Chapter 7
Dylan
I might’ve had Nathan’s approval, but we all knew who really ran the show at Badass Builds, and it wasn’t me. Or Nathan.
I should’ve done this before I offered the job to Indy, but I’d been so excited to line her up with something better than minimum wage. I hadn’t thought it completely through.
Which was why I was currently standing alone on Austin’s front step.
“Come on, asshole,” I muttered to myself. “Grow a pair.”
Before I could talk myself out of it, I rang the doorbell.
Immediately, the sound of a dog barking pierced the previously quiet street.
Unlike the rest of my brothers, Austin was deep in suburbia.
He’d moved into this place with his fiancé and her son from a previous relationship.
I winced. I really hoped I hadn’t woken Wyatt up from a nap.
Did he still take naps? I was ashamed that I didn’t know.
A second later, the door ripped open, and Austin stood scowling in front of me. “What the hell do you want?”
I had to laugh. Some things would never change. “Nice to see you too, asshole. You going to invite me in or make me talk to you out here?” I gestured to the clouds overhead. “Pretty sure it’s going to rain in a minute.”
“Like I care.” My brother crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorway. “I’m nice and dry right here.”
“Austin,” Rachel called from inside. “Let your brother in. Seriously, what is wrong with you?”
“Me?” He turned around and stabbed a thumb into his chest then gestured wildly at me.
“He’s the one who almost went away for drug trafficking.
He’s the one who picked our asshole sperm donor time and again over us.
He’s the one who burned bridges with I don’t know how many industry contacts trying to get that asshole a job he didn’t care to keep.
How am I the bad guy in this situation?”
“Clearly coming here was a mistake,” I muttered to myself.
“I should’ve just asked for forgiveness instead of permission.”
“Because that’s worked so well for you?” Austin turned back to me and gave me a mocking expression that made me ache to punch it off his face.
Why’d he have to be such a smug asshole?
“Hey, I’m not sitting in a jail cell, am I?”
He took a step toward me, his fists clenched at his sides, and I squared up to him.
“Whoa.” Rachel jerked Austin’s collar back before jumping between us. “Is this seriously how you guys want to settle every argument? What the heck are you teaching Wyatt? That it’s okay to punch people? Especially when it’s family?”
All the starch left Austin, and he sagged in front of me. “No,” he muttered.
“And you.” Rachel whirled around to face me. “Aren’t you sick of all this bull…crap? Have you seriously not learned your lesson yet?”
“Me?” I shook my head. “He’s the one who squared up. I just came over here to talk about work.”
“Ha. Since when?” Austin scoffed from behind Rachel. “I’m lucky if you even show up at the shop, let alone give a shit about what’s going on.”
“Wow. Nice to know what you really think about me, bro. I seriously don’t even know why I bothered.
” I turned to leave when I remembered Indy.
She needed this job. She was counting on me.
I couldn’t screw up this opportunity for her.
Swallowing all the words I really wanted to say to my brother I faced the couple still standing in the doorway.
“I’m sorry. I really do need to talk to you about work.
I’d appreciate it if you could find a minute for me. ”
Austin’s eyes widened over Rachel’s shoulder, and she gave me an encouraging smile. After a beat, Austin nodded. “Fine. You can come in. As long as you promise to keep it PG. Wyatt doesn’t need to be teaching the kids at preschool any new words.”
Rachel’s lips curved. “His teacher told me he enthralled them all with a rendition of ‘Highway to Hell’ at snack time yesterday.”
Austin winced.
After giving her fiancé one more warning glare, Rachel stepped back and motioned me to come in.
Just as the door closed behind me, the sound of the sky opening up echoed around us.
Austin gave me a look like he was regretting letting me inside so soon. I smirked back at him.
Blue, my brother’s Great Dane, ran up to me and immediately stuck his nose in my crotch while his entire body wiggled with happiness. I shoved his face away as I rubbed behind his ears. “Hey boy. You been good lately?”
“Uh huh,” Wyatt answered from deeper in the living room. “Mommy says I’m the bestest boy.”
I laughed. “Of course she did. That’s ‘cause you’re awesome.”
Wyatt grinned even as his shoulders came up to his ears, a blush darkening his cheeks.
“We’re just going to see what Mom is up to out back,” Rachel murmured as she swept past us to pick up her son who squealed and whined about the Legos they were leaving behind.
“Oh, you don’t have to leave,” I protested. “I don’t want to kick you out of your house. Especially in this weather.”
“If you’d paid attention to anything other than your own drama, you’d know that we can go from the house to the mother-in-law quarters without being outside.” Austin shook his head. “Kind of a requirement with Trish’s needs.”
I winced. Rachel’s mom was a paraplegic and wheelchair bound. So that made sense.
Rachel gave me a sympathetic smile then pressed a kiss to Austin’s cheek with a murmured, “be nice.”
Austin only raised his eyebrows and kissed Wyatt’s forehead before they left the room. Blue whined and took off after them.
I was sad to see them all go. I liked having the buffer.
“So what was so fucking important that it made you actually come over here to talk to me about work…on a Saturday?”
I huffed a breath and paced away to lean against the kitchen island. A little distance wasn’t a bad thing when it came to the two of us. “I, uh, I have someone I’d like us to hire on for the receptionist position.”
Austin’s eyebrows went up again as a skeptical look stole across his face. “That…wasn’t what I expected you to say.”
I didn’t bother to ask what he thought I was going to say. I could guess, and none of it was good. “Look, I know I’ve made mistakes.”
My brother scoffed. “You got that right.”
I rolled my eyes. “I also know there’s not a hell of a lot I can do to make up for it. I just…I really need you to do this for me. Indy is smart and capable and really needs a break.”
“Indy? What kind of a name is that?”
“Seriously? The one her mom gave her. What the fuck does that matter?” I bit out before remembering I was the one asking for a favor here. “It’s short for Indigo, but she prefers Indy.”
“Does she want to be a reality star? Or a singer?”
I smirked as Austin asked the exact same questions our brother had. “No. She can’t sing for shit, and she hates fake people.”
“Sounds like she’s someone with her head on her shoulders.”
“I think so too.”
“What the fuck is she doing with you then?”
I sucked in a breath. The seething anger in Austin’s eyes was tough to meet.
But I know I deserved it. I was the one who’d turned his back on the family.
I was the one who’d welcomed our sperm donor back into my life.
Hell, I’d been instrumental to getting the bastard paroled.
I more than deserved everything and anything Austin wanted to throw at me.
I knew it.
But I also needed to come through for Indy. She needed a break for once.
“She’s a college kid down on her luck. Her dad’s MIA.
Her mom’s dead. She doesn’t have anyone here.
Or anywhere really. She was just evicted from her dad’s apartment and was working at a sandwich shop, which we both know won’t mean shit for keeping a roof over her head all on her own.
She needs help. And I’d really appreciate it if you’d say she can have the job. Despite my ties to her.”
“Seriously? You’re screwing college coeds now, Dyl? Aren’t you a little old for that?”
I blew out an agitated breath. “I’m not screwing her. We’re just friends. We haven’t so much as kissed. I swear.”
Austin narrowed his eyes at me. I could all but see him weighing my words and could feel how much he wanted to say no. How much he wanted to screw me over considering how much I’d screwed everyone else over.
Finally he nodded tightly. “Fine. She can come in on a probationary basis. Have her come in Monday, and we’ll go over preliminary paperwork and test run some shit with the network.”
“Thank you.”
Austin shook his head. “She’ll actually be doing us a favor. If we had one more casting call for the goddamn role, I was going to pull my hair out.”
“I heard that last one cornered you in the shop. Did James get it on film?” I asked.
James was the producer of our reality show on the Urban Channel.
Since we weren’t settling our disputes like we had been in season one—we’d been known to use our fists in the past—James had started setting us up in little gotcha moments.
I’d been able to dodge them for the most part since there was nothing exciting about being in the paint shed.
“Get it on film? The fucker set it up. I swear since we all went to anger management, the guy has a hard-on for screwing us over. Which we’ll need to talk to Mindy about by the way.”
“Who?” It took me a second, and I shook my head. “Indy.”
“What?”
“Her name. Indy. Short for Indigo. I’d appreciate it if you’d get it right. I think it’s a sore spot for her. Sounds like a lot of people get it wrong.”
Austin nodded. “Indy. Got it. Anyhow, we’ll need to talk to her about the network and what to look out for. We don’t need them setting her up for something. Sounds like the kid could use a break.”
“I’ll let her know.” I pushed away from the island and edged toward the door. This had gone better than I’d hoped, and I didn’t want to push my luck by staying any longer.
“Bring her to family dinner tomorrow night. It’d be good if we all got on the same page before the cameras start rolling.”
I froze. I hadn’t been to family dinner since before all the shit went down with the drug trafficking and the feds and…I really didn’t want to face Aunt Wendy. I imagined she had more than her share of shit to unload on me too.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Indy hasn’t met any of the family aside from Maddy. I don’t want her first intro to everyone to be the same one you all murder me at.”
Austin laughed. “Oh, she’s got nothing to worry about. If she’s as nice as you say, I’ll make sure everyone’s on their best behavior…for her.”
I’d almost relaxed until he finished his sentence. Turning to face him, I leveled him with my not impressed expression.
Austin lifted a shoulder. “What can I say? You reap what you sow, and you really—really—owe Aunt Wendy an explanation and an apology. Bare minimum.”
I shook my head and looked away. Austin didn’t know. He didn’t know anything about me or what I was feeling.
“You can’t keep running forever, bro. She deserves a face to face. She raised us. She did everything for us. And you—”
“Oh, I know. Believe me, I know all the ways I screwed her over. Why do you think I’ve been avoiding her?”
“You gotta grow up sometime.” Austin shook his head like I was the biggest disappointment ever.
That wasn’t news to me.
I dipped my head, unable to meet that look in his eyes for another minute. “Thanks for giving Indy a chance. Despite me being the asshole who asked for it.”
And then I walked out of his house, letting the door softly close behind me.
The weight of his disappointment in me was heavy on my shoulders. But I knew it was nothing compared to how I’d feel tomorrow night after I saw Aunt Wendy. I almost didn’t even notice the rain spraying down on me. If anything, it matched my mood perfectly.
* * *
Indy was less than impressed when I informed her of the itinerary for tomorrow.
“I don’t understand why I have to go?” She blinked her shockingly bright blue eyes up at me from her sprawl on my couch. “I’m not family.”
“When you work for us, you’re one of us. Or something. Pretty sure that’s part of the family motto. I know I heard Aunt Wendy say it a million times when she’d bring a waitress or cook home from her restaurant.”
“She owns a restaurant? That’s pretty cool. Must mean dinner will be good, right?”
I winced. “She owned a restaurant. My, uh, sperm donor burned it down a few months ago…while Sabrina was inside.”
Indy’s eyes widened. “Is she okay?”
“Sabrina’s boyfriend was a firefighter so he helped her get to safety. And uh, I don’t really know how Aunt Wendy’s doing with the whole thing. We haven’t really talked much lately. I don’t even know if she’s rebuilding or what.”
“I thought you were close with your family.” The envious note in her voice was obvious.
And telling.
Indy was all alone. Meanwhile, I was surrounded by the very family I was trying so hard to avoid. Was that irony? I couldn’t really remember how that song went.
I shook my head. “I, uh, burned a few bridges over the past few years. And I don’t really know how to build them back.”
“I’m pretty sure step one requires you to talk to them.”
“Thanks for that, Captain Obvious.”
Indy smirked, and I laughed.
She shook her head. “So, what you’re saying is tomorrow is guaranteed to be a shitshow, and you’re promising me a front row seat?”
“Pretty much. But like you said, Aunt Wendy is a damn fine cook, so you’re also guaranteed a tasty meal with a side of awkward family drama.”
“Eh, I’m not a stranger to family drama. The stories I could tell you…” She trailed off and her eyes went unfocused for a second, then she shook her head. “Anyhow, sounds like fun. Sign me up.”
I heaved a sigh and headed for the kitchen, but the spotless sink had me drawing up short.
I’d wanted something to do to get out of the awkward conversation and to keep my hands and mind busy.
Only Indy had beaten me to the punch. The sink had been full when I’d left for Austin’s house.
Now it was empty, and the countertops had been wiped.
I almost didn’t recognize my kitchen. It was nice. And clean.
Maybe having a roomie would mean some benefits on my end as well.
Huh.