“I don’t swing that way, asshole.”
I whirl around and flip Tucker off. “Don’t lie, Tuck. If I crooked my finger at you, you’d swing right on over here.”
He huffs indignantly and ignores me.
I work side by side with my two best friends, have since I was sixteen. Hudson, the most mature of the bunch, managed to become a teenage statistic and had a kid, Joey, when he was still in high school. He started out low on the pole here and rode it all the way to top. He owns the joint now.
Tucker is…well, he’s Tuck. He’s covered in tattoos and croons his nights away at a local bar, wasting all his talent on the locals. Why he’s still sitting around here in this small town instead of selling out massive concert venues, I have no idea, but I guess we all have our reasons for the shit we do.
I met up with both of them when good ol’ Horton, Jacked Up’s original owner, took a chance on a kid. We all started working here about the same time, Hudson and Tucker already knowing one another from school when I came along. Our bonding was instant and lasting. We’ve been friends ever since.
Other than them, I’m kind of a…loner, if you will, and I’m one hundred percent okay with it.
“Why are you still scowling?”
“I’m not scowling.”
“See? Surly,” Tucker says, a big goofy grin gracing his stupid face at the clear annoyance in my voice.
“I am not surly.” Okay, evenIheard the growl in my voice that time. Sighing, I force myself to relax some. “Fine. Maybe I am a little surly.”
“Oh I know you are,” he says, clapping me on the shoulder. “It’s not me you have to convince.”
I shrug his hand off and clock into my shift. “What are we working on today?”
“Gunters. Their Subaru needs a wee bit of a tune up after the wife decided to hit a car…that was parked.”
“Ouch.” I wince. “That’s gotta suck for insurance.”
He nods. “Yep. The husband wasn’t too happy, but Hudson actually knows him from high school, so he calmed him down some when he brought the car in.”
“Good ol’ Hudson with that level head of his and shit.”
“What about me?” Hudson, my boss and best friend, comes casually walking out of his office, joining Tucker and me by the time clock. “You were almost late, Gaige.”
I raise a brow. “So?”
Hudson’s lips twist. “That’s a first. Everything cool?”
“Just fucking peachy.”
Tucker leans over to Hudson but keeps his eyes on me. “This is the second time in about three minutes he’s growled. I’m worried we’re raising a bear.”
“I can’t handle another kid, Tucker. You’re his daddy, not me,” Hudson mock-whispers back, a smirk lining his lips.
“You’re both dicks, andnotmy daddies.”
“Well I walked into this conversation at the wrong point.” The new guy, Maddox, appears out of nowhere.
Tucker turns around and with a straight face, says, “We’re notyourdaddies either.”
Maddox turns white as a sheet while laughter filters out of me, Hudson, and Tucker.
“Ah, we’re just fucking with you,” Tucker says, taming his amusement. His face falls somber again. “But seriously, Iwon’tbe your daddy. Now go back to work.”
Turning his back on Maddox, Tucker turns back to us. “So what’s up, boys?”
Hudson scowls at him, glancing over at Maddox. Tuck gets the message to not be a jerk and turns back to the new guy.
