AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I turned my head and watched as a grown man all but sprinted towards the Audi XR that I had spent the better part of three hours working on this morning. Before I realised I had moved, I was out of the hangar and next to the driver’s door. The guy hadn’t closed it yet, so I gripped the top of it firmly.
“You’re runnin’ out on payin’ your invoice, are ye takin’ the piss?”
The man wasn’t a stupid kid pulling a runner. He was my age or a little older.
“Fuck off!” he barked. “Shut the door, or I’ll break your fuckin’ arm.”
This was exactly what I needed, some piss-poor excuse of a man testing my patience when I had none. I pulled the door fully open, grabbed the bloke by the scruff of his neck, and hauled him out of the car. He was shorter than me, but not by much.
“Now. Go ahead and break me arm.”
The man didn’t answer. He swung on me instead. I ducked my head, delivered a punch to his gut, and when he bent forward in pain, I slammed my fist into the side of his face. His attempt to swing his elbow my way was feeble, and I cracked my head against his, loafing him. I heard a scream.
“Dante, stop!”
The second Ina’s panic-stricken voice registered with me, I backed off. I released the man, and he slumped down his car until his arse plonked onto the ground. Blood gushed from his nose, and he looked stunned. I took a step back and glared down at the piece of shite. Hitting him didn’t make me feel better. It just gave me a fucking headache.
Shouldn’t have stuck him a loaf.
“I’ve called the guards,” Da hollered from behind me. “That’s enough, Date.”
“I’m done!” I shouted. To the man, I said, “Bet ye wished ye paid your invoice now, bud. Don’t ye?”
The next forty-five minutes went by rather quickly. The Gardaí showed up within fifteen minutes, which didn’t surprise me. Their station was five minutes away from the garage. The bloke I decked was fully alert now, and though he was in pain, he wasn’t running his mouth like he was before. He was actually apologising to the ban-garda who questioned him. He said sorry to me too as I watched him like a hawk. In the end, we came to an agreement. If he paid his invoice, then he didn’t get arrested. The fact that he was a bloody mess with a nose that was definitely broken wasn’t even brought into the conversation by the garda after the man told him that he fell.
It was near closing time when all the excitement died down and when I noticed Nico Slater was still present, I sent a scowl his way. “You’re like a bad smell that I can’t get rid of.”
He shrugged. “This shit doesn’t happen in my family anymore. I wanted to see how things ended.”
“Meanin’ ye wanted to see if I ended up in cuffs?”
“Nah, more like I wanted to see if you’d try to whoop the guy some more. I’ve gotta give it to you, Date, you impressed me. That headbutt? Perfectly timed.”
“Loafin’ him seemed like a good idea at the moment, but me head disagrees now.”
“I’ll bet. You’re quick, though.”
“Thank JJ. I learned to be quick when I was a kid to avoid his digs.”
Nico grinned, then flicked his eyes over my shoulder. I turned, and when I spotted Ina, I tensed. Her green eyes were on my hands. My reddened knuckles had dried blood on them. She looked worried. “Are ye okay, Date?”
All my frustration from the past twelve hours poured from me, and I took it out on Ina.
“Don’t fuckin’ call me that. Only me friends call me Date.”
“I’m so sorry.” Ina shrunk in place. “I … I thought we were friends.”
Before I could say another word, she turned and hurried towards the reception. I watched her go for a moment before I closed my eyes, lifted my hand to my face, and groaned. “Fuck!”
“Yep,” Nico said. “Fuck.”
“Shut up, man.” I dropped my hand. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Nah. But I bet she’ll forgive you if you ask real nice.”
I stuck my finger up at the annoying prick as I followed Ina into the reception. When I got inside, I saw she was busy grabbing her bag and hooking the strap over her shoulder. She was in the middle of saying goodbye to my father, who was lingering in the hallway that led to the office. When she turned and walked towards the exit of the reception, she spotted Nico and me because he followed me inside and paused for a moment before she started forward again.
I stepped into her way, and her hold on her bag’s strap tightened.
“Excuse me.”
“I didn’t mean what I said.”
