Page 45 of Bad Attitude
I follow Tasha into the small but well-equipped kitchen, where she turns to me expectantly. “There’s nothing to tell,” I mutter. “I’m just taking a few days away, okay?”
“And you last took a trip back home… never?”
I wince. It has been a while. “‘Never’ isn’t true,” I protest. “I went three years ago.”
“Yeah,” she says with an exaggerated nod, like I just lost an argument I didn’t know we were having. “Right after bum number two.”
Fuck.
I hadn’t even thought of that, but she’s correct.
“This is different,” I say lamely. “My dad’s—”
“Let’s go with that excuse,” she agrees easily enough, pulling cups out of the cupboard. “Tell me one thing?”
“What?” I say cautiously.
She sets them down on the counter, then meets my eyes. “Do I need to kill Declan?”
Yes. No. Maybe.
“Uh…”
Tasha purses her lips. “What do you want me to say if he turns up?”
Turn up? He’s long gone. “He won’t turn up.”
“If he does?”
I cross my arms, not even wanting to consider it. “He can do what the fuck he likes. If he comes here… then it’s business, isn’t it? Give him a job. But tell Kurt I’m not working with him anymore.”
“Uh-huh.” She tilts her head, regarding me. “So why are you here? Now, I mean?”
Yeah, good point. “To let Kurt know I’ll be gone, but I’ll drop him a message.” A pause. “I was hoping I could have an early payment…”
“There’s money,” Tasha says lightly. “I’ll get you some. It’ll be a few weeks until he shifts all the stuff, but he won’t mind if I advance you a few grand. Five enough?”
“I don’t need that much. It’s just a few days. One will be fine.”
“Easy.”
Caleb picks me up from the airport in his Mustang.
“Just that?” he asks as I climb in, eyeing my backpack.
“Happy Fourth. Nice to see you too, been ages, yes, good flight, I’m really well, thanks for asking.” I fasten my seat belt and give him a look.
He returns it impassively. “Are you staying for more than today?”
“Haven’t decided yet. Are you going to be an asswipe, Asswipe? Might not make it that long.”
He breaks into a grin, reaches over, and tousles my hair, making me jerk back. “It’s good to see you, Snotnose. You’re looking well.” His head tilts. “Though your mouth is all turned down. Is that a Dad thing, or is something else bugging you?”
Surprisingly insightful of my older brother. “Just the thought of hanging out with you.”
“I know you love me, so that’s not true.” He nudges the shift into first, pulling out into the traffic. Caleb doesn’t ride bikes, but he does drive a manual. That earns some points in my mind. “Last time you came home, it was guy trouble. Is it that, or the bank job you were nowhere near?”
Fuck. Not him too.
