Hold my Reins (Monster Match season two)

Chapter 6

six

T he auto shop was in the light industrial part of town, away from the center. On one side was a tire shop, and on the other, what appeared to be a boxing gym—which wasn’t Rox’s kind of thing.

Not that he’d never had a gym membership as it wasn’t something he’d been able to afford growing up, however, getting hit in the head wasn’t going to do anything for his motivation to go to a gym. He was more of a go for a run and maybe do some chin ups at the park kind of person.

Since the door was open, he had best go in and introduce himself. He wiped his hands on his pants and slung his bag over his shoulder—not that it held much. A few snacks, as he didn’t know if there was a lunch bar nearby, and a water bottle.

The door chimed as he walked in, and a mountain of a man glanced up from behind the desk. He looked like Santa’s ex-con, slightly younger brother. The man ran his hand over his white beard as he gave Rox a cool once over as though he wasn’t too impressed.

“You must be Gideon.”

Rox suppressed the wince. “Everyone calls me Rox.”

“Are you as dumb as rocks?”

Rox blinked. If he wasn’t down to his last couple of hundred, he’d have told the man, who must be his new boss, to go and fuck himself. “No. I took care of Mom, finished school, got a qualification, an?—”

“I was joking, kid.”

Well, it wasn’t fucking funny. “You must be Mr. Hall.”

“I am.” Arn Hall stood. Correction, Santa’s ripped, ex-con, younger brother.

With both Hall and Lynck towering over him, Rox wondered if he’d arrived in a town of giants where only people over six feet lived. They’d kick him out for being too short in no time.

Arn held out his hand. “Glad you made it. The first guy flaked and said he couldn’t be bothered relocating, and the second guy only lasted a week. He wasn’t too keen on monsters.”

Rox’s cheeks burned. Turned out he was pretty keen on monsters…or at least one. Lynck had been the last person he’d thought of before going to sleep, mostly because he’d still been leaking cum, and the first person on his mind when he woke up. For the same reason. Not that he minded, but a little heads-up would’ve been appreciated.

“Have you run into any yet?”

Just one, and he ran into me multiple times. “Yeah, I saw some when I went to the bar for dinner last night.”

“Good folk they are.” Arn kept silently judging him, and Rox wondered if he had toothpaste on his face or something.

This job was going to suck, or more correctly, working with Arn would suck. Fixing cars was the good part, and he hadn’t done that in six months. Arn knew that, as they’d discussed the gap in his work history on the call. And he knew why Rox had been traveling.

That potential employers were questioning his lack of history and fixed address had become a problem. He needed to make this work for more than a couple of months.

His mother must have said much the same after his father walked out. Just get through the next couple of months, then the next year, and bang, ten years had passed, and she was still working the same job with all her old dreams turned to dust.

Not that he had any dreams to disintegrate, that would imply he had some kind of life plan. If he didn’t start getting his shit together, he’d blink and be thirty with a patchy work history, moving towns every couple of months because he couldn’t make anything stick.

Somewhere, there was a line between toughing things out and bouncing at the first sign of trouble. He’d spent ten years doing the former and was six months into the latter—which was a lot less acceptable to most people.

Rox nodded. “Yeah, I like the town so far.”

What else was he supposed to say? He’d been there less than twenty-four hours, and he’d managed to hook-up in that time—a personal best.

Arn hooked his thumbs into his belt loops. “I’ll show you around, then you can do the paperwork. You got an address yet?”

“I’m staying at the motel until I sort out a rental.” That and he didn’t have the money for a rental deposit, and it was going to be harder to save up while staying at the motel even though he had the weekly rate. It was much easier to be on the road because then he didn’t have to consider things like rent, but there were other problems like being unable to cook anything for himself and needing to find a laundromat.

“Okay. When will you have that sorted?”

“I’ll be speaking to a real estate agent or looking for a room to rent on the weekend.” Let me find out which way is up in this town before you start harassing me.

Arn grunted. “Okay then. I’ll show you where you can put your bag. We’re booked up for the rest of the week, so you’d better not run out on me.”

“No, sir.” Busy was good, much better than cleaning and killing time. If he was busy, he couldn’t think about things to do with Lynck.

He made it until lunch time before messaging. Which wasn’t exactly being chill. But he had thirty minutes and no desire to wander around looking for lunch when he could eat the muesli bar he’d tossed in his bag.

He sat out the back on a tire, soaking up the sun with a cup of coffee, contemplating what to write that didn’t sound too salacious or too much like he was looking for a new best friend. He knew those gray areas existed, but he wasn’t very good at finding them.

Hey, I had fun last night.

No, that was too much like he wanted a repeat. Which he did, but he didn’t want Lynck to think that was all he wanted because he’d also been enjoying their chat.

Did you want to grab coffee sometime? I enjoyed meeting you yesterday.

That wasn’t it either. He deleted it and scrolled through their conversation. He should ask something smart about Lynck.

I’m thinking about checking out the lake after work. I can swing past the cafe if you want to grab a coffee and come with?

Yeah, that was better. Or did that sound like he was asking for a date? He was so out of practice; he was pretty sure he’d be getting it wrong with anyone. At this point, he needed to send something.

He hit send and finished his rather shitty lunch. He needed to buy some stuff to put in the mini-fridge so he could make sandwiches for lunch. While he was at the shops, he should grab a couple of frozen dinners; they were cheaper than eating out every night. Two should fit in the freezer section of the mini fridge in the motel room. He made a tiny shopping list on his phone that suited both his fridge and his budget until he got paid on Monday. If he went after work, he’d have dinner for tonight and be sorted for tomorrow.

By the time his break was over, he hadn’t gotten a response from Lynck. His heart sank, even though it shouldn’t matter. He’d thought there was a vibe between them, something worth following up on—even in daylight. By the time he got in his truck at the end of the day, there were still no messages.

Wow…he’d really misread the situation. He sucked with people and monsters.