Stu sighed and crossed his arms. “Paying your rent isn’t living.”
“Tell that to my landlord.”
“Jay, you need to start dating again, or at least get laid. I mean, why the hell did you cut your hair so nice and fix your beard? You look almost as good as me.”
“God help me if you’re the benchmark.”
“I’m serious.”
“Cut it out, okay? I’m doing what I want, so mind your own business.”
“Youaremy business!”
“The hell I am!” He lay back down and wheeled himself underneath the busted car, into the thick scent of oil. No one in the whole world could get under his skin as fast as Stu. The man had a private fast lane straight into Jay’s nerves.
Stu grunted, “You’re more stubborn than Dad. Anyway, I’m putting on the closed sign. Margo and I are going to Denny’s.”
“Fancy.”
“She likes it simple.”
“Can’t get any simpler than you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Remember to lock everything up.”
“I always remember.”
“And don’t keep working too late—I’m speaking as your boss this time.”
Underneath the car, Jay focused on his breathing. He pulled out his phone and opened the gallery, his trick for calming down his nerves—definitely less risky than getting hammered.
With the gallery open, he first looked through Ethan’s photos. It had taken a near-death experience to bring them back together after their recent ugly fight. Thankfully, Ethan was good at forgiving.
Jay moved to look at photos of Anthony, the only man alive he had yet to fight with, even after so many years. He could picture himself fighting with a kitten before fighting with Anthony.
Hesitantly, he moved to look at photos of Chris. It had been a long time since he could face those without wanting to kill the man. For well over a year, he had based his sanity on making Chris pay for his part in landing Jay in prison. But when he finally got the chance, the price had turned out to be too high.
“We were just closing,” Stu said from the customer area.
“I really need a quick oil change for my bike, man.”
“Yeah, alright. Jay, can you give him a hand over here?”
Jay sighed and rolled himself out. “Coming.”
He stood up and wiped his greasy palms on his dirty coverall. Maybe it was time to call it a night after all. He’d find something dumb to watch on Netflix until he fell asleep.
The front door slammed as Stu left to meet with Margo. Jay had hoped that having a new girlfriend would leave Stu with less energy to bust Jay’s balls, but no such luck.
He entered the customer area. “An oil change, you said?”
He froze.
No way. No fucking way.
Ben Jones—or Nasty Ben as he’d been called in prison—laughed at the sight of Jay. The giant of a man looked as ugly as Jay remembered with his broken nose and nasty scar above his right eye. His red bandana seemed ridiculous, especially with the leather jacket that had patches of cartoons all over it. They had last seen each other almost a year ago, when Jay got discharged.
“Jay! Shit, man. You work here?” Ben came closer and pulled him into a bear hug, smelling of leather and cheap aftershave.
