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ASA

When I was a kid, I used to wish I had a time machine. Not because I wanted to relive events from my life, but so I could skip past days I’d rather not experience.

Tomorrow was one of those days, and I’d spent the last three weeks trying to come up with an excuse that would allow me to skip my little sister’s birthday party without hurting her feelings or pissing off my mom and stepdad.

“What’s that face for?” Isaac, one of my coworkers and the closest thing I had to a best friend, asked as he came to stand with me at my workstation.

“What face?” I slid my gaze to his.

We were in the middle of a rare daytime lull at Legacy Mechanics, the garage we worked at. I usually welcomed these breaks, but not having anything to do gave me time to think, and that was the last thing I wanted right now.

“That face.” He pointed at my cheek and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“Nothing’s up,” I lied. “This is just my face.”

I trusted Isaac more than anyone in the world, and he might be the closest thing I had to a best friend, but just like everyone else in my life, he meant more to me than I meant to him.

Isaac and his best friend Jamie had been attached at the hip since Isaac and I started working at the garage three years ago, and they’d recently come out as boyfriends. They were perfect for each other, even if it took them an ungodly amount of time to figure out that they were in love with each other and not just BFFs.

Usually my status as a close friend and not a best friend didn’t bother me, but with everything going on in my life right now, it was just one more reminder that I really didn’t have anyone who was just mine.

“That’s not your face,” Jesse, our other daytime coworker and another of my closest friends, said as he came to stand with us. “That’s the face you make when you’re pretending to be fine but you’re in internal panic mode.”

“I’m not panicking,” I said, more to be contrary than to rebuke Jesse’s statement. I wasn’t panicking, not really. I was just in a panic.

“You can try to use semantics all you want, but we know you.” Jesse’s gaze was scrutinizing. “You’ve been off for weeks. I know you don’t like talking about things, but you’re walking around with a storm cloud over your head, and it’s starting to freak me out.”

I paused at that. Jesse was a lot like me in the sense that he kept things bottled up and didn’t like to talk about his personal life, or at least he used to be before he got together with his boyfriend, Sebastian.

It was great to see him open up and shed the mask of indifference he used to wear to protect himself, but it also meant he was more willing to push me when I tried to shut him out, which I wasn’t sure I was a fan of yet.

“It’s nothing,” I said, my voice hollow to my own ears.

“Liar.” Isaac gently bumped me with his hip.

Isaac was only a few inches taller than my own five eleven frame, but he had about forty pounds of muscle on me and was one of the most physically fit people I knew thanks to his years of playing hockey and his obsessive workout habits. I appreciated his light touch so I didn’t get yeeted across the room.

“It’s really nothing,” I insisted.

The look Jesse gave me made it clear he wasn’t going to drop it this time.

Isaac tapped his hip against mine again. “I know you don’t like when we push you, but Jesse’s not the only one who’s worried. You’ve been different lately, and I don’t like seeing you like this.”

I bit back the urge to tell them I was fine. I wasn’t, and Isaac and Jesse were my friends. It wasn’t like I had a ton of those, and it would be stupid to push the few people who cared about me away.

“I’m just not looking forward to tomorrow,” I hedged.

“What’s tomorrow?” Jesse asked.

“My baby sister’s birthday.”

Jesse and Isaac exchanged a confused look.

“Ruby?” Isaac asked, naming my youngest sibling.

I nodded.

“Why are you dreading it?” Jesse asked. “Are your parents being assholes again?”

“Always.” I shot him a sardonic smile. “But tomorrow isn’t about them. Well, it isn’t just about them.”

“So what’s the other thing you’re dreading?” Isaac asked. “I’ll keep asking until you give me the real answer, FYI.”

I sighed but couldn’t hide my smile. Isaac was like a dog with a bone when he got something in his head, and his and Jesse’s concern helped clear away some of the storm clouds that had indeed been hovering over my mood for the past few weeks.

“My stepbrother moved back to town a few weeks ago.” Leaning back against my worktable, I crossed my arms. “I’ve been able to avoid him until now, but he’s going to be there tomorrow.”

“Dex?” Isaac asked, his brow knitted. “He’s your oldest stepbrother, right?”

I nodded. I didn’t fault him for not being sure. I had five stepsiblings, and I tried to avoid talking about Dex unless necessary, so neither Isaac nor Jesse knew much about him.

“He’s the athlete, right?” Isaac asked. “Didn’t he go to some fancy college on a football scholarship?”

“Notre Dame,” I said, unable to hide the bitterness in my voice.

Isaac let out a low whistle. “Damn. That’s kinda impressive.”

“It is,” I said. Isaac wasn’t wrong. Getting a full-ride scholarship to Notre Dame for their football program was an incredible accomplishment. So was graduating top of his class with a double major because the golden child of the family wasn’t satisfied with getting just one degree from his prestigious school. “He’s why I’m dreading tomorrow.”

Jesse cocked his head to the side, his question clear.

“This is the first time he’s come home since he graduated last year,” I explained. “And he’s not just here on a visit like before. I already know everyone is going to spend the party gushing and fawning over him, and I’ll be the one who has to entertain the kids and try to make Ruby’s day special for her and not have it be all about the return of the prodigal son.”

Jesse’s expression melted into one of understanding. As the middle child with two incredibly talented and accomplished brothers, he understood where I was coming from.

“That sucks,” Isaac said sympathetically. “But it’s only a few hours, right? And there will be cake.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips. Usually that kind of silver lining talk would just piss me off more, but not when it was from Isaac. His endless optimism came from a pure place, and I knew he was genuinely trying to make me feel better and not just gaslighting me or minimizing my struggles like most people who said that kind of shit.

“Yeah, tomorrow will only be a few hours, but so will the next time I have to see him at a family thing or whenever our paths cross. I’ve spent the last five years doing everything I can to avoid him, and I won’t be able to do that anymore without ignoring my little siblings, and I can’t do that to them.”

“That’s a tough place to be,” Isaac said, his tone more subdued. “Maybe things won’t be so bad after all this time?”

Jesse snort-laughed.

“What?” Isaac asked.

“I didn’t see Bas for almost four years before he moved home and I still hated him,” Jesse said with a smirk. “Time doesn’t make that kind of animosity go away.”

“That’s true.” Isaac nodded thoughtfully. “But you and Bas were wickedly attracted to each other and couldn’t admit it.” He flicked his gaze to mine. “Is it like that with you and Dex?”

I shook my head. “I hate him because he’s an asshole.”

My voice caught a bit on the last word, but thankfully neither Jesse nor Isaac seemed to notice.

Memories invaded my senses, replaying the night I made the biggest mistake of my life. Warm hands and a soft, masculine voice. The press of a big, strong body behind mine, the sound of harsh breathing in my ear, and the smell of bergamot and cinnamon all wrapped around me, even as I fought to shut them down and tuck them back into the corner of my subconscious where they belonged.

“Hey, guys?” Dev, one of our bosses, called from the door to the back office.

“Yeah?” Isaac shouted back.

“Can one of you go through the shipment we got this morning and check the items against the delivery manifest? We’re short a box, and no one will talk to me about it until I know what’s missing.”

“I’ll do it,” I said quickly. Doing inventory was the perfect task to keep me from obsessing about tomorrow. It was mindless, but it still needed enough concentration that my thoughts wouldn’t wander.

“Thanks.” Dev flashed me a smile and headed back into the office.

“I should get to it,” I said, hooking my thumb in the direction of the stock room.

“Don’t forget to take your break when Zander and Luka clock in,” Jesse reminded me.

“I will,” I promised, grabbing my water bottle from my worktable. I sometimes skipped my afternoon break if it was close to the end of my shift or I was in the middle of something. I didn’t like being interrupted when I had a good flow going, and working through a fifteen-minute break wasn’t a big deal since we got paid for the time anyway.

Leaving my friends to figure out their break schedule, I made my way toward the inventory closet so I could get lost in counting and checking the new shipment against the manifest.

I was exhausted by the time I stood in front of my apartment, my keys in hand so I could unlock the door.

The rest of my shift had been as uneventful as the first half, but even with the inventory break, I was mentally drained from trying to stop myself from thinking about Dex or tomorrow or anything to do with my family.

There was no way I could skip the party. Ruby might only be turning three, but she’d notice if I wasn’t there. The last thing I wanted was to upset her, and definitely not on her birthday. Plus, Chloe and Tanner, my half sister and half brother, would definitely notice if I was absent, especially since Chloe asked if I could bring some of my nail polish and do her nails like mine.

My mother and stepfather would definitely notice if I bailed, and I really didn’t want to deal with any more of their lectures or passive-aggressive bullshit.

I could handle a few hours of hanging out with my siblings and the other kids in attendance while everyone else rolled out the red carpet for Dex and treated him like the god they all thought he was. It’s not like this wasn’t the same song and dance I’d been doing since Chloe was born.

I was so distracted by my thoughts I didn’t notice the folded piece of paper that was taped to my door.

“The fuck?” I muttered, pulling the letter or whatever it was off my door.

I looked around to see if any of the other apartments in my line of sight had a similar letters. Three of the apartments at the end of the hall had one, and so did my immediate neighbor to the left.

At least I wasn’t the only one.

Once I was inside my apartment, I dropped my backpack to the floor and kicked off my sneakers so I could trudge into the tiny space.

I lived on the ground floor of a small apartment building on the outskirts of a nice part of town. My entire apartment consisted of a single room that held a beat-up futon I used as a bed, an old recliner, and a dresser that was piled high with books since I didn’t have room for a bookshelf.

There was a barebones kitchen built into one wall that consisted of a single sink, a fridge that was older than me, a stove with one working burner, and maybe three-square feet of counter space under a set of cabinets with no doors. The bathroom had a door, but it was only big enough for a stand-up shower, a toilet, and a pedestal sink. That was it. I didn’t even have a closet in the space or a storage locker in the parking area like most other apartments.

I’d lived here for just over a year now, and I hated it. My apartment didn’t have a patio door or an exit to the outside, and my only source of natural light was a tiny window on the far wall that had been painted shut multiple times over the years.

It was glaringly obvious that my apartment used to be an office or some other sort of utility room and had been hastily converted into a bachelor apartment to max out occupancy.

The unit and building had so many code violations it was laughable, but it was cheap, included a parking space, and it was in a central area that made it convenient to get around, so it would have to do until I could afford something better.

Pausing in the middle of my living room/bedroom, I opened the letter. It was from the company that managed the building, and my heart dropped to my feet as I read the short missive.

I was being evicted.

The letter said it was because the unit needed extensive renovations that couldn’t be done while it was inhabited, but I knew that was code for “get the fuck out so we can jack up the rent and make another sucker pay even more to live in this hellhole.”

What the fuck was I supposed to do? The letter said I had thirty days to vacate the unit, but it was dated a week ago. Did that mean I had thirty days from today? Or was I already down to three weeks?

Panic and anger flowed through me, mixing and mingling until a strange sense of calm replaced them, leaving me numb and exhausted.

There was no way in hell I could find another place to live in three weeks. Even a full month wouldn’t be enough time. Rents were going up all over the city, and the competition for affordable places was insane. I’d had to submit not only an application and a ridiculous fee to secure this craphole but also a copy of my credit report, three months of pay stubs, and a letter from my employer on top of one about myself and what kind of tenant I was. And this wasn’t the only place demanding that kind of information. Most of the other units I’d applied for had also wanted character references and a photo before they’d even let you see the apartment.

My credit was decent, and I made good money at the garage, especially compared to what I’d be making at a big box shop. But my credit card was maxed out, and I was struggling to even make a dent in the balance with the interest rate being so high. I could stretch my rent budget by a hundred dollars or so, but that was still way under what most places were asking, even for shitty bachelor pads.

My vision went a bit snowy and a low hum filled my ears as the reality of the situation hit like an anvil to the face.

I was going to be homeless within the next thirty days unless I found a way to make extra money fast.