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Authors: Bailey Bradford

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BOOK: Where There's a Will
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Annabelle didn’t look like she believed him. She pointed at Carlos as Josh thundered down the hall. “Look at him. He’s all flushed and sweaty and stuff.”

“You probably scared the shit out of him with your lovely banshee imitation,” Josh said, and Carlos was nodding in agreement before he could stop himself.

“Whatever,” Annabelle huffed as more people joined them. Carlos about wanted to melt into the floor. He didn’t understand why everyone was looking at him. He was just worn out, was all. Understandable, considering the two studs earlier. Carlos had to grin just a little thinking about that. He hadn’t known he still had it in him, and if he was lucky maybe they could do it again sometime.

Josh leaned in and touched his cheek, scattering Carlos’ thoughts. “You feel kind of warm. Having any chest pain?”

Carlos thought of the scratches, reaching up to cover them over his shirt. “Nope. Not like you’re asking about, anyways, just got some scratches bugging me. It ain’t anything—”

He didn’t even get to finish before Josh slapped his hand aside and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Hey!” Carlos yelped. He knew what his torso looked like, and explaining to Nick how Antonia had went all psycho on him? Well, Nick would understand why Carlos hadn’t decked the woman even when he’d really been tempted, but still. Carlos tried to stop Josh from unbuttoning his shirt but the guy was a slippery little shit who didn’t hesitate to growl and smack the beejeezus out of Carlos’ hands.

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WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

48

 

“Stop it or I’ll have Nick and the other guys help me out.” Josh’s green eyes fairly sparkled with agitation. Carlos found himself becoming as docile as a ragdoll and damn near as weak. He didn’t bother looking at anyone, just watched Josh’s hands as he finished opening his shirt. Josh parted the material and hissed. Carlos felt like hissing, too. He’d tensed up and it sure didn’t make him feel any better.

“These are infected,” Josh muttered, and when he pressed around the scratches, Carlos had to bite back a gasp. “The bruises don’t look too bad but you should be checked out, and a shot of antibiotics along with a prescription will take care of these scratches.”

He looked down while Josh was rattling on. Yeah, those looked kinda nasty, all red and puffy and gooey. The bruises didn’t stand out so bad on his dark skin, normally, but they sure seemed to be obvious right now—or he’d gone a couple of shades paler, which might well be the case.

“Shit.”

Carlos recognised Nick’s voice easily, as well as the anger lacing it. That was another reason he hadn’t wanted the man to see him like this. Nick didn’t need the added stress of knowing his mama had flipped out and become violent again. Carlos looked up and found Nick’s dark gaze with his own.

“What happened?” Nick bit out.

Josh snorted. “Looks like someone, probably a woman, I’d guess, decided to use Carlos here as a punching bag and a scratching post.”

Nick made an exasperated sound and flicked a hand in the air. “I know that, and I know who. What I want to know is
why
!”

“Whatever,” Josh muttered, still poking at Carlos. Carlos winced when Josh found a particularly tender spot—although, if Josh didn’t try to shove his damn fingers through Carlos’ stomach to his spine, it might not be so tender. It sure hadn’t hurt so much before.

“Stop,” Carlos said, giving up on the stoic act since he doubted it was working very well. He managed to catch Josh’s hand and hold onto it. “She got pissed when she found out I’d been rooting around her office, trying to figure out what the situation was with the Mossy G. Then she really got pissed when I told her I wanted to know what she’d done with the money. She just lost her shit on me and went off.” Carlos tapped beside the scratches, far enough away not to hurt. “And when I told her I was gonna talk to you about how she’d www.total-e-bound.com

 

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Bailey Bradford

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fucked everything up? She just went more crazy, Nick. Worse than when you left. Never seen anything like it.”

In fact, he thought Antonia had been trying to get her hands around his neck. That woman just wasn’t all there. How she’d had a kid who turned out as good as Nick was a mystery for sure.

“Anyway, I think she won’t be begging me to come back to work for her this time

‘round.” As if he’d be dumb enough to say yes if she did.

Nick looked miserable as he scrubbed at his face. “I’m so sorry, Carlos. I don’t know what else to say.” He sighed and looked at Rory, who nodded once, then he turned his attention back to Carlos. “We could always use an experienced hand here. I can’t make you foreman, but…” Nick trailed off, looking an odd cross between embarrassed and hopeful.

“He can think about it while we’re taking him to get this taken care of,” Josh informed them before Carlos could even process Nick’s offer. “You can nag him about it all the way in.”

And just like that, Carlos found himself being led outside towards Nick’s truck, his mind swimming with possibilities regarding two certain men. He saw Nick give him a weird look again and Carlos just shook his head. He wasn’t about to explain to Nick that he had offered him more than just a job, he’d offered him a way to have something Carlos suddenly really wanted.

 

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WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

50

Chapter Nine

Will wasn’t surprised at all when he saw Glenn Shearer approaching his vehicle in The Xxchange’s parking lot the next day. Glenn was the partner of James Stratton, the man Will was paid to keep an eye on, a situation which had become slightly more bearable since Will was no longer under orders to drag the poor guy back home to his snooty parents in Montana. Glenn seemed to tolerate Will now since he wasn’t a threat, per se. But Glenn was by no means a friend.

The man had a stride that never failed to draw Will’s gaze right to his groin. He’d had the hots for the older man for a few months, but seeing James so happy with him, after all the bad shit James had been through, had firmed Will’s resolve not to continue hitting on Glenn.

Will dragged his gaze up and knew by the scowl on Glenn’s face, he was fixing to get an ass chewing. He’d bet the little shit who was watching the bar last night had run and tattled to Xavier Talbot, the owner of The Xxchange. Or maybe Will would get lucky and Glenn was just wanting to snarl at him for something else.

He never had good luck—except for last night, and yeah, it about made up for every bit of bad luck he’d ever experienced. Will couldn’t quite wipe the silly grin off his face as he got out of his car, his ass still sore from the pounding Carlos had given him.
That
was exactly the kind of fucking Will had been craving.

“Glenn, what brings you out here?” Will leaned against the car, his hands behind the small of his back as he crossed his fingers. He was startled to realise he wasn’t much concerned if Glenn knew what he’d done, but the idea of Troy getting caught—what if Troy got fired? Will didn’t feel like grinning any more.

Glenn didn’t stop until he was practically toe to toe with Will. “Did you even stop to notice the security cameras?”

His cold tone made Will want to jump the man and shrink back at the same time. He did neither. “So? I didn’t think about it, but it makes sense for there to be cameras in the club.

It probably makes good money on the weekends.”

“And in the storage room,” Glenn bit out as he raised his hand.

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Will cringed before he caught himself, the ingrained response springing out before he could corral it this time. He’d thought he was past the whole
please don’t beat me
cringing thing. Apparently not.

Glenn paled and dropped his hand back to his side. “Ah, shit,” he muttered, taking a half step back. “I wasn’t going to hit you.”

“I never thought you were.”
Liar. You about pissed your pants.
Will uncrossed his fingers and tucked his thumbs in his front pocket, hoping for a casual pose. “Even if you did, I could take it.” He doubted Glenn was as mean as some people in Will’s family.

Will spied movement behind Glenn and felt a spurt of panic. He’d never met the big man heading their way, but he knew who he was. Xavier Talbot, owner of The Xxchange, and the reason Will had avoided the place until last night. He’d known Talbot wouldn’t let him in there. Will was like the town pariah or whatever.

“What’re you—” Glenn twisted around enough to see what Will was looking at. He huffed and turned the rest of the way around. “Xavier, go back inside. I’ve got this.” Glenn’s tone brooked no argument, at least not in Will’s opinion, but it didn’t seem to faze Xavier Talbot. The guy just stomped on over, glaring daggers at Will.


You
,” Xavier growled, and it didn’t sound a damn thing like the way Carlos had growled it out last night. Carlos made the word ‘you’ sound erotic, like the answer to a prayer, maybe. Xavier just made it sound hateful.

“Xavier!” Glenn somehow snapped the man’s name out without sounding peckish. Will wanted to learn that trick. Xavier stopped and finally glared at Glenn, giving Will a break from the anger blazing from Talbot’s eyes. “Stop it. I told you I have this handled. And before you start screeching about Troy fucking around on the job, you’d told me before everyone, yourself included, had done so at The Xxchange.”

Xavier took a deep breath, cutting his eyes at Will. “Don’t step foot in my club again.”

Glenn sighed and Xavier started to turn away. Will, as he did too often, leapt before he looked. “Wait! What about Troy?”

Xavier pivoted around so fast the man was a blur and flying dark hair. He pointed one thick finger at Will. “
You
don’t need to worry about Troy! Stay away from him, too!”

Will had learned the best way to handle a bully was not to back down, and to him, a bully was all Talbot was right now. Will pushed himself up off the car and swatted Glenn’s hand away when he tried to grab Will’s arm. Will was cringing inside, but he’d be damned if www.total-e-bound.com

 

WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Bailey Bradford

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he let Talbot know it as he marched up to the club owner. Will glared up, careful to keep his voice neutral and quiver-free.

“Troy is a big boy. He can decide for himself if he wants me to stay away.”

Xavier didn’t like that at all, as evidenced by the way his shoulders tensed and his scowl turned into something dangerous and fierce looking. Will started to take a step back and caught himself only at the last moment. Xavier sneered. “And what do you think he’ll decide after I’ve told him we’ve seen everything?”

“Everything?” Will echoed, and the damnable invisible imp residing on his shoulder, the imp that frequently encouraged him to speak without thinking it through, took over. Will grinned and tipped his head to the side. “It was pretty hot, huh? And the cowboy, Carlos?

Oh my God! He was incredible, too, wasn’t he? And who is ‘we’? Do we get compensated for your viewing pleasure? What’s the going daily rate for porn actors?”

Xavier gaped, that was the only word for it, and his cheeks turned ruddy, and Will, feeling like himself once more, giggled, especially when Glenn made a strangled sound behind him. Will craned his head around and noticed how flushed Glenn looked. “Aw, did you watch it, too? The whole thing? Because I wouldn’t have thought it’d be necessary. I mean, whoever was watching it had to have caught on
real
quick to what was happening, right?” Will knew his smile had to be the hot side of evil as he looked back and forth at both men. “Can I get a copy of it?”

“Oh my God.” Xavier looked flummoxed and Glenn just seemed like he was torn

between laughing and dying of embarrassment.

“Go,” Glenn rasped and this time, Xavier went without a protest.

Will propped a hand on one hip and arched a brow at Glenn. His amusement withered when he thought about the trouble he’d likely got Troy in. “Is he going to fire Troy?”

Glenn frowned as if he didn’t understand the question. Will started to repeat it but Glenn threw a hand up to shush him before studying Will intently. “I don’t get you. I can’t quite convince myself you’re the epitome of evil when I know you’re just doing your job.”

Will shrugged. “You don’t have to ‘get’ me. And I’ve never done anything to James. All I’m doing now is checking in on him when he has his psych appointments here—and before you ask, duh, I’m a PI, so I can find things out, yanno.”

“How much digging have you done?”

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Bailey Bradford

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And didn’t Glenn sound like he was getting angry? Will’s urge to poke at the man was tempered by the fact that the guy was just looking out for his partner. “Not much, but I thought a tiny bit of snooping might appease his parents. At least they’ve quit threatening to ruin my life, destroy my career, make sure I can’t even work at the corner gas station and all those other rich-people-can-squash-not-rich-people threats, if I don’t find a way to get James back to them.”

“They don’t sound much different than the asshole who had James abducted the first time,” Glenn muttered.

Will thought he did well not to roll his eyes or say anything sarcastic. Instead he tried to be a mature, reasonable adult. It was weird and made him feel kinda dirty. “I don’t think they are, and I’d just like to point out, if one of my sisters, or my brother, or God forbid, my dad, were here instead of me? It’d be a totally different deal. They wouldn’t give a shit if James seemed happy here, or if it looks like he feels like he’s home. All they’d care about was doing their job, whether it was what was best for him or not.” Will bit his lip and glanced down at the ground. Okay, he’d gone and done the whole damned oversharing thing again.

Hopefully Glenn would let it go.

“Will,” Glenn began, lightly touching Will’s shoulder. “Are you—”

BOOK: Where There's a Will
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