A few weeks later, my first day on the job at Forest’s shop was surprisingly, fun. We’d bickered about it, but he finally agreed to let me paint the drab white walls over. As long as I painted bug eyes somewhere on there.

    There was never a moment he didn’t use to make fun of me.

    “Hey Jamie, go man the front counter for a second, will you? Derrick and I have something to work on in the garage.” He came from behind me dripping with sweat, soaking his white tank top.

Looking at him like that brought me back to the night before.  He must’ve noticed with my staring and gaping at him.

“Something wrong bug eyes? Front desk work too much for you?” he wiped his oil covered hand s with a towel and placed it in his back pocket.

“No, I got it!”

“Good. Go get to work.” He slyly slapped my ass as I turned around to the counter.

This was gearing up to be one seriously distracting job.

Before I could sit down behind the counter, a pair of twin brothers walked through the front door. They looked wealthy. Like super wealthy. I immediately knew they must’ve been some high-profile clients of Forests.

I better not mess this up.

“Hello. Valor Hatton, a pleasure to meet you. You new here?”

Wow, what a gentleman. I certainly wasn’t getting any of that from Forest.

“Actually I am. Jamie Jordan. Nice to meet you too.” We shook hands and I caught a glimpse of his brother who looked a little less than impressed with me.

Valor seemed to notice this.

“Don’t mind my brother Fate,” he brought his face closer to me and whispered, “He’s a little bit of a hermit.” I chuckled lightly. “I’m here for my Bentley. My good friend Forest Lock said it was ready?”

Bentley? Okay, these guys were definitely loaded.

“Bentley…Yes…” I scrambled through the paperwork that was sprawled out on the counter. “Forgive me, this is my first day like I said.”

    “Oh no worries darling, take your time.”

    “Don’t take too long.” His brother Fate called out from behind him aggressively and thankfully, I’d just got my hands on their car keys.

    “Here you are Mr. Hatton!” He adjusted his glasses and took the keys from my hand.

    “Thank you, dear. Tell Forest we stopped by, will you?”

    “Will do!” The left as quickly as they came. I was a bit in awe. It sure seemed like Forest had friends in high places.

I would ask him about it later.

 

    A few hours had gone by and I hardly had enough time to paint in between all of the people coming in and out of the shop. Guess I should’ve expected that. It was time for a break so I walked to the lounge area and took out my sketchbook.

    Might as well make some progress on my next piece.

    “Excuse me, where’s Forest Lock?”

 

    Or not.

   

    I looked up from my page and caught the gaze of a young kid in a fancy suit. He looked no older than 18, but I bet that suit was worth my than my entire life savings. The company that forest Kept was certainly well paid. Maybe I shouldn’t have found anything odd about that, but I did.

    “Hi, sir. What’s your name? Do you have an appointment with him?”

    “Name’s Mauve and I don’t need an appointment. Just bring him out here.” The pushy arrogant tone of his voice made me want to slap him.

But patience, zen, peace…right?

“Wait right here. I’ll go grab him from the back.”

I jogged to the garage where Derrick and Forest were working.

Forest’s head was jammed underneath the hood of a car. It looked absolutely painful…

“Forest, there’s someone named Mauve here to see you.” At that, he rose his head up from under the hood too fast and slammed his head against the hood cover.

“Shit!” He rubbed his head wincing and I went over to help him. He seemed to react pretty oddly to whoever this “Mauve” person was.

“I’m alright Jamie. What the hell does that kid want??”

“He just said he wanted to talk to you. Wasn’t really specific about it.” The veins in his neck protruded and his muscles tensed. I looked over in Derricks direction to read his face.

He looked worried. That was definitely not a good sign.

“Stay in here Jamie.” Dropping his tools beside him, he walked out of the garage and to the lobby. I walked beside Derrick.

“Who is that guy out there Derrick? Seems like Forest doesn’t really like him much.” Derrick paused for a moment. Was he thinking about his answer?

“Ehh, don’t worry about it Jamie. It’s just some annoying kid that bothers him every once in a while. Nothing special.” He continued to screw some nuts on to the part he was working on.

Something was really not right about this. I glance over to the glass partition that separated the lobby from the garage. I could see Forest flailing his arms back and forth, pointing in the face of that Mauve character.

“Derrick, look out there. It doesn’t look like nothing to me.” Joining me I discreetly peeking out the window, Derrick winced his mouth to the side and clenched his lips.

“Don’t worry about it Jamie. He’s just a customer that’s always disgruntled.”

 

“Fucking race you again? I already beat you! Kid. Give. It. Up!”

 

Race? What was Forest talking about?

I placed my head closer to the glass while bending down and trying to remain hidden. Derrick awkwardly walked back to the car he was working on and kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with me.

 

“Don’t you want more than twenty grand Forest? I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

 

My heart sunk. I feared the worst.

Was Forest involved in some kind of criminal enterprise? Was he an ex-con? Suddenly I felt so foolish for falling for him. There was some part of him that he was trying his hardest to hide from me. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was. I backed away from the glass.

Dejected.

Fearful.

Duped.

 

“Derrick, is there something you’re not telling me about your car shop?”

“Stop yer worrying Jamie. There’s nothing there, scouts honor.” I wasn’t too sure that Derrick was being completely truthful with me. I decided I would get to the bottom of it on my own.

 

    When the conversation had wrapped up outside, Forest came back into the garage looking normal.

    “We’re done, Jamie. You can go back out to the lobby.”

    I said nothing to him and walked outside. I sat at the front desk and leaned my head against the table. Fear came over me at what his business was with Mauve. Something about racing? And a crap ton of money? It just didn’t sound right no matter how I sliced it.

    I continued to serve the remaining appointments until the end of the day. Then I would confront Forest.

    ***

 

    The clock struck 6:30 pm, and we’d just finished tidying up the shop for today. Forest waited for me by his car and I walked up to him.

    “Forest, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about on our way home.”

    “Hop in.”

    I got in the car and he revved up the engine. We drove back to our apartment. Though I said I wanted to talk to him on the way back, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

The drive was mostly silent.

The walk to our building was mostly silent.

The elevator ride was mostly silent.

And when we got to his front door, he expected me to walk in behind him. I did grudgingly. Somehow, when the door was closed inside of his apartment, I finally got the courage to speak.

    “Forest, who is that Mauve guy? I feel like you need to tell me what’s going on. I saw you in the shop. I head things…” I spoke quietly fearing the retaliation of my question.

    “Mauve is a customer. That’s it.” He causally popped open a beer and threw his leather jacket to the red couch in the living room.

    “Really? Then what’s that I heard about twenty thousand dollars?” I walked up to him and crossed my arms. “What’s this about racing? What is he talking about Forest.”

    He took a long swig of beer and put it on the table, leaning his head to the side.

    “You really ask too many questions Jamie. Some things have nothing to do with you.”

    How dare he act like I had no business probing in his life? We practically lived together at this point. We almost made love. I had full right to ask questions!

    “I’m not taking any shit from you right now Forest. You need to tell me who that hell that was and what the hell you were discussing. Right now.” I pointed my finger at his chest and he grabbed my hand forcefully. It was a small movement, but it nearly knocked the wind out of me.

    “It’s none of your business. I won’t say it again.”

    “I’m making it my business Forest.” There was no way I was backing down from him.

    He dropped my hand and shrugged casually. I was worried what he might say, but I swallowed hard and readied myself to bite the bullet. I was prepared.

    “I race. Illegally. I make amazing money and frankly, I’m not stopping anytime soon. Been doing it since I was in high school. Ain’t stopping now.”

    He was talking about the legality of it, but what about the fucking danger?!

    “Why would you do something so reckless forest?! Aren’t you afraid that you might get hurt?!” Suddenly it all started making sense to me.

    He kept saying he was a dangerous man. Now I knew why.

    “Look, you would never understand why I do it and I don’t have the patience to explain it to you. I said I won’t stop. And nothing you’re going to say will convince me otherwise. So save your breath.” He looked at the ground as he spoke. Something in me felt that he didn’t want to say what he was saying. But regardless, he said it anyway.

    “I want you to stop Forest. Please! You’ll get hurt!” I pleaded with him, but he didn’t budge. He just stared at me. Unfazed. “You lost your parents to a horrible car accident! Why the hell would you pick up street racing!”

    “YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT MY PARENTS!!”

    He slammed the beer he was drinking into the table next to us and the hoppy liquid burst everywhere, glass shards flying all over. I bent down and screamed, covering my head with my hands.

    He stood there fuming, his nostrils flared and his breath disjointed.

    How could he do this to me? I didn’t understand it. I thought we…

    “I can’t stay with you Forest. I’m going to leave.” My voice was trembling. My eyes were closed. I couldn’t bear to look at him.

    “You know what Jamie? Get the fuck out.”

    “I will!! You’re foolish Forest! You’re going to kill yourself!”

    I didn’t have to put up with his shit. I marched out of his apartment and slammed the door behind me. Unlocking the door to my apartment, I closed the door and dragged my body down to the floor against it.

    And cried.

    And cried.

    And cried…

    I couldn’t stop the steady flow of tears that just kept coming out. I wrenched my forehead together so painfully, I could feel a headache coming on.

    “Forest…” Even in this moment of sheer anger, all I could do was worry for him.

    There was no way I could be with him.

    Just like he warned me. He was far, far too dangerous.