I followed Dad’s eyes to look across the table at Joshua and Heath and then heard him say quietly, “And his brothers shouldn’t accept that shit either, having to listen to someone talk to their mom like that. No one should talk to you like that, but especially not your own kid.”
Dad walked away without another word and left our table in silence.
“Is PopPop going to beat him?” Joshua whispered.
“No,” I answered him, praying that I was right. “He and Uncle Eli will just talk to him, I think.”
I glanced over at Neva and saw she was biting her lip, worriedly looking toward the front door of the restaurant.
“Come on, boys. Let’s eat our dinner.”
4.
DAUGHTRY
“You’re here early,” Grady called out from Bay 2 as I walked into the garage from my office. “Saw you moved Blaze over to Bay 6, so is Bay 1 for the chick now?”
“Yeah,” I told Grady. “Thought I’d keep an eye on her.”
“Camera guys are in their trailer out back,” Grady tilted his head toward the back side of the big shop. “Said they’ll need to see you when you get in.”
“Well, we’ll have to pretend I’m not in yet.”
A year ago, I was approached by a television production agency about filming a reality style show about how we created some of the award-winning custom car and bike builds that my family’s shop, Kings Customs, was known for.
At the time it seemed like a fluke, but the money was right and the chance to get free national advertising and more exposure lured us in and we signed the deal. Now, after dealing with the Hollywood bullshit drama these people threw at me every single day, I regretted our decision.
But contracts had been signed and plans had been made. There was no way out of it now. I was just glad that the trouble the club had been having lately seemed to be over. It wouldn’t do to have some of that shit on film.
“What the fuck do they want today?” I asked Grady as I walked to the middle of the shop where the garage was divided in half lengthwise with a hall of sorts, half walls up on either side of the walkway so that you could safely get from one end to the other end without having to maneuver around people and vehicles. There were two gaps in the walls to let a person walk out into the garage right between the third and fourth sections, so that any one of us could get where we were going easily.
We added a door for each bay six years ago when we divided up the huge building and expanded from six long bays to twelve decent-sized ones. Of course, this also doubled our employee roster and the amount of work we could take in at any time. Bays 1 through 6 were on the front side of the garage near the street and Bays 7 through 12 were on the back side where cars were parked waiting on work and others were parked for us to salvage from and piece out.
The numbering went in a circle beginning with the bay right in front of my office and ended with Bay 12 right across the half wall from Bay 1. Each mechanic stored his own tools there, but we had a storage room full of pieces that weren’t often used or were very expensive items that regular mechanics couldn’t afford. Any of the guys could check those out through me or Tucker if he wasn’t busy in the paint rooms.
Bay 1 was where I always put the newest member of our team and since I’d moved Blaze out, it would be for the female mechanic I’d been forced to hire. Bay 12 was always left open unless it was an emergency. We reserved it for special projects within my family and often, my dad or brothers could be found working on their bikes or their cars there, easily within sight of the office so I could talk to them or offer help when needed.
My dad’s trike was currently parked there and one of my brother Kale’s extra bikes was in the space, too. Dad’s was here so he could do some customizations on it to get ready for him and Mom to take on long trips. They had stalled their travel plans after my sister’s car accident since the two of them stayed in Colorado Springs with her 75% of the time now.
I reminded myself to ask my dad if there was any work I could do on his trike while he was gone, so that it wasn’t just sitting here collecting dust in the meanwhile.
“They said something about changing what we have hanging up in here, something about copyrights I think,” Grady told me.
He and I both turned and watched as Stoffer, another prospect for my club, rolled up the bay doors one by one starting with Bay 1 where we were standing. I heard a loud engine in the distance just before Stoffer started rolling up the loud metal door in Bay 2 and drowned it out. While I watched Stoffer opening the doors to let the early morning light into the shop, the Camaro that I had seen my neighbor driving pulled up into one of the customer spots in front of the receptionist’s office.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” I asked the air around me.
“Who?” Grady asked as he watched the Camaro park. “That is one fucking hot car.”
I saw my neighbor get out of the car and glance at the glass door whose sign was still turned to ‘closed’ before she looked over at the open bays that held me and a few of my guys.
“She better just need a goddamn mechanic,” I grumbled to myself as I walked toward the opening. “Not be some fucking stalker I’m going to have to deal with.”
I stepped out of the shadows onto the drive just as she rounded the corner to walk into the first bay door.
“Can I help you with something?” I asked her, one eyebrow raised.
I looked her up and down, from head to toe, and noticed that she looked much the same as she had when she showed up on my front porch, but now she was wearing more clothes. Last week, she had on a t-shirt and a tiny pair of shorts and now she had on a tank top covered by a long-sleeved flannel shirt, faded jeans, and steel toe boots. Her hair was pulled back from her face into some braided twist thing at the base of her skull and there were pins here and there, probably to keep the little hairs out of her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I own this place with my family,” I drawled. “And I’ll ask again, can I help you with something?”
“Your name is Daughtry Forrester?” The little firecracker asked me, incensed.
I nodded and her mouth fell open.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” she grumbled as her head fell back. She stared at the sky and asked, “Really?”
“If you’re fucking telling me you’re the little princess mechanic, I’m honestly going to lose my shit,” I whispered at her as I took a step closer. “Because that would mean that Luke, Levi, and Eli are your big brothers and I fucked you nine ways to Sunday just a week ago. That ain’t happening.”
“Oh, it happened,” the little shit grinned up at me and whispered. “You, Mr. Big Shot, just fucked your new employee and there ain’t a goddamn thing you can do about it now.”
I felt myself go a little lightheaded and there were dots in my vision for a second before I managed to calm myself down. I didn’t say another fucking word - just spun around and walked to my office where I slammed the door so hard, shit fell off the walls.
◆◆◆
JAMIE
“You’ve got the kids?” I asked Neva as I rushed around the kitchen. I grabbed my sack lunch and the lunches I had packed for the boys the night before and set them all on the counter. “Make sure that Heath brushes his teeth and they all three put on deodorant. I set their backpacks by the front door so they could find them and…”