Page 15 of Jack of All Trades

Chapter Five

As Jack peered overhis shoulder, the guy's proximity made Maltin sweat despite how cool his loft was. Online, he found three private detective agencies, but one only worked in Valleywood, another didn’t ever go near the city, and finally, the third was countrywide.

“Great. This is where we begin.”

“A private detective? I thought you didn’t want anyone to know.”

“He’s not from Valleywood, but close enough to drive here in an hour. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

Jack’s jaw dropped but Maltin ignored him. He had to. Whenever he looked at Jack, he had extreme impulses to fuck him blind.

After dressing in a casual tan suit, he grabbed his wallet and herded Jack to the warehouse, opening the door of his pink convertible ’62 Ford Thunderbird for him. “Get in, please.”

“You don’t believe in being incognito much, huh?”

“I don’t drive ugly cars, even to blend in with others. Are you getting in?”

Jack chuckled dryly. “Can I drive?”

“No,” he said flatly, suddenly annoyed with his possible fated mate.

Fated mate. Although he’d known he could be a shifter, he never considered mating. He’d had lovers in the past, but the one time he thought about being with someone forever, they’d cheated and left him high and dry.

That was when he decided that other people weren’t for him. They were all out to hurt him, at least in his mind. To think of fate placing a mate with him, with no say so from Maltin, with no choice, made him as angry as it aroused him just to be near Jack.

He started the car with a roar of the engine, and Jack was smiling as he petted the black leather dashboard like it was a kitten. “God, this is beautiful. I’d have never gone for pink, but with the black, it’s gorgeous.”

“Please refrain from sexually assaulting my interior,” he said, though he hadn’t meant to sound so clipped.

Jack’s voice turned menacing. “Listen, I get your cars are so fucking precious to you but lay off me. I’m dealing with a lot of shit right now.”

“And I’m not?”

“Yeah, you are! Aren’t we kind of in this thing together? Maybe that pisses you off that you have to share something with me, a lowly fucking whore, but that’s the roll of the dice.”

Maltin heard the words and turned off the engine before turning his head slowly to Jack. “You’re what?”

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“I thought you were a handyman!”

Jack stared in disbelief. “You are kidding, right?”

“Kidding about this? I assure you I wouldn’t joke about something like that. I didn’t hire you to…to…”

“Fuck you?”

“Well, yes!”

Jack slumped in his seat and groaned, “Fuck, my mouth. Yes, I’m a handyman, but the company where I work does a play on words. Hand-E-Men. Hands-E-Men, like men who work with their hands but don’t use any tools except what they were born with, so to speak. We do both or either.”

Maltin was so shocked that he didn’t know what to think. “Well, if I’d have known…”

“What? You wouldn’t have hired me? I am fixing your roof. Both or either, you know? Usually, I do some work for a guy, and then, when I’m done with that job, I give him one, or whatever. I pretty much figured, then hoped, that you didn’t want the second part of that contract.”

Of everything Jack had said, only the last part jumped out at him. “You hoped I wouldn’t? What’s wrong withme?”

Jack finally looked over at him. “You’re a…well, you’re a prick.”

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