Burns

3.

I was leaned by the tow truck when Bill finally approached me with an uncertain look in his eyes. I couldn't really decipher what it meant so I stopped trying after a couple seconds. 

"Hey uh… what's ya name?" He rubbed his nape. "It's just uh, you don't talk much, you look pretty young and your hand… you run this place yourself or are you helping your pops?" He didn't want to sound interrogative but I had a problem with what he was asking. This was supposed to be about business and it should stay that way; anything other than that I will not indulge because it was most definitely not how I rolled. My personal life stays personal. 

"Kylo is my name and as for the others, my personal life stays personal. Do you want me to work on your car or not?" My brusque tone caught him a little off-guard but he seemed impressed the next minute. I had no intention of being rude, my harsh tone came off a little unexpected but it did convey my irritation.

I had no people-skill, I knew.

"Ya a tough kid, son. Reminds me of me back in the days." He released a hearty laugh before continuing, "name your price."

I bit my lip, my eyes returning to stare at the car. He did say he was going to handle the costs so basically this question referred to my handiwork. But I felt the incessant need to ask him again. 

"You're handling the costs of getting everything changed right?" I would have opted to check if the engine was still okay but one look at the squeezed front discouraged me. I definitely was changing everything in that car. Bill nodded positively at me and I continued, "just pay me three thousand dollars." It felt okay for me. I didn't want to get greedy and charge him more. I felt fair with the price because I was going to put in all my heart into this. He seemed like a nice man so he deserved an excellent job.

"Ain't three thousand too small kid? I tell ya what, I'm going to pay you five thousand dollars." He smirked at me. He glanced towards his wristwatch, muttering a curse word at how late it had gotten. 

My head snapped to him so fast it got sore. Five thousand dollars was too freaking much. I couldn't accept it. It would be against my principles to. As funny as that sounded, it was the truth. If I had agreed to that money, a part of me would die of guilt because it would feel like I cheated him. I huffed, "just pay me the three thousand dollars okay? Nothing more, nothing less. That's my price." I brushed past him and stood a little far from him. "Tow the car to the back or should I tow it myself?" I wasn't exactly sure what he'd want.

Bill squinted at me as I blinked slowly, my eyes trained on him. He chuckled deeply before approaching me and when he was in front of me,  he extended a hand and I shook it. "It's a deal son. I'd tow it myself. I know how to do that at least." He patted my shoulder with a deep chuckle then walked away.

That was intense and awfully awkward. I cringed sorta.

I turned to have Brec stalking over to us in large strides. "Dad my phone is fucking dead. What am I going to do now? I'd die of boredom." She whined which made me hiss at her annoying behaviour.

Such a whino!

 She was an obvious daddy's girl. It made me sick seeing how she was acting like a brat but I swallowed the sick feeling instead. Her being wasn't my business. So with a blank expression I strolled to my porch. It was so hot today and it was so unusual. I was used to the cold days of rain. I wondered if it was going to pour heavily tonight. The weather was being really weird today 

My eyes ran up fast enough to see Brec heading my way after her father might have told her a thing or two. She was soon in front of me in no time and I hardly glanced down to notice her presence. She fluttered her eyes around before bringing them back to stare at me. Her loose strands were carefully tucked behind her ear by her fingers. She crossed her hands over chest, looking as annoyed as earlier. "Hey…"

I knew it would be rude of me to ignore her and for the sake of her father being a nice man and my client, I dropped my face to meet hers staring up at me. "I know you can talk. I saw your lips moving a while back there." She mumbled while rolling her eyes.

I raised a questioning brow at her. And she sighed, shuffling her weight to and fro from her tippy-toes to her heels. She looked up at me again and this time I actually acknowledged her infant-like features. Her baby-blue eyes stared at me. I noticed the shape of her eyes. They weren't doe but siren. They were pretty and entrancing enough to draw any man further to them and if stared into any longer, could have you under a dreamy spell. Her button nose twitched before I noticed her bite her bottom lip. I didn't stare at them any longer because honestly she was a brat—she might be good looking but bratty attitudes put me off and unfortunately,  she possessed one so bullshit to that. 

She looked like she detested what she was about to do with every fibre in her. "My phone is dead, do you have a charger that I can borrow? I left mine at home." She muttered mostly to her hearing. "Hello?"

Deciding that I've had enough of her crap, I took a deep inhale and exhaled. I have had enough. Honestly, I wasn't the best with temper control but I did give people enough chances to not piss me off. "I don't speak mutters." I growled at her as calmly as I could. 

"Oh so you can speak." She mumbled to herself but I heard it loud and clear. She brought her eyes back to mine, "listen, It's an eleven pro max. I just need a charger. You use an iPhone right?"

I despised iPhones but unfortunately used one, the same version she used. I had bought it from Amazon two years ago. I still don't understand till date what made me buy it, but the deed had already been done so why dwell on spilt milk?

I rose a mocking brow at her. If that was her trying to belittle me then it was an epic fail because it was a mundane attempt. "I have an iPhone charger…"

Her face lit up almost immediately.

"... but I am not giving it to you." Her smile crashed immediately, leaving her shocked and speechless. I gave myself a mental high-five. 

"You can't do that, it's not fair. I just want to borrow your charger for a little while, jerk." She snarled at me.

"It's my charger and I can do whatever I want with it. And I'm certainly not giving it to a rude daddy's girl who doesn't know how to be nice." It was a calm wording but she sensed that it was a sealed decision. 

I brushed past her and made my way to her father who signalled for me.

"Kylo, do ya think we can spend the night here?" It's seven hundred miles back home and I just got news about a nasty storm coming in tonight. Funny though because it's one hot evening. I don't want to drive in the rain. Do you mind?" Bill looked frustrated and I totally understood. 

It was growing darker by the minute and I had no doubt in my mind that it was almost 7pm. Winfield wasn't exactly the best place to drive around that late, especially to foreigners. I'd hate to have anything happen to him. I guess it's safe to say that I wasn't exactly a complete monster. My mind was frazzled but I still had my humanity. A trait my mother left in me.

Be nice.

"Sure." The man looked relieved with my reply. 

"We'd be gone first thing tomorrow morning." He assured me but first thing tomorrow morning wasn't safe either. The robbery rate would just skyrocket by one.

"7am is okay enough. You can come inside. Pack the cars at the back, inside the shed before you do. Here ain't safe." I walked away with my hands rubbing my injured arm. I needed to change its dressing. 

I got into my house and made for the kitchen when I found Brec in my living room and she looked like a deer caught in a headlight. "The fuck are you doing in here?"