Unsteady (The Torqued Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

was ready but I’m the only one with his shit together.
    “I think it’s time I hire someone to help us out. We’re drowning,” I tell Tyler. Walker Automotive would be here long after my father’s presence in this world was gone. I would make sure of it; even if I didn’t know how that was going to happen. I gesture toward a Ford truck parked in my dad’s bay, the last thing he worked on. “We need to get the fuel pump in Dan’s truck. He knows what happened, but I don’t want him waiting any longer.”
    “I know someone,” Tyler says, leaning against his lift beside us, his tattooed arms crossed over his chest. “A mechanic that is.”
    Tyler’s been my best friend since we were smart-ass kids racing cars through the streets and getting thrown in jail when we landed one in the sheriff’s front yard. He’s two years younger than me and I wouldn’t be lying if I said I’m probably the one who corrupted him and his need for speed.
    I think for a moment, but then I know he wouldn’t steer me wrong on this one.
    “Yeah? Who?”
    “Lennon Reeves. Been working at a shop in Oklahoma for the last few years.”
    Lennon? I’d never heard him mention that guy before. Like I said, Tyler and I have known each other a long time, and we mostly know the same people.
    “Any good?”
    “ Really good. Fuck, man, better than me even.” He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Grew up working on cars. Dad was a mechanic too.”
    “Okay, well, send ‘em by Monday. If he’s as good as you say, he has the job already. I don’t have time to interview anyone.”
    Tyler’s brow pulls together, and he looks over his shoulder at the office, smiling. “Yeah, will do.”
    I want to ask him why the hell he’s smiling, but the truth is I don’t give a shit. I assume he’s probably waiting on Daniel, our lube guy, to come back with the parts for the race car in his stall. “What do you have going on over there?”
    Tyler groans and shakes his head. “Fuckin’ Daniel smashed the shit out of that thing over the weekend. Gotta replace the rear axle and then it’ll be out of here.” And then he smiles. “Help me out tonight?”
    “Sure.” Walker Automotive has been sponsoring Daniel’s car for about a year. We do all the work on the car in exchange for free advertising. I’m starting to think Daniel has the better end of the deal considering how he drives his fucking car like it’s a pinball bouncing off walls and shit.
    “Red!” Mom yells out the door from the office. “I need you for a sec, honey.”
    “Yeah, Ma! Give me a minute.” I turn to Tyler, only he’s gone, heading toward the race car.
    Mom smiles the moment I’m in the office with her and Raven. My whole family works for Walker Automotive. It’s been a family effort since day one. It’s the same next door at my Uncle Hendrix’s body shop where my cousins work the business with their father. If you didn’t like family, you had no choice here. It was a good thing we liked each other most days.
    “Hey, Red,” Raven says, standing with a pile of papers and then tosses them at me. “Tell Tyler I’m looking for him. He didn’t call that customer with the blazer back, and he wants to know where his damn car is.”
    I wave her off as usual and knock her stapler off the counter. “You go tell him. He’s in there.”
    She pushes against my chest, her nose scrunching just like she does when she’s about to tell me off. But first, she picks the stapler up and puts it back in the exact spot it was, even adjusts it a few times to be sure. She’s fucking OCD as hell. Everything has a place, and she’s insistent it stay this way.
    “Not my job. You’re the boss man.” She smacks my arm. “You tell him.”
    She’s impossible.
    I nod and look toward my mother when Raven’s out the door. “What am I doing wrong here? How did Dad do all this?”
    Mom shakes her head, tenderly smiling and moves the stapler about an inch, just to fuck with