Chapter 7
Avery
I headed down to Brandon’s shop a little after noon.
There were no signs of the tow trucks I’d called in to bring my father’s cars down.
However, upon peeking in through the back of the garage after I parked my car on the side of the building, I spotted all four of the vehicles inside of the shop with two of them already up on risers.
Three guys were working around them all, their motions in tandem with each other as they chatted over the radio blaring a classic rock song that sounded vaguely familiar. A good sign so far.
With Brandon not among them, I made my way back around to the front of the shop. The door was already propped open by a small brick, letting the fresh air in from outside, and allowing me to sneak in without ringing the alarm bell above it.
Brandon was behind the counter as I’d expected, leaning with his hip propped against the side of it and his arms crossed loosely over his chest. There was another man standing with him, his back facing toward me as he leaned forward on both of his hands, getting very close to Brandon.
There was something in the way the man was speaking, a hushed tone that was hard to hear over the remnants of the music from the back of the shop slowly seeping into the main lobby. While not as noisy up here as it was back there, it was still enough to notice.
The scene playing out in front of me made me stop short. I watched as Brandon’s smile, the one that I hadn’t seen in literally decades, cracked through his usual somber expression that I’d gotten used to seeing over the past few days.
A buzzing filled my head at the sound of his laugh, prompted by whatever the man standing in front of him had said.
His happiness shouldn’t be coming as this much of a shock to me. I’d seen him delighted plenty of times in my life, even if it was eons ago. However, this situation, for some reason, caused my hands to fist at my sides.
“Are you sure I can’t take you with me tonight?” the man was saying.
Brandon shook his head again, a bemused expression replacing his wide smile. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do tonight. But I’ll definitely take a rain check.”
“Fair enough.” The man leaned back away from the counter and out of Brandon’s personal space. “I look forward to it.”
My heart slammed hard in my chest when they both turned toward me, the man looking neutral while Brandon’s expression twisted into something that looked both shocked and bewildered at seeing me standing here in his shop.
Almost as if I was some kind of ghost haunting him.
Was that how he saw me?
An unwelcome pest?
I tried to not let that expression on his face bother me. I knew I failed to do so the second the other man turned around with a promised, “I’ll see you soon,” before he turned and strolled out the open front door.
The silence that followed was fucking deafening.
Who the hell was that guy?
It wasn’t my business. Not yet, at least. We were still on rocky terms, and even if we weren’t, I’d been so far removed from Brandon’s life that I didn’t exactly have any legs to stand on in demanding he let me into his personal life.
For all I knew, he had a fucking long-term boyfriend or whatever occupying his time and bed.
I hated that it bothered me.
What business did I have intruding in on Brandon’s life like that anyway?
“Friend?” I asked, stupidly.
I was praying that he’d tell me yes, just a friend and nothing more. That the man who’d drawn a laugh and a smile out of him was someone he knew in passing and not the person that had replaced me after I’d left.
The thought of sharing that space was like a knife to the heart.
“Uh, kind of,” he said, glancing away from me.
“What does ‘kind of’ entail?” I tried to make my tone casual—despite my clearly raging jealousy over the possibility of having been replaced.
“My sister is trying to get me to take a plus one to her wedding. That was one of the guys her... friend is trying to set me up with.”
I blinked. “Sister?”
Since when—
“Ah...” Brandon dropped his arms to his sides, letting out a half-chuckle. “Yeah, my mom got remarried. Her husband came with a few more kids.”
When?
The question rattled inside of my brain, so loud that it had me holding back a wince.
So damn much had changed in the time that we’d stopped communicating. Both of our lives had forked into two separate directions, and now that we were back in the same town again, I was trying my damnedest to force our paths to cross once more.
Frustrating didn’t even begin to cover it.
A sister.
A new father.
What the hell else did I miss?
“Congratulations to your mom,” I said, flashing him a fake smile.
“Yeah, it’s been interesting. We went from our family of five boys to being one of nine kids. All four new ones are female, too. Let’s just say there’s never a dull moment, especially since they all still live close by.”
“That does sound like quite a big change.” As an only child myself, I couldn’t imagine my father bringing home a new wife and a gaggle of kids. That was the stuff of my nightmares growing. “All younger than you?”
He shook his head. “Older. Me and my sister, the youngest of their bunch, are the only ones close in age.”
Why set him up was the real question. Brandon was a good looking guy, more so than most guys I knew. Imagining that he had any kind of trouble pulling interest from others seemed rather impossible. Unless it was the location being the main issue.
Ellington Heights was certainly much bigger in terms of population than most of the surrounding ones were, but it was still considered a small suburb by far compared to the city a few hours away. Which made for few opportunities for someone who was gay, I’d imagine.
There were plenty of fish in the sea when it came to my sexuality. Though perhaps Brandon couldn’t say the same. Maybe that’s why his sister was sending him romantic prospects like a damn singing gram.
“Well, I hope it works out between you two.” I flash another fake smile his way, hoping I pulled it off despite the coiled tightness in my belly. I wasn’t even sure what bothered me about it all, but something niggled at the back of my mind either way.
Brandon threw me a weird look, once that had my stomach churning over. “Thanks...”
Desperately wanting to change the subject to something way more neutral, I said, “So, I see the cars arrived.”
“Yeah, just a bit ago. They’re in good hands with my guys.”
I had no doubt about that. Or with him handling everything personally, either.
Brandon would never let something like this screw up on his end.
Whether I was looking to make an absurd amount of money off of these vehicles or not, they were still my property—which is exactly why Brandon would treat them with care.
“Keep me updated on what’s going on with them. You’re free to do what you need to in terms of getting them back into working condition.”
Hell, if they all turned out needing to be junked and stripped of their parts, that was fine with me, too.
It wasn’t like I was banking on the possibility of selling these things off at a high ticket.
My bank account would, as sad as it was, hardly see a dip in funds whether the situation went good or poorly.
He nodded. “Of course. I’ll call before we do anything to them.”
The tempting offer to tell him to not bother with calling me and to stop by my place instead was right on the tip of my tongue. We weren’t there yet, clearly, but that didn’t stop my heart from wishing it so.
Now that I knew he was in the market for dating, his time was even more precious to covet.
“I’ll let you get back to it.” Pulling away from the counter was hard, as was forcing the words out of my mouth.
If I had it my way, I’d hang around the shop and soak up as much of his time as I could. Damned be the consequences on either of our sides. Pathetic, of course, no matter how you dressed it up. But that’s how I’d always been. Desperate to keep him focused on me and no one else.
No wonder we were always accused as teenagers of being an item.
What kind of person does that to their best friend?
Monopolizing their time like he owed me something?
He never dated in high school, probably because of me and my ridiculously over-possessive tendencies.
Jesus, how the fuck wasn’t he resentful of me?
Was he?
Secretly?
He flashed me a quick smile. “Sure. I’ll see you around, Avery.”
The expression on his face calmed my inner turmoil somewhat, keeping it down to a dull roar inside of my head. “I’ll be around. Whatever you need.”
I backed out of the shop, putting some distance between us before I did something stupid like ask him to come with me later tonight to my hangout with Silas and Marlow. The last thing he probably wanted was to see me outside of our usual haunts.
Not to mention my friends interrogating him about our past. Silas especially. The man would never pass up an opportunity to learn any and all embarrassing stories about me that he could get his hands on.
Subjecting Brandon to that would be cruel and unusual.
Getting back to my car, I pulled out my phone again and quickly texted Marlow.
Me: Meet me downtown. We’re starting tonight early.