Holden rejoined us. “That was the parks department. One of their trucks died. I asked Axel to tow them in. We’ll have to jump on that ASAP.”
“We’ve already got that Chevy Impala coming in over the lunch hour,” I said, trying not to sound like I was complaining. “Blown head gasket. It’s a big job.”
Holden nodded. “We’ve got to prioritize the county vehicles. How close are you on this one?”
I winced. “End of the day?”
“Really? Damn. I figured we’d be closer.”
My chest tightened. “I’m not as fast as Bailey.”
Holden turned to his brother. “Gray, can you step in?”
Gray nodded. “Yeah, sure. Leave it to me and Flynn. We’ll sort it out.”
“Good deal. Come join me when the pizza arrives. I need to get the paperwork ready for the county.”
“Will do,” Gray said.
As soon as Holden was out of sight, I slumped against the Ford Explorer. Shit. If I kept needing Gray to hold my hand, Holden wasn’t going to be in any hurry to hire me on permanently.
“You don’t have to help me,” I said. “I can get the job done. I’ll just work late to finish the Explorer after taking a look at the parks truck, and I’ll, um, push back the head gasket. We’d never finish that repair in one day, so that’s okay.”
“It’s fine, Flynn. I’ve got another day on the bike, and it won’t take that long to finish,” Gray said. “I’ll help you.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to let you guys down.”
“Dude, you’ve got to relax,” Gray said. “Bailey didn’t do everything on his own, and we don’t expect you to either. We decided not to hire another part-timer so we could give Bailey more money for expenses up at school. But that means Axel and I have to step up. We know that, okay?”
I nodded, blowing out a big breath. Bad enough I wasn’t keeping up, but now Gray was having to reassure me like an insecure child too.
I had to pull my shit together and stop freaking out. I would work late. I would work weekends. I’d do whatever it took to get the job done, and Holden would see that I was worth holding on to.
I had to keep this job, had to get my life back on track, and I had to remember I wasn’t a fucking prisoner anymore.
CHAPTER 3
Bailey
A crowdof students had formed outside my engineering ethics lecture hall. A tall guy stood at the front, raising his phone to take a photo of the door, so I couldn’t see what was going on.
A spiky-haired girl rolled her eyes. “Hurry the fuck up. Some of us want to get on with our lives already.”
“What’s up?” I asked her.
“Class is canceled. Ourethicalprofessor took a personal day but left us homework to do. Instead of emailing us, he made us all show up here and write down the assignment. Asshole.”
It was a dick move, but I couldn’t stop the smile growing on my face. “No class today? Seriously?”
“Yeah. Don’t get too excited, though. We have to read a chapter and write an essay or some shit.” She raised her voice. “I don’t know because these people are taking all day!”
The tall dude skittered away, mumbling something about snarky bitches, and the next person in line stepped forward. Then the next. The third girl in the crowd paused to write all the details in a notebook instead of taking a photo.
“Fucking Christ,” the girl next to me muttered.
We were both at the back of the crowd, but I was so damn psyched to miss class that I didn’t mind waiting an extra five minutes to get the snapshot of the sign on the door.
The homework was going to kill me, but I’d think about that later. Right now?Freedom.
