Page 25 of Reckless Curves
Chapter Nine
Tom parked the Mustang around the side of Bad Boy Autos and locked it. He took a couple of deep breaths as he walked to the office. It wouldn’t do any good to immediately lose his cool with Marcus, but he would not put up with any shit, either.
Marcus stood behind the counter, doing something on the computer. He looked up and smiled. “Where have you been? Sully said that you had to leave for a while.”
Tom shot a perplexed look at the shop as though he could see Sully through the wall. Why hadn’t he told Marcus where he’d gone?
“Everything okay?”
Tom walked over and leaned his elbows on the counter. “It is now. Is your phone on?”
Marcus frowned and took his phone from his back pocket. He hit the home button a couple of times, but nothing happened. He sighed and swore. “Forgot to charge it. Why?”
“Well, your sister’s van broken down on the side of the road out by the Dream Cinema. She called the shop for you, but you weren’t here and you weren’t answering your cellphone. So, I went to help her and Connor,” Tom replied.
Marcus’ eyes widened. “Are they okay? What happened?”
“Tire blew and Kendra couldn’t get the nuts undone. Why is that, Marcus? The first thing you do is loosen them so women have the strength to change the tire if need be.” His temper started rising.
“It’s a secondhand van. I didn’t think they would be that tight. Usually it’s only new cars whose nuts have been machined tightened.” Marcus smiled.
Tom’s anger went from twenty to a hundred, and he banged a fist on the counter. “How the fuck is she going to get a hold of you when you can’t even remember to charge your phone? How could you leave her helpless like that? Especially when she had Connor with her! It’s a hundred degrees out, and they were out there for almost an hour. By the way her air conditioner is shot, so it was as hot as fuck. Ever hear of heat stroke?”
Marcus rounded the counter and came to stand toe-to-toe with Tom. “Stop yelling at me. Are they okay?”
He battled down his anger. This is how his father was. He would get angrier and angrier until the fists flew. Tom closed his eyes and battled the demons he’d inherited. He repeated in his head that he wasn’t his father and he could and would control his temper. What if he lost his temper with Kendra or Connor? He would never forgive himself. At least he didn’t drink, so hopefully he’d never make a drunken mistake and lash out in a fit of rage.
“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Tom said.
A flicker of guilt crossed Marcus’ face. “Thanks for taking care of them.”
“I don’t need your thanks. I need you to be accessible. What if we’d had an emergency at the shop?”
Marcus held up his hands. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry. I’ll call Kendra later and apologize. Are we good?”
Tom brushed by him. “Not even close.”
Marcus followed him into the shop. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Tom turned around and Marcus almost ran into him. “It means I will do what you should’ve done a long time ago.”
Marcus’s left eyebrow arched. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
Tom put his hands on his hips. “I will fix her van, including getting the air-conditioning working, and then I’m teaching Kendra how to do other minor repairs. She should’ve been taught as a teenager. I just assumed that you had.”
He moved away, but Marcus grabbed his shoulder. “Wait a second. I know you’re mad, but don’t get your nose out of joint too far. You’re right. I should’ve taught her, but then cancer hit and we had more important things to focus on. I’ll teach her now.”
“No, you won’t. You didn’t do it before, so I’ll do it,” Tom said, shaking Marcus off. “I already told her I would.”
“Why would you do that?” Marcus’ eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What gives?”
Tom shook his head. “Nothing. I’m her friend and I want to make sure she can take care of her and the kid if they get stuck again, that’s all.”
“Why do you have to be the one to do it?” Marcus crossed his arms. “Besides, since we came home, you haven’t hung out with her. Just the opposite, in fact. Now you want to suddenly be all buddy-buddy with her. Why?”
Tom stepped right up to Marcus. “Maybe because I’ve been honoring your order from all those years ago. Maybe I’m rethinking that.”
Anger chased the surprised expression from Marcus’ face, which was turning red. He raised a finger and seemed to struggle for words.
