Finding Maddox (The Road to Truth Book 3)

by Quell T Fox

  ​He’s not rude with his words, but they hit me harshly. He’s right. If this is a thing that most people know about, how did I grow up not knowing anything about it? I really must have sheltered myself.

  ​Alec turns back to the computer. “One last thing. If you get a new customer, you’re going to go back to the home screen and click the plus symbol up in the corner. I’ll be in the office for a bit, just sorting through some stuff that I couldn’t get to yesterday. It’s out this door, turn left. There is a short hallway, go down to the end. If you need anything come get me or ask one of the guys. If someone comes in to drop their car off, let them know to park in one of the yellow spots, leave their keys with you and call one of the guys to see what they need.” His eyes are locked onto the screen, still navigating through something.

  ​“Got it.” He straightens and places his hand on the door, but doesn’t open it. He turns back to me and says, “I’m glad you’re here.”

  ​“Me too. Thank you for this.” I smile at him, genuinely thankful for this opportunity. He smiles back at me, but I see a sadness hiding behind it. I know Callan didn’t have any way of offering me this type of deal, but out of the other guys, Alec is the last one I would have expected to. This seems like more of a Lenny thing, hell, even Maddox just so he would know where I was every second of the day. Though, he probably wouldn’t want me working in a bar.

  ​I swivel around, looking at the décor in the place. Photos of fancy cars line the walls. Cars that I couldn’t name if my life depended on it. There is a large TV screen on the wall behind me that has a list of services and prices. It flips through three screens every ten seconds – I counted. In the corner by the door sits a vending machine, and in the opposite corner is another, smaller TV. This one is off.

  ​I should have asked what to do while I wait. I check the clock and it’s almost 9AM. I squint my eyes at the sign on the door. The business hours are backwards from where I am, but I can still read it. They open at 9AM and today they are open until 7PM. I wonder if we will be here until then.

  ​Another guy walks in, same coveralls. This guy looks to be around the same age as Frank but is the exact opposite. His hair is light, reddish-blonde. He’s short and pudgy.

  ​“Well, howdy do little lady. Who might you be?” He asks, his cheeks extra rosy. He could pass for an Irish Santa Claus.

  ​“Good morning, I’m Friday. I’m filling in.” I say proudly.

  ​“Well, it’s nice to have you around. I’m Ollie. Let me know if you’ll be needin’ anything.” He walks to the small table between the chairs, picking up the remote and flicks on the TV. It comes to life, one of those home remodeling shows is on. He brings the remote to the counter and leaves it in front of me. “Watch whatever you like, pretty lady.” I smile my thanks and he disappears into the garage. The entire wall between the lobby and the garage is glass. Watching them work throughout the day could be entertaining. There are currently two cars up on the lifts. One small white car and another red SUV. Frank is working on one, and another young – kind of good looking – guy is working on the other.

  ​Don’t get the wrong idea, four guys is plenty. More than plenty, actually, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look, right? Besides, he looks way too young for the likes of me. And if I’m correct in my assumptions, that’s Jazz. And I think his name says it all. He is nice eye candy, I won’t lie. Especially compared to Frank and Santa, but nothing compared to Alec, or any of my other guys.

  ​I notice one other man walking in, but this one opts to go through the garage door. He’s dressed in the same blue coveralls and looks to be around our age. Average looking guy. Tall with dark hair and a clean-shaven face. He’s too far for me to read his nametag, but I’m sure I’ll find out by the end of the day.

  ​Movement catches my eye and Alec comes walking in. “I forgot to mention that the bathroom is around that corner, and the fridge under there has drinks if you want something. I also put our lunches in there for later. Though, if you’re okay with it, I’d like to take you out.” He rubs his hand over the back of his neck.

  ​Wow.

  ​“That’d be great.” He smiles before disappearing again, and I’m left alone. Hoping that someone will soon walk in, just to keep me from being bored. I shouldn’t complain, I’m getting paid for this, but I feel like I should be doing something.

  ​Oh, a customer! I hope…

  ​The young girl walks in, she looks like she’s barely just gotten her license.

  ​“Hi, can I help you?” I say a little too happily. No one in a garage is this happy, right? We’re all supposed to be grumpy and dirty.

  ​“Hi, I’m just looking to get an oil change?” She’s shy and timid. Her long dark curls hang around her face and she swipes them away.

  ​“First time?” She nods her head. “Did you park it in the yellow?”

  ​“Yep.”

  ​“Great. I’ll take your keys and you can have a seat over there.” I point to the chairs. “I’d give you an estimate on how long it’ll be, but it’s my first day.” I shrug and she laughs before taking a seat right on the side of the vending machine. A moment later I realize that I need to make a profile for her in the computer. I navigate through and press the plus sign like Alec showed. I call her up and ask for her information and I type it all in. Thanking her, I let her know that she can take a seat again.

  ​I’d noticed the key hooks when Alec was explaining the computer system. There are two boards hanging by the door leading to the garage, one with UP and the other with DOWN painted at the top. I can only assume that UP means up next. I hang the keys on the bottom of the board and step into the garage. The two guys are busy working on cars and the other two are nowhere to be found. I feel bad having this girl wait, and I don’t want to walk out into the garage because I know it can be dangerous. I also know guys can be territorial around their man stuff, so I opt to find Alec. I head towards the office, where he said he would be. When I round the corner there is a hallway, like he said, with an open door at the end. I don’t see him in there, but I can hear him. His frustrated voice stops me from going any further.

  ​“I told you that I paid it. It will drop off next month. They take forever, it doesn’t happen instantly, you know. I don’t care what you do anymore. Take me to court, it doesn’t matter. They’re going to tell you the same thing I’m telling you now. I have the receipt, you want me to email it to you? I’m at the office, I can do it now. Yes, fuck, of course!” The conversation ends on a frustrated grunt and him slamming the phone onto the receiver. I wait a few breaths before stepping in and I knock on the door. Alec is hunched over the desk, his face reddened with frustration.

  ​“Uh, sorry to bother you…” I start. He looks up at my words. His face softens at the sight of me. I hope he isn’t having money problems, that his business is doing okay. Is he having issues paying the bills? I suddenly feel awful for being here, for accepting money from him that he may not have.

  ​“You’re not.” He says sharply. “What do you need?” I know he doesn’t mean it, and I just caught him at a bad time, but his tone makes me feel like I shouldn’t be here.

  ​“There is a customer up front. She said she needs an oil change. The other guys weren’t around, and I wasn’t sure what to do.” I hide my hands in my pockets and look around the office, avoiding his eyes. The office is small and cluttered. There are cardboard boxes filled with folders piled along the backwall near a pair of filing cabinets, and more boxes piled by the desk, that is also stacked with folders and papers. This place needs Callan’s organizational skills.

  ​“Yeah sorry. Uhm, I’ll show you.” He stands up and walks passed me. His shoulder brushing mine just barely on the way out. The scent of oranges lingers behind. I follow him out to the front.

  ​“These the keys?” He asks, grabbing the set I placed at the bottom and moves them to the top.

  ​“Yes. I figured that much out.” He smirks.

  ​�
��Smart girl. So, we line them up in reading order. Geneviere would label and tag them, but I’ll show you that another day. For now, just line them up here and press this button if you can’t find the guys,” he points to a small black button that reminds me of a doorbell. He presses it and gets close, “Customer in the lobby for an oil change.” He lets go of the button and faces me again. “That’s all you gotta do. They can enter services on their end, as long as their license plate is in the system. Someone will come up and take care of the rest.” His anger seems to have died, yet there is still something lingering that I can’t quite place.

  ​“Thanks.” I smile at him.

  ​He moves the chair over, and hunches down to shuffle through papers that are on a shelf below the counter. Clearly looking for something. His shirt has ridden up in the back, and his black briefs are showing. I’d apologize for looking, but I’m not sorry in the least. I notice a bit of ink sticking out of his briefs on the right side and I wonder if he has a tattoo on his ass. That is something I need to find out. Another customer walks in and Alec stands at the sound of the bell, startling me and causing my heart to jump. I avert my eyes elsewhere, not wanting to get caught. “Can I help you?” He asks, in his normal gruff tone. At least I know that’s just who he is.

  ​“I need my brakes checked. They’re making a funky noise.” The young guy says, placing his keys on the counter.

  ​“Did you park in the yellow?”

  ​“Yes, sir.” He walks over to the chairs and takes a seat opposite of the oil change girl.

  ​Alec glances through the glass at the garage before looking to the front lot, and then into the garage again. The same cars are still up on the lift, but that’s two cars, with four workers, five if you count Alec. “It’ll be a few minutes until someone can take a look.”

  ​“No problem,” brake guy says. “I’m in no rush.” Alec hangs the keys on the hook, on the side of the other set, grabs a stack of papers and takes them with him out the door. He shouts something at Jazz, who gives him a thumbs up before continuing his work on the car.

  ​The rest of the morning is much of the same. Customers coming in, waiting, cashing people out. Most people pay with cards, so the transactions are quick. It’s easy work and the customers were steady once it hit 10AM. It’s late afternoon now and I’m starving. I think about eating my lunch, not knowing if Alec remembered that he asked me out to eat. I don’t want to risk it and hurt his feelings by eating if we are, and I also don’t want to go bother him. He doesn’t seem to be in the best of moods ever since that phone call. So, I starve myself.

  ​I take a seat and my stomach growls, loudly. The middle-aged woman that’s in the waiting lobby looks up and laughs to herself. I shrug, what can I do? As if he can read my mind, Alec walks through the door.

  ​“Ready for lunch?” He asks, his head low as he straightens through some papers. He places them in a neat pile back on that low shelf.

  ​“Absolutely.”

  ​“Going for lunch, be back in about an hour.” Alec shouts through the door into the garage. The guys inside wave in response. “Come on,” he says to me quietly.

  CHAPTER 27

  Friday

  ​Alec takes my hand and leads us out the door. He holds it the entire way to the truck. He opens the passenger door, motions for me to get in and closes it. He walks around the truck, with his head down. He gets in and drives off without a word. I’m not sure what to say to someone who seems like they don’t want to talk. So, I give him quiet, figuring that if he wants to talk, then he will. He looks lost in thought for the entire drive. I’m not sure if he’s blinked even once.

  We pull up to a small diner (I’m realizing that diners are the guys’ choice when going out to eat) that’s set way back in a large and otherwise empty parking lot. He parks by the door. We get out and I follow him in, noticing that he doesn’t take my hand this time. We’re seated at a booth not far from the kitchen. I look through the menu and decide on a burger. I haven’t had a good burger in a while.

  ​The waitress stops at our table, taking our meal order and leaving our drinks. We both ordered water. I scope out the room that’s decorated in pictures of the town that we’re in, most of them in black and white. Photos of buildings that probably don’t exist any longer, streets that can’t be recognized from the photos and people that have long said good-bye to this world. There is oldies music playing in the background, and clanking coming from the kitchen. The place has the classic diner feel too it, with the red vinyl booths, checkered floors and jukeboxes on every table – only they don’t work, which is a shame.

  ​Alec still hasn’t said a word – other than ordering his food. He’s staring at his hands, that haven’t stopped fidgeting since we sat down. I decide that I should speak up, because I don’t want to waste this opportunity. Who knows the next time that Alec and I will have alone time.

  ​“Are you okay?” I finally ask. He looks up at me, his golden eyes sparkling in the light that’s peeking through the window – and it’s quite mesmerizing. Bright gold, with darker flecks that could almost be considered brown. His lashes are long, but not very dark and I figure that the hair on his head was probably lighter than the shade of his beard.

  ​“Yeah. Just hungry.” He answers, but I don’t believe that’s it. I purse my lips and decide how to respond. My decision is to not. We sit in silence for a few more minutes, before I speak up again ( I know, my decision didn’t last long). Unable to take it any longer. Guilt is eating away at me for working when I was told that I didn’t need to, taking money from him that he doesn’t have and now for going out to eat with him, when I have no money to pay the bill. That is what I blame for me not being able to keep my mouth shut. It’s the guilt talking, I swear.

  ​“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I overheard your conversation on the phone. If you can’t afford to pay me, I don’t care. I don’t mind helping out, if that’s what you need, but I can’t take money from you.” I blurt out, keeping my hands pressed flat and firm on the table, which somehow gives me strengthto say what I just said. Though, I do feel a tad bit stupid for it, but keeping my mouth shut was never something that I was good at. I’ve always been better with defending my words than keeping them a secret.

  ​“The phone call? What–” His brows crinkle in confusion. “Oh, that? No,” he laughs and shakes his head. He laughed. “That was nothing like that. I have plenty of money to pay you. The business is doing fine – that money is kept separate than my own. I give myself a normal check like I give the guys and the rest goes into an account. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. I have bills to pay, just like anyone else, but that doesn’t mean I spend the money like a mad man. I don’t need the kind of stuff that Callan or Maddox need to live. I’m a simple guy and perfectly fine with a weekly check. Trust me, I can pay you.”

  ​“Oh.” I slouch back into my seat.

  ​“Don’t worry. The phone call was nothing more than my ex being a douche. She’s put me through quite a bit of financial hardship. It took me a while to dig myself out, but I’m good now. Everything is fine. I promise.” His words are reassuring, but I’m still skeptical. They also cause me to get a little angry and… protective. Ex? Alec has an ex? He’s so grumpy, and can barely touch me, but he has an ex?

  ​And…

  ​What does he mean by financial hardship? What did she do to him? How dare she! Yeah, Alec can be rough and tough on the outside, but I’m realizing more and more that he is really sweet and thoughtful on the inside. You just have to break through a couple feet of concrete and another foot of dirt to get to it. No big deal.

  ​I got this.

  ​“And the eavesdropping thing?” He continues. “I have nothing to hide, don’t consider it eavesdropping. I don’t. You’re entitled to know what goes on in my life.”

  ​Except for the part when you killed your mother and don’t want to tell me about it.

  ​Whoa. Where did that come from? That’s a b
it harsh, Friday. Cool your tits, girl. “You’re sure?” I ask again, taking a sip of my water.

  ​“Yes. Stop worrying.” His words have a finality about them that make me drop the subject. At that moment, our food is served and we eat. The burger is juicy and cooked perfectly. We chit chat over little things, mostly about work. I tell him about the jobs I had previously. Which doesn’t take me long since I didn’t have many, mostly waitressing jobs here and there. Besides the last job that I had at the mall – I worked in one of the clothing stores. It was nice, because I got a discount on the clothes, though they weren’t the best quality. Coughredheelscough. Alec tells me how he knew from a young age that he wanted to work on cars. He’s always loved cars. Building them, taking them apart, fixing them, all of it. He worked here and there when he was younger, saving money to get his own car but as soon as he was old enough to get a real job it was at a shop.

  ​“The first shop I worked at was a piece of shit. I didn’t realize it at the time. I thought they were all awesome guys. They taught me a lot, but they were crooks. They’d overcharge and do half ass work.” He shakes his head, pushing his plate away. It’s clean. Like, not one drop was wasted. “It took me a while to realize it, but once I did, I knew that I wanted to own my own place. Make my own rules and treat people the right way. It’s unfortunate, but most of the garages that I worked at were the same way.” He smiles as he talks to me, truly smiles. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen him smile this way. Mental note: make Alec talk about cars more often so you can see that gorgeous smile of his. “I wanted to be different. So that’s what I did.”

  ​His smile slowly fades as he looks at the window, his eyes suddenly lost.

  ​“This is hard for me. I want so much to be everything that you need, everything that you want, and everything that I know I can be. But I can’t. And I don’t exactly know why.” His eyes flick back to me, and there is the sadness that I saw earlier.