

“Hey, did you quote my cousin a price?” Gage called out to Trent. Trent’s head popped out from around the van.

“Can’t you see that Kellus is uncomfortable? Give him a break. He isn’t used to the Layne family way of doing things,” Trent scolded.

“Are you uncomfortable?” Gage immediately asked. Even in the dark, he could see Gage wasn’t buying that as a possibility.

“I’m just surprised. I didn’t know you were coming. Why are y’all here?” he asked, stepping up to help Trent gather the rest of the supplies.

“Oh my God, Layne. That’s priceless.” Gage shook his head as he turned, heading toward the front door. Just as he made it to the front porch, he turned, shaking his head at Arik who had followed him up the sidewalk, his arms also full of packages. “Keeping secrets already? You’re seriously not very good at relationship building.”

“Bite me,” Arik shot back, continuing to trail behind Gage up the steps. Kellus couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Arik’s smooth way with words. Those two acted more like brothers than cousins. A small pang struck his heart. He missed his family.

Not letting the melancholy take root, Kellus pushed those thoughts from his head and looked over at Trent, who kicked the back doors shut with his foot.

“What are y’all doing here?” he asked again.

Trent pursed his lips as if he were thinking, then sighed. “Arik sent an email last night, asking me to come over and hang a couple of ceiling fans and fixtures. We got to talking and I told him I could fix furniture on a small scale. He never mentioned that we were coming to your place,” Trent replied and grabbed one of the bags from Kellus’s arms as he started for the house.

“Arik told me he could do it,” Kellus said, somewhat confused. Trent kept his casual gait toward the house but looked at him, cocking an eyebrow before he barked out a laugh and changed his course, heading toward his work truck. Kellus followed, wanting to know what that meant. “If you stay in this relationship long, you’re gonna learn that the Laynes are some domineering people. They think everyone else around them is frustrating. That’s not the case. It’s them. Where they’re concerned, everything has to be done a certain way,” Trent said, reaching into the truck bed toolbox.