This stupid fucking rich billionaire brat.
Of course that would be his response.
‘Who cares, Brandon. Just send them somewhere else! I’ll pay you to shut down your whole shop.’is exactly what he would say to me if I let him.
Which wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t going to letthishappen. Paying for my fucking shop to close down so I can fix his goddamn cars... who does that?
“Avery,” I gritted through my teeth.
He sighed. “How many people are working for you?”
“Four.”
“Okay, so have one run the shop with your regular customers and the other three can help you. Or... two. I don’t know. Do you get a lot of business? Edgewood isn’tthatpopulated.”
Using my fingers to massage my aching eyeballs, I let out a long sigh.
I hated that he was tempting me with this. The whole point in agreeing to come out here and assess the cars was to get him a quote, maybe throw in some advice, get him in touch with some of my past clients and then send him off on his merry way.
There was no room in that equation for him to be weaseling his way into my life anymore than he’d been doing already.
Butdamn, being able to work exclusively on these cars without having to worry about a paycheck, or my employees staying afloat, would be an absolute dream. Honestly, thatwasmy dream before reality gave me a long hard slap across the face once bills began to accumulate.
You couldn’t run a successful business on classics alone—there just wasn’t that big of a market to keep up with the cost of materials for restorations, and maintaining an overhead in the process.
This situation was different, though. Avery was filthy fucking rich and was offering the opportunity of a lifetime. I’d be a damn fool not to take it.
At the same time, I was afraid to.
Not that he would ever be that kind of person to hold money over someone’s head but the possibility that by the end of all of this, he came out unsatisfied would weigh on me more than I cared to admit. I didn’t want that kind of guilt eating away at me. Not with him involved.
I had enough of that living through my twenties.
“Brandon.” Avery reached across the space between us to grab my arm. “Why don’t you think about it?”
Just as I was about to tell him I couldn’t, his phone went off.
He sighed. “Give me a second.”
I tracked him with my gaze as he walked away, pulling his phone out of his pocket to answer it.
I couldn’t do this. Work for Avery, technically, while living the dream I always wanted to. It would be stupid to put my business on hold, even if the bills would still be getting paid.
I’d be a damn fool to accept.
Right?
CHAPTER 5
Avery
Walking to my car,I tucked the thought of Brandon’s hesitation toward my offer away in the back of my mind.
It wasn’t really any of my business that, instead of jumping at the opportunity to work on a known passion of his while not having to worry about the cost of a paycheck, he was digging his heels into the proverbial dirt for whatever reason
Even if it severely bothered me.
Him having a life in Edgewood, far removed from the one we shared together in Ellington Heights, was understandable. As was him wanting to run his business without someone like me coming in and bulldozing everything to shit. He clearly had a system going and disrupting the flow of that wasn’t exactly winning me any favors.
