I had a woman who spent her days right out in the open and there wasn’t shit I could do about it without something concrete to give to her.
Meanwhile, someone had essentially declared war, and we were the stupid fucks who had no idea who was targeting us.
* * *
“Cam!” a little voice squealed as I rolled out from underneath the Honda I was working on a couple hours later.
“Hey, baby girl,” I replied to my eleven-year-old sister, Lily, as she came to an abrupt stop less than a foot from my legs. “Why aren’t you in school?”
“Teacher in-service day.”
“Lucky.”
“I know. I’m ready for summer,” she said, looking around the garage. “Hi, Will!”
“Hey, sweetheart,” he called back quietly, messing with something in his toolbox.
“Where’s Ma?” I asked, getting to my feet as I tried to wipe the grease off my hands. If I didn’t love working on shit so much, I’d hate my job. I was too big to comfortably slide under cars, my fingernails were constantly black, and in the summer, the garage got hot as fuck because the doors stayed open and there was no air conditioning.
“She’s in talking to Dad and CeeCee. She’s dropping us off with you so she can go do some stuff with Great Gram.”
“Gram’s here?”
“Yeah, she’s in the car.”
Lily raced out in front of me as I walked toward the large door. “Wait, you’re comin’ home with me? I’m on the bike.”
“CeeCee drove!”
Shit. I checked my phone again as I made my way to Farrah’s car, where I could see Gram’s head through the front windshield. Trix still hadn’t called, but it was only a little after eleven. I’d been hoping to get her home and fucked before we had company, but it looked like that wasn’t happening.
“Hey, gorgeous,” I called through the open passenger window, making Gram turn toward me and smile.
“Cameron,” she called cheerfully. “You’ve been too busy for your old Gram.”
“Never,” I promised, helping her open the door so she could get out and hug me. “I just saw you at dinner.”
“That was two weeks ago,” she scoffed, pinching my side.
“Looks like I’ve got the girls tonight, but I’ll see what Trix and I are doin’ tomorrow. Maybe come and take you to breakfast.”
She made a noise of disgust in her throat. “I’ll make you breakfast. What do you want?”
“I want you to not make breakfast so you can relax.”
She didn’t say anything, but gave me a look over her glasses.
“Fine, I’ll come for breakfast,” I said in defeat.
“Good boy.”
“Help! There’s a giant trying to abscond with my grandmother,” Farrah called out behind me as I set Gram back in her seat. “Oh, wait. I think I know him.”
“Ha, ha,” I replied, grabbing her as soon as she came close enough so I could spin her around in a circle. “Hey, Ma.”
“Feels like we haven’t seen you forever,” she said, giving me a squeeze before pushing away so I’d drop her to the ground.
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she cut me off with a shake of her head.
“I get it, kiddo. How are things with Trix?”
“Good.” I felt a goofy smile take over my face. I could keep any and all expression off my face when I wanted and I kept my emotions to myself around the brothers, but I’d never been able to hide from Farrah.
“Rad,” she said softly, reaching up to rub my bicep for a moment. “Seems like just yesterday, I was wiping your ass…”
I choked on my own spit. “You never wiped my ass.”
“Oh, right. That was Cecilia. Should’ve remembered—different parts and all.”
“Speaking of…”
“Yeah, can you take them? Gram and I want to hit some garage sales this afternoon. She wants a recliner for her room.”
I glanced back at Gram, who was searching quietly for something in her purse. She was getting so fucking old. So slow. I hated it.
“Yeah, but why can’t CeeCee and Lily come over later?”
“Your sister is being a pain in the ass and I can’t trust her to do what she says she’s gonna do. So, no staying home alone at the moment.”
“Christ.”
“Pretty much.”
“Whoop her ass.”
“She’s seventeen. Too old to spank, too young to punch in the throat,” Mom said ruefully as CeeCee and Casper came walking out of the clubhouse, Lily trailing behind them.
Then my eyes registered the look on Casper’s face and the tiny shorts Cecilia had on.
“What the fuck is she wearin’?” I hissed, my eyes shooting to Farrah’s.
“Have fun!” she sang, laughing as she dodged my hand and ran around the hood of her car.
“You wait for me to come kiss ya, Ladybug!” Casper yelled before Farrah could climb into the car.
“I’m not waiting all day!” she yelled back as Casper stopped to hug the girls goodbye.
“You’ll wait.” He pointed at her, but kept his eyes on Lily as she hugged his waist.