Chapter 16
Makenna
“Have a good day, pumpkin. Okay?” I asked.
Ana squeezed me tight before she ran off down the hallway to her teacher. I smiled and watched her barrel into the woman’s arms, my heart getting lighter and lighter with each passing day. Ana was acclimating to school very well and adjusting much better to the change in scenery than I thought she would. I headed back out to my car and hopped in, marveling at how well it ran. The gas pedal didn’t stick anymore and the car didn’t hum whenever I drove it. It turned smoothly and didn’t creak whenever I took a sharp turn. It amazed me how well the hunk of junk ran now after Brewer’s magic touch.
Then again, I was running better as well after his magic touch.
Underneath that tough-looking exterior of his, Brewer was a nice guy. I’d even venture to say he was a teddy bear of sorts. Those amber eyes of his lended a darkness to his features whenever he grinned, but his movements were gentle. He seemed like the kind of man that took what he wanted, but never without permission.
He was a good man.
A kind man, underneath that scruff and muscle and stoic glances.
I got to work and settled into my office. It was going to be a very long day of paperwork. Which was fine with me, because I had yet to really familiarize myself with the plant and all of its levels. I sat at my desk and got to work, typing away on the computer and making notes. But every time I came across something that reminded me of Brewer, he was at the forefront of my mind.
His thick, dark hair.
His raging amber eyes.
His lips against my neck.
His hands against my skin.
I closed my eyes and leaned back into my chair. It had been a few days since our encounter, and I hadn’t seen him. Granted, I’d been very busy with bussing Ana to and from school as well as working long hours, but since my schedule had finally leveled out to match her school schedule, Brewer’s assistance wasn’t needed. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t missed. I wondered when I was going to see him again. When I’d be able to look up into those dazzling eyes and lose myself in him again. I felt alive. Beautiful, for the first time since realizing I didn’t love my ex any longer.
He permeated my thoughts and sent my head into tailspins I almost couldn’t get myself out of.
“Makenna?”
“Yes?” I asked.
“You’re needed on floor three. And bring an accident form with you.”
Shit.
I gathered up my things and took off for the nearest elevator. I slammed my thumb into the number ‘three’ and the elevator lurched to life. The thing reminded me of my car before Brewer got his hands on it. Creaking. Rickety. Groaning whenever it had to work too hard.
Maybe Brewer’s magic touch could fix this damn thing, too.
The elevator let me off on the third level and I followed the sounds of crying. I walked into the room and found a woman sitting there, holding her hand and biting down onto her lower lip. I set my clipboard down and knelt in front of her, trying to see the kind of damage that had been done. This manufacturing plant worked with a lot of heavy machinery, and anything could’ve happened to this woman. Her hand could be smashed. Or torn open. But I didn’t see any blood dripping along her skin. I cupped my hands around it and she flinched, then my eyes trailed down to her wrist.
She had dislocated it.
“Has someone called an ambulance?” I asked.
“I did before I came to get you,” the man said.
“Okay. Ma’am?”
“Yeah?” she asked.
“My name’s Makenna George. Can you talk me through what happened?” I asked.
“I-I-I, um…”
I cupped my hands lightly around the woman’s hand and she flinched. I’d seen this before and I could tell what was wrong.
“Something is wrong with your wrist. The paramedics will be here soon to set it. But I need to know what happened so we can prevent it in the future,” I said.
“I-I-I was just… working,” she said. “And um, I got tired, so I took a step forward to help with the lever I had to pull to stop, um… the uh…”
“Conveyor belt?” I asked.
“Yeah. The belt. A lot of product was coming out wrong, so I figured there was an issue with one of the machines somewhere.”
“On it,” the man said as he rushed out of the room.
“What happened then?” I asked.
“Am I going to lose my job? I can’t lose this job. I have three kids and my husband can’t work and-”
“No one’s losing anything,” I said in a calm voice. “I just need it for the incident report so the company can cover your medical costs.”
“Oh-oh-okay,” she said. “Well, uh… I slipped, and the lever caught the wristband we all have to wear for work. And before I knew it, pain rushed up my arm and I was dangling by the wristband from the lever.”
“Okay,” I said as footsteps resounded behind me. “I think the paramedics are here. They’re going to get your wrist set, get you in a sling, and then you’re going to go to the hospital.”
“I really need to work today. I just got back from vacation.”
“I’ll take it out of your medical leave, so you’ll still get half pay. But you do have to recuperate from this. You can’t work while hurt, but I will make sure you’re taken care of in the process. That’s my job. Okay?”
“Yes, Miss George.”
I grabbed my clipboard and moved so the paramedics could take care of her. I knew the second I walked into this plant that those wristbands would be an issue. And it seemed as if they had claimed their first casualty on my watch. Which meant the company would have to cover her medical costs. Which meant a very serious fight, because companies never wanted to do that kind of shit.
But I was going to make sure they did.
The rest of my day was spent going back and forth, trying to talk to someone who had any sense when it came to those bands. They needed to be removed and replaced with something else. Yes, they were special bands that helped employees to clock in and out faster, but come on. We couldn’t use something else? Anything else? Jewelry wasn’t permitted on the plant floors, and then we fucking hand them a bracelet to wear?
That didn’t make sense.
When three o’clock came around, I was glad to be out of that plant. Glad to be rid of the fight I knew was coming professionally. I got into my car and drove off to Ana’s school, ready to pick my daughter up.
I couldn’t wait to hear how her day at school had gone.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
“Hey there, sweet cheeks,” I said as I scooped her up.
She gave me a big hug as I opened her door.
“How was your day?” I asked.
“It was awesome,” she said as she climbed up into her seat. “We had a ‘show and tell’ day, but we had to talk about someone instead of showing something.”
“That sounds like fun,” I said as my daughter buckled herself in. “Who did you talk about?”
“Brewer.”
My eyes caught her stare in my rear view mirror.
“What did you talk about?” I asked.
“All the fun stuff we did on our day. Like going to get food and books and driving around with his car windows down.”
“Well that does sound like fun,” I said as I buckled my seat belt. “Anything else?”
“I told them about how we played the tickle game and how he’s ticklish under his arms.”
“He’s what?” I asked with a grin.
“Oh yeah. He told me not to say anything, though. So, don’t tell anyone.”
I laughed as I pulled away from the curb and headed home.
Looked like the big bad Brewer’s secret was out.
“Can I play with him today?” Ana asked.
“With Brewer?”
“Yeah. I miss him.”
I turned off the main road and into our neighborhood as my stomach rolled.
“I’m sure it doesn’t hurt to ask. But we should see if he’s home first,” I said.
“Yeah!”
But when we rolled past his house, it didn’t look like anyone was home.
His garage door wasn’t open and his bike wasn’t in the driveway or on the side of his house. All of the lights were off and I couldn’t see any movement in the windows. I parked my car in the driveway and helped Ana out, and her eyes immediately whipped over to his property.
“I don’t think he’s home sweetheart,” I said.
“Can I go knock on his door?”
I looked down at her and saw a sort of begging look in her eyes that I couldn’t say ‘no’ to.
“Sure, but only knock a few times. Okay? He might be sleeping or something.”
“Then he needs to wake up. It’s the afternoon already,” Ana said.
I bit back a giggle as she dashed over his property and hopped up onto his porch. Her hair bounced around her shoulders and her fist drew back so she could knock. But when he didn’t answer, I watched her face fall. She came back with slumped shoulders and tears in her eyes and it broke my heart.
And it made me wonder if I was making a mistake attaching myself to my neighbor the way I was.
“He’s not there,” she said with a sniffle.
“It’s okay,” I said as I scooped her up. “I’m sure he’ll be back later and we can see him then.”
“Promise?” she asked.
“I promise,” I whispered into her ear.
I walked my daughter into the house and got her set up at the kitchen table. She had a few activities to do for homework, but nothing she couldn’t handle on her own. She sat there quietly as I pulled things out for dinner. I figured a nice spaghetti would be easy to throw together. I boiled the noodles and browned up the meat for the sauce. I spiced things up with some herbs and grated some fresh parmesan to pour over it. I even pulled out a loaf of garlic bread and got it into the oven so it would be hot and fresh by the time the spaghetti was done being assembled.
And the entire time, I thought about Brewer.
I wondered what he was doing, and then I figured he was probably working. What did he do for a living?
I furrowed my brow as I stirred the spaghetti sauce.
Come to think of it, I didn’t know much about him at all. What he did for an income, or even his last name.
Was Brewer his last name? Or his first name?
“Do you hear that?” Ana asked.
My ears perked up as Ana scrambled down from her seat.
“Brewer!” she exclaimed.
Then, I heard it. The sound of a motorcycle revving off in the distance.
Had Ana been listening out for him?
She rushed to the door as I pulled the spaghetti off the stove. I drained the noodles and set everything on the table, then walked over to where my daughter was peeking out the window. I stood behind her and pulled the curtain back, then rolled up the blinds so I could see. And sure enough, there he was. With his dark hair and his stoic stare and his thick legs, walking his motorcycle into his garage.
Brewer was back.
“Can I go play?” Ana asked.
“No. You need to eat dinner first,” I said.
“But he doesn’t know I came by,” she said.
“That’s why I’m going to go tell him myself,” I said.
“Are you going to ask him to come eat with us?”
“I’ll offer it up and see how he feels about it.”
“Make sure he comes.”
“He’s his own person, Ana. If he doesn’t want to come eat, I’m not going to make him.”
My eyes turned back out the window as Ana scampered off to the kitchen table. He had a leather vest around his body. I hadn’t seen that vest before. I squinted my eyes as his back turned to me completely and I saw what was stitched into his vest. There was a skull with horns, and it looked like the words ‘Dead Souls’ were stitched into the top of it.
Then, I saw something that froze my blood.
I watched Brewer pull a gun from his back before he started fiddling around with it.
“Is he coming!?” Ana asked.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart,” I said. “I think he’s sick.”
“Sick? Why?”
“I don’t know. Brewer just doesn’t look well. He’s holding his tummy and doesn’t look very good.”
I watched Brewer tuck the gun back into his belt as the garage door came down, shutting him off from the rest of the world.
“Awwwww, but I wanna see him,” Ana said.
“Another time,” I said as I turned around. “Now I don’t want to hear another word of it. You have dinner and then we have a movie to watch.”
“Can Brewer-”
“No,” I said sternly. “Now leave the man alone.”
I watched Ana’s defeated look drag back to the table. I hated being so stern with her, but this was serious. This man I knew nothing about was walking around in some sort of leather vest with an emblem and a damn gun behind his back. A gun that he carried with him. Not just kept in his house. Who was Brewer? Why the hell did he need a gun? And what the hell was a ‘Dead Soul’?
I had some research to do. And until I had answers, that man wasn’t coming anywhere near my daughter.