Page 50 of Choosing You

Then he began to pace.

“I understand this is your business and it probably wasn’t right for Drew to come here to talk to me about it, but you knew I’d be using the shop to do some of the work! I’ve done it in the past and you never had a damn problem with it. So what gives?”

For his part, Devin said nothing. He still had his arms crossed and was watching Will pace with only mild interest. And a small smirk.

Bastard.

“And what do you need a couple of weeks for?” he went on when his boss stayed quiet. “You know that whenever I do one of these jobs, I do it after hours so I don’t mess with your schedule. I don’t screw around with any of your inventory, and I clean up after myself!”

If Devin wanted to say anything, Will wasn’t aware because he was pacing and ranting and not even looking at him.

“I’m good at what I do. Damn good! I may have been a screwup at one point in time, but I’m not that guy anymore. And you know what? I can do that body work. I know I can. With the right equipment, I can do it and make that car look as good as it did when it first rolled off the showroom floor. And I have money saved up so I can have the right equipment. I can set it up in my garage at home and…”

“Will?”

But he wasn’t paying attention. “…it will be tight in there, but I’ll make it work. I’ll probably have to build a bigger garage space, but I’ve got enough room on the property. Maybe I’ll have to get some special permits—actually, I know I will—but it can be done. And if I’m going to do that, then I might as well just doallthe side work there. Then I won’t have to use your garage.”

“Will?” Devin repeated more firmly.

“So if you’re going to take this job from me and do Drew’s car, then go ahead. I’ll work on setting up my own space and advertising my own body shop!” He finally paused to take a breath, hands on his hips, and faced Devin defiantly. “What do you think of that?” he snapped.

“Are you done?”

With a steadying breath, Will nodded. Now that he’d had a moment, he felt a little ridiculous—like he majorly overreacted. But…it was beyond uncool that Devin would pull a dick move like that and take over a job that didn’t belong to him.

“Okay, for starters, I didn’t mean to…swoop in. I got caught up in what Drew was saying, and it got me thinking.”

“About what? Taking my side job away?”

Devin rolled his eyes. “Are you done being a drama queen?”

Was he? Will couldn’t say for sure, so he simply stood and waited.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes. Anyway, it got me thinking that he brought up a valid point. There is no one in town who does auto body work—other than you, if it’s something you can take on. Everyone else has to go into Richmond for it and that kind of sucks. But until now, no one’s really made me want to reconsider that.”

“Reconsider it how?”

Stepping around the desk, Devin approached him. “Like expanding.”

Was he serious? Will wondered. His conversation with Sloane from last night came to mind. “As in the building or the business in general?”

Devin shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe both.” He paused. “No, definitely both if I want to do it the right way. I’m not saying that I’ve got it all worked out. It would be a fairly big undertaking. The cost alone isn’t something that I have budgeted. I’m sure I could come up with it, but…it’s still a big decision to make. Alone.”

At the word “alone,” Devin gave him a meaningful look. Was he…could he be asking what Will thought he was asking?

Swallowing hard, Will straightened his posture and did his best to appear confident. “You could take on a partner.”

“I could.”

“It wouldn’t have to be fifty-fifty or anything, but…if you had someone who had the money to put up and the knowledge…”

“The skill. The talent,” Devin prompted.

“Exactly.” He paused. “Would you consider it?”

“I believe I already am. Have been for a while. Just didn’t know that you were prepared to do such a thing.”

Will’s eyes went wide. “Dude, you better not be messing with me right now.”

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