Page 33

(Scout)

“I’m okay, Dad, I swear,” Scout insisted, brushing at the hair his old man had just ruffled.

He felt like a little kid laid up in that hospital bed with his old man fussing over him. Especially with Creature parked in the chair in the corner of the room, the ghost of a smile lifting one corner of his lips while he studied them.

“If you were really okay, you wouldn’t be stuck in this bed,” Pops declared.

“Been hurt a hell of a lot worse playing around in the scrapyard.”

“Believe me, I know,” Pops replied. “You wouldn’t listen then, and you’re being just as stubborn about resting now. Don’t make me get your friend to sit on you to keep you in this bed.”

Now the little quirked-up lip had a partner, as Creature broke into a full-fledged smile.

The man wasn’t Hollywood leading man hot, but to Scout’s eyes, he looked better than any of the deliberately scuffed-up men they paraded across the screen.

Tall and jacked up from working in the garage, with his long midnight hair flowing over his shoulder and that small smattering of scars on his cheek, he looked dangerous and deadly. And oh so lickable too.

Scout’s inner voice warned that he’d better get the thought out of his head while his Pops was in the room. The last thing he needed, after all the questions he’d already answered, was Pops asking more, this time about things other than what Scout had been doing to make money.

“He tries to get up and I’ll do more than just sit on him,” Creature said. “I’ll grab a couple gloves off the cart the next time a nurse rolls through and see if they’re stretchy enough to tie him to the bed with.”

Scout’s jaw dropped even as heat pooled in his belly at the thought of being tied up by Creature.

He almost turned to his old man and begged him to make Creature stop giving him shit when he wasn’t in a position to defend himself.

Not that he’d stand any chance against all that heavily muscled bulk, but damn it all, Pops turned and flashed a grin in his direction, leaving him hopelessly outnumbered after he’d insisted Axel go to work and not stick around watching him flip channels trying to find something to watch on television.

He'd never liked being indoors, so shows were hard for him to keep up with. Movies, on the other hand, he enjoyed, but in the middle of the morning, there weren’t many selections, especially not ones he’d be interested in.

He’d settled for Bob’s Burgers because that at least sounded funny and didn’t disappoint once he started getting into it.

Turned out Creature liked it too, though it was a bit shocking that he’d put off work to stick around after Pops had arrived to check on him and Sawyer.

They still had Sawyer upstairs, which was pissing Scout off a little since he still hadn’t been given the chance to see him or speak to him one-on-one so they could get their stories straight.

Scout was just about to ask, again, if they’d let him get out of bed and into a wheelchair so he could go up and talk to Sawyer, when the door to his room opened and a nurse came in, followed by Mark and Ms. Kat, who immediately stepped around Creature to come sit on the edge of his bed.

“Honey, if you needed a day off, there are better ways to go about it.”

Grinning, Scout let her fuss with the blankets and turn his face so she could see what they’d all described as a spectacular bruise on his cheek. Not that any of them would let him see it.

He could feel it though, and it throbbed, despite the gentleness of her touch. When she hissed at the sight of it, Scout got a good idea of how bad it was and how long he’d be sporting it after he got out of there.

“Thank you again for calling me,” Pops said. “I doubt either of my stubborn offspring would have been willing to do it themselves or give the nurses the number so they could clue me in on the shit they’d gotten into.”

She snorted at that and nodded, staring at Scout with the kind of fondness he’d only seen directed at his friends when one of their moms had been around. He still missed his way more than he could ever express sometimes.

“Our boys are the same way, and they drive me right up the fucking wall with that shit,” Ms. Kat declared. “At least they’re in good company.”

Now, he’d never been a true hellraiser, but hanging out with him had usually involved hide-and-seek in the scrapyard, which had put an end to several friendships once their parents had found out.

Scout preened a little, especially when she turned that soft look back on him and started to gently smooth his hair back into place.

“Didn’t need a day off,” Scout said, trying to laugh but that was the exact moment his side decided to ache from the kicks he’d received. “Was excited to start working at the garage with Creature.”

Scout hadn’t gotten a look at the bruises there, either, but he’d have wagered some pretty good odds that they were as bad, if not worse than the ones on his face.

“The job’s not going anywhere, though we may have some overtime ahead of us if we’re gonna keep to the deadlines we set,” Creature said.

Thank fuck for that.

“That job is why we we’re hoping to catch your old man here,” Mark said.

“I swear I’ll make up every shred of the time we lost,” Scout blurted. “I’m good; they’re gonna let me out of here tomorrow. I keep trying to tell Creature that he doesn’t have to sit here wasting time with me when he’s got so much shit to do.”

“And I’ve done told you that it’s my time to waste, so don’t start off arguing with your boss when it’s not even your first day yet.”

“Understood,” Scout said, snapping his mouth shut.

Something about that pointed stare Creature gave him, his smile gone again, made Scout shiver and slow the fear that had been rolling through his head since he’d woken up and discovered he was stuck here until someone in a white lab coat decided he was allowed to leave.

Against medical advice was a suggestion he’d immediately floated only to have Creature and his old man shoot it down before he’d even finished making his case.

“Ohh, I think this new job is going to be the perfect place for you,” Pops said as he dropped back down in the seat beside the bed. “You listen to him the way you used to listen to me when you were a kid.”

“Sorry, Pops,” Scout muttered.

“Nuthin’ to be sorry for,” his old man said.

“All kids rebel. Some of them even make a bigger mess of it than you have. At least you came to it from a place of caring, but I swear to you, Scout, if you ever get yourself into shit like this in some misguided attempt to help me, I’ll find that belt I retired and remind you of what it feels like on your backside, kid. ”

Oh, ouch.

Just the thought made him cringe.

It had never been something Pops had broken out often, and never if Scout or Sawyer had fucked themselves up in the middle of whatever foolishness they’d gotten into, but if someone else got hurt ‘cause they were being reckless, then yeah, they got a few licks with that belt and a reminder every time they sat down to be smarter about the way they went about things.

“He won’t be the only one reddening your ass, either,” Creature threatened, that intense stare of his having grown to one of smoldering heat and wicked promises that guaranteed Scout wouldn’t get any enjoyment out of the punishment he administered.

“You scared a few years off my life when we couldn’t find you right away. ”

“Sorry. Just didn’t know what else to do after one of the guys on set showed me what had happened to Sawyer.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Creature said. “Which is why that was your one freebie. From here on out, if something goes wrong or you get jammed up in any way, I expect to be the first to find out what the fuck is happening.”

Scout nodded. “You will.”

“Then we’re good as long as you don’t forget how serious I am when I say it.”

“I won’t.”

“So, what was it about his job that you wanted to talk to me about?” Pops asked.

“Creature and I have been discussing the situation with the scrapyard and the lien on it and your house,” Mark explained.

“We’d like to partner up on a grander scale, with a buy-in that would allow you to get out from under the bank and make the renovations Scout said the house needs after an issue with some old pipes bursting. ”

“It’s a damned mess, especially in the basement washroom and first-floor bathroom and kitchen,” Pops said.

“I can do the work myself, but material prices have skyrocketed, and I just can’t afford new pipes, flooring, fixtures, or cabinets right now.

Been cooking on the grill out back just to avoid going in that kitchen with the old boards threatening to rot out from beneath my feet. ”

“Then it’s a good thing Scout’s already proved to us just how many valuable parts and machines are lurking among a twisted mess of old vehicles,” Mark said.

“It is, isn’t it?” Pops said, looking thoughtful as he peered down at Scout. “You good with that, kid? Me partnering up with your new friends.”

“Shouldn’t you be asking Sawyer?” Scout asked, not wanting to say anything until he knew how his brother felt about it.

Not when, as the oldest, Sawyer was the one who’d worked out there the longest and been the first one to start researching how they could turn a profit on all the metal that was out there.

He’d drafted a list of possibilities neither of them knew how to move forward with, which was why they’d turned to less than legal means to raise the money they needed, rather than delve any further into the things on the list.

“I’m asking you,” Scout’s old man said, his tone as firm and no-nonsense as Creature’s. “Now answer the question.”

“I, um, I’m good with it as long as Sawyer is.”

“Was that what he asked?”

Creature’s voice cracked over him like a whip, and Scout instantly ducked his head and shook it for good measure.