Page 89 of Hollyhocks

It’s under a stack of papersunderthe damn keyboard. “How do you manage this, Rhett? No, we need to hire someone tomanage the desk. This is not okay.” He scratched ‘order book’ on the front of the cover with his talons.

A sticker would have worked. A marker.

But no, he had to use his talons.

I don’t flip through the book or become nosey. I trust Rhett with what he has to do for the business. I toss the book in the driver’s seat of the van and begin looking for all the places the VIN is. I’ll need to do a VIN clone. I’ll worry about the title and registration later.

Luckily, I know a guy, but I want to do as much as I can with everything I have here at the shop.

Obviously, the primary place for the VIN is the lower left corner of the windshield but there are a few other locations where it could be too. Engine bay, driver’s door frame, trunk floor, and a few other places. It also depends on the make and model and since I don’t know this year of Volkswagen van very well, I’m just going to look in every single nook and cranny.

I’m going to start with the easiest place. All I need to do is heat-up the VIN sticker and use the tip of a razor blade to peel it back.

“Where is that damn hair dryer?” I mumble to myself.

It’s right in front of my face.

Like everything is when I’m fucking looking for it.

I get to work, heating the sticker while peeling it back with a razor blade. I’m not sure how long it takes. I’m not keeping track of time, but a shadow catches my attention out of my peripheral vision.

Turning off the loud hum of the dryer, I look up, rolling my damn eyes when I see no other than my mom and dad standing in the entryway of the garage door.

“You two are either the most persistent people or the stupidest. You know,” I shake my finger at them, setting down the dryer. “I’m going to go with stupidest.”

“Is that how you speak to your mother now?” She feigns being emotionally hurt.

“Please, Mom. You and I both know you aren’t capable of actual feelings. No need to pretend.”

“Don’t speak to your mother that way,” Dad harrumphs, reaching for the garage door to close it.

“You stopped being my parents the moment you beat me to near death. You stopped being my mom when you did nothing but allow Dad’s abuse. You stopped being my parents when you threatened Heather at sixteen. You aren’t my parents and even if I did have any love for you, I wouldn’t respect you. Just like I don’t respect you now. What the hell are you doing here? I don’t think I could get any more clear about the business. I’m not fucking interested.”

“Fitsgerald, is that a tattoo? How dare you ruin your body—”

“—We aren’t talking about me. What do you want?”

“This is your last chance to come work for the company,” my dad threatens. “We need you there. I know you have a trust fund. We need that money for the business.”

“Not my problem you don’t know how to manage your fortune. Your problem isn’t my problem.”

“Remember you have to, or I will go after your sister.”

I toss my head back and laugh. “No, you won’t. You don’t know where she is. Do you really think I was stupid enough to leave her without knowing she would be safe from you? You underestimate me.” I wipe my hands out of habit on a stained rag. “You always have, and I’ve always proved you wrong.”

“Wallsworth Candy won’t fail because of you.”

“No, it failed because of you. You. Not me. I wasn’t part of this. You two—” I point at them, “are a disease. Do you hear me? You’re a fucking waste of space. The more you stand in front of me, the more I hate you. You are so selfish. You are incapable of seeing the problem you caused and want to point fingersat everyone else. You are incapable of accepting your mistakes. You want others to fix them. You’re willing to force me to do something I don’t want to do. You went as far as pulling Heather and Elijah into this.” I take a step back so I’m close to a few items that can be used as a weapon.

I don’t have my gun on me. I left it at home.

I thought the threat of violence was over for the day after thing one and two circled like vultures around Holly’s house.

“Get out before I call the cops.”

“You won’t be calling anyone anymore.”

To my surprise, Dad pulls a gun on me, aiming it directly at my chest.

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