Page 6 of Stuck with my Mechanic Daddies

I threw the lug nuts onto the metal tray beside me. They rattled ominously. “Because they were loose.”

Silence.

Mason, sitting on the workbench with his arms crossed, whistled low. “Shit.”

“Shit,” I repeated, my voice hard. “These almost came off while the guy was driving. If he hadn't noticed the shake in time…”

I cut myself off, my jaw tightening. No need to finish that sentence.

We all knew how bad it could have been.

Owen pushed off the wall, his usual easygoing demeanor gone. “I torqued them. I know I did.”

“Then explain why they were loose.”

His eyes flashed. “You think I didn’t do my job?”

I held his gaze.

I wanted to be mad at him. Ishouldhave been.

This wasn’t some minor screw-up. This was life and death.

But I knew my brother. I knew how careful he was, how methodical. He wouldn’t have missed something like this. Not unless…

“You were distracted.”

Mason snorted. “No shit.”

Owen glared at both of us. “I wasn’t distracted.”

I crossed my arms. “Then what were you?”

Grady’s Auto Repairs wasn’t just some backroad repair joint. It was one of the best damn auto shops in Southern Oregon—the place people brought their trucks, their classics, their workhorses. Farmers, loggers, commuters, even the town mayor. We kept Medford moving. And we did it right.

Things like thiscouldn’thappen.

I grabbed a wrench and tightened a bolt with more force than necessary, my frustration bleeding into every movement.

It wasn’t just about the mistake. It was about what it meant.

We had spent years building this business, earning the town’s trust. One screw-up like this—one loose set of lug nuts—and people would start to doubt.

They’d start to wonder if we’d lost our edge. And I’d be damned if I let that happen.

Owen knew it, too.

He was pacing now, rubbing the back of his neck, his jaw tight. He was as pissed as I was, just quieter about it.

Mason, on the other hand, just stretched and hopped off the workbench like we hadn't just had a near disaster.

“We’re making this a bigger deal than it is.”

I rounded on him. “A man almost lost a wheel going sixty on the highway.”

“Almost.” He shrugged. “No harm, no foul.”

I resisted the urge to throw my wrench at him. “That's not the damn point, Mason.”

---