Dust ✔️

Chapter Thirty: Charm

Chapter thirty: Charm

"Hey, that's looking pretty good!" A voice appeared behind me out of thin air.

"Fuck, Tony." I turned around and towered over him. He was quite short in comparison. "Don't do that."

He looked at me like he just poked a bomb. "You finished the boat finally."

I nodded. Truth was that I finished it a long time ago, months ago. I was holding onto its final touches to drag out the process. "Yeah."

"You sound disappointed."

"Just means I have to take it to the customer," I muttered. I was avoiding that face to face contact for as long as I could. Now that the weather is warm, I ran out of time.

"Oh." Was all he said.

I walked away from the boat, away from Tony. Of course he followed behind me like my shadow. "Wait!" He called from behind me.

"Not now, Tony, I'm busy," I asserted.

"Someone asked for you!" Tony called again.

I slowed my pace. "Okay, and? Just add it to my list."

My list was growing longer by the day, not that I minded too much. It just meant more money and less sleep.

"He refused a quote. He says you owe him a favor." I paused in my tracks. "Apparently you two know each other...?"

Turning around quickly, I stormed back up to Tony. "Who was it?" I demanded.

"He didn't give me a name," Tony shriveled back. Fear. Good.

"Well what the fuck did he look like?" I barked.

Tony paused to collect his thoughts. I was shocked he even had a thought process. "Um," He lifted his arms up and shrugged. "I didn't recognize him. He was wearing a hat so I couldn't really see his face."

A deep exhale of air fell through my nose. "Did he say anything else?" My voice was calmer.

Tony shook his head. "Just that he'll be back."

I frowned for a moment. "When did this happen? When will he be back?"

"A couple days ago. He didn't say when he'd be back," Tony glanced at me, unsure of his own words. "Paranoid much?"

"A couple days ago," I repeated. Of course he didn't say anything, the guy has about two brain cells left.

I didn't think I owed any dealers anymore. Must not have settled up a debt that I forgot about...

I retreated to my truck.

I warned Tyler about my visit towards James as a hint. He knew as much as I did that if I was alone with his father, things might not turn in anyone's best interest. My urge to constantly want to punch him in the face has never faded.

What I was hoping for was Tyler to just accompany me to dropping off the boat and get it over with; I wasn't expecting him to arrange a grand visit for the day with his family to announce his engagement.

Hell.

Nine in the morning, the sun was already beaming. I hitched the boat onto my truck and double checked that all the lights were working to avoid a run in with the pigs. It wasn't often that I wore tank tops but the heat forced it upon me.

"We're going to take my car and you can follow behind us?" Tyler asked, packing his car up with random essentials that I didn't bother asking about.

"Sure," I replied absently.

He gave me a look and I just shrugged. I hated visiting, it felt like I was in a meeting with a parole officer.