by Xavier Neal
There's a small growl from across the shop.
Yeah. Territorial doesn't even begin to explain him. Could you imagine his response if he found out I lost my virginity to his best friend in high school?
“I lit a cigarette-”
“But you don't smoke,” Destin points out.
“Exactly.” With a bitchy smirk I finish, “I lit it and then dropped it onto his crotch.”
“Holy shit, Knox!” Wrench exclaims, jumping in excitement. “You lit a dude's dick on fire!”
“It's not like it went up in smoke. He had burns. He was fine.”
“Traumatized,” Drew corrects.
“For fucking life,” Destin supports.
“Good. Lesson learned. Never fucking cheat on me.”
“You hear that Mad Man.” Wrench points at me. “Never cheat on her, especially if you wanna keep your junk out of the ER.”
Madden lets the corner of his mouth turn up. “My cock has nothing to worry about. Neither does Knox.”
Hearing him declare that out loud for the first time in front of other people sends a tingle between my sore thighs.
We could probably take a quick break right?
Before I have a chance to act on that impulse, Wrench speaks again. “It's a surprise Ash never told me that story.”
The name causes me to bump into the work station.
Smooth Knox.
“Why would he?” Madden asks cautiously.
“Because it's hilarious.” Wrench's chuckle seems to be the only one as Triple D grow looks of concern.
Madden questions, “I meant, why would he know it?”
“All the time they spent together-”
“What do you mean all the time?”
“Can we talk about something else?” I invade the conversation. “Like, anything else. Destin did Azura finally get to meet her skier?”
Destin corrects, “Snowboarder.”
“No.” Madden holds a finger up to his brother before turning his glares back to Wrench. “What the fuck do you mean all the time they spent together?”
When Wrench looks at me for help, my eyes plead for him to lie.
He's such an idiot that he's couldn't gather hints if you posted them onto the object he was supposed be searching for.
“I mean...” his eyes search Madden's. “Well...I mean...I don't know what I mean.”
“Wrench.”
“I don't.”
Quickly I insist, “Let it go, Madden.”
He bites, “No.” Turning back to the motor mouth he demands. “Tell me. Now.”
“Ash and Knox...ya know...they used...ya know,” Wrench not so smoothly sells me out.
I'm gonna kill him.
“What?!” Triple D yell in unison.
Madden's attention lands on me. “You used to fuck my best friend behind my back?”
Before the explanation can even begin a silver Lexus pulls into the driveway of the shop. Immediately recognizing the license plate causes me to cringe.
Fucking really? Why is Karma wearing her six inch heels? I only deserve three. At Most!
“Looks like we've got a new customer,” Drew announces. “Triple D, you're up.”
He lowers his tablet to prepare new paperwork while I stroll towards the driver who I know very well.
Instantly he smiles wide at me. “Knox the Fox.”
“Ax,” I coo back sliding my hands into my back pockets.
“Did he just call her Knox the Fox?” Wrench mutters loudly.
“That's not good,” Drew's voice backs him up.
Ignoring the drama lingering behind me, I ask, “What are you doing here?”
“Came to see you.”
“Never think to yourself how a situation couldn't possibly get any fucking worse,” Drew adds.
Do not look over my shoulder at them. Look at me. Look at Ax.
Ax points towards his car. “I know you are a mechanic. I know you work for the best one in the city-”
“The state,” Wrench corrects.
“The country,” Drew snaps.
“The world,” Destin says.
With a nod he tries to continue, “Right. So, I figured I'd bring my car to you. It needs an oil change and the engine is making this weird knocking noise.”
“Yeah, we can get that looked at no problem,” I casually reply.
“No we can't,” Madden's voice booms from behind me.
Slowly I turn around. “Yes we can.”
He shakes his head. “No. We. Can't.”
After giving him a glare I face Ax. “He's kidding.”
“I'm not,” Madden reassures.
Pushing past the awkwardness of the moment, I declare, “We'll definitely take a look at it. Destin will get you the new customer paperwork.”
“We're not touching his fucking car,” Madden repeats causing me to spin around.
“Excuse me?”
“We're not fixing it.”
“Yes, we are,” I argue. Taking a step closer I bite, “He's a fucking customer Madden and a friend.”
“A friend,” Madden's seethes. “He's a goddamn friend, Knox? Funny. Wasn't aware you had friends outside of us. Then again I wasn't aware you and Ash were friends either.”
Not liking the way that came out of his mouth at all, I snap, “Fuck you. I'm allowed to have friends and friends. I'm allowed to have a life outside of this goddamn shop even if you don't! Now, Destin get the paperwork!”
In a whisper he says, “I um...I don't think I should.”
Drew agrees, “I don' think you should either.”
With my eyes still on Madden I stomp my foot. “We're going to fucking fix his car! We're a garage! It's our job! It's what we do! Now do you mind telling your brother who happens to be in charge of setting up new client accounts, to get the goddamn paperwork started!”
Madden's face goes rigid as he points. “You want that fucking asshole's car fixed?”
“Yes!” I holler.
Instead of screaming or shouting like I'm used to, Madden leans his face down close to mine and growls, “You want it fixed? Fix it your fucking self.” Without another word, he turns around, and storms back through the shop chucking the tool he was gripping against the wall.
The sound causes me to wince as I face Ax once more. Seeing the look on my face he suggests, “Maybe I should come back another time?”
“No,” I snip. “Everything is fine. Now is fine. He is fine. I am fine.”
“He's not fine,” Ax mumbles. “You're not fine.”
“Do you wanna stay fine?” I gripe. My hands ruffle my hair while I take a long deep breath in. “Look, I can squeeze your car in after lunch. No biggie. I'll grab you the forms to sign.”
Ax nods. “Any chance you wanna do lunch?”
There's some grunts behind me and I roll my eyes.
Why are his brothers on my case in his place?
“I can't,” my soft denial is received with a smile. “But I can get that knocking checked out and fixed for you before the end of the day.”
He shrugs. “It's fine. Really. I knew lunch was a long shot anyway. Just looking for more ways to avoid tux shopping with my brother.”
“Already? He like just got engaged.”
“We're shopping for a tailor who will help customize his suits,” Ax sighs. “You know how much I hate suits, Fox. Come on, look at me.”
My eyes glance over his khaki cargo shorts and thin long sleeve shirt. “Yeah. I know.”
“He should be here any minute,” Ax informs. “Paperwork gonna take long?”
With a soft smile I shake my head. “Nah. Just a few lines. You work in law-”
“Part time,” he interrupts.
“If you can deal with that bullshit paperwork, this will be easy.”
“Nothing’s easy when it comes to you, Fox.”
The double implication has the lingering McCoy men glaring.
I can feel it on the back of my neck. They're like daggers trying to s
tab me to death.
“Let me get it for you and we'll get started.”
He nods and slides his hands in his pockets.
Quickly I hustle back towards the garage where Destin is leaned where I was just seconds ago when the bomb for McCoy World War 7 went off. In a surprisingly polite voice I ask, “Can I have your tablet for the new customer form?”
Destin hesitates as he grips his device tighter.
“Let me rephrase that. Give me your tablet or I will turn your testicles into the latest jewelry trend on my ears.”
He winces at the idea, which causes him to hand it over.
“Thank you.”
“You are so not welcome.”
Rolling my eyes, I whisper, “We will finish this in a minute.”
“You're the one with explaining to do,” Drew defends his brother, moving his body to lean beside him. “Go grab King of the Crabs information and his keys. Then you can tell us all about how you got sand in places it doesn't belong.”
Wrench chuckles, “Crabs...”
Drew then continues with, “Oh. And you can also explain about Giggles McGee's brother you've also kept a secret about.”
Do you fucking believe the stones on him?
Huffing, I head back for Ax, tab over to the new customer form and have him fill it out. The entire process doesn't take more than a couple minutes, but they feel like the longest of my entire life.
How would you feel with three pissed of testosterone morons staring you down and one even bigger one completely nowhere to be found? Oh yeah. He's gone. Not sure where, but he's not in the garage.
“You'll call when you're done?”
“Yeah. Unless you want me to call you when I've found the issue.”
“Nah. I trust you.” He hands me the tablet with a smile just as a Porsche SUV pulls up. “Wish me luck. Hopefully I don't strangle myself with ties.”
I offer him one more smile before he disappears into the vehicle.
The second the vehicle is out of the driveway Drew demands, “Start talking, Knox.”
“Or can we call you Fox?” Destin mocks.
Harshly I bite, “No one calls me that.”
“Well not no one,” Wrench invades.
It's like he wants to get hurt. Two for fucking this afternoon up. Then another two for flinching. Come on now, you know he's gonna flinch.
“He's got a point,” Drew says in a tone that annoys me.
I call it the Madden Jr. tone. He's the oldest of the triplets and the one who in times of need or distress seems to take directly after his oldest brother. It wasn't cute when they were younger and it damn sure isn't adorable now.
“You owe us some sort of explanation,” Destin insists. “About everything.”
“I don't owe you shit,” I bark. After gently placing the tablet down I continue, “I don't have to fucking sit in a courtroom and explain the choices of who I let in between my legs any more than all of you do.”
“But you do,” Drew counters. “See, the difference is, who we were and were not screwing didn't show up in the drive way demanding we service them, especially not the day after we finally hooked up with the only person we've been after our entire lives.” His words cause me to fold my arms defensively. “And who we were or were not fucking didn't cause our oldest brother to fling a socket wrench at the wall, once again causing damage to this place that Wrench is gonna have to fix.”
“Ah man,” Wrench whines. “Why me?”
“Bitch work,” Destin assures him.
Drew finishes my hanging with, “And lastly, who we were or were not fucking was never our brother's best friend.”
“Yeah, what was that about?” Destin's bafflement causes me to roll my eyes.
In a very cold tone I reply, “Whatever happened between me and Asher is in the past. Just like everything between me and Ax. We're just friends.”
“I sure fucking hope so.” Drew shakes his head. “Because Madden has finally put aside whatever fucked up reason he's buried everything he's ever felt about you and through some miracle let his feelings see the light of day. He actually looked...”
“Happy,” Destin sighs. “Happy, Knox. Do you know the last time Madden looked genuinely happy?”
“I think they mean normal happy like toast to the good life not homicidal happy hunting down people he owes an ass whooping too,” Wrench adds.
Destin and Drew nod in agreement forcing me to snap at him. “Don't you have a hole to be patching?”
He shrugs. “It can wait.”
“Look can we save The Scarlett Letter moments until after we get shit done?” I grouse. “We do have a business here gentlemen.”
Destin and Drew surrender their hands in unison, but it doesn't make me feel any better.
No. I don't feel like they've surrendered at all. I feel they're just taking this time to clean their weapons or find better ammo to fire at me. You know, it's not like I called and told him to come by. It's not like I wanted him here. It's not like I was the one who told Wrench to open his big fucking mouth and spill that secret either. Ugh. Whatever. I have fucking work to do.
Madden
I'm not pissed. I'm done being pissed. Don't look at me like that. We both knew that shit with Knox would be short lived. I just never figured it would be some beach blonde bimbo that was the reason. Before you ask me did I mean the surfer dick who brought his car in or my best friend in high school, let me clarify. I meant both.
Feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket, I pull it out and instantly still at who the video message is from. The knot in my throat tightens as I glance up to see my brothers, Knox, and Wrench doing the last of their cleaning routines. Casually I move back towards the corner, making sure to keep the phone and volume low.
I hit play.
“Oh McCoy, you didn't think I was gone, did you?” The Devil grins at me widely. “Yes, you have turned over every rock you can find and yet...here I am. Alive. In the flesh. Cops are a little closer than I like, but I'm making progress. Thanks for asking.”
On instinct I glare at the video.
“Death is a two way street McCoy. You wanna be king of this jungle? You're gonna have to take it. Here's a hint though. You can never rule when you're so busy trying to protect every little person.” The camera moves to the building over his shoulder.
No fucking way...
“Oh she's a nice old lady too,” he assures with a smirk. “Good dancer.”
Feeling my entire stomach lurch into my throat I grip my phone tighter, the possibility of shattering it very real.
“You've got too many weak points, McCoy. You might wanna fix that.”
At that moment the video ends and panic pushes my eyes back up. With a deep breath, I shove the thing back in my pocket. Rushing to grab my keys from the work bench, I say, “I have somewhere to be.”
Knox is first to reply, “Really?”
“Really.”
“I um...I think we should talk.”
My eyes meet hers. “I don't.”
I really don't. Not just because I don't have shit to say about this afternoon or the secret she's been hiding for over a decade, but because saving the one living relative she has left, the one person outside of us she needs is my main concern.
“But-”
I look at Drew who already looks concerned. “I'll be back.”
Drew's mouth twitches like it wants to ask questions, but instead he merely nods.
“That's it?” Knox gripes. “You're just gonna fucking leave?”
“Yeah,” I mumble and head out the side door, jogging around back to my car.
Speeding across town to the Keep Living Retirement Center, I bolt out of my car and into the building, barely slowing down enough to sign in. Quickly maneuvering my way around the hallways, I fly into Grandma Maggie's room to see her sitting in her chair beside the window.
Relieved I let out a deep sigh, “Thank fuck.”
