Page 34 of By Rude Strength

“Okay, well.” Anna typed a bit more. “For giant dickheads who apologize, I can waive the storage fees since we had the wrong phone number. I’m pretty sure my boss will approve that. The tires though, well…”

“You know what, I was probably due for some new ones anyway.”

Anna blinked. “Are you sure, sir?”

“Very sure. I shouldn’t have assumed you understood me, especially since I kinda hung up so fast.”

“Like a jerk,” Cass whispered from behind him.

LA jumped.

“Are you okay?” Anne frowned.

“Yes! It’s just, uh, my back.” LA smiled nervously. “Flares up now and again, no big deal.”

“Oh! Here!” Anna stood and dug around behind the counter. She walked around holding a small folding chair. “It’s not much, but it’s better than you just standing there!”

“Thanks.” LA took the chair so he could set it up and sit with a relieved sigh.

“Let me go talk to my boss real quick about waiving the storage fee and then I can get you rung up.” Anna went behind the counter and headed toward a door in the back. “Your car should be ready by now too, okay?”

“Hai,” LA said with a smirk.

Anna laughed. “Be right back!”

“You do speak Japanese!” Cass gasped, plopping on the floor beside LA’s chair.

LA snorted. “Not quite.”

“Well! Look at how this little situation turned out!” Cass nudged LA’s thigh. “Getting rid of those pesky fees and hey! You got a chair!”

“Yeah, yeah. Being nice and understanding is so cool,” LA drawled. “I feel so good about myself right now.”

“You should! I’m proud of you! Patience and empathy are wonderful things to share with the world and make it a little brighter. It’s not always easy, but the end result is always worth it.”

LA’s phone dinged with a text and he made a face when he saw it was his mother. He was definitely not in the mood to share any kind of patience with her, so he ignored the message. He already had a pretty good idea of what it was going to say.

Cass propped his chin on LA’s knee. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Your phone made your face grumpy again.”

“It’s nothing, all right?” LA shifted his legs to move away from Cass. “One fucking nightmare at a time, okay?”

“It’s your mother, isn’t it?”

“It’s the King of England.”

“Hmm. I don’t think you are telling the truth right now.”

“No shit.”

Anna returned with the approval to waive the extra fees and rang LA up. Once he’d paid, Anna asked for his keys so someone could drive the car around for him. With Cass following behind him, LA headed out front. His butt hurt from sitting in the metal folding chair and he was looking forward to being home.

He’d done enough for today.

An employee drove the car around, parked, and got out to offer LA the keys. He thanked them after Cass glared at him and thenslid behind the wheel with a wince. His car was fairly low to the ground, and getting in and out was not particularly comfortable.