Page 29 of Truck You

“Got held up at the track,” I say as I hit the button to open the bay door. Ash is already in position to back the cars in. Chase is standing by the trailer to act as a spotter.

“That’s a shitty answer. I needed you guys here to help. I can’t do the workandmanage the garage.”

“Sorry,” I say, barely above a whisper. “It won’t happen again.”

“Sorry?” Liam crosses his arms over his chest. “That’s all you’ve got to say for yourself?”

This is the moment where he’d threaten to fire us and hire all new employees if he could. But we’re all equal owners in the garage and he can’t.

I shrug, doing my best to not let his anger affect me. He has every right to be upset. We promised to be back by ten to help with the day’s workload. We didn’t make it.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t want you to say anything.” He grumbles something else under his breath, but I can’t make it out. “I want you to do what you say you’ll do and be here to help when you say you’ll be here. Is that too much to ask?”

I look my oldest brother in the eye and his angry expression softens. “No, it’s not. I promise to do better next time.”

I turn to walk away, but he grabs my arms to stop me. He studies my crestfallen face and sighs. “What happened?”

My gut instinct is to tell him that nothing happened, but he’ll know that’s a lie the second he sees the crushed front end of the car.

I drop my head and rub the bridge of my nose. “It was a bad morning, okay? One of the cars was acting up, and—”

“What the hell?” Liam’s gaze moves past me. His eyes now tracking the trailer being backed into the garage.

Chase stops next to us and sighs. “Engine blew. We think it was a faulty intake valve, but we won’t know for sure until we pull it out.”

Liam turns to me, his gaze piercing and full of concern. I drop my eyes to the floor. “How fast were you going when it happened?”

“Almost two hundred miles-per-hour,” I mumble.

“Shit.” He sighs. “You okay?”

“I’m standing here, aren’t I?” I say way louder than I should. He’s only expressing his concern. But I’m fucking tired of everyone’s concern. I just want my head back.

“That’s not what I mean.” His tone is soft in contrast to mine. “The front end of that car is gone. That had to affect you. Especially since—”

“Don’t say it.” I hold my hand up and glare at him. “I don’t need you or anyone else reminding me of the past. I’m dealing with it. Now drop it.”

“But you’re not dealing with it, Mac,” Chase says.

“I said drop it.”

I turn on my heel to leave, but stop when I see a familiar redhead standing at the opposite end of the garage, staring at us with wide eyes. She’s pulled her hair back in a ponytail, and she’s wearing a pair of baggy overalls that look three sizes too big for her frame.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I bark.

She opens her mouth like she’s going to respond, but then looks to Liam instead. I follow her gaze and stare at my brother, waiting for him to answer.

“So, yeah.” Liam rubs the back of his neck nervously. “Sophia is going to be helping us out around the shop.”

“What do you mean, she’s helping us out?”

“I told you I was going to hire someone. I can’t keep this place running by myself.”

“You’re not running it by yourself. You’ve got us.”

“It’s not enough!” Liam yells. His frustration is getting the best of him. “Today is a perfect example of that. You’re too busy racing. Ash and Chase are busy building your cars, and Christian has more motorcycle builds than he can handle on his own. I can barely keep up with the invoicing and scheduling, let alone work on the cars too. I had to hire someone to help.”

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