Page 5 of Beautifully Damaged

The group dispersed, and Danny headed his way with his hand held out. “It’s Ben, right?”

Ben nodded and shook Danny’s hand.

Danny took charge, steering Ben back toward the building. “It’s good to meet you.”

“You too,” Ben mumbled unnecessarily as Danny spoke over him.

“I was just looking over your resume. It says you worked two years for a tour company as part of the road crew.”

Ben nodded. “With Star Zone Productions.”

Danny held open the back door for Ben. “And you interned with a different company for the same job for two years before that.”

“Yes, sir.”

A line appeared between Danny’s eyebrows. “What made you decide to quit? It sounds like that’s the career you had your heart set on.”

Ben fought the urge to shrug and show his discomfort. “I wanted to go back to school. While being a roadie is a dream job for a lot of music lovers, it’s not a realistic lifelong career for most.”

Danny nodded. “I imagine not. Did you at least meet a lot of famous people?”

“Some.” Despite everything with Joey, Ben had a lot of fond memories of his days on the road. He refused to let Joey steal everything good about those days.

“Well,” Danny said, leading him into a tiny office that smelled like stale coffee. “Summer is our busiest time of year. It’s dirty, hot work, but I’m sure you’re used to carrying heavy things from one spot to another. I can offer you eighteen an hour and you’ll likely get plenty of overtime. If that sounds good to you, just let me know when you can start, and we’ll get started on the paperwork.”

Ben opened his mouth.

“He can start two weeks from tomorrow.”

Ben snapped his teeth closed. Horror washed over him. His eyes fell closed. It couldn’t be true.

“Holy shit. Joey Kickstart. My son will die.”

As Danny shot to his feet to fan boy all over Joey, Ben stared at the wall and counted to ten inside his head. He couldn’t believe it. Ben didn’t know why, though. This was what it was like being in Joey’s world. He charmed people, signed autographs, and no one ever called him on his bullshit. Joey had been back in Ben’s life for one whole hour. Ben was already exhausted.

After signing a few autographs,Ben had his job and was free to play with Joey for two whole weeks. Ben hadn’t said a word since Joey popped into the lumber company. As they headed for the parking lot, Joey jogged a circle around Ben, bouncing in his excitement.

“You got the job. Yay, you.”

Ben wouldn’t look at him. “How did you find me?”

Joey ran another circle around him. “You have a calendar on your fridge. It was nothing to get an Uber to bring me here. Guess what?”

Ben took an audible breath. “What?” The dead note to his voice warned Ben would likely snap soon. Joey wasn’t worried.

He raced ahead of Ben and opened the driver’s side door of Ben’s truck. “We’re going on a road trip, bitch. Get in.”

For a moment, Ben’s feet seemed frozen to the ground. Then he turned away and headed for the road.

Confusion made Joey slow to react. Ben was halfway to the street before Joey recovered his wits. “Where are you going?”

“I’m walking into traffic,” Ben yelled without looking back.

A chuckle gathered in Joey’s throat. He had missed the hell out of Ben and his stoic wit. Joey jumped behind the wheel and used the key he had found hanging by the door to start the truck. The bags he had packed for Ben slid around in the truck bed as Joey quickly backed from the parking space. He pulled alongside Ben and rolled down the passenger side window. “Get in, sexy. Adventure awaits.”

Ben looked his way. “Why are you doing this?”

Joey chose to be honest. “Because I’ve missed my cookie.”

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