Chapter One
Clint
The thing about being born with a silver spoon in my mouth is that, without warning, I choked on the fucking thing. One minute I had a fancy ass title at my father’s company. The next he was in jail for fraud, and everything I owned except the underwear on my ass belonged to the government.
“Hey asshole, I’m going to be late, could you move it along here?”
I glanced over my shoulder at the loud mouth in the sports car and readjusted my grip on the sign I was holding.
Today was supposed to be my first day supervising a work site where a pipeline was being installed along the infamous Coquihalla highway.
The highway went from the interior of British Columbia to the coast, and literally cut through a mountainside to get there.
It was steep.
It was breathtaking and it was dangerous.
I was excited to work in such a beautiful place, but so far the day was a cluster fuck.
Someone called in sick, someone else was busy with a problem, and the end result was that today, I was flagging.
High-vis clothes from head to toe, even in the heat, hard hat on my head.
When the guy on the radio clipped to my shoulder told me slow, I held up the sign that said slow and let traffic go.
When he said stop, I flipped the sign and stopped the cars.
Simple enough. I wasn’t above a day of hard work.
The things I hadn’t counted on were that it was hot as fuck out, and now sports car guy was honking his horn.
Repeatedly.
God, when I’d been rich enough to have a car like that, I wasn’t that much of an ass…was I?
“Come on! Let’s go!”
Just as I was thinking that the sign would make a pretty good projectile, and hey, if I ended up in jail at least I didn’t have to worry about making next month’s rent, a tiny tornado ripped past me in the form of a woman in steel toed boots.
“Step aside, rookie.” She marched over to where sports car guy was laying on the horn again.
The car was a convertible and she leaned over the door and hit the hood release.
The man was too dumbfounded to say a word.
She moved to the front of the car and popped the hood.
She was under there for only a moment before she flashed the man a pageant queen smile and headed back towards me.
“When you get the green light to get traffic moving, reattach his battery, will you?”
I stared at her, sweat dripping into my eyes.
Her auburn hair was woven into a tight braid down her back and she wore light-colored jeans and a green tank that set off the red in her hair.
Over that, she had a hard hat, vest and boots.
Everything on the site seemed to be sized for someone who was seven feet tall, so the vest hung on her like a dress, but she made it look good.
I realized I hadn’t answered her and returned my eyes to her face.
She folded her arms across her chest. “You do know how to do that, don’t you?”
I nodded dumbly.
She pursed her lips and marched off to wherever she had come from.
“If she damaged my car, I’m going to sue every one of you.” Sports car guy hadn’t given up. I got the go-ahead from whoever was on the other end of my radio, and got sports car guy back on his way.
The day dragged on in similar fashion.
Five o’clock finally came, and the work was scaled back for the night, allowing traffic to pass.
There was a portable building for the manager to work from, and I made my way there.
When my entire life had gone to hell, I’d been extended a lifeline from Mark, a friend I’d gone to high school with.
Since I had an MBA and management experience, even if it was with a company that was crooked as fuck, he offered to bring me on to supervise a crew.
The pay was less than I was used to, but it was also head and shoulders above the nothing I would have been making.
Big businesses weren’t going to hire me since my last name was now synonymous with fraud.
This job would be enough to make a living, assuming I budgeted right.
I wouldn’t be going to The Hamptons for Christmas, but I wouldn’t be sleeping on the street, either.
I had never done work like this before. I knew nothing about the day to day of a construction site.
The intimidation factor was real. Mark had assured me I could learn that part.
Most managers were blue-collar workers who worked their way up, but he wanted the input of someone who knew the supervisory side of things first. That is what he said anyway.
Realistically, it was ninety percent nepotism.
Today had been eye-opening about what to expect, and I wasn’t too proud to admit I wasn’t sure I’d survive another day of it.
How sad was that?
I had been going to the gym regularly for years, still my feet and knees ached from a full day standing on the pavement in work boots.
I was also used to air conditioning and my balls were currently sweating enough to make a hot tub in my pants.
I wrenched open the door to the office, hoping for a break from the heat, but found more stale air.
Surprisingly, I also found the tiny tornado.
She and Mark stopped talking as I entered the room.
“Am I interrupting?”
The tornado said yes at the same time as Mark said no.
“Have a seat, both of you. We need to have a talk. Have you two met?”
“Not officially.” I pulled the hard hat off my head and dropped into a chair.
“Well, I can officially tell you that my name is Jessie and I’m the supervisor for this job site.”
I glanced towards Mark, who put up a hand before I could reply. “That is what we need to talk about.”
Jessie was already shaking her head; her arms were firmly crossed over her ample chest and her leg was bouncing under the desk. “Pardon my French, Mark, but if you fuck me on this after all your damn promises, we’re going to have a problem.”
I glanced between the two of them, Mark’s look of indifference and Jessie’s furrowed brow.
From the little I had seen of her today, it was clear Jessie was more comfortable on this site than I would ever be.
If she had already been offered the supervisor job, then why was I here?
I was closer to living on the street than I had ever been, but the idea of stepping over someone else had my stomach churning.
Mark chuckled and I couldn’t help but notice the way Jessie’s jaw clenched at the sound. I had only been broke for a short amount of time, but if someone had laughed over my concerns about wages, I’d have wanted to sock them. “You’ve got the job, Jessie. Same wage and benefits we talked about.”
I let out a breath. I was desperate, but what about Jessie? There was a reason she was so passionate about this job and I doubted it was all about pride.
“But Clint is also going to be supervising,” he continued. “You have practical experience. He has supervisory experience. This project is behind schedule and over budget. I need you two to work together to get things back on track.”
I got the feeling that, while what he said was true, he wouldn’t have structured things this way if we hadn’t been friends. A feeling that got stronger when he winked at me.
Fucking hell.
I was a nepo baby. I knew that. I’d taken advantage of that my whole career.
I’d considered stepping away and doing my own thing, out from under my father’s thumb, more times than I could count.
Apparently, this new job was not free of favor.
Now wasn’t the time to be proud, though.
I would take Mark’s help because I really needed it, but I’d work harder than I ever had before.
“Supervising an office and supervising a construction site are two different things. This crew is rough around the edges and if they don’t respect you, they won’t listen to you.
Mark, I don’t need help on this.” Jessie’s voice had a demoralized quality to it that I recognized from my own when I’d talked with Mark after losing my job.
Her words stung, because she was right. I didn’t know how this place ran. I couldn’t operate the equipment. Whether I’d bitten off more than I could chew didn’t matter. I needed this. It was time to put up or shut up, and to make this work, I’d need Jessie’s help.
“Don’t think of it as help. Think of it as extra expertise. You will both benefit from it.” Again, Mark’s casual attitude highlighted what a crock of shit this whole thing was.
“So, you’re telling me I have to play nice with Dimples over here, or I’m fired, is that it?”
Dimples? Where the hell did that come from?
“It’s Clint, actually.”
She rolled her eyes towards me and then back to Mark.
“I’m telling you that you two will work together on this. Just remember that in the end we only need one supervisor for this site. So, learn from each other. Get this place running properly. If things go well, then great. If they don’t, well, we can always use more flaggers.”