Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

Even Gordo.

And Ox.

I ignored them as I rubbed the top of my head. “Hey,” I said quickly to Kelly, completely forgetting about the invoice lying on the floor. “What’s up? What’s going on? What’s the haps?”

He bit his bottom lip like he was trying to keep from laughing at me. He blushed slightly as he said, “I just… thought maybe we could have lunch? Together? If you’re not busy.”

I shook my head furiously. “I’m not busy at all. I have absolutely nothing to do.”

“That’s not true,” Gordo grumbled behind me.

I ignored him. “I like your pants,” I told Kelly seriously and immediately wished I had lost my voice as well as my memories. It was a weirdly dark thought to have.

“That sounded creepy,” Tanner called. “Try again.”

I glared at them over my shoulder. “Would you fuck off?”

Chris pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “Spoken like he works at Gordo’s. I’m so proud. Maybe there’s hope for him yet.”

“I dunno,” Tanner said. “He was weirdly prudish when he worked here before. Robbie 2.0 is like the bizarro version of Original Flavor Robbie.”

I hated them all so much. I was never going to forgive them. I turned back to Kelly. “Lunch,” I said. “I can do that. Like, you have no idea how much.”

“Good,” Kelly said softly. “Maybe we can go to the diner?”

I nodded. “Just… can you give me a minute? I’ll meet you out front. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

“I won’t.” He nodded at the others and turned back toward the sidewalk.

I whirled around, eyes wide. “What do I do?”

“He’s literally standing five feet away,” Gordo said dryly.

I lowered my voice. “What do I do?”

Gordo sighed and turned his eyes toward the ceiling. “I deserve this. For everything I’ve ever done, I deserve this.”

Tanner and Chris shoved him out of the way, standing before me with their arms across their chests. They looked me up and down. “He looks like a roughneck,” Tanner said. “He’s dressed for the part.”

“Eh,” Chris said critically. “Not quite.” He rubbed one of his grimy hands over my face, smudging oil against my skin. “There. That’s better. No one trusts a person who works at a garage and doesn’t get dirty.”

“He looks like one of those cover models on the books he used to read,” Tanner whispered. “The Mechanic’s Heart or whatever.” He squinted. “Maybe a little too short, though. Sucks you couldn’t figure out how to make yourself taller while you were gone after you tried to kill us.”

Gordo choked.

“That might be too soon,” Chris said.

“Not helping,” I growled at them.

Chris shrugged. “I can smell your arousal. I don’t know that I want to help.”

“I’m not aroused!”

“Uh-huh,” Tanner said. “You hit your head on a stationary object at the first sight of Kelly. Ox once walked into that wall over there, and then he banged Jessie.”

“That’s my sister,” Chris hissed at him, turning to glare over his shoulder at Ox, who seemed to be resolutely ignoring everything that was happening.

“I know,” Tanner said. “But it’s true. And then he walked into the side of the house at underage Joe in tiny shorts. And he eventually banged him too.”