“Three grand’s not gonna last you through a month of rent and groceries and gas.”
Flint speaks up, “The shop could use help at the front counter. Me and Tommy talked it over. The job is yours if you want it.”
“You mean the gun repair shop?” I ask, even though I know it’s the only shop they own.
“Yeah, of course the gun repair shop. When Tommy joins Raging Vultures, he’s not gonna have time to work in the store. We’re gonna need help. You need a job. The obvious choice is for you to come and work with me.”
“If you don’t wanna stay out here by yourself, I’ve got a big place with extra bedrooms. You’d have a private bath. The house is clean and secure. There are cameras on the property. You can take the room and the job, the room or just the job.” Waving his hand, he adds, “They don’t have to come as a package.”
I look at him. I don’t say anything for a few seconds as I try to work out if I just won the sexy guy lottery or not.
“Don’t feel like you have to say yes,” Tommy says. “This is your home and you can stay here for as long as you like.”
“Let her answer the damn question,” Flint grumbles.
Tommy closes his mouth.
Flint’s eyes haven’t left mine. There’s nothing in his expression to sway me one way or the other. From the outside looking in, it’s just a good man offering a practical solution to an everyday problem.
It’s almost like he doesn’t know that he’s offering me a chance to have everything I’ve ever wanted, for a few months at least. The opportunity to live in his house and work with him all day long is an opportunity to get to know him better. If we spend loads of quality time together, he might start seeing me as more than his best friend’s little sister. That would be my wildest fantasy come true.
I still my beating heart and state clearly, “Okay, Flint. I’ll come live with you and work in your shop.”
Tommy’s head snaps around. “That was damned fast.”
I try to sound casual. “It’s a nice offer that solves all our problems. Why would I say no?”
I feel my face heat and do my best to fight it down because the last thing I need is them to see me blushing about spending time with Flint.
“I’m just trying to be logical. I need somewhere to live that isn’t a farmhouse on three acres by myself. I need income. I need to not be a drain on anybody. Your best friend is offering me a room in a house that you’ve described as a bunker before. I can take over your job at the shop, which frees you up to follow your dreams.”
“I don’t know about you working at the shop. The customers sometimes bring guns in and forget to take the bullets out.”
“Now you’re just making up things to worry about. You two apparently already talked about the job anyway. I’m twenty-two years old and have a college degree. Which means I’m smart enough to follow basic gun safety rules.”
Tommy stares at me. “That was a fuckin’ lot of words,” he says. “You sound like you really want this.”
“Of course I do. It solves all our problems. Surely, you’re not planning to walk off and leave Flint to run the shop all by himself?”
Tommy’s expression turns suspicious. And he’s searching my face, like there’s a trap but he hasn’t figured it out yet.
Flint’s mouth does something that’s almost a smile and then doesn’t.
“Tommy,” I say. “Flint is your best friend, and you trust him, right?”
“Yeah. I trust him with my life.”
“Then trust him with your sister. That shouldn’t be so hard, right?”
After a long pause, my brother says, “I think you should go over and have a look at his place yourself. You might not feel comfortable there. Then we’ll talk again.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Just try it out for a few days, Jules. We’ll consider it a test run. See how it feels and then make a final decision.”
“Alright. That’s a smart decision. I’d be a fool to say no.”
My poor brother looks mentally exhausted. I feel a pang of guilt because my brother just wasted a year of his life, got another offer that is objectively better, and then had to come home and argue about my living arrangements for forty-five minutes.