Page 81 of Let Me Love You (Excess All Areas 5)

“It’s not like that,” Shawn said, glaring down at Ben’s trainers. “I don’t even care about school. I’m not doing A-levels. Want to get a job.”

Ben glanced at Moira, who nodded. “His grades are really bad,” she mouthed. “Too late to fix them.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Get a job as a mechanic. Do an apprenticeship or something.”

Well, that he knew a thing or two about. “You know I was a mechanic before the band made it big, right?”

Shawn looked up. “Really?”

Ben nodded. “In fact, I’m in the middle of fixing up a handful of classic cars for me, my brother, and our girlfriends.”

“That’s nice of you,” Moira said. “You always were the thoughtful one.”

He smiled in Moira’s direction. “See, I knew all along you thought I was the good grandson.”

“You were a lot quieter than Jase and Matt, for sure.”

Turning to Shawn, he could see the flicker of interest in his eyes. “Here’s the deal. I give you my mobile phone number. You give it to anyone else, all of this is off. I’ll text you when I’m over at my garage working on cars, and you can come help. I’ll pay you the apprentice minimum wage because that’s all you’d get starting at a garage. The rules are that you revise for your exams, and you stop yelling at your grandma. Show her a little respect, yeah? If you want an apprenticeship, you’ll need maths and English GCSE, so focus on those. If you help me with my cars and are any good at it, I’ll write you a reference for that apprenticeship. If you want out of here but need to do revision, bring your books to the garage. The pay you get for the first few hours of work, you give Moira to pay for the plates. Fair?”

The flicker of interest turned into the brief making of a smile. “Fair.”

“Oh, and one last thing.” Ben stepped right into Shawn’s space, making the kid look up at him. “I hear you’ve yelled at your grandma again, and I’ll come around and throw you out myself. You respect her, and I’ll respect you.”

Shawn nodded.

“Good, now, give me your number.”

With the details exchanged, Shawn apologised to Moira and headed upstairs.

Moira’s shoulders sank in relief. “I can’t ever repay you, Ben.”

“It’s fine, Moira. I’ll help you out with him. I remember being sixteen, living withmydad. Not always been easy.”

Moira nodded knowingly. “Well, I appreciate it. His grades have never been great, and unfortunately, good kids who aren’t academically inclined, like Shawn, end up in lower sets with the idiots who don’t give a shit about school.”

“Well, we’ll find something to keep him occupied, now.”

Moira smiled. “I think that would help.”

“I need to head back, Nan had just served my tea up and it’s going cold. Let me know if you need help with him, yeah?”

“Thanks, Ben.”

When he finally sat back down at the table, Nan pulled his dinner from the oven where she’d put it to keep warm. “What happened?” she asked.

Ben relayed their conversation.

“So, you’ve got yourself a little apprentice?” Nan said.

“Appears so. Might be fun to teach him. Do some good. Have some company. Hopefully, it means I can make progress faster. I really want to get Zoe’s done so she can drive to her graduation in it in a few weeks. I really need to crack on with it.”

Nan smiled. “That sounds like purpose.”

“Yeah. It’s a good goal. Do you know the exact date she graduates?”

“No, I’m not talking about Zoe’s car. That’s a project. But helping lads who’ve gone a little off the rails, teaching them skills that will help them get jobs. That’s purpose, lad.”

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