“Like I can stop you,” Rider said.
He stepped back to let Grayson Whitlock enter. Once inside, his former partner turned around. “I’d like to explain.”
That was rich.“What’s there to explain? You never showed to the meeting, leaving me holding the bag. If you didn’t hear, I didn’t get the contract. In fact, I lost my down payment.”
“I know. I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that.”
“It’s water under the bridge now.” That didn’t mean Rider had any intention of forgiving him. “I’m going to ask the general for a different partner—one who I can count on to have my back.”
“Please don’t. I pulled a lot of strings to get this job.”
Rider chuckled, but it didn’t hold any joy. “Why? You don’t bother to call for two years, and yet here you are, wanting to work with me?”
“I should have contacted you sooner, but I needed to do something first.”
Rider shook his head. For two years? “Yeah? What was that?”
“First, I need to explain something. The day of the meeting, I was in a car wreck.” Grayson lifted his shirt to expose a huge scar that ran from his waist, across his chest, and up to his shoulder. Considering wolves healed quickly, the injury looked like it had been life-threatening.
“What happened to your wolf healing power?”
“Trust me. Without it, I’d have died. A piece of metal nicked my heart, so it was touch and go. As for the scar, it’s a lot better now than it was. It should fade to nothing soon.”
Rider walked over to the table and motioned for his former friend to sit down. “That explains why you weren’t at the meeting that day, but why not let me know when you were out of surgery? As your best friend, don’t you think I would have wanted to know what happened?”
“Yes, but I had amnesia.”
Rider barked out a laugh. “You don’t need to make up a lame excuse. Just say that you decided our joint venture wasn’t for you anymore.”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me, but here’s the truth. When I woke up, I didn’t even remember my own name. If I hadn’t had my driver’s license on me, I wouldn’t have known who I was or where I lived.”
Rider and Grayson had been friends for a long time, and he could always tell when his friend was lying. This time he wasn’t. “That had to suck. Did you forget other things?”
“You mean could I still read or do computer coding?” Rider nodded. “Those things I could do. Only my memories of past events had issues. They took a while to come back.”
“How long?” he asked.
“My body healed quite quickly, but my memory came back in stages. All in all, it took about three months.”
“Why not call me then?” Rider asked.
“I tried. Your email bounced, and the phone number I had said it was no longer in service.”
Shit. “You’re right. Just so you know, I wasn’t blocking you. I moved from Florida to Canada and had to change all that stuff.”
Grayson’s brows rose. “Then why didn’t I hear from you? I would have thought you’d be trying to sue me or at the very least demand I pay you back.”
Rider shrugged. “Maybe I should have, but that’s not who I am. I figured you had your reasons for ditching me that day.”
“I didn’t ditch—”
“I know that now. I’m sorry that happened to you.” Rider held out his hand.
Grayson shook it. “Still friends?”
“As long as you don’t pull a stupid stunt like that on me again, we are.”
Grayson smiled. “I’ll try not to get T-boned by a semi the next time.”