Page 150 of Control Freak
I imagined leaving home was hard, especially from a family this tight.
I finished off my meal while Bailey said his goodbyes to Gray and Axel. I noticed he didn’t say much to Flynn, which was surprising.
They’d spent a lot of hours in the garage this summer, getting Flynn fully up to speed to step into Bailey’s lead mechanic role. Gray would help support him when he didn’t have bikes to service, and Axel had offered to step in two days a week.
Bailey was leaving a sizeable void, and they’d all be doing their part to fill it.
“Okay, I’m going to load up and go,” Bailey said.
Holden closed the grill. “Yeah, I’ll help you.”
“Me too,” Axel said.
One by one, the brothers trailed after him. Dalton, Emory, and I brought up the rear but gave them a little space.
“This is going to be hard on them all,” Emory murmured.
We exchanged a look and said at the same time, “Bro Code.”
Dalton chuckled with us. “Maybe we need a Bro BF code. I feel like we’re in this pact too.”
“We do!” Emory said with a delighted laugh. “As soon as I’m fully licensed, I’ll do your tattoos.” He glanced at me. “If you want, that is. I don’t know if teachers are allowed to have ink?”
“Oh, we’re so doing it,” I said, enthused. “If it’s against policy, I’ll just hide it with a leather bracelet.”
Holden and Gray emerged from Bailey’s room, each carrying a large box. Axel followed.
Dalton stepped forward. “What can I carry?”
It didn’t take long to load up Bailey’s Camaro. Luckily, he didn’t have too many belongings because he didn’t have a ton of storage space.
“I wish you’d let me buy you a new car,” Holden grumbled. “What if this thing breaks down on the trip there?”
“Are you serious?” Bailey asked. “You do remember I’m a mechanic.”
“I know that,” Holden said testily. “I just don’t want you worrying about crap like that when you should be focusing on school.”
Bailey rolled his eyes. Couldn’t really blame him. The kid was a great mechanic. Car breakdowns were the least of his problems.
“Well, I should go.” He shuffled his feet. “I want to hit the road before it’s too late.”
“You could wait for morning,” Holden said.
“I want to settle in over the first weekend. If I don’t go now, I’ll wait until Sunday night, and then I’ll be rushing straight into classes.”
“Right, yeah, that’s smart,” Holden said.
Gray, Emory, Axel, and Dalton said one last goodbye and headed inside while Holden and I lingered.
“Do you want us to follow you over and help you settle in?” Holden asked. “We could do that.”
“No, I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?—”
“He’s sure,” I said gently. “Bailey’s ready.” I smiled. “He’s going to do great.”
“Of course he will.” Holden expelled a big breath. “I hope you know how proud I am.”
