Page 2 of Tuning His Engine

“Doing what? Getting your nails done? Come on and stop playing games. I moved here to be close to Simon. You had no right to take off with him like that. I gave up everything so I could be near my kid. Stop being a bitch and let me see my son.”

“Hey, you’re the one that kicked me out of the house back in San Diego.”

“It was my house before we ever fucking hooked up, and you’re the one that cheated on me. Don’t try to pin your shit on me, Amber. You fucked up. You had a good thing, and you found out that it actually costs money to live in California.”

“You’re such an asshole, Creed. You never did get me.”

“At least we can agree on that.” I hated dealing with Amber. She was a stuck up, money-hungry liar and a cheater. She cared about nobody but herself. “Look…” I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. “Fighting doesn’t do either of us any good and it sure as shit isn’t good for Simon. I can come pick him up, Amber. He can spend the night with me so you can go out and have a night off.”

She paused to consider what I was saying. I knew she was going to take me up on my offer before she even said it. Amber was all about her life and her fun. She never considered anyone else unless it had an impact on her. What I saw in her to make me even sleep with her was beyond me.

“Fine. Meet me at the diner on Main Street at five o’clock. I’ll drop him off to you there.”

“Perfect. I’ll be there.”

I hung up the phone and let out a relieved sigh. I was closing on my new house in a few days, and I was about to see my son. The only thing left that I needed was a job to keep me busy and income coming in.

There were three garages in Sunset Falls, Georgia. Two dealt mainly with routine mechanics and bodywork, but the one that was hiring was the one I wanted to work at. I loved working on custom cars. Taking a nice car and making it a piece of art was the gold standard. When I left San Diego, I sold my house and my part of my business to my best friend. We opened a garage together when we were twenty-one years old.

It took us nine years of blood, sweat, and hard work to make our shop the success that it was, and I had to walk away from it. It killed me to do it, but as much as the shop needed me, my son needed me more, and I promised myself I wouldn’t be like my own dad was. I was going to be there for my kid no matter what.

KS Customs was the only custom shop in this town. With my background and experience, I knew I’d be a shoe in for the job, but it would be an adjustment not being the boss anymore. I would be working under someone for a while, and that was fine by me. Maybe one day I would get to a place where I’d want to open my own shop again and build it up from nothing, but for right now, I wanted to concentrate on being a good dad. Lord knows with his less than competent mom, Simon was going to need a stable adult in his life.

I got dressed and headed to the shop. I wanted to get my application in and meet the owner personally. I needed to make this job happen or I would have to commute to one of the surrounding cities. Commuting would take me away from town and time away from my kid. I wanted and needed this job.

***

The garage was nice. There were three oversized bay doors, and all of them were open. Inside, I saw a neon orange 1967 Mini Cooper with its hood up. There was also a 1949 Chevy Fleetline that looked like it had seen better days. My mind immediately started coming up with ways to breathe new life back into both cars.

It had been over a week since I’d been under the hood of a car, and I was ready to get back to work. Cars and my high school auto mechanics teacher saved my life. I was in and out of trouble during elementary and junior high. My mom was a single mom working two jobs just so we could barely have enough food in the house. I was skinny in crappy clothes, and full of a lot of anger toward my dad, who took off before I was born. Needless to say, I got in my fair share of fights at school and in the neighborhood. The cops knew where I lived and were on a first name basis with my mom.

It wasn’t until high school when my best friend Jesse and I enrolled in auto shop thinking it would be good to know how to work on cars. Our plan was more to learn how to boost them, strip them down, and make some money. But because of Mr. Bragg, Jesse and I found out we really liked cars and working on them. When we opened our shop, we hung a picture of us on graduation day with Mr. Bragg in the office at Bragg Brothers as a reminder and tribute to the man who changed our lives. If it weren’t for him, we would both probably be in jail or worse.

Cars were my life until Simon. He’s the only thing that could have gotten me to leave our shop. Jesse bought my part of the business, and I sold my house. I packed up my rides and my clothes, leaving everything else behind because my kid wasn’t going to grow up the way I did.

When I walked into the office, a big pit bull looked up at me with sad, bored eyes. Her tail wagged and her face brightened with excitement as I knelt down for her to sniff my hand. “Hey, girl.” I smiled when she got up and allowed me to touch her head.

“Hi, how can I help you?” The girl at the front desk had a textbook open in front of her as she sat, manning the phone.

“Hi, I saw your listing about needing a mechanic. I was hoping to talk to the owner or manager.”

The girl sent me a flirtatious smile. “You need to talk to Kas out in the garage.” She pointed toward the door. “I’ll take you out there.”

“Thanks.”

The young girl was barely over eighteen, but I wasn’t interested. I had the young party girl in Amber. I didn’t want to go through that again. If I decided to try for a relationship again, it would be with someone stable that had a strong work ethic and didn’t put on a show for everyone around them. That was a big if, though. I didn’t see it happening anytime soon.

“Hey, Kas,” the girl said, trying to get the guy’s attention. When he didn’t answer, she nudged his boots with her foot.

I watched as a smaller than normal frame started sliding out from under the Mini. I kept my jaw from dropping when a woman slid out from under the vehicle instead of the man I expected. She took her earbuds out and sat up. Her light orange hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck and her army green hat was backwards on her head.

She was exquisite, with high cheekbones and lips that looked soft as silk. Her light blue eyes were stunning. I felt my dick stirring in my jeans. If this was the owner of KS Customs, I was in for some trouble because I wanted her.

“Thanks, Ariel,” she said to the girl, then looked back at me, grabbing a rag that was left hanging over the side of the bumper. “How can I help you?”

“I saw your ad about needing an experienced mechanic. Have you hired anyone yet?”

She studied me for a moment. “No. Follow me.”

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