Chapter One
Gray
Man, shit just keeps getting better and better. Gray couldn’t catch a break. Or, at least that’s how it felt. He tossed the wrench in his hand down onto the concrete floor of the garage, the clatter of it giving him a moment’s satisfaction. He was just fucking lucky he’d thrown the wrench instead of the cellphone in his other hand.
“Fine,” he grunted into the phone, still pressed to his ear. “I’ll figure it out.” Hell knows I always do. He hung up despite being able to hear the apologetic woman on the other end still blabbering on and saying she was sorry.
She could be as sorry as she wanted, but that didn’t change the facts—Gray no longer had a babysitter for his five-year-old daughter, Allie, and he needed to get shit straightened out.
Fast.
“Talking on the phone at work,” a gruff voice said from behind him. “How professional.”
Gray turned. He was filthy dirty from replacing the wheel bearings in the front end of the Corolla in front of him, black smudges lining his chiseled, stubbled cheekbones and coating his hands. He smelled like an oil can and had just received a crushing blow from the daycare centre Allie had been attending for the past six months.
He didn’t need his dad’s shit today.
“It was the daycare,” he said. His father whirled around, eyes wide. “Calm down,” Gray added. “Allie’s fine.” Damn, he wished his dad cared about him half as much as he cared about his granddaughter. “But they’re doing renovations to the building beginning next week, so Allie won’t have a babysitter for a few months.”
As soon as his father registered that Allie was okay, his eyes narrowed again. Gray was never sure whether his stare was simple distaste for him, or unabashed hatred. “Your mother will look after her, Gray.”
Not a chance. Gray knew his mom would gladly spend every waking minute with her granddaughter, but Gray had vowed when Allie was born that he would not be one of those grown sons who relied on their parents to help raise their grandkids. No way. They could go on outings together, have sleepovers and whatever kind of fun stuff they wanted, but Gray would not have his own mother fulfilling the role of daily babysitter while he worked away under his father’s thumb. That was a hard enough pill to swallow without his mom bailing him out, too.
“No need,” Gray said dismissively. “I’ve got it under control.”
Gray’s father scoffed. “Oh, please. You’ve never had things under control in your life.” His dad was in his mid fifties, with graying hair at his temples and scattered throughout his closely-cropped beard. He’d run Radden Automotive since his own father had handed over the reins almost twenty-five years ago. Gray, being thirty-one and well past the age his father was when he took on the responsibility of a business as well as a family, had been a disappointment in Bart Radden’s eyes since the first time he’d been brought home under the influence of alcohol at the tender age of seventeen. While Gray had partied hard during high school and college, he’d never had trouble with the law since.
That didn’t mean a thing to his father, though. In his eyes, Gray had made a mistake, and that was all that was needed for him to be a mistake.
The best thing that ever happened to Gray was Allie. She hadn’t been planned, and her mother hadn’t stuck around since she and Gray hadn’t actually been in a solid relationship when she’d gotten pregnant, but Gray convinced her to keep the baby—his baby—and though they’d tried to raise Allie together in the first year of her life, Allie’s mother had wanted more in life than a family in a small town.
He let her go, relinquishing her parental rights to him and never looking back. He vowed to be the best father he could, and he’d spent the past four years doing just that. Even if it meant working for his own father, constantly being reminded that the garage and family business could be his if he would just get his shit together.
Gray thought he was doing pretty good in that regard. Bart Radden obviously saw things differently, though.
“I said I’ll figure it out, Dad.” It was hard to keep the edge from his voice when the man was being so fucking difficult to get along with.
“Going to let the girlfriend we’re not allowed to meet be the one to babysit Allie instead?” It was a dig at him, just as his father intended it to be, but be damned if Gray wasn’t going to use it to his advantage.
“I’m going to talk to her about it tonight.” Noncommittal, a good answer. Mostly because Gray had lied through his teeth when he’d told his father two weeks ago that he was seeing someone. At the time, the lie was purely to get his old man off his back about how Allie needed a steady, solid family environment, and how she needed a mother figure, not just a fuck-up of a father to lead her down the wrong path.
Okay, it wasn’t exactly what he’d said, but that’s how Gray took it. Either way, the less-than-motivational lecture he got led him to tell Bart that he had been seeing someone for a while. It was his own chance at a dig in his father’s direction, knowing it would drive the man crazy that his son was in a relationship and he had yet to introduce her to him.
Like he didn’t matter, for once. Bart Radden didn’t like it when the tables were turned.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, kid.” His father levelled his gaze at him sternly. “This isn’t just your life you’re playing with anymore. You’ve got Allie to think about, and if you want any chance at taking over the garage, you’re going to have to show me you understand what stability is.”
Thirty-one years old and still being referred to as kid. Still being reminded of the irresponsible shit he’d done as a teenager. And still having the family business held over his head, and just because his father knew damn well he wanted it. Gray would have loved to tell his arrogant father that he knew exactly what he was doing, that he had plans in motion that would help him and Allie get everything they wanted and needed in life.
But, as it stood, Gray didn’t have a fucking clue what he was doing except keeping his head above water.
“I told you, I’ve got it all under control,” he lied.
Chapter Two
Terra
“How in hell did things go from so great, to so pitiful in the blink of an eye?” Terra knew she was being dramatic, but damn, there was no other way to say it. One second she had the perfect job—editor at one of her favorite magazine’s offices in Chicago—and the next she’s received a phone call from her boss telling her that layoffs were inevitable and unfortunately she was at the bottom of the seniority list.
Son of a bitch.
Terra couldn’t believe she had to trudge back to her hometown with her proverbial tail be
tween her legs. It was the last thing she wanted to do, and she’d made it known when she graduated high school and hightailed it out of there that she didn’t ever want to come back.
But there she was. Back. And jobless. Thank God she’d been able to find an apartment, at least. It was just a granny flat in the basement of her parents’ friends’ house, but it was her own place. That was something she needed if she was going to survive this town again.
“It’s not that bad.” Her best friend, Rina, was trying to help, but even she couldn’t hide her dismay through her mascara and long bleach-blonde bangs that failed to cover the doubt in her eyes. “It could be worse.”
“Don’t tell me how.” Terra held her hands up. “My luck, it’ll happen as soon as you say it out loud.”
Rina rolled her eyes. “You’re so dramatic.” But there was a hint of sympathy in her tone. Her best friend knew how hard this was on Terra. “You know, I heard yesterday that Gray Radden’s looking for a babysitter for his little girl.”
Terra’s face screwed up in distaste. “Gray Radden. Like, cocky asshole of the year, Gray Radden?”
“That’s the one.” Her friend chuckled.
“No way.” Terra went to the kitchen counter and poured herself another cup of coffee. “I remember him. He’s older than us, but he went to high school with my brother, I think. The guy is a total jerk. I can’t imagine what he would be like to work for.”