Chapter 2.

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The two men ran out the door and flew down the stairs halting at the bottom landing on the first floor when the usual raspy voice called out to them, "Rent's due tonight boys don't forget. Or you will be on your backside outside with those two pretties of yours, Ha Ha.." and with a muttered acknowledgement of their landlord's announcement Jesse and Brennan ran out the door to where their only mode of transportation was parked.

"Jess we can not take the truck in to work today. I promised Shal that she and Lexa would not have to ride the bus to work today." Brennan said as he moved to stop the blonde from opening the driver's side door.

"Well we will never make it to work on time if we don't take the damn Dodge Bren. And you better hope it doesn't break down this time halfway there because if we don't make it to work on time this time then we won't get paid and if we don't get paid then we will end up on the street trying to make sure that the girls are protected at all times of the day."

Brennan sighed and let go of his friend's arm and walked dejectedly around the rusty truck to the passenger side door. Oh God Shal I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you tonight I promise. He quickly jerked the door open and then slammed it close once he was inside and Jesse had managed to beg the stupid vehicle to start.

"Hey Bren, do me a favor and make sure all the tools look like they're back there. I swear the other day when I couldn't find the screwdriver case I saw that weasel Michael with an identical one." The blonde shook his head Brennan glanced through all the tool boxes behind them as he made a sharp right turn onto what could have once been called a road. "And I mean identical down to the scratches that Shal managed to get on it when you tried to teach her to use the nail gun."

Brennan laughed as he searched among the tubs behind the seat for the screwdriver case. "Yeah, I remember that day. I thought Johnny was going to lose his head when he thought he would actually have her on his crew. He thought it was the greatest idea anyone had ever had until that nail flew toward him and embedded itself in the post not two inches from his right temple." Jesse laughed as he threw the shifter back into fifth gear as he forced the groaning truck to turn left onto an even worse roadway if possible.

They flew up and down the road for a few minutes with Brennan still searching for the case until Jesse saw the dead end coming up, "Alright Bren, hold on, we're at the site."

Brennan glanced up, saw the looming dead end sign and quickly sat up and braced his arms up against the paneling in front of him and pressed back into the seat just as the truck jumped the last sharp upward hill and then landed with a jarring thump on the other side of the small creek at the work site. Jesse revved the engine and downshifted as he parked the junk heap next to all the nice bright and shiny trucks in the makeshift parking lot next to the framework building they were working on.

"Shit, you know man, one day this truck is not going to make that shortcut jump," Brennan said as the both climbed out of the truck and grabbed their main work belts from behind the seats.

Jesse sighed in agreement as they started up the dirt road to where they could already see Johnny yelling at some poor new fellow, "But at least it made it today."

Brennan nodded, "Yeah, I guess."

The two kept their heads down as they passed their boss but to no avail. He glanced up in disgust when the wimp in front of him burst into tears over having hit his thumb with a hammer and noticed his best workers walking onto the site at the usual five minutes late.

"Jesse, hold up there, take this idiot over to the medical tent and then take him up to the site with you. He's working for you from now on. Maybe with you guiding him he won't manage to kill himself or somebody else before the work day is over." Said the salt and pepper haired man as he walked what looked like a nineteen year old boy straight from high school over. "Oh and Brennan let me have a word with you before you get started."

Jesse grabbed the whimpering kid by the shoulder and directed him over to a white pitched tent about four hundred yards away as Brennan and the leathery man stood glaring at each other.

Finally Brennan broke the silence and the staring contest, "Look Johnny if this is about us being late again. I'm sorry, we're in a bad place right now and four people living in a five hundred square foot apartment in a rotting building doesn't make it any easier. But Jesse and I will try harder to..."

"Shut up." said his boss as he interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "It's not what I want to talk to you about. Okay, part of it is I suppose." he said as he motioned for Brennan to sit down beside him on one of the empty lunch benches. "Look, you and Jesse are my best workers; but you're constantly late and sometimes you have to leave early to make sure that the girls aren't harassed coming home from work and I understand that, I have seen where you live," he chuckled, "and I have an idea. My wife and I used to own various pieces of property all around the city. We still got a couple; but they are in a bit of disrepair. I'd be willing to offer the both of you one of the properties, rent free, if ya'll did a bit of work fixing it up and keeping it habitable. And maybe in return you and Jesse could find your way to making it to work on time. So what do you think?"

Brennan stared at his boss. A house. A real house. A place where he wouldn't have to worry about Shal being home alone. "We'll take it." He'd tell them all later. They'd be fine with it. He was sure of it.

Continued in Chapter 3...