Page 63 of Rebel Summer

I nodded, too far gone in my own misery to say anything. I just pointed toward the door that led into the garage.

Without another word, he strode past me, his footsteps heavy as he thundered his way toward Dax’s space.

With my pity party essentially ruined, I picked up a Lego and held it in my hand. I imagined there would be eight-year-olds and parents everywhere who might understand this specific frustration—that I no longer felt.

Because…numb.

A voice, loud and booming, began shouting in the other room. Highly sensitive to sounds of anger, my body sat rigid while I strained to listen for what was being said. I debated for a moment before standing up, dropping my Lego in the pile, and making my way closer.

I stepped through the doorway. My attention first went to the man shouting while waving what looked like his invoice in the air while Dax listened, calmly leaning against a golf cart. Beau and Phoenix were seated on the chairs, watching the man yell at Dax. Beau smiled at me as I made my way toward them, pushing an empty barstool my way with his foot.

“We’re out of chips. You don’t happen to have any popcorn, do you?”

“You’re the cop. Shouldn’t you stop this?” I said.

His brow furrowed. “Stop what?”

“That guy yelling at Dax.”

Laughter sprung into his eyes. “If this guy tries to throw a punch, I might jump in, but I just cleaned my uniform.”

When I didn’t laugh, Beau leaned in closer. “I doubt it will get that far. Dax can handle himself.”

“You’re way overcharging!” the man’s voice boomed. “Just because you’re on an island doesn’t mean you can charge double the price of what I can get done on the mainland.”

Dax shook his head and pointed at the invoice. “Listen, man, it costs almost double for me to get parts ferried onto this island, so I will definitely be charging more for that.” He leaned closer and pointed at different parts of the bill. “That’s the price of the part, including the extra shipping to get it here. This is my hourly rate to fix it. I don’t have any secrets. It’s all black and white. I told you the exact price on the phone when I called you.”

“You never said a number this high. I would have stopped you.”

“I read this exact invoice.”

“Your hourly rate is extortion.”

Dax laughed, running his hand through his hair as he noticed me sitting there for the first time. My skin came alive with awareness as his gaze landed on mine. “It’s not.”

“I’ll be taking my business somewhere else next time.”

“That would be great. But if you want your mower, you’re going to have to sign right here and pay.”

The man shook his head, grumbling under his breath. Dax looked at Phoenix and Beau and rolled his eyes, much to their delight.

The man pulled a checkbook out of his back pocket.

“Sorry, sir, there’s no way I’m taking a check from you. Card or cash only.” Dax folded his arms and waited unapologetically while the man’s face turned a dark shade of red.

Biting his bitter tongue, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, his pudgy fingers yanking out a stack of bills. “If you were any sort of business owner, you would at least give me a discount.”

Again, Dax laughed, unfazed as he straightened up some tools on his workbench. “If I had my guess, you do this wherever you go, which is why you came to an island to get this fixed when you don’t live here. You’re probably not welcome anywhere else.”

The man took another step toward Dax, to which Beau and Phoenix stood up from their chairs, the scrape of the metal against the concrete breaking into the tension of the room.

The man took a step back and threw down several one-hundred-dollar bills at Dax’s feet before grabbing his push mower and storming out—at least, storming out as much as possible when pushing a mower that looked like a kid’s toy to such a big man.

“You just lost my business!” he yelled as the door slammed shut behind him.

Phoenix let out a laugh. “You almost got beat up by a fifty-year-old man.”

Dax’s eyebrows raised. “You think he’s that old?”

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