Page 35 of Outcast
“Emory wants to help us figure this out. He’s not the enemy.”
“You fucking him?”
“Not yet.”
He snorted. “So, it’s just a matter of time?”
“That a problem?”
He pulled a fry from the bag and popped it into his mouth. Chewed and swallowed. “Nope. Your gay dick saving the business would be poetic fucking justice, though. I hope Dad rolls in his grave.”
I choked on a bite of burger. “Dude.”
“Just sayin’.”
I shook my head. “Emory would help either way. That’s just how he is.”
“Because you know him so well a week after returning to town?”
“Sometimes you just know.”
Maybe I was full of shit, maybe not. Either way, Holden didn’t argue, just tore into his burger like a man looking to rip someone up.
Better the burger than me.
CHAPTEREIGHT
Gray
I slippedinto Holden’s office Friday night. It was past dinnertime, and my stomach rumbled loudly.
“Make any headway?” I asked.
For the past two days, he’d been scouring through the business holdings and bank accounts, looking for a debt solution that probably didn’t exist.
One other than selling the house or junkyard, anyway.
He rubbed his eyes. “Not really. We could sell the tow truck and get halfway there, but it’s one of our largest sources of business. Not so much the tows but the customers we bring in through the tows.”
Like that woman who’d called for a tow the night I’d picked up Emory. She’d have never chosen our shop for repairs otherwise. “Yeah. It’s a valuable asset to the business.”
“Still, no point keeping it if we lose the whole business anyway,” he said. “The problem is, it won’t get us all the way there, and we’ve got other expenses we couldn’t pay without the business it brings in.”
I sat down in the chair across from him. “What if I sold my bike too? It’ll only bring in about ten K, but it gets you a little closer to the mark.”
Holden shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, Gray. I’m going to keep searching for better solutions. The best thing you can do is keep building on that bike business.”
Since our visit to the pool hall, I’d pulled one bike repair job. It’d only brought in three hundred bucks, but the owner had been so excited she said she’d tell all her friends they could get their motorcycles serviced closer to home.
It wasn’t going to matter much if there was no business to run, though. Resolving this debt was a higher priority.
“I know it may seem futile,” Holden said, seeming to read my mind, “but you’re our best hope for a future. We need that, or it’s all pointless, anyway.”
“Well, in that case, we should hit the pool hall. You can use a break, and I can look for more business.” My stomach rumbled again. “And some dinner.”
And Emory, assuming he came by for that drink I’d offered him. I’d laid it on pretty thick, and he seemed interested, but who knew? With his family bank holding our debt, it definitely muddied the waters.
We came out of the office to find Axel glaring. Had he overheard Holden talking about the debt? I hated keeping this secret. I had kept too many things from Axel already.
