Page 16 of Here's to Now

“Fine. I’ll be your daddy, if you ask nicely.” Hudson reaches out and smacks Tucker upside the head. “Ugh. Sorry. Welcome to Jacked Up. Now get to work.”

Hudson sighs, throwing an apologetic look to Maddox, who slinks off quietly, confusion coating his face. Poor kid has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.

“Why’d you hit me?” Tuck says innocently. “I was being polite, ass.”

Ignoring him, my boss turns toward me. “What’s up, Gaige? Spill.”

I simply stare him down, refusing to give in to talking about my feelings and shit. Hudson rolls his eyes, giving up.

“Fine, fine. It’s none of my business. But if you need help…”

I shake my head, knowing where he’s going. This has nothing to do with my family like he thinks. “It’s not that,” I tell him. “I had an interesting evening and an eventful morning. I’ll get over it.”

Hudson looks ready to argue, push me into talking. I level him with a glare and his mouth snaps shut, his lips falling into a grim line. He gives one curt nod, relenting.

“Fine,” he says, putting his hands up. “But if you—”

“I know. You’re here if I need anything. I appreciate it.”

“I wasn’t going to say that. I was going to say if you’re late again, I’m kicking your ass.”

“Sure you were,” I mutter.

Hudson keeps eye contact, trying to read into whatever is going on with me. That’s his thing, the eye contact. He can read people in an eerie way. I loathe being read, so I slam the story my eyes tell closed, blocking Hudson from reading me. He quirks a brow, liking a challenge.

I don’t concede.

He does.

“Did you two assholes just have a silent conversation without me?” Tucker turns to Hudson, glaring. “That’sourthing! You can’t do that withhim!” He points an accusatory finger at me.

I chuckle, wondering if he notices he sounds like a jealous boyfriend. The show gets even better when he stalks off, Hudson trailing behind him and apologizing.

I blow out a breath, scrub my hands through my hair, and get my mind right to work. I barely had enough time to run home and grab a quick shower after my run-in with Benny this morning. I spent the entire drive back to my apartment and to work trying to figure out why in the hell I took Haley home last night, and why I stayed. Why would I sneak out? Why in the fuck would I leave a note with my phone number on it? Maybe someone slipped a crazy pill into my beer last night. I’d never normally do something like that—I have enough shit going on. Opening myself up to someone else’s problems isn’t going to make my life any easier.

Neither is worrying about shit, Gaige.

Giving myself a good shake, I head over to Maddox, trying to get my head in the game. “All right. What’s good, man? What are we working on today?”

Maddox jumps slightly, throwing me a wide-eyed glance. “Uh…the car.”

I laugh. “Relax, kid. I’m not here to quiz you. I’ve seen what you can do. If you haven’t guessed yet, we like to have fun around here. Don’t let Tucker’s odd sense of humor or Hudson’s creepy staring get the best of you. Relax.”

His face goes from terror to relief right before my eyes. He nods, swallowing once. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Now, show me what we’re doing today.”

I listen as Maddox tells me we’re checking out the radiator, fans, and belts. The kid is good; he really knows his stuff. I nod in all the appropriate places, knowing everything he’s already telling me. I might have told him I wasn’t quizzing him, but I am curious about how much he really knows. It sounds like a lot.

“Good, man. Good. Let’s get to work then.”

I pick up a ratchet and get started. The morning flies by in a blur, my mind firmly invested in the task at hand. I don’t allow a single thought of Haley or Benny or my past to creep up on me. I refuse.

Until lunch.

Until Maddox doesn’t mind his own fucking business.

Damn new guys.

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