CHAPTER TWO
Ky
“Hey, man,” Lake called out as he walked into the garage after his lunch break.
I gave him a jerk of my chin and kept working. I hadn’t taken a break and I wasn’t planning on it. It was safer for me here, where I could hide under the hood of a car or behind my sander. Basically, I’d been using my new project to avoid everyone. Well, not everyone. Just one.
Chris.
Damn, even his name had my head going all haywire.
No, I don’t have time for this shit.
“Fuck!” I roared as the wrench slipped off the bolt I’d been trying to loosen. The fucking thing fell from my grasp and clattered and banged as it made its way further down. I quickly pulled my hand back, feeling the blood dripping down my hand more than the actual cut.
“You alright?” Lake said, rushing over with a clean shop rag in his hand.
“Yeah, shit. It’s on there good and I lost my grip,” I mumbled half embarrassed and half pissed that I’d let my mind wander again.
“Uh, that looks pretty bad. You should have Charming look at it,” Lake said as I pulled the rag back to look at what I’d done to myself. There was a nice two-inch gash from the inside of my wrist to the fleshy part of my palm. Just what I fucking needed right then.
“I don’t think a Band-aid is going to fix this one,” I said in an attempt to wipe away my bad mood and asshole attitude.
This wasn’t Lake’s fault and I didn’t need to be a dick to the guy. He was actually a really cool brother and I’d found myself hanging out with him more lately. It seemed that while I was trying to avoid a certain someone, everyone else had been getting all buddy-buddy with the guy. He had a place on the beach and that was where half of the guys headed now that the weather was super warm.
“No, man,” Lake said with a laugh. “Not even a little bit.”
“Well, I probably won’t be back today then,” I said with a laugh of my own.
“No. Didn’t think you would be.” He smiled and shook his head at me. “Oh, hey. B-ry, Mouse, and me were going to get tacos later. You should come too.”
No way I could turn down tacos.
“Fuck, yeah. Let me know before you leave.”
He sent me a quick nod then I was off, trying my best not to bleed everywhere as I made my way back to the compound.
“You seen Charming?” I asked Tripp as I stepped into the clubhouse.
“He just went out for a jog like maybe ten minutes ago.”
“Shit,” I said under my breath. “Can you send him a text. Let him know I’ll be waiting in the Med room.” I held up my hand instead of trying to explain why.
“Damn. Yeah. No prob, brother.”
I took my stupid ass up to the Med room, sat on the table and waited. Knowing it might be a few long minutes, I let my body fall back and stared up at the ceiling. This day had gone to shit quickly. I hated that I might be out of work for a day or so, but I hoped it wouldn’t be any longer than that. I needed my hands more than anything else for what I did. Hell, half the time I didn’t even need my brain to fix something. But this, well…this was going to be a problem.
I worked because I was good at it. Because it was something that I loved. Because when I saw something beautiful that needed a little fixing, I couldn’t help but want to make it new again. I loved the transformation back to what it’d once been. It was like I was giving it a new life in a new time, but still keeping its born charm.
Fuck, I had no idea if that even made any sense. It was like I was trying to make up some kind of mechanic’s poetry. Yep, pretty sure that was like the worst thing ever.
So I decided to stop thinking about work because it was only making me irritated at the moment.
“What the fuck have you done to yourself?” Charming’s smooth voice said as he walked into the door. His chuckle was accompanied by an amused smile.
“Shut up, asshole,” I joked. “I wasn’t paying attention and my fucking hand slipped.”
He regarded me for a long moment, his scrutinizing eyes trying to reveal whatever he thought was hidden below the surface. I stared him down with a blank expression. Then with a blink and a shrug, he moved on, stepping closer and removing the red stained towel to see the damage.
“Looks like it needs a few stitches. You good with that?”
“Yeah,” I said in an unhappy grumble.
It wasn’t the stitches part that I was grumpy about, it was the fact that it would put me out of commission for a good few days longer than I wanted to be.
He got to work, first cleaning it out and making sure there wasn’t anything stuck in the open gash.
“Is that Chevelle almost done?” he asked, his full attention on tying off the first stitch.
“Yeah. I had hoped to have it done this week. Might not happen now.” I let out a short laugh.
“Bet ya can’t wait to get in it.”
“Nope. Been dying to take it out to the strip since the moment I laid eyes on it. Might be hard to let this one go.” I may have said that about a few of my projects before, but this one I’d spent extra time on for some reason and wasn’t all that ready to let it go so quickly.
“What color are you thinking?” he asked, his fingers working to push the curved needle through the thick, tough skin on the palm of my hand.
“Yellow,” I said. It had been the first color that popped into my mind when I went to pick up the half-abandoned car. “But like a bright yellow. More like lemon.”
I let out a short laugh that jerked my body as I thought about the conversation I’d had with Brand. At Charming’s raised brow and questioning glance, I began to explain.
“So, I convinced Brand that it was a nineteen seventy-nine.”
To this, Charming looked at me blankly. Clearly not a car guy. And Brand wasn’t much for the classics either. He didn’t know them like I did. Yeah, he had grown up working in his dad’s garage, but he’d dealt mostly with cars made within the last twenty years. Honestly, the guy was better with motorcycles. Now, classic bikes, that was something Brand could beat me at in the knowledge department.
“It’s a seventy-three. He tried to argue with me but I somehow convinced him it was a seventy-nine,” I said and I knew Charming wasn’t finding the humor in any of this. “The last year of the Chevelle was seventy-seven.”
“You’re shitting me?”
“Nope,” I said as I laughed. “He was about to look it up and then Cami distracted him. So, he still thinks it’s a seventy-nine.”
It was a bit messed up but we were always doing shit like that to each other. I was sure once he actually figure it out, he would come up with a sly way to get me back.
Not many of the brothers knew the classic lines of cars like I did, the way that bodies adapted over the years. I wasn’t saying that I knew every make, model, and year, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t look at the build and lines of a car and come damn close to its year of production.
“That’s fucking hilarious. He’s going to feel like an idiot when he figures it out.”
I smiled and gave a half shrug. It wouldn’t matter in a couple of weeks anyway, the car would be sold and gone, and sadly, forgotten.
“All set, brother,” he said as he wiped the cut down one last time. “It’s an awkward place, so be extra careful doing shit. Since it isn’t too deep, I should be able to take those out in two days, providing you don’t go fighting with any more engines and bust it open again.”
“I’ll try my best,” I said chuckling. “No guarantees, though. Thanks for this, man.”
I took my ass up to my room. I was on edge and aggravated but it wasn’t like there was anything I could do about it. I flipped on the TV and got lost in some mindless adult cartoons until Lake banged on my door and told me they were heading out for tacos.
The front table in the corner of the restaurant had more or less become ours. Every time we came here that was where they sat us. It might have been that it was the biggest set up they had in the small restaurant, but I liked to think that it was because they considered it our corner. I don’t know why that mattered to me, but it did.
Maybe it was that I found comfort in familiarity. Or it could have been that deep down inside I liked knowing that I had a place. Something so small as a table in my favorite taco joint may have seemed trivial to some, and I supposed it maybe was.
“Heard you messed up your hand,” Mouse said as he clapped me on the back before we took our seats. “Sucks, man. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not all that bad. Few stitches. I should be good to go in a couple of days,” I said showing him the damage.
“Bet you are gonna be a grumpy son of a bitch until you can get back in that garage,” B-ry said with a fucking smirk plastered on his face. “Not that it would be any different from how you’ve been lately.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I barked. “I have not.”
“Yeah, okay,” he replied and I looked around at everyone else to see if they shared his opinion.
“The fuck? I’ve been a little off, maybe, but I haven’t been grumpy.” I tried to defend myself but I could see it wasn’t working. “Let’s talk about what’s going on with you then, shall we?” I said looking at B-ry.
His face hardened, and though I was only joking around I could tell I’d hit a nerve. I may have noticed him sneaking off at all hours of the night more recently the last few weeks or so. I kept that shit to myself and I hadn’t really meant to out him right then.
“I’m ready for some damn tacos,” I said in an attempt to turn the conversation around.
“Hell, yeah. I’m gonna get five,” Lake said, his eyes growing into the size of saucers with excitement.
“You always order that many and give up at like three,” Mouse said, laughing.
“I’m going to do it this time. I didn’t eat all day. I came prepared.”
“I’ll order three and eat your leftovers,” I joked and he punched me in the arm.
Sitting there with them lifted my mood significantly. That was one thing about my brothers, they were always there for the little things as much as the big. Having a shit day? They’d fill you up with beer and pizza, or take your ass away from the compound for a breather and change of scenery. Can’t figure out how to fix something? They’d step in and give you another set of eyes or hands. And not to mention all the other stuff they’d been there for and the things we’d been through together.
I was a part of that and I was damn proud to wear the Steel Paragons patch on my chest.
It was moments like this that made me realize how good I had it now. Despite the little shit that I had to deal with—like my stupid hand right now—I had an amazing life. I honestly couldn’t think of one thing that I could complain about.
“Oh, hey, man!” Lake called out waving his arm in the air.
I turned to see what the hell he was waving at. Chris stopped halfway between the front door and the bar.
“Hey,” Chris said giving the table a half-wave and a small smile.
“Whatcha doing?” Mouse asked and I noticed how Chris stayed rooted in place.
“Oh, I was just going to get some food to go.”
“No, man. Better to eat them fresh. Come on, we’ve got room for you,” Lake said and I could see him moving the basket of chips away from the empty space at the end.
I tried my hardest not to look at the guy but I couldn’t deny that I felt his eyes on me. And maybe because I felt a little bit guilty, my gaze slowly moved to find his. It didn’t escape me that he took a hard swallow that made his Adam’s apple bob slowly, or the tinge of hurt that swirled in his eyes.
“Thanks,” he said. His eyes fluttered a few times before he turned his attention to Lake. “But I’m just ready to get home. It’s been one of those days, you know?”
“You and Ky both,” Mouse said and chuckled.
His eyes cut back over to me, this time they were full of concern.
“I cut my hand while working on the Chevelle today,” I answered before he could ask. I wasn’t even sure he was going to, but I felt like a dick just sitting there when it was clear he was a tiny bit worried. “It’s not that bad.”
“Right,” Chris said as he nodded. “Well, I’m beat, so I’m gonna get my stuff and go. I’ll see you guys later.”
With that, he turned and carried on his way to the bar to pick up his food. I brought my attention back to the table to see B-ry giving me a dead glare that almost seemed a bit angry. Then again, the guy could be intensely quiet and knowing sometimes. Not that I had a clue what he thought he might know or anything.
“Alright, fine,” Lake said a bit later. Luckily, the conversation turned back to the light and joking tone that it’d had earlier. “You guys were right. Here you go, Ky.” He slid his last two tacos my way and I wasted no time scarfing them down.
“So, what now?” Mouse asked as we all tossed down money to cover the bill and enough leave a decent sized tip.
“Bed,” I said as I got to my feet. “I’m fucking beat.”
It wasn’t late but for some reason, all I wanted to do was to see my bed, preferably from a parallel position.
“Lame,” Mouse said playfully. “Let’s hit the Irish bar.” He looked at Lake and B-ry knowing I was out.
“Nah, think I want a quiet night,” B-ry answered.
“I’m in,” Lake said though I could tell he wasn’t one hundred percent up for it.
“You guys have fun.” I clapped Lake on the back then headed out.
The air was thick as I rode back to the compound. The humidity was beyond ridiculous here in the summer. It was something that was going to take a while to get used to, if I ever would. But that wasn’t to say that I didn’t love it here. The city was just big enough to get lost in but not get turned around when you were trying to get somewhere. I knew I’d made the right choice by making the move to help start up this chapter. I hadn’t had any doubts so far, and I couldn’t imagine that I ever would.