Free Where There's a Will by Bailey Bradford

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
     
    WHERE THERE’S A WILL
    Bailey Bradford
    49
     
    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.
     
    www.total-e-bound.com
     
    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