I toss my phone onto the driver’s seat of the car after my call to Wade goes to voicemail—again. I don’t bother to leave him another message, because if he hasn’t returned any of my calls or the calls from Rylie, another voicemail isn’t going to change that.
Shaking my head, I pull into my parking spot at the body shop. That fucker knows exactly why I’m calling. The concerns Rylie brought up churn around in my skull, and not for the first time I wonder what’s going on with my estranged best friend.
“Good morning, Shayla,” I call out to my part-time detailer and office manager.
“Morning, boss,” she calls back as she hops from her stool behind the desk and circles it to face me. “Wade just stopped by, asked me to give you this.” Shayla hands me an envelope.
Un-fucking-believable. I drive all over town chasing down this asshole and he shows up here with a check. What the fuck? Why didn’t he just transfer me to Goddamned money? Shaking my head, I take the outstretched envelope from her hand. “Thanks. Did he say anything else?” I tear into the paper and pull the check out.
“Nope, just asked me to give it to you.” She shakes her head, then resumes her post behind the desk.
Red floods my vision as I take in the check, but I keep my face impassive when I address Shayla, “I’ll be in my office, let me know if you need something, okay?”
“Sure thing, boss,” she says with a grin and a wink.
I try not to read too much into the wink. I’m choosing to believe it’s an innocent gesture, because I absolutely will not get involved with an employee. A collaborator like Rylie, though—I pause my thoughts there, I’ve got to handle this shit with her brother before I venture down that path any further.
I dial Wade again, even more pissed now, knowing that fucker was just here and didn’t answer my call five minutes ago. I’m seething as the phone rings and I stare at the check written out to Ansel’s Body Shop from Malone and Son’s for the amount of his half the rent. There is no way I’m letting him siphon money from his shop to my shop to pay a personal bill. God, I hope that dumbass isn’t into some money laundering scheme or some shit. That would just be the pinnacle of stupidity right there.
Voicemail again.
Ass. Hole.
Before I can decide against it, I dial the number for Malone and Son’s. I hope Wade’s there, but I have an ulterior motive—hoping I get to speak with Rylie again.
“Malone and Son’s auto shop,” Rylie answers, her voice much more chipper than when I walked through the door.
“Hey, Rylie. Wade in yet?”
“No, why? Did you hear from him?” she asks, the urgency in her tone evident, even over the phone.
“Uh, yeah. He dropped off a check.” I debate for a moment on whether I should tell her it was a check from the shop she owns a third of a stake in, but decide to keep that information to myself until I’ve had a chance to have a little chat with her brother about it.
“Oh, good,” she breathes out. “I’m glad you guys got that worked out.”
I can hear the relief in her voice. Yeah, I’ll just keep that tidbit about the check to myself. “Okay, well I’ll catch him at home tonight,” I tell her, wanting to get her off the phone before I spill about the origins of the check. “Any messages you want me to relay?”
“Yeah, tell him he’s an asshole and to call me back.”
I chuckle at that one. “I’ll let him know. Thanks Rylie, talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Nolan,” she replies.
I swear for a moment there her voice sounds shy. I end the call and stare at the phone, willing it to ring with Rylie calling me back. I’d love to take her out for a drink, but I’m not sure what the proper etiquette is here—should I talk to Wade first, and make sure it’s okay with him? Or just say ‘fuck it’ and go for it?
My entire day consists of alternating between thoughts of Rylie and what to do about Wade, intermixed with a few engaging moments with customers where I give estimates on repairs. By the time I walk through the door to the townhouse I share with Wade, I’m no closer to deciding what I want to do about either Malone in question.
“Hey, did you get the check?” Wade calls from the living room, raising his voice over the noise of the TV.
Taking a deep breath, so I don’t rip him a new one before I’ve tried having a civil conversation first, I stride into the room to lay eyes on him. “What the fuck, Wade? You can’t pay my shop from your shop for your rent.”
“I just needed to float some money around,” he says with a shrug, as if he doesn’t have an accounting degree from some fancy university and already knows that’s not exactly kosher. “Don’t make it a big deal.”
“You know damn well it is a big deal. You’re the one with the fucking accounting degree,” I scoff. “Do Rylie and Jaron know you’re taking money from the shop to pay your rent?”
“No,” Wade snorts. “They won’t even miss it. I’ll put it back before they have a chance to check the books.”
“I’m not cashing this,” I tell him, waving the paper at him before tearing it up into tiny pieces.
“Nolan, don’t make this into a thing,” Wade warns, narrowing his eyes at me.
“You can pay me back when you have the money. I already paid Mario,” I explain, slipping out of my winter coat and hanging it in the closet, taking a moment away from Wade so I don’t fucking throttle him.
“You’re acting like I’m stealing,” he calls from around the corner. “I do all this work there and they barely pay me shit.”
“You sure weren’t doing any work there today,” I fire back, wanting so badly to snatch the TV remote from his hand so I can turn it off and have his undivided attention. “Did you call your sister back?”
“What the fuck do you know about it?” Wade turns off the TV and faces me fully, saving me from the trouble of wrestling the remote from him.
“I stopped by the shop looking for you. Where the hell were you?”
“And what? You fucking tattled to my sister that I couldn’t pay my bills? What the fuck?” he rails at me, rising from the couch now so we stand eye to eye. “Traitor.”
“I don’t give a shit what you do with your money. But when your half of the rent has to come out of my pocket, then I’m going to do something about it. If you could pay me on time, I wouldn’t have to run your ass down to get it.”
Wade scoffs, “I’ve never not paid you.”
“But I’ve had to float you rent for four months, now. I’m not doing this anymore. I love you man, but I’m not sure this roommate thing is going to work out anymore,” I tell him, shaking my head. A man has to have limits, and I’ve just hit mine.
“Fine, I was at a job interview today. I’m looking for something else so I can actually pay those bills. All my money right now is going to the divorce lawyer.”
I let out a sigh. Now I feel like an asshole. But that’s what he wants right now, is to put this on me. I’ve known Wade long enough to understand how he operates. “I get it, man. But why didn’t you just tell me what the hell was going on instead of all this shady shit?”
“I didn’t want to say something until I heard back on the interview.”
“Do your brother and sister know you’re looking at leaving?” I narrow my eyes at him, pretty damned sure I know what the answer to that is.
“Not yet. And you better not tell them, either. Fucking narc.”
I put my hands up in surrender when he pokes a finger in my face. “Just promise me you’ll tell them.”
“What’s it to you?” He cocks his head, examining me for a moment. “Why the sudden interest in my family?”
“I just figure you’ve all had it rough the last year.”
“You just let me worry about them. It’s not your concern. I’ll pay you back,” Wade huffs. “We cool?”
“Yeah, we’re cool,” I lie.
He’s right that it’s none of my business what happens between him and his family. But I can’t stop thinking about what that means for Rylie when Wade gets a new job and leaves the shop. I don’t see him willingly stepping back from his cut of the profits—that’s not the way he operates. The only thing I envision is more work for Rylie and Jaron and less money in their pockets.
It’s none of my business, I know that.
But I want to make it my business what goes on in Rylie’s life—starting with finding a place in it.