Page 91 of All Wrong
Some things could never be fixed. Some things could never be replaced.
Removing the nearest board, he scanned Sean’s notes.Faulty water pump.Wasn’t much of a challenge, but it was a pain in the ass to fix and would take several hours. He put that on the maybe pile.
He grabbed the next one and read the customer description of the problem.Power windows not working. Nick’s initial thoughts:Probably a blown fuse.Boring. He put it back. It was an easy fix. Anyone could handle that one.
He took another.Vehicle towed, dead battery.He tossed it back.Nope.
He needed something that required some thought. Something he couldn’t do with his eyes closed. Otherwise, his mind would just go back to thinking abouther. Wondering how she was doing. How she was feeling. He knew Nicki was talking to her every day—because she made a point of announcing it every time he was in earshot.
The next board he picked up had potential.Intermittent stalling. Occasional hesitation during acceleration. It was an older car, a late ’70s model Firebird, which meant he couldn’t simply plug in a code reader and have it tell him exactly what the problem was. He’d have to check the fuel pump, fuel filter, pressure regulator, injectors. Yeah, that could take a while.
He grabbed the keys and was about to head out to the lot when Nicki stepped into his path. He hadn’t even heard her approach. If he had, he would have slipped out the back.
“What are you still doing here?” she asked.
“Uh, working?”
She looked over at the dismantled engine block. “Did you figure it out?”
“Yep. Manufacturer defect. Wasn’t properly cleaned after sand casting.”
“Tricky.”
He shrugged. “It’s past warranty, so he might decide to get a new one.”
She looked down at the tagged keys in his hand and frowned. “Aren’t you going to The Zone tonight?”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” he said. If he went anywhere, it would be up to Hog Heaven. He and Scythe were tight these days, especially since Scytheand his guys had managed to identify and permanently detain several of the fuckers who’d been enlisting teens to do their dirty work. They’d been kind enough to call Nick and invite him to the clubhouse as a guest to partake of the festivities. Unlike Henderson, those guys would never be charged, prosecuted, or … found.
“Corinne’s going to be there.”
Yeah, he was aware. The girls in her dance class had been working on a special dance routine for her return. They’d gotten a cake, for fuck’s sake. So, no, he wasn’t going.
He said nothing.
“Thought you might want to be there. You know, since you haven’t gone to see her once since you brought her back.”
He ground his molars. “I’m good.”
He could feel his sister’s eyes burning holes in his back as he took the keys and went out into the lot to get the Firebird. Any hopes he had of her leaving him the fuck alone were quickly dashed when he heard her footsteps behind him.
“I don’t get it. You went through all that to save the woman, and then once you did, you went total ghost. Did you even call or text to ask her how she was?”
No, he hadn’t, and his reasons were none of his sister’s goddamn business. Not the last dozen times she’d gotten on his case and not now.
“Back off, Nicki,” he warned.
She threw up her hands. “Fine. You know what? I’m done. You want to pretend you don’t care? Good luck with that. But I’d think about pulling my head out of my ass if I were you. She’s not going to wait forever.”
Nicki stalked away, finally leaving him alone, which was what he wanted. And as for Corinne waiting, well, he didn’t know for what. Surely not him. He had nothing to offer her.
Hours later,he was under the Firebird. Classic heavy metal was playing in the background, feeding his foul mood, when he became aware of someone in the bay. Probably just Nicki again, coming to give him more shit, maybe regale him with more unsolicited opinions on what an asshole he was. Or maybe she’d badgered Sean into trying to talk some sense into him.
Didn’t matter.
“Fuck off,” he called out.
They didn’t heed the warning, choosing instead to turn his music down to a non-ear-shattering level.
