When I finally got to the front, I snapped a photo and sprinted back to the dorm, where I threw my dirty clothes into a duffel bag. My Camaro waited in the dorm’s parking lot.
I opened the back door and crammed my smelly laundry into the back. My car was stuffy from being closed up so long. I didn’t drive it to classes because parking was a bitch, and it’d been at least three weeks since I’d been back to Riverton.
I started the engine and rolled down the windows, inhaling as fresh air swept in. “All right, baby. Let’s go home.”
The engine purred to life, a healthy rumble that spoke to the months of work I’d put into rebuilding it last summer. I reversed out of the space and navigated the maze of roads that wound through campus, then the side streets that led to the highway.
When I finally hit the blacktop, I grinned. Finally, the open road stretched out ahead. I pressed my foot down on the accelerator, whooping as the wind whipped through my hair and the speedometer climbed to seventy, seventy-five, then eighty. I forced myself not to push it any further, though this car could easily do a hundred.
Holden wouldkillme if I got a ticket. There would be lectures about safe driving and responsibility, and he was right, so I eased off the gas a little and stuck to the speed limit.
The drive home took two hours, fifteen minutes. It was short enough that I’d made the trip twice in two months, but I’d only ever done it on weekends, when the auto shop was closed.
Today, it was open, the garage bay doors up, so I pulled into a parking space out front and walked inside, relaxing when the scent of motor oil hit.
Thiswas home.
“What’s up, suckas?” I called.
Flynn and Gray stood under a Subaru Outback that was suspended over their heads by our lift system. Gray felt along what looked to be the power steering line while Flynn shined a black light along the same path.
They were obviously looking for leaks. Those could be tricky to find because a leak could come from a lot of different places. The dye and UV should do the trick, as long as you were looking in the right spot.
My hands itched to get in there and solve the problem.
Gray dropped his hands and turned. “Hey, Bails, what are you doing here?”
I crossed my arms. “Nice greeting.”
He came toward me, opening his arms wide. “Bailey! How I’ve missed my baby brother! Give me hugs and kisses.”
Shit. Shoulda kept my mouth shut. I tried to duck away, but he wrapped his arms around me and hoisted me into the air, shaking me as I laughed.
His lips landed on my cheek, and I squirmed away. “Ew, stop, or I’ll tell Emory you kissed another man.”
He dropped me. “Gross. You’re my little brother.”
I wiped his saliva off my cheek. “Exactly, man. I only accept kisses from men who aren’t my brother.”
Sadly, Flynn did not sweep in to kiss me, seeing as how he wasn’t my brother. He kept his distance, smiling sheepishly. “Hey, Bailey. You here to save my ass?”
“Does it need saving?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m just struggling to find this darn leak. We thought it was going to be the transmission line, but it wasn’t. Now we’re going over the power steering with dye and UV, but still no dice.”
I nodded. “The leak is probably traveling from the point of origin. What’s the color?”
“Dark brown, but it’s not oil. I checked that first.” He frowned. “Unless I missed something.”
“My money’s on the brake line. Sometimes the fluid darkens with age.” I looked at the Subaru. “This is a pretty old car. That might be your culprit.”
“Damn. You’re so good at that,” Flynn said appreciatively.
My chest warmed, and I couldn’t help puffing up a little. “We still have to confirm the theory. I’m happy to help you check it out.”
More than happy. The minor repair I’d done outside that frat party had me jonesing for the real thing. I missed the dopamine hits from figuring out a mechanical problem and solving it. It made me feel smart, when pretty much nothing else in the world did.
Certainly not my textbooks or the calculus equations that turned my brain into a pretzel. Maybe while I was here, I could get Shiloh to go over a few things with me. I was still confused as fuck about some of the basics, and as we got further into the class, I kept running into the same damn roadblocks.
