Chapter Six
Ben
Iwas under an early 2000s Ford that had been on its last legs for, well, longer than I’d been trying to fix it. Every time it started to make noises that its owner, a single mom called Shania, recognized as trouble.
“Yo, Ben!”
I sighed, then slid out from under the car on my creeper. Both of the pits were in use, thus needing the creeper in the first place.
“Yeah?” I peered up at Kenny, one of the other mechanics at Artie’s Auto Shop.
“Your favorite customer is here.” Kenny smirked, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.
I got up smoothly, keeping my face neutral, and gave him the flashlight I’d been using to figure shit out. “Awesome. You can finish Shania’s wheels.”
Then I sauntered through the doors of the garage.
Look, I was gay. I’d always known I was gay. My libido had never been the greatest and then the drugs had muddled my whole system even more. I’d also never been a catch, looks-wise. I looked better now, of course, and I was happier, whichprobably showed, but I knew I leaned a bit too much to what I was: a recovering addict, redneck mechanic werewolf.
So the fact that I had a regular who was clearly into me made very little sense, even if we had a tiny bit of shared history.
“Hey, Ethan,” I called out as I wiped my hands on the rag I always had hanging from my coveralls pocket.
“Oh, hi, Ben,” he said, blushing slightly and then gestured at his 2019 Honda Civic. “I’m pretty sure it’s making a weird noise whenever I turn right.”
I nodded and put the rag back into my pocket. “Okay. Let’s listen here first.” I couldn’t help myself and grinned. “If there’s anything obvious….” I gestured at my ears.
He ducked his head, his light blond hair flopping over to cover his face as he blushed. “Uh, right. Wolf hearing. I remember.”
He slid into the car and started the engine, popping the hood for me.
I lifted it and listened. There was nothing alarming that I could hear, so I closed it again.
“Nothing. Let me just get out of these coveralls and we’ll go for a ride, okay?”
Ethan nodded almost too eagerly and turned the engine off.
I went to undress in the locker room, because I didn’t need to feed his crush by doing it in his view.
“I’m taking Ethan for a drive. Says his car has a sound when he turns right, so….” I shrugged at Artie, our boss, when I passed him on my way back.
“Don’t take too long. Ash is bringing in his Harley in… an hour. And you need lunch before that!”
“Thanks, Boss!”
I went back to Ethan and gestured for him to get out of the driver’s seat. Blushing, he tried to keep his eyes off my forearms as he got out and went around the car to jump in again.
Since he was around my brother’s height, I moved the seat back to fit my legs better.
“Okay, so when you turn right?” I asked, glancing at him as I turned the engine on again.
“Yeah.”
The radio turned on, and in hindsight it might’ve been on before, too. Either way, I immediately recognized Luca’s voice as a Kaiju song began to play.
“Oh, Ilovethis band!” Ethan practically vibrated in his seat.
I took the left turn out of the parking lot and smiled. If he only knew who we had at the house. Then again, next to nobody knew Luca was there.
