The Confusion of the Sphinx & The Wrath of Atley Jackson
Chaosia sat on one of the huge sofas on her patio, drinking hot tea while she watched the others dash around and toss each other in the pool. She sighed, shaking her head with a smile on her face.
Junie and Otto had told her to take time off until the stiches were out, which was annoying but she'd done it. Especially after her Aunt's lecture about letting other people help her and not trying to be a 'bad ass all the damn time'.
She sighed again, taking a sip of her tea. She'd be able to go back next weekend and she was thrilled but for now . . . the younger crew had taken to at least one of them staying with her almost constantly. And instead of aggravating her to no end like before they were actually helping and being almost . . . normal.
Once the initial comments about the size and surprise of the house (and cars) being hers were out of the way, the guys acted like nothing had changed in the five days since she'd been sliced and diced. If anything the younger crew had started acting more like she was one of them than they had before.
Maybe letting them know about her house wasn't so bad after all.
Kip and Tumbler had offered to help her rearrange the furniture in the bedrooms she had been working on prior to her injury and set up the almost empty sunroom, which she had been thankful for. She hadn't been relishing moving in the huge three piece sea grass and abaca sofas she'd bought from Pottery Barn by herself . . . or the huge driftwood table her mother had found at a beach shop. The two sea grass arm chairs would be have been the easiest but with the added help she had gotten the room set and was now completely done with her house.
Mirror had come by to check on her the next day and insisted on properly setting up every stereo and entertainment system in her house, expertly hiding wires and speakers until the rooms were almost show worthy. Toby had even brought her to the bungalow style house that the younger crew shared, begging her to excuse the mess as they waded through the junk to get to from room to room on the grand tour.
It was Freb that had caught her off guard though. He had shown up by himself with a huge tea sampler and a box of spearmint candy canes, a deep blush on his face as he extended them and a get well card he'd picked up. She'd laughed and thanked him, listening happily as she'd made them tea (a first for the clueless boost) as he explained that Junie had told him what to get her to make her feel better.
Their company, plus Sway's constant calls from the office with this issue or that crisis had kept her pretty occupied . . . until Sway would start about how her not talking to Sphinx was actually working and she would have to find something to distract her again . . . . Like watching the idiots play in her pool.
She smirked then winced as Tumbler and Kip dove on poor Mirror at the same time, splashing Toby and Freb in the process.
That had to hurt.
The six younger runners were spread out around her patio with the five of them in and out of the pool like kids. She had to admit that just watching them try and douse each other made her feel better . . . and almost forget that she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the elusive Sphinx since he'd helped bring her home nearly a week ago.
But she couldn't really blame him that much. It was her own doing.
She had decided to stick to her decision from breakfast with Sway and leave the man in peace, as hard as it was.
While it was obvious he thought she was okay she could tell that was about the extent of it. And rather than set herself up for future heartbreak and hurt feelings she was going to limit their interaction and hope for the best.
Paul had agreed with her when she'd called and spilled her guts to him about everything, telling her to listen to Sway until he could get there.
And to not get cut up as some sort of crew message board again.
Her dramatic and flamboyant best friend of practically forever had listened so intently that she could see him nodding and agreeing while he drank whatever he'd gotten his hands on through the phone. Paul had always been her sounding board and the voice of reason . . . and he was inbound in as soon as he could get the time off work. He was going to stay with her for a few days and try to help her sort all of this mess out . . . and she was hopeful that he could.
Paul always seemed to know what she needed even when she didn't particularly want to acknowledge it.
Like breaking up with Marcello . . . because a great body, good sex and an awesome car did not the perfect boyfriend make.
She sighed, finding herself wishing that she could just for once be normal and have an honest to goodness relationship with someone who semi-understood her and wasn't a complete and utter douchebag. She'd secretly hoped that when she'd started to crush on Tall, Dark and Silent (as Paul had taken to calling him) that maybe he could be that . . . or at least a fun distraction for however long he was interested. . . But Paul had pointed out that while fun it wasn't fair to her and reiterated the whole "not getting in too deep" plan that was the back-up to Sway's "ignore him till he's crazy about you" plan.
Oh she wasn't going to be mean or rude but if he wanted to see her then he would have to seek her out. She had never chased after anyone like a love sick pup and she sure as hell wasn't starting now. Besides . . . it was probably better this way anyway.
A squawk brought her attention back to the pool and she had to laugh. Toby and Freb had joined forces and were holding Kip over their heads, one with his arms and the other with his legs. They counted off together and tossed their defacto leader into the deep end of her pool, laughing as he came up sputtering and cursing.
She sat her tea down, going to sit on the side of the pool and dip her feet. Everyone but Tumbler barely noticed her as they were too intent on ganging up on each other, the blond boost swimming over to her side and propping his arms on the rim of the pool. He smiled up at her and she had to admit her first thought of him was right. He was cute in a weird way.
Just not her type . . . but definitely Mia and Paul's.
She smiled down at him.
"Hey. Enjoying the pool?"
He nodded, wiping his hair back and out of his eyes.
"Yeah. This is great. Especially with how hot it is. So? When can you get in? I know this is killing you being part fish and all."
She laughed, smacking him. He and Kip had seen her swimming trophies and diving certificates in her office and had labeled her 'part fish'. Which she really didn't mind as much as she pretended to.
He'd die if he ever saw her other tattoo.
"Next weekend. And I'm thinking of having a pool party to celebrate. I start class next week too, you know."
He nodded, his eyes suddenly distant.
"So you won't be around as much after that?"
She shrugged.
"Probably. I have classes from 8 am to 12 pm on Tuesday and Thursdays with a deep sea diving lab on Monday mornings and a full day of Aquarium interning on Fridays. So I'm going to be working with you guys on the weekends and after classes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. Wednesday's are going to be my free day."
Tumbler nodded, seeming a little more at ease as he heard that she wasn't just disappearing.
"Your crash days."
She laughed again, nodding.
He looked up at her, almost nervously as he asked, "Well, I usually go to the gym on Wednesdays with Kip and Toby . . . so if you wanted . . . we could all get together like every other week and eat lunch then go a few rounds in the ring. You're gonna need to keep that shoulder and back working to keep strength in it."
She stopped; amazed that he'd offer that. Not he'd brave shopping or some stupid (to him anyway) marine function. He'd found something they both liked and was trying to be sweet about including her in part of the younger crew's daily routine. She smiled at him, nodding.
"Sure. But can we go somewhere other than the Quality Cup? They killed my food last time."
He nodded, smiling brightly at her like she'd just agreed to something huge. Oh boy. This could go badly. But before she could even say anything he stopped her, surprising her again.
"Great. I'll show you Rosario's and when we're at the gym maybe you can show me some of your fighting styles . . ."
Chaos laughed, suddenly more at ease with the whole arrangement now than she had been when he'd started rambling. She'd misjudged him and she was kind of glad. He really was just a big flirt and being friendly, not trying to pick her up like she'd thought before . . . . well, not too heavily, anyway. She could deal with this. She patted his arm, winking.
"Don't worry Tumbles, I'll show you as much as I can. Any reason why?"
He nodded, going all dreamy eyed and Chaosia was choking back laughter. Now she had to know why he suddenly wanted to know more about the martial arts she'd learned.
"So I can add it into my arsenal, you know. Maybe do MMA fights or actually commit to a set style. Right now everything is just kind of what I've picked up on the streets and from the gym."
She nodded, admiring the fact that he wanted to learn and was willing to take direction from a girl. More than a few of the contenders she'd pulverized during her teens had been too cocky to admit that she was a good fighter . . . even when she was feeding them their teeth.
"So . . . you want me to teach you about all of it just some. I could even try and enlist some outside help. Call in a few favors."
He shrugged, looking slightly worried.
"As long as it isn't Kip or Mirror. They wouldn't let me live it down until I used it to win a match. Why?"
She smiled, waving his worries away.
"Nothing. Just thinking. Let's go help Toby dip Kip again. He seems to think that he's King Shit because he just threw poor Freb across the pool."
Tumbler grinned, fighting and training forgotten as he pushed away from the wall.
"I'll grab his feet if you push him in."
She grinned evilly, nodding and shedding the loose tee shirt that was covering her white bikini with the huge koi fish that went across the left breast and the left side of the low-rise bottoms. She knew that the top of her other tattoo, the two small glittering koi fish over her right pelvic bone was showing when Tumbler kept looking.
She smiled.
One was white with blue and turquoise spots while the other was a deep orange with the black and gold and they were arranged together like the Pisces symbol.
Her sign.
She nodded her head towards Kip, initiating the attack plan as Tumbler broke his gaze and started towards Kip's edge of the pool.
A few seconds later, anyone near Chaosia's house could hear Kip screaming like a little girl when he hit the water.
And the bouts of gut clenching laughter that followed.
Atley was two seconds away from snapping at the Sphinx.
Again.
The normally indifferent and emotionally removed boost was currently brooding silently as he stalked around the office. Atley had already relieved Sway of filing and invoice duty over an hour before and he was on his way to going as crazy as she had been. And now he could see why.
On top of the Sphinx practically hording himself away in here when he wasn't at the morgue there was no way that one person could possibly catch up the paperwork that the idiots Otto employed had fallen behind in without superhuman clerical skills. And to think Chaos had caught up almost seventeen years' worth of lag in just a matter of weeks.
Atley looked up, watching Sphinx pace the length of the room again. He sighed. It was nice that the man actually cared about what happened to someone else but he was about to drive him bonkers with the pacing and the glares at every restorer who came in with some smart assed comment about Chaosia's absence.
He'd already had to keep him from strangling Mitchell earlier . . . and that hadn't done anything other than leave both men in a sour mood . . . and Atley in pain from his leg.
Finally, he decided enough was enough and started packing up to take the piles of paperwork to Chaosia's house.
She might be restricted from the garage but he knew she'd probably appreciate the break from being bored.
Or rescued from the Young bloods.
His hands hit a yellow slip of paper and he saw red.
This particular invoice was from Bob and it was laced with insults and slurs as well as 'corrections' that the girl needed to make.
As far as he could tell the only corrections that needed to be made were on the worker's part and not Chaosia's.
Actually, her diagnoses for the classic 72 Mustang was more accurate than what he was pitching.
And more cost effective all the way around.
The materials would be more reasonable and Otto would be justified in the project price she'd quoted because of man hours and boarding while the new fiberglass was being ordered and set.
Then the painting could be discounted the ten percent she'd budgeted and still make a more than decent profit without raping the poor owner.
Just who the hell did this idiot think he was? And to put on paper for the rest of the damned garage to see?
Atley knew he'd overreacted when even the Sphinx looked at him like he was crazy but he couldn't help it. He'd been in this damned cubby hole for far too long and to find that!
And to think that Chaos had been dealing with this shit and just hadn't said anything about it . . .
He'd thrown a whole accordion file folder at the opposite wall, making the thing explode into a shower of yellow pink and white papers.
To hell with it.
He grabbed an empty cardboard file box and crammed the excess paperwork into it, picking up his keys and practically tearing out of the office towards his Corvette parked out back.
As he stalked through the garage, he found Otto and detoured to him.
"I'm taking these to Chaosia to see if she can make heads or tails of them. And tomorrow we are all going to have a nice long chat about being professionals and doing our damned work right. And Bob had better be gone, Otto. Or so help me I'll kill him myself."
Otto nodded, looking up from priming the Hemi Cuda in a daze.
"Sure thing, Jackson. Just breathe. "
He went to go back to work and stopped, pushing his glasses back up on his forehead.
"If the younger crew is there would you tell them that while I respect and appreciate their need to spend time with my goddaughter and what not that I need them here, and preferably all at once, for more than a few hours a day. Mirror and Toby are supposed to be helping me reprogram those damned chips for the Mercedes McLaren that we have coming in tomorrow and Kip is penned in to help Memphis with that Camaro body patch and restoration."
Atley nodded, intrigued by the tidbit. So Kip's crew had been spending time with Chaos while she'd been out.
Huh. Interesting.
He turned and almost ran into the Sphinx.
The man looked torn between being pissed and curious at the knowledge that Chaos had had company and been more than fine not being in his.
Atley was just too stressed with all of this crap to be Sphinx's moral compass and voice of reason.
He growled under his breath, watching Sphinx's mood darken even more as the knowledge he'd just gleaned seemed to sink in which was actually amazing.
The stoic man's attitude had been steadily souring since the girl had been injured and this seemed to make it finally curdle.
If it had been any other day he would have laughed.
Mainly because he knew why Sphinx was so damned affected by the girl's odd withdrawal from him while the boost in question was completely clueless . . . but today was just going too badly to feel thrilled that his longtime friend was finally starting to act somewhat human.
He sighed and listened as the stoic boost moved to follow him.
Great now he got a long awkward and unbearably quiet car ride to the suburbia hell on top of the other stress of the day.
Perfect.