~ Cole ~
The garage was louder than usual.
Metal clanged.
Engines revved.
Someone dropped a wrench and swore like it personally insulted his mother.
Normal day.
But my head wasn’t in it.
Jax noticed first.
He leaned against the workbench watching me pretend to check the same bolt for the third time.
“You gonna tighten that thing,” he asked, “or marry it?”
“I’m inspecting.”
“You’ve been inspecting for ten minutes.”
“Precision takes time.”
“Bullshit takes longer.”
I glanced at him.
“What?”
“You’re distracted.”
“I’m thinking.”
“About the school thing?”
“Partly.”
Jax took a sip from his coffee cup.
“You handled that pretty well.”
“Wasn’t complicated.”
“You publicly embarrassed her cheating ex-husband mistress and a suburban queen.”
“She started it.”
“Still counts as a
