Chapter 6
“You don’t work here.”
Izzy wasn’t sure if it should’ve been obvious to him that the kid was one of Justin’s siblings, but it…wasn’t. Sure he’d heard the name Wyatt several times now, but with Justin and Lettie being white, he hadn’t expected their brother not to be.
It was also weird, that now, as he looked at Wyatt, he could tell there was still some sort of family resemblance there. Same mom, maybe? Wyatt’s coloring was completely different from his blonde, blue-eyed siblings, but there was something about him that was definitely from the same genes.
The lasagna was a nice surprise. He wasn’t sure if Wyatt had intended to give one container to him or if it was a reflex, but there he was now, having put the food safely on the passenger’s seat where it smelled amazing and thinking that this whole day had gone so much better than he’d expected and things really were looking up after all and—
And then his fucking car didn’t start.
Izzy let his forehead drop to the steering wheel and sighed. Great.
He popped the hood and got out of the car to try and figure out what was wrong with the damned thing. Of course he couldn’t, because he knew next to nothing about cars. They’d just never interested him in any other way than whether they ran or not, and now there he was.
When Justin and Wyatt appeared and everything led into a dinner invitation, Izzy felt a little conflicted. He got that fraternizing with the boss and his family wasn’t frowned upon here at all. It still felt weird. Especially with those big dark eyes tracking his every move when Wyatt thought he wasn’t looking. It didn’t matter if he looked or not, when you spent a few years in prison, you learn quickly to feel when someone is staring at you.
As they walked toward the house, Izzy dug out his phone and called Vinny.
“Hey, Vincent, the car’s not startin’. Anyone there who could pick me up, maybe look at the car?”
Vinny grunted. “I’ll call one of the guys to come and check it out. I’ll text you with details.”
“The belt is definitely at least part of the problem.”
“Okay, I’ll tell Morales that. He might be able to fix it there, but at least he can bring you back to town.”
“I’ll find my way back to work tomorrow if he can’t fix it. Thanks, man.”
“Yeah.” Vinny hung up. It was obvious Izzy would owe him even more if this, which sucked and made him a bit more nervous than he’d wanted. The main reason for that unease was Morales, though. That guy was trouble and somehow it felt wrong to even have him on the Abbot’s property.
“Someone coming to get you?” Justin asked, glancing at him as they walked on.
“Yeah, my housemate will send a mechanic friend. He’ll text when he has details.”
“That’s good.”
Excited barks sounded from somewhere nearby, and like before, Lettie and her pack of dogs appeared almost as if out of nowhere onto the footpath they were on.
“Just let them come to us,” Justin called to her, and she didn’t bother telling the dogs to slow down.
The rampaged down an incline and unable to help himself, Izzy went to his knees in the dirt to welcome them.
“Oh my God, doggies!” he cooed at them, and this time the German shepherd and the tiny Chihuahua came to him for attention. He pet the dogs and let them sniff him, even lick his face, because he could use some loving right then.
Once he’d had enough, he realized that Justin was walking up the little hill at almost meandering pace, and Wyatt was talking to his sister nearby.
Izzy got to his feet and dusted his jeans, then started after Justin. The teenagers—at least he thought Wyatt, too, was in his late teens—followed suit with the dogs bouncing and sniffing all around them.
“Do you get the dogs from shelters?” Izzy asked Lettie when she caught up with him, walking adjacent but a bit away from him.
“Yeah, I have a few that know what kind of dogs I’m looking for. Mostly those that don’t understand humans very well,” Lettie said in a quiet but still strong voice. “Ones that might not have been socialized for whatever reason, mostly.”
Izzy nodded and glanced at Wyatt who was walking on Lettie’s other side, seemingly in his thoughts.
“I’ve always wanted a dog. Growing up my mom was allergic so I couldn’t have pets. Then when I got older, I didn’t have a steady place to live for a while and then eventually I went to prison. At that point I thought it was best that I didn’t have a dog, you know.”
“Oh yeah, I actually worked with and rehomed this dog last year whose owner went to prison. The guy had taken this puppy way too young and kept it in a kennel most of the time.” Lettie’s distaste was clear in her tone.
