Embracing His Syn (45 page)

Syn smiled. “Alright. There’s always
someone close. I’ll have Ronowski pick me up. I got some files to
look over in the office before we do the ecstasy bust
tomorrow.”

After Furi unlocked the garage-style
door, Syn pulled his truck in. He got out and followed Furi into
the shop and was awed at how much they’d gotten done in the past
week. “Baby, it looks great in here. I love the checker board
floors.”

“
Thank you. My dad’s bike
will be here soon. I can’t fuckin’ wait. It’s tricked out real
cherry.” Furi’s face was full of pride and Syn basked in it. He
loved that Furi was finally going to have what he wanted out of
life. Syn just hoped he could be a part of it too.

Furi tied his hair into a ponytail and
pulled on some well-used, dark blue coveralls. He pulled his
sweater over his head, revealing the tight wife beater underneath.
All that lickable ink for Syn to feast his eyes on. Furi tied the
arms of his jumpsuit around his waist, letting them hang low on his
narrow hips. Syn had to keep from salivating on his shirt. Damn.
Furi was sexy as fuck. What man could make a dingy pair of
coveralls look so good? He’d never seen one until now.

“
You keep staring at me
like that and I’m going to show you what I can do with some of
these tools.” Furi smirked at him.

Syn’s eyes snapped back up to Furi’s
face but he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed at being caught. Syn’s
phone buzzed. Ronowski texted he’d be there in a couple
minutes.

Furi had already jacked Syn’s truck up
in the front and was lying on his creeper.

“
Are you sure I need a
tune-up? It sounds like it runs fine to me.” Syn leaned against a
huge red toolbox talking to Furi’s bottom half while he clinked
away under the truck.

“
You would.”

“
What’s that supposed to
mean?” Syn frowned.

In a smooth motion Furi rolled from
under the vehicle. “I mean you don’t know how to take care of your
vehicle. This truck will be an antique in six years. Meaning it
will be over twenty-five years old and it still runs. But it won’t
for long if you don’t take care of it.”

“
I do,” Syn
grumbled.

Furi gave him a ‘whatever’ look before
jumping up from the board. “Lie down and slide under, I want to
show you something.”

“
No.”

“
Yes. Go on get under
there,” Furi said gesturing at the board. “Unless you’re scared to
get a little smudge on those pretty hands.”

That did it. Syn furrowed and clumsily
dropped down on the creeper, almost falling off one side. “Fine,
what now?”

Furi was clearly stifling a laugh at
Syn’s expense but he wasn’t going to be a baby about it. He’d prove
Furi wrong. He did not consider himself pretty at all. He could
probably do whatever Furi asked him to do as long as he gave him
clear instructions.

Syn rolled under the truck and
surveyed the dirty parts. Furi had a light clipped to the bumper so
he could see. “Alright. I think everything looks in order,” Syn
called out.

“
Oh yeah?” Furi
called.

“
Yeah.”

“
Reach up and unscrew the
drain cock right in front of you,” Furi instructed.

Syn didn’t want to ask, but what the
fuck was a drain cock?

“
Look up. It’s the largest
bolt,” Furi clarified.

“
I know that,” Syn lied.
“I need a tool.”

“
No you don’t. Just twist
it off,” Furi said humor lacing his voice.

Syn started to unscrew the bolt when a
nasty thick substance started to ooze out. “There’s a bunch of shit
leaking out up there, Furi.”

“
Oh no! Is it red or
green?” Furi hurried.

What the fuck?
“It’s red.”

“
Fuck! Get out of there!
Get out of there, now! Hurry!” Furi hollered.

“
Shit, shit.” Syn
scrambled from under his truck, awkwardly rolling off the board and
running away from the truck. Syn looked back and saw Furi doubled
over, dying with laughter.

“
Oh you little bastard.”
Syn ran full speed at his little prankster. Furi ran around the
truck trying to get away from Syn while still laughing
hysterically. Syn caught Furi easily and pulled him into a tight
bear hug squeezing him. “You shithead.”

Furi huffed, trying to catch his
breath. Syn didn’t want to laugh at being fooled but Furi’s
laughter was contagious and Syn found himself laughing at the
clever trick. “You should’ve seen your face,” Furi
joked.

“
I’m glad you're
entertaining yourself at my expense, baby.” Syn spun Furi around to
face him. The man was simply wonderful and such a breath of fresh
air. Syn loved how fun Furi was with him. He hadn’t laughed like
this in years. Actually, he couldn’t remember laughing like this in
his life. Syn couldn’t help but be elated that he could make Furi
so happy too.

Furi huffed against Syn’s cheek.
“Forgive me. I couldn’t resist. You’re such an easy
target.”

Syn sucked hard on Furi’s neck making
him cry out at the stinging feeling. “You drive me crazy Furious
but I love you anyway.”

Syn was still chuckling until he’d
realized what he’d said and noticed the very quiet, stock-still man
in his arms.

Fuck. Fuck.
Fuck
. Syn didn’t want to show his face. He
slowly lowered Furi back to the ground. He’d told Furi he loved
him, after only a few weeks. The man was going to think he was
crazy. Syn heard a horn honk and remembered that Ro was picking him
up.
Thank you Ro for impeccable
timing
. Syn needed to get the fuck out of
there. He pulled back from Furi but couldn’t meet his
eyes.

“
Um. I um.” Syn thought of
backtracking, but there was no point.

“
Syn, it’s –”

Syn cut Furi off. He didn’t want to
hear the rejection and he was ninety-nine percent sure that Furi
wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings. “T-that’s my ride. I g-gotta
go,” Syn stammered. Looking horrified he turned on his heels and
hightailed it out of there. Syn got in the dark un-marked car and
slammed the door shut. He could still see Furi standing at the
garage door out of the corner of his eye.

“
Drive, Ro,” Syn gritted
out, his voice full of emotion.

Ro looked at him a second before he
took off. Syn refused to look in the side mirror, not wanting to
see a look of repulsion on Furi’s face. “Fuck,” Syn
groaned.

“
Now what’d you do?” Ro
cut his eyes at him.

“
I fucked up man.” Syn
rubbed his eyes tiredly.

“
Let’s go to my place.
Fuck the office. I think you could use a stiff one.”

Syn looked up in annoyance.

“
I mean a drink,” Ro
laughed

Everyone was full of jokes today. But
Syn didn’t really feel like laughing right now.

Furi stood there stunned as Syn jumped in the
black Lexus and disappeared. He turned to go back into his garage,
running his hands through his hair and pulling at the ends.
Love
.
He
said he loved me.
“Love,” Furi whispered to himself.
He didn’t know if it had been a slip-up, like someone said they
love pie. Or if he really meant love and freaked because he didn’t
want it out yet. Kind of like Furi. He felt it was too soon to say
the words. But Furi would give Syn some time and then he’d tell the
man it was okay, because he loved him right back. He didn’t care
about a goddamn timetable.

After a couple hours Furi called Syn
but he got no answer. No sooner had he hung up, when Ronowski
called him right back.

“
Hey, everything
alright?”

Furi frowned at the receiver before
finally responding with a drawn-out, "Yeeeeees." It registered a
few seconds later that though Syn didn’t answer, he made sure that
one of his men did, just in case Furi was calling because he was in
trouble. “I’m fine. I want to speak to Syn.”

“
He’s in the bathroom,”
Ronowski replied too fast.

“
Seriously,” Furi scoffed.
“Put him on the goddamn phone.”

There was some shuffling and muffled
curses before Furi finally heard Syn’s voice. “Yeah?”

“
We have a date in an hour
and a half,” Furi said softly, his anger gone as soon as he heard
the man’s voice. Syn was scared and Furi couldn’t blame him. He was
too. But sticking your head in the sand didn’t make shit
disappear.

“
I have to cancel. I have
a ton of work to do. I’ll call you,” Syn said in a pained
voice.

“
Syn, wait. It’s okay, I
feel like–”

“
I’ll call you soon,” Syn
cut him off. Furi heard the call disconnect and looked at his phone
in utter shock that Syn had fucking hung up on him.

Furi was not going to let Syn run from
him. He must’ve thought Furi didn’t feel the same way, but he’d
bolted before he could reply. Otherwise he would’ve known that he
felt exactly the same.

Furi called Syn’s phone back but it
went to voicemail again. “Stubborn bastard,” Furi muttered. He’d
finished the tune up on Syn’s truck and even managed to change all
the fluids. The deliveries were all locked up and Doug had left
thirty minutes ago. Furi was glad his friend had stayed in the
office most of the afternoon because he would’ve easily noticed
Furi’s distress. He wiped a few smudges off the hood and tidied up
his workspace. Furi realized he was smiling while he locked up his
shop. Syn loved him. Furi looked at his phone and saw he only had
an hour to get home and cleaned up and then to Savannah for their
cruise. He was gonna have to call a cab, he wouldn’t have time to
wait for the bus. “Wait a minute. I have a perfectly fine truck
right here.” Furi grinned. He raised the bay door and jumped in the
driver seat to back the truck out. As he drove off he wished his
new apartment over the shop was finished so he could simply go up
there and shower but he still had quite a bit of renovating to do
before that loft would be livable. Furi was buzzing with
excitement. New shop, new home, new love. Everything was finally
coming together nicely for him. Out with the old, in with the new,
was Furi’s new mantra.

Furi called Syn again when he pulled
up to his small basement apartment. No answer. Damn you for making
me do it this way. Furi would have to text him.

I’ll be on the dock in
Savannah by 7:15. Hopefully the man I love too is there to join me,
since he promised to hold me in his arms under the
stars.

Furi made sure to use extra
conditioner in his hair and blew it dry so it was extra soft just
the way Syn liked it. He was dressed in the only pair of khaki’s
that he owned and a soft, black cashmere sweater his Aunt Susan got
him for his birthday. He dripped on an expensive fragrance sample
that he’d picked up at a department store and was back in Syn’s
truck flying down the interstate. He had eight minutes to get there
on time. Last thing he wanted was Syn to get there and not see him.
Although Syn didn’t reply to his text, he was certain the man
wouldn’t stand him up after reading it.