Downfall(13)

When I first started working here, it was because the Boss knew Gus. I’d stopped by to pay my respects when the old man passed and the new owner immediately saw something familiar when we met. He told me it was easy to spot trouble waiting for me, and if I wasn’t careful, bad decisions were going to get away from me. I flatly informed him I was way too busy and had far too much responsibility for any kind of trouble, and he had laughed at me. He informed me trouble would find me even if I wasn’t looking for it. I had no interest in putting my hands on stolen cars, no matter how beautiful and luxurious they might be. I wasn’t licensed or trained professionally, so he couldn’t put me in the front garage, not with the way the law in this town kept their eyes on him. And if I landed in jail, my mom would have no one, which was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. When he offered me a job, I politely turned him down, expecting a fist in the face as I did so.

To my surprise, the Boss was completely understanding, even sympathetic, to my situation. Instead of putting me under the hood of a stolen sports car, he offered me a chance to show him what I could do by rebuilding a thoroughly battered Ford Coupe. Gus loved old rat-rods and hot rods. The property was littered with unfinished projects. It was a treasure trove of untapped potential the Boss couldn’t do much with on his own, considering his other obligations. He told me if I could get the Ford up and running within the month, he would let me sell it and split the profit with me sixty-forty. It was an opportunity too good to pass up.

I finished the car and sold it for twice what we were asking for. The following month the boss handed me a rusted, patchworked Chevelle and we repeated the process. That restoration took a little over two months, and once it sold, I had enough money to enroll in some online classes. I wanted to be a legit mechanic. I wanted to know how to fix anything and everything that came my way, from the oldest and simplest cars to the high-end, luxury models. I wanted a job that would never be obsolete. I had to have a way to support myself and my mom no matter how often the world ended up on fire around me. I was still working my way through the junkyard, finding hidden jewels and turning them into custom rides. The Boss let me have free rein; the arrangement put money in both of our pockets and kept my hands clean.

The Boss offered to pay my way through school as long as I agreed to go work for him on the legit side of things when I was done with my classes. I turned him down. I’d been around long enough to know it was never a good idea to end up indebted to the kind of man who built his business on blood and broken bones. I did, however, take him up on his offer to train me to fight when he found out I had a knack for tossing a punch and dodging fists. The money was impossible to pass up and the Boss was a good teacher. A broken nose and a dislocated shoulder were nothing as long as I had money in the bank and a way to take care of my mom.

I pulled Orley’s junky car into my reserved bay. I parked it next to the Barracuda I was currently working on and glanced into the back to see if Noble was still asleep. Blurry blue eyes met mine in the mirror and I couldn’t fight the smile pulling at my lips. The little girl really was adorable, full of light and life. Her smile was infectious.

“There’s an apartment upstairs you can take Noble up to and wait while I give the car a once over. It should only take me an hour or so.” I made sure my tone left no room for argument. She didn’t need to be wandering around the shop floor. I trusted most of the guys the Boss handpicked to work here with my life, but not with hers. There was something about her wide-eyed innocence and trembling fear that called to every single protective instinct I had.

She delicately cleared her throat and I watched out of the corner of my eye as she fiddled nervously with the ends of her hair. I never really considered myself a fan of redheads. I wasn’t opposed to them, but if I had a type, it definitely wasn’t the fiery-haired, pale variety. I was drawn to flashy women who went out of their way to grab my attention, not timid females trying to hide from everything and everyone. I tended to go for chicks who knew the score. Girls who were in the same game and didn’t complain about it being played dirty or unfair. I liked quick and easy, because it was all I had room for in my life. None of which explained why I was inexplicably drawn to the woman sitting next to me. She was everything I avoided like my life depended on it, and yet here I was, practically forcing my help on her. She obviously would rather crash and burn all on her own.

“Umm… should we be here? The police aren’t going to come barging through the door any second with guns drawn, are they?” She shifted in her seat. “There are limits to what I’m willing to expose Noble to, even if it means my car remains dead on the side of the road.”

I was going to snap at her for being so condescending, but one look at her face and I realized she wasn’t being snide. She was honestly worried about a raid, and I couldn’t deny I’d been through more than one since coming to work here. Luckily, because the Boss’s big brother was a bigwig in the police department, the unexpected busts had dwindled down over the last few years.

“You’ll be fine. We were raided last month and the cops left with nothing. That usually keeps them off the Boss’s back for a little while.” I tried not to laugh as she gasped and moved her mouth like a beached fish. “I’m kidding. The Boss’s brother is on the police force. Usually if anything is going down, we have a lot of advance notice. I’ll make sure to smuggle you out the front if anything goes sideways while you’re here.”