Page 1 of Ace of Spades

Chapter1

Sienna

“Excuse me!”

I yell across the open garage. The only person in sight is a lone welder on the other side, their back turned to me. “Hello?”

They keep working like I’m not even here. I can’t be surprised, with the K-pop that’s currently blasting through the boombox in the corner, how can anyone hear anything in here?

“I’m here to see the owner,” I try again.

The welder keeps working. The buzzing sounds from their tools loud enough to drown out my words, especially from my place at the shop’s entrance. It’s only when I unplug the boombox and the garage goes silent that they stop what they’re doing, turning and flipping the shade on their welding helmet abruptly.

It’s a woman.

"I was listening to that,” she says, flatly.

“Sorry, I–I’m here for an interview,” I wave my resume in the air and she assesses me for a moment, before fully taking off her helmet and placing it on the table next to the metal she was working on.

“Didn’t know we were hiring another wrench,” she says, walking over to me.

She has beautiful dark skin and when she pulls her long box braids out from under her welding jacket, revealing hot pink tips, I realize she can’t be much older than me.

“Oh, I’m not a mechanic,” I clarify.

The woman approaches and looks me up and down, quirking a brow up. “Then what are you interviewing for?”

“Foreman,” I say confidently.

She must find it funny because there’s the slightest hint of amusement in the way her lips pull up.

“Foreman,” she deadpans.

“Yes,” I fight the sudden urge to list off all the reasons why hiring me would be in their best interest, but she’s not who I need to convince. “The owner in?”

“Nope,” she says, turning and going back to her station. “But his office is behind that door. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to meet you.”

The way she says those words tell me he most certainly won’t be. But I won’t let that get to me. I’ve wanted to work here for as long as I can remember. So they’ll have to do better than a pretty welder with a bad attitude to deter me.

“I’m sure he will be,” I say, smiling wide, even though she doesn’t look at me.

She’s about to slip her helmet back on when she says, “No sitting in the boss’s chair.”

“Okay…”

“And plug that back in, will you?” She motions to the boombox and gets back to work without another word.

“Nice meeting you too,” I say under my breath as the music fills the space again.

I push open the door to the office my welcome committee so kindly pointed out, and I’m met with resistance.

“Hello?” I say, poking my head through the small gap in the door jam.

The office is dark, damp, and devoid of any personality.

There’s a dented metal desk with an avalanche of paper that looks like it spilled out of the box that’s currently blocking my way in.

I heave the door open and push past the box. “Well, this is nice,” I mutter.

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