Chapter 10 Jackson #2
I’d chosen not to tell my mother or anyone other than Christian that the Anitolis had my sister.
There was nothing any of them could do about the situation, and if they accidentally mentioned it to someone, Anitoli might catch wind and destroy my sister’s egg as punishment.
Also, it might have actually made Mom’s anxiety and depression worse if she knew who had her.
I didn’t feel good about keeping the secret, but it was the best way to keep my sister safe.
If I pulled off getting the car to him, then perhaps I’d get her back.
Once the egg was in its nest again, I could tell Mom exactly what happened.
“A mother’s job is her children,” Mom argued, her face contorting in sadness and anger.
“Mom, I’m not a child. I can take care of myself. You should worry about you.”
“When you are ninety years old, you will still be my baby,” Mom said as she cupped my cheek. “A mother’s children never stop being her children. I’m back now.” She wiped her eyes.
It broke my heart that she thought she needed to put aside her own grief to give me moral support.
I’d prided myself on doing all I could to take care of my family and people.
Over the last ten years, I’d shouldered so much responsibility, I’d almost forgotten what it was like to do anything other than lead and manage the last remaining winged dragons and their financial holdings.
“I appreciate that, Mom,” I said, glancing at my watch. “You should get some rest. I’ve got an appointment I have to get to.”
“What appointment?” she asked.
“Nothing super important,” I lied. “Some insurance stuff. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be home later.” I brushed my lips over her cheek. “See you later. I love you.”
“I love you too, my boy.”
I went out into the hallway and nodded at Tiana, letting her know someone should be with my mother.
She gave me a sad smile and headed in to sit with my mother.
As I took the stairs to the roof, I thought about the pain and agony Anitoli had caused for my family.
If I ever got my hands on that son of a bitch, I’d make him pay.
My anger was still broiling when I stepped out onto the roof. The warm summer air washed across me, the sky still dark but growing brighter by the moment. Leaping from the roof, I shifted and spread my wings.
By the time I landed behind Shyanne’s garage, my emotions had leveled out. Soon, all this would be behind me. We could get back to our lives, and I could go back to trying to save our race.
Stepping into the garage, I glanced around and noticed a few people milling around with coffee cups in hand or setting tools up for the day. A broad-shouldered Black man with braided hair spotted me first.
“Hey? You lost? Or you got a ride you need fixed?” he said. As he spoke, the rest of the staff paused to look up.
“Uh, I’m Jackson. Jackson Adelmund. I’m looking for Shyanne,” I said.
She emerged from her office, and waved at the other man. “Reggie, chill out. He’s a friend.”
The man gestured toward the back room. “Is this the pretty boy that owns the pretty car?”
Shyanne looked mortified. “Reggie? Can you please not be a dick right now?”
Reggie, looking wholly unconcerned, sipped his coffee. “Who was being a dick?” He glanced at a Hispanic man hunched under an open hood. “Carlo? Was I being a dick?”
“No idea,” Carlo called. “You and I both know any dick you’ve got is too small to notice.”
Everyone dissolved into laughter, and Shyanne turned back to me, rolling her eyes. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem,” I said, chuckling along with everyone else. Not wanting to seem standoffish or like some rich prick they might have thought me to be, I went around the garage shaking hands and introducing myself.
“Bro? Did you say your last name was Adelmund?” a wiry white guy with close-cropped hair and two full sleeve tattoos said as he shook my hand.
“Uh, yes,” I said, feeling a bit uneasy.
The guy’s eyes went slightly wide. “As in Adelmund Dynamics, Adelmund Finance, and Adelmund Aerospace?”
Well shit. It seemed someone liked to read the Wall Street Journal.
I gave a pained smile and nodded once, releasing his hand. “That, uh… That is my family.”
Over the centuries, my family had become one of the most powerful and richest families in all the dragon world.
Our holdings were large, and I should have known someone here might recognize my name.
I wasn’t about to lie, though, not when Shyanne had done so much to help me.
When I glanced over at her, she didn’t look shocked.
I wasn’t surprised. After the amount of money I’d offered to pay, she would have known I was rich.
“Damn,” Brent said, eyes wide. “You are the guy with the car, aren’t you? Bro, that shit is badass.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said, feeling awkward pretending to own a car I’d stolen. “I’m actually not the owner. I just…uh, like those kinds of cars.”
“Yeah,” Shyanne said, picking up a box from a counter. “He’s a supercar enthusiast. Heard I was taking this one on as a special project and wanted to watch.”
“Oh,” Reggie said, grinning knowingly at me over the cup he held. “Are you the kind that likes to watch? I dig it. The cuck chair can be pretty hot.”
“Reggie,” Shyanne hissed. “Can you, for one minute, not be inappropriate?”
The man rolled his eyes. “You take all the fun out of everything. Let’s get to work boys,” he cried, and the whole team went about their business.
“Sorry about that,” Shyanne whispered as we walked to the paint room.
“It’s fine.” I enjoyed some good-natured ribbing and jokes. Christian would have fit right in with these guys.
Following her into the paint room, I tried my best not to think about the little daydream I’d had earlier and to keep my eyes up and not locked onto her ass. That became easier as she got to work.
“Close that door, will you?” she asked, gesturing to the rolling bay door that separated the paint room from the rest of the shop.
I did, then stood back as she went to the car with an intense focus. She removed the last of the damaged mirror, cutting and stripping wires, gently scraping away the shattered bits of paint.
“The lady who sold me that mirror was kind of an asshole about it,” she said as she cut open the box.
“Why?”
“Wanted the VIN for the car.” Shyanne shook her head.
“I guess dealers like this make a shit ton of money on service and repairs. High-end dealers even more so. She probably wanted to look up the owner’s number and try to steal them away with a deal or service package.
Nothing like fucking over the little guy.
” She made a disgusted sound deep in her throat.
“I basically told her to give me the fucking thing and not worry about it. She gave me the stink eye, but handed it over.” Shyanne shrugged and flashed me a smile.
“She was also pretty pissed about how early I was there. I was standing outside when they unlocked the doors.”
I grinned, awed that she was helping me so readily. She didn’t have to do any of this. Like I’d told her before, I didn’t think this was all about money for her. Shyanne was a genuinely good person with a sweet and kind soul, and I was incredibly grateful I’d met her.
“I appreciate you going to all this trouble,” I said. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
She waved me off. “It’s fine.”
Watching her was like watching an old-school craftsman at work.
I didn’t like to think I was stuck in traditional gender roles, but seeing this beautiful woman who would be at home in a boardroom or on a modeling runway work on this car was impressive.
Her father had taught her well. I was slightly ashamed to admit that I’d never even changed my own oil, so this was a pretty badass thing to watch.
“What are you doing now?” I asked, as she opened the doors and used a few small tools to take off the interior panels. “Is there something messed up inside too?” The thought that there was even more damage to the car made me nervous.
“No, it has a three-sixty degree camera system. There’s a camera inside the mirror I’m installing, and I have to make sure it’s fully connected and calibrated.
That’s why the thing is so expensive.” She tapped the mirror with a finger.
“This stupid mirror probably has more electronics in it than the first moon landing spacecraft had.”
Installing the mirror took almost two hours, and it involved far more work than I’d anticipated.
I assisted where I could, which mostly meant grabbing tools for Shyanne when she asked for them and staying out of the way otherwise.
By the time it was complete, and she started tearing out the damaged roof upholstery, I felt completely useless.
I glanced out the window that overlooked the main floor. Reggie, Brent, and Carlo worked and directed the other men as they moved around the few cars in the service bays. She had a fairly large crew for the amount of work she had.
“Have you always had such a big staff?” I asked absently.
Shyanne grunted in effort as she tugged at the upholstery stitching. “That was always Dad’s big thing. He was born and raised in this neighborhood, and when he was growing up, there weren’t a lot of jobs here. There’s plenty of jobs everywhere else in the city, but he liked giving back.”
Turning from the window, I looked at her. She sat, half in and half out of the car, a seam cutter in one hand.
She smiled sadly. “He opened the shop here to make sure he could give jobs to folks in the neighborhood.” She pointed toward the outer shop.
“All those guys live within a five-minute drive. Most of them walk to work. That’s huge for people.
Saves money on gas. Working here gives them skills they can use later if they decide to move on.
It’s honestly a huge financial burden, and part of why we’re in a hole, but it was my father’s dream, and I share that.
Why have a business if you can’t give back? ”